“Oooh-Ooooh-Oooh” It’s the Very First Episode of ‘Welcome Back, Kotter’!
Tom Selleck makes his return on Friends, the Sweathogs are introduced to Mr. Kotter, and where to watch old episodes of The Newlywed Game.
Classic TV on Today: Tuesday, March 21
All Times Eastern.
Friends: “The One With the Proposal”
TBS, 1:30pm & 2pm
This Season 6 two-part episode sees the return of Tom Selleck as ophthalmologist Richard Burke, Monica’s former boyfriend, who was her father’s best friend. Monica ends up getting not just one proposal, but two when Richard confesses he’s still in love with her. Watching the proposal scene between Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler (Matthew Perry) is comedy at its best.
Welcome Back, Kotter: “Pilot”
Antenna TV, 4pm
“Oooh-ooooh-oooh” it’s the very first episode! In the pilot episode, Mr. Kotter (Gabe Kaplan), a wisecracking Brooklyn teacher, gets a job at his alma mater: James Buchanan High School. Kotter was assigned to a remedial class of self-described Sweathogs, where he begins a journey to transform and prepare his kids for a better life. “They may be underachievers but they are basically bright kids,” Kotter argues in the pilot, before enlisting his classroom to a school debate. The topic: human aggression. “Boom Boom” Washington’s (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs) church-like rebuttal and Vinnie Barbarino’s (John Travolta) classic one-liners “up your nose, with a rubber hose” and “off my case, potato face” make it a promising start. The ABC comedy debuted in 1975 and ran for four seasons.
The Newlywed Game
Buzzr, 8pm
Host Bob Eubanks had quite the gift of delivering some pretty raunchy puns in a PG way, the guy coined the phrase “making whoopee.” Four couples, each married less than two years, were tested on how well they know one another and would compete for prizes by answering provocative questions leading to some pretty shocking answers about their relationship (“Did I really say that on live TV?”). If you’re not familiar with the network Buzzr, it’s a channel devoted to classic game shows and is available on DISH satellite service, over the air and via a handful of streaming services. Classic episodes of The Newlywed Show air weeknights on the net.