This Day in Pop Culture for September 9

1975: Kotter is Welcomed Back

Co-created by Kaplan, Welcome Back Kotter is about a teacher who returns to his own high school, the James Buchanan High School in Bensonhurst. It was a fictional version of Kaplan’s own school in Brooklyn (the real school is featured during the show’s opening credits) and many of the characters were based on Kaplan’s real classmates.

When Kotter was in school, he was a founding member of lazy students known as the “Sweathogs”. Years later, his classroom was full of them. With no motivation, these kids would eventually drop out of school. So instead of babysitting this crew, Kotter found unique ways to inspire his class. The class role call included Vinnie Barbarino (Travolta), Freddie ‘Boom Boom’ Washington (Hilton-Jacobs), Juan Epstein (Hegyes) and Arnold Horshack (Palillo).

Though Welcome Back Kotter was an instant hit for ABC, Boston’s local affiliate (WCVB-TV) refused to air the show due to the city’s controversial busing program which had caused protests and riots. The network was concerned that the show would only make matters worse. However, since the show usually portrayed the Sweathogs’ antics as juvenile rather than destructive, the show was brought to the Boston TV screens starting with the fifth episode.

In 1976, the show’s theme song, written and recorded by John Sebastian from The Lovin’ Spoonful, became a #1 hit. Lunchboxes were made and Mattel even created a set of Welcome Back Kotter action figures. However, the show’s ratings began to slip in during the third season. To bolster ratings, Angie Grabowski (Melonie Haller) was added as the first female Sweathog. Kotter also became the father of twin girls.

By the fourth season, Travolta became a big movie star. He was only able to appear in ten episodes. Kaplan himself also reduced his appearances on the show. As the show was winding down, three spin-offs were considered including one called Rich Man, Poor Man; Horshack! which was never developed outside of a backdoor pilot episode.

1926: NBC is Formed

The radio and television broadcasting network, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) was formed on this day in 1926. It is the oldest major broadcast network in the U. S and frequently referred as the “Peacock Network” due to its peacock logo, which originally became a symbol of NBC when it started broadcasting in color. The three-note chimes came about at a Georgia Tech football game of all places. Someone from the network heard the three notes asked for permission to use them for NBC. The chimes were heard for the first time in 1931 and became the first audio trademark.

1978: When Witchipoo Met the Bay City Rollers

In 1978, it appears that Sid & Marty Krofft may have run out of ideas. The Krofft Superstar Hour was basically the same as the Kroft Supershow, only switching out The Bay City Rollers for Kaptain Kool and the Kongs, adding a few goofy skits, a live audience and a couple of new mini shows. The result was more of a variety show with characters from previous Krofft shows.

The new shows did not resonate with the audience, so two months into the show, Superstar was cut down to 30 minutes and was renamed The Bay City Rollers Show. However, by January the next year, the show had been dropped from NBC’s schedule.

1850: California Becomes the 31st U.S. State

2021: ‘Frogger’ Becomes a TV Show

Billed as the classic game show reimagined as a real-life obstacle course, Frogger began to be aired on the streaming service, Peacock on this day in 2021.

Hosted by Kyle Brandt and Damon Wayans Jr., the course did resemble the arcade game but here, the frog (human contestants) had to do more than just get across a busy highway in hopes of winning $100,000.

This game show was odd in that despite that large usage of water, the show took place indoors and there was no audience cheering anyone on. Each contestant has three “lives”, like in the game. If they fall in the water, they lose a life.