Mr. Kotter most memorable TV teacher

[Rover_Wow]

You may remember this 70s show as the show that gave John Travolta his career (and I remember the theme song too!), but Inside TV is giving "Welcome Back, Kotter" another honor.


Magazine Gives 'Kotter' Memories an A+

Wed Aug 31,12:39 PM ET

NEW YORK - "Welcome Back, Kotter" isn't just the show that started John Travolta's career. According to Inside TV magazine, Gabe Kotter is TV's most memorable teacher.

The Sweathogs' favorite teacher, played by Gabe Kaplan, leads a list that also includes Edna Krabappel, the teacher on "The Simpsons" who punishes Bart by making him write "I will not charge admission to the bathroom" and "I will not hide the teacher's Prozac" on the blackboard.

Other memorable teachers on TV, according to the magazine, are Lydia Grant (Debbie Allen) on "Fame," Charlie Moore (Howard Hesseman) on "Head of the Class," Laura Ingalls (Melissa Gilbert) on "Little House on the Prairie," Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) on "Friends," Mark Cooper (Mark Curry) on "Hangin' with Mr. Cooper," Fonzie (Henry Winkler) on "Happy Days," Carol Vessey (Julie Bowen) on "Ed" and Max Medina (Scott Cohen) on "Gilmore Girls."

The heck? Some of these hardly qualify at all, and many of these characters aren't portrayed so much about the teaching as they are about their life and times. Like, do you remember the last time Mark "Curry" Cooper was teaching at school? (BTW, yes, I enjoyed "Hangin'" too. Did you know that West Coasters never saw the finale, because it went out on the same day as Diana's fatal car crash?) With lenient qualifications like these, Didi Pickles could easily have made this list.

(Wonders how Edna's rejection of both CBG and Skinner went with Inside TV...)

[BrickTamland]

I thought Mr. Garrison was the most memorable TV teacher of all time...:shrug:

[The Penguin]

The heck? Some of these hardly qualify at all, and many of these characters aren't portrayed so much about the teaching as they are about their life and times. Like, do you remember the last time Mark "Curry" Cooper was teaching at school? (BTW, yes, I enjoyed "Hangin'" too. Did you know that West Coasters never saw the finale, because it went out on the same day as Diana's fatal car crash?) With lenient qualifications like these, Didi Pickles could easily have made this list.So because we were more let into the teacher's lives they don't "count" as a teacher? Using your example, Mark Cooper was teacher both in and out of the classroom. He taught his students, his players (who were also students of course), his roommates, his niece, his young neighbor who looked up to him and I bet he even learned some things himself. There is more to being a teacher than just standing at the front of classroom and that's not just on TV.

[superpants]

So because we were more let into the teacher's lives they don't "count" as a teacher? Using your example, Mark Cooper was teacher both in and out of the classroom. He taught his students, his players (who were also students of course), his roommates, his niece, his young neighbor who looked up to him and I bet he even learned some things himself. There is more to being a teacher than just standing at the front of classroom and that's not just on TV.

i think that part of the complaint is that the job of "teacher" is simply a minor detail for the chracter, as is the case with ross from
friends, for example, who is actually a professor and whose teaching is never more than part of a minor subplot. we don't necessarily need to see him in the classroom, but making a lesson plan or grading papers would at least ground his character in his profession, sort of like how cliff clavin is a mailman even though we see him only at cheers. his profession is a major part of his character in his own mind as well as in our minds. showing the character actually involved with his or her profession only seldomly wouldn't seem to qualify that character for a category called "most memorable ____."

i'm a little surprised that peggy hill and mr. van dreesen didn't make the cut.

richard dreyfus as max bickford, not so much.

[EinBebop]

Lists like this make Miss Bliss cry.

[Rover_Wow]

i'm a little surprised that peggy hill and mr. van dreesen didn't make the cut.

Dunno about Van Dreesen (is that even spelled right???), but the only things I think about Peggy Hill are:
1. Overt blood donor
2. Boggle champion
3. Softball player
4. Wife of a propane salesman

Teacher is not on my mind.

[superpants]

Dunno about Van Dreesen (is that even spelled right???), but the only things I think about Peggy Hill are:
1. Overt blood donor
2. Boggle champion
3. Softball player
4. Wife of a propane salesman

Teacher is not on my mind.

i think that peggy's teaching "career" is important to her character because it seems to be the major, or most consistent, vehicle for her delusional self-importance and extraordinary ego. she frequently legitimizes herself by mentioning her substitute teacher of the year awards and by posturing as an educator in many different contexts, in and out of the classroom, inflating the profession's role in our culture far beyond what most people would consider reasonable and inflating her role in that profession far beyond what most people would consider sane.

van dreesen (and i'm not sure how to spell that either) seems memorable to me for the way he is used to mock the educational profession and some pedagogical theory. most of those teachers on that list are shown as anchors of wisdom and beacons of hope for their students, but van dreesen and his well-meaning platitudes are mercilessly disregarded by beavis and butt head, and not without some good reasons.