Unknowns On Sitcoms That Went On To Become Stars

[onairb]

The "students" on Room 222 and Welcome Back Kotter.

The same students who broke historical precedent, earning their high school diplomas and AARP membership cards in the same week.

Ditto the "kids" on Beverly Hills, 90210!

After 2 or 3 seasons of 'Kotter', when the ratings were dropping like the Sweathogs' grade-point averages, Gabe Kaplan felt the need to 'explain' to the show's producers that the audience was tuning out because the actors playing the 'kids' were too old to believable as high-schoolers(Why he didn't say this earlier is beyond me).
Kaplan suggested revamping the show, with Kotter and at least some of the Sweathogs moving on to...community college. The producers disagreed, and the show limped to its conclusion in 1979, after Kotter had been reduced to a recurring character.
Even as college students, the Sweathogs would have looked more like an 'adult ed' night class!

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

The "students" on Room 222 and Welcome Back Kotter.

The same students who broke historical precedent, earning their high school diplomas and AARP membership cards in the same week.

Ditto the "kids" on Beverly Hills, 90210!

And, if I may stray from TV sitcoms, 20-ish Judy Garland was aged down to fit the role of 12-ish Dorothy on Wizard Of Oz.

 

[FredLeonard]

How about old cops?

Jack Webb was 47 when Dragnet came back (50 when it went off); he spent 21 years as a detective sergeant (minus a brief promotion to lieutenant). Harry Morgan was 52 when Dragnet 67 started; 72 when he did the movie with Dan Akroyd.

Telly Savalas was 51 when Kojak premiered; 45 as a condemned GI in the Dirty Dozen.

Jerry Orbach was 57 when he became Detective Lenny Briscoe. Dann Florek is 63.

 

[MHB]

More Leave It to Beaver:

Ryan O'Neal - Wally's older married friend Tom, who played softball with him: appeared in one episode (later appeared in Peyton Place and movies)

Barbara Parkins - Beaver's babysitter Judy (not his classmate Judy): appeared in one episode (also appeared in Peyton Place)

Lee Meriwether - one of the Cleavers' neighbors when Beaver was collecting for the Community Chest (later appeared in Barnaby Jones)

Jean Vander Pyl - appears at least twice as mothers of girls Beaver and Wally knew (later appeared in The Flintstones, The Jetsons, lots of other Hanna-Barbera cartoons)

Another veteran of the Beaver follies: Tim Mathison
[/quote]

Wow! How could I have forgotten him? He was Mike, toward the end when Beaver was starting to hang around with Mike and Kevin.

And, although he was only in the pilot, Harry Shearer (Saturday Night Live). He was Frankie, a wise guy character similar to Eddie.

 

[FredLeonard]

Harry Shearer also made several appearances on The Lucky Strike Program Starring Jack Benny, either as Jack as a child, or as a member of The Beverly Hills Beavers.


Miss DiPesto from Moonlighting appeared earlier as Coach's daughter on an episode of Cheers.

 

[BD Sullivan]

The "students" on Room 222 and Welcome Back Kotter.

The same students who broke historical precedent, earning their high school diplomas and AARP membership cards in the same week.

Ditto the "kids" on Beverly Hills, 90210!

After 2 or 3 seasons of 'Kotter', when the ratings were dropping like the Sweathogs' grade-point averages, Gabe Kaplan felt the need to 'explain' to the show's producers that the audience was tuning out because the actors playing the 'kids' were too old to believable as high-schoolers(Why he didn't say this earlier is beyond me).
Kaplan suggested revamping the show, with Kotter and at least some of the Sweathogs moving on to...community college. The producers disagreed, and the show limped to its conclusion in 1979, after Kotter had been reduced to a recurring character.
Even as college students, the Sweathogs would have looked more like an 'adult ed' night class!

Of course, the departure of John Travolta and the move to Monday night probably didn't help the situation.

 

[onairb]

The "students" on Room 222 and Welcome Back Kotter.

The same students who broke historical precedent, earning their high school diplomas and AARP membership cards in the same week.

Ditto the "kids" on Beverly Hills, 90210!

After 2 or 3 seasons of 'Kotter', when the ratings were dropping like the Sweathogs' grade-point averages, Gabe Kaplan felt the need to 'explain' to the show's producers that the audience was tuning out because the actors playing the 'kids' were too old to believable as high-schoolers(Why he didn't say this earlier is beyond me).
Kaplan suggested revamping the show, with Kotter and at least some of the Sweathogs moving on to...community college. The producers disagreed, and the show limped to its conclusion in 1979, after Kotter had been reduced to a recurring character.
Even as college students, the Sweathogs would have looked more like an 'adult ed' night class!

Of course, the departure of John Travolta and the move to Monday night probably didn't help the situation.

I'm not sure exactly what went down between Kaplan and the show's producers, aside from 'creative differences', but,looking back, it seems that the show was renewed in 1978 just so the network could kill it. Kotter was 'promoted' to vice-principal, but hardly appeared, while Woodman, now the principal, was on almost as much as he always had been. The Sweathogs (except Arnold)finally got out of Buchanan High, but they weren't funny in 'adult' situations.

 

[FredLeonard]

I'm not sure exactly what went down between Kaplan and the show's producers, aside from 'creative differences', but,looking back, it seems that the show was renewed in 1978 just so the network could kill it. Kotter was 'promoted' to vice-principal, but hardly appeared, while Woodman, now the principal, was on almost as much as he always had been. The Sweathogs (except Arnold)finally got out of Buchanan High, but they weren't funny in 'adult' situations.

I wasn't watching much at the end but it seems when I did see it, Mrs. Kotter had become the focus of the show. Curious that Mr. Kotter isn't around and she's spending time with the Sweathogs. Then she started dating Storm Field.

 

[BD Sullivan]

The "students" on Room 222 and Welcome Back Kotter.

The same students who broke historical precedent, earning their high school diplomas and AARP membership cards in the same week.

Ditto the "kids" on Beverly Hills, 90210!

After 2 or 3 seasons of 'Kotter', when the ratings were dropping like the Sweathogs' grade-point averages, Gabe Kaplan felt the need to 'explain' to the show's producers that the audience was tuning out because the actors playing the 'kids' were too old to believable as high-schoolers(Why he didn't say this earlier is beyond me).
Kaplan suggested revamping the show, with Kotter and at least some of the Sweathogs moving on to...community college. The producers disagreed, and the show limped to its conclusion in 1979, after Kotter had been reduced to a recurring character.
Even as college students, the Sweathogs would have looked more like an 'adult ed' night class!

Of course, the departure of John Travolta and the move to Monday night probably didn't help the situation.

I'm not sure exactly what went down between Kaplan and the show's producers, aside from 'creative differences', but,looking back, it seems that the show was renewed in 1978 just so the network could kill it. Kotter was 'promoted' to vice-principal, but hardly appeared, while Woodman, now the principal, was on almost as much as he always had been. The Sweathogs (except Arnold)finally got out of Buchanan High, but they weren't funny in 'adult' situations.

Kaplan and executive producer Jimmy Komack were at odds during the first three seasons, and when the production staff was changed prior to the fourth year, they were loyal to Komack.

 

[michael hagerty]

I'd read during the time that Kaplan was unhappy about the direction the show, which was based on one of his stand-up routines, had taken, making the kids the stars. I don't know what he expected...the standup routine focused on the Sweathogs, and he was a classmate of them. It was always about the kids. He also was supposedly not getting along with Marcia Strassman (or vice-versa), which may explain why she got more camera time without him.

 

[FredLeonard]

Linda Edlestein (House) and Marg Helgenberg (CSI) did one shots as girls dating Frasier.

Emma Thompson played Frasier's first wife, Nanette, on Cheers.

 

[BD Sullivan]

Linda Edlestein (House) and Marg Helgenberg (CSI) did one shots as girls dating Frasier.

Edelstein was also George's girlfriend (a.k.a. the "Risoto Broad") on a pair of episodes of Seinfeld in 1993.

 

[Ultimajock]

...Loni Anderson (in black hair, IIRC) on The Bob Newhart Show...

 

[FredLeonard]

...Loni Anderson (in black hair, IIRC) on The Bob Newhart Show...

Loni's blonde hair was a dye job. Fortunately, everything else is real.

 

[onairb]

Recently, I saw a 'Make Room for Daddy' rerun on Me-TV, in which a wisecracking, beatnik supermarket stockoy appeared...played by a young Bill Bixby, at least a couple of years before 'My Favorite Martian.'

 

[searadiofreak]

I saw Russell Johnson (The Professor on Gilligan's Island), on a TMC showing of "It Came From Outer Space", a pretty good sci-fi from the early 50's. Turns out he was a good movie character actor in the 50's. But today, few know that, and he will always be remembered from Gilligan. (Further research shows is is still alive at 88, living on Bainbridge Island, just west of Seattle.

 

[Tim L]

I saw Russell Johnson (The Professor on Gilligan's Island), on a TMC showing of "It Came From Outer Space", a pretty good sci-fi from the early 50's. Turns out he was a good movie character actor in the 50's. But today, few know that, and he will always be remembered from Gilligan. (Further research shows is is still alive at 88, living on Bainbridge Island, just west of Seattle.

Johnson also starred in a 1961 unsold sitcom pilot, "The Jane Powell Show" in which Miss Powell plays a Broadway singer who impulsively marries a Math Professor (Johnson) and decides to retire from show business to be with him..Of course, her agents, handlers, etc..Are appaled at this and try to talk her out of it..

I look at it this way..The marriage lasts a short time, and Johnson's character gets despondent and decides to change his life..running away and changing his name-To Roy Hinkley..by 1964 he's settled in as a Science professor at a a mainland University-Then the "Three Hour Tour"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6SyVlwhxEQ

Here's The Jane Powell Show pilot on YouTube..

 

[BD Sullivan]

She sadly became more famous in death than during her too-brief acting career, but Sharon Tate popped up in 15 episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies and a pair of Mr. Ed eps.

 

[rbjones]

Mark Harmon was in an episode of Emergency! that was intended to be the pilot for a spin-off series called "905-Wild", which centered around the Los Angeles Animal Control. The show wasn't picked up (if you see the episode, you can probably tell why as it was pretty cheesy even by 70's standards back then). After seeing every episode of NCIS, it was kind of hard to watch him on there without laughing, as he was nothing like the tough character he is now.

 

[FredLeonard]

We learned in The Brady Bunch Movie that "the professor" was Carol Brady's first husband and the father of her "three very lovely girls."

We learned in the Dobie Gillis reunion movie that Gilligan was actually Maynard Krebbs.

We learned in an episode of Hec Ramsey that as younger man he had been a gunfighter for hire calling himself Palladin.