Welcome Back Kotter: Encyclopedia II - Welcome Back Kotter - Interesting facts

Welcome Back Kotter - Interesting facts

• Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan was a big fan of the show.

• Sebastian's Welcome Back is the only song written for a television show to reach to the top of the musical charts in the U.S.

• The show was originally going to be called simply Kotter, but that was changed because of the theme song lyrics.

• The orange lettering used for Shortridge's name in the opening credits did not match that of the other actors.

• Palillo got a nosejob years after the show ended so he would less resemble Horshack.

• The Welcome Back, Kotter comic book was published by DC Comics, famous for its Superman and Batman titles.

• Comedian Garry Shandling, who went on to star in movies and HBO's The Larry Sanders Show, was a writer for the show.

• Charles Fleischer, who later became the voice of the title character in Who Framed Roger Rabbit had a recurring role as Carvelli, one of the Sweathogs' nemesis.

• Hegyes went behind the camera to direct some episodes.

• Kaplan was famous for his impersonation of Groucho Marx, which he occasionally performed on the show. He even appeared in a film entitled Gabe Kaplan as Groucho.

• In 2002, Palillo entered the boxing ring with Dustin Diamond (Screech from Saved by the Bell) on Fox's Celebrity Boxing 2. Much to the dismay of his fans, Palillo lost.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Interesting facts", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki