In my opinion "Welcome back, Kotter" went down hill when Vinny dropped out of school, and when Gabe was moved up to Vice Principal.
The show kinda lost it's comedy if you ask me, especially in the later episodes I noticed that Gabe doesn't do his "ncle Joke's" anymore...

I know what you mean....I was watching the marathan on TV LAND this weekend and after the Vinny stories were shown, I stopped watching.....maybe when that happened, that was the end of the show's popularity.

I liked all the sweathogs but Vinny had that personality! And look where John Travolta is today! Where are the other actors? Maybe John was able to reinvent himself. I think you almost have to in that business to stay in it!