What were the changes that you all noticed as the show progressed?

Good question. Well the one obvious one is that some of the original students left and new ones replaced them in the fourth season. It's funny though, they added more students than the ones that left. TJ was introduced in season three. Vicki, Alex and Aristotle joined in the fourth season. Finally, Jasper joined near the end. I always thought the original students were the most interesting though.

Mr. Moore's hair kept growing a bit each season. He started off clean shaven, hair grew, he grew a mustache and then the ponytail. Then, he turned into a Scottish guy. Haha, just kidding, Billy replaced Mr. Moore after he left.

In the final season, the episodes often seemed to be vehicles more for the funny speeches of Billy than for the students. He was always ranting about something. He was pretty funny though, although I liked it more when the shows were about the students. All in all though, I feel the first three seasons were the best and the last season was quite a bit different, almost like a different show. Some of the plots later on were a bit lackluster.

Simone's hair. In the beginning it was kinda frizzy, but after awhile it got to be really pretty.

Simone's attitude also changed. She went from being a basket case to being a more sociable but still shy girl. Pilot episode-time is usually a chance to change things and develop characters. I think Simone was originally supposed to be a more glam version of Ally Sheedy's character in "The Breakfast Club" (that's what I noticed from the pilot). But obviously, that didn't happen.

Not only did Maria's look change...her voice changed, too. In Seasons 1 and 2, Maria's voice was full of energy and pep...but in Season 3 (or at least I noticed this in "Partners"), her voice was drier and shriller. It sounded like she developed a smoker's voice. I hope Leslie wasn't smoking. It's such a bad habit.

Sarah's voice also changed, too. When I watched the Christmas episode from Season 5, her voice was up a whole 'nother octave. I think Kimberly Russell was trying waaaaaaaaay too hard to sound like a teenager...being she was about 27 when the show ended.

Hey, you might be right about Sarah. I noticed that in the later episodes, she seemed to be really over-acting. But when I watched the earlier ones again, her acting wasn't as bad. That might explain it!

Another change, in the first few seasons, Eric often acted like a rebel and like he didn't want to be in the IHP. By the last season, he cut his hair shorter and he seemed to have matured a lot, accepting his place in the IHP and enjoying it.

this was good timing for this post because i hadnt seen the billy episodes in a LONG time and last night one was on nick at night. when he joined the cast i think the show jumped, howard hesseman was just such a great actor and motivator for the younger stars of the show. but when howard was gone their acting went downhill a bit and i didnt like those new kids much either, it was like they came in and took over the IHP. Last nights episode dissapointed me too, mr moore always seemed to harmlessly flirt with ms meara and then billy comes along and she comes over to his the scottish jerk's house in lingerie for christmas. they shouldnt have let either of them hook up with her. The one great change as the show went on was maria, she always seemed to have a weird sense of style and wasnt very pretty in the early years, half the time her clothes looked like they came from stevie ray vaughan's wardrobe. in the last season she really blossomed, no wonder brad pitt was pimpin her!

I had only seen that one Christmas episode from season 5 in these recent years...and I can tell you that I don't like the "new class." I had grown to like the original group and their dynamic. The new kids ruined it. You have a group of 10 very different personalities, lose 3, and gain 5 that are extremely bland and similar. I feel that they shoulda just kept on going with the 7 left, as opposed to adding those 5...or only have those 5 as recurring actors.

Also: Styles changed. The girls always had their unique sense of style (Simone hid in her clothes...Darlene wore college prep...Sarah was cutesy...and Maria always rocked different styles), but in that Christmas ep, all the girls were wearing babydoll dresses, with the exception of TJ and Viki. I was like "Wha---?!" In real life, when I went to the graduation at my old high school of the class after me, the older sister of one of the graduates (who was 23 at the time), was wearing a babydoll dress. They come from that rich, conservative (aka boring) type of family. She looked ridiculous. Back to the point---the original girls lost their individual sense of style, and being that these "girls" were well out of their teens, the show was trying in any way whatsoever to keep them looking young and innocent.

PS: I always thought Leslie Bega was pretty during "HOTC," and loved her sense of fashion on the show. (For instance, I loved that outfit she wore on the volleyball ep. The metal cuff she wore is defintely what girls are wearing now. I wish I could look that cute during gym/exercise!) I did think she got thin during her last season on the show, which I find odd since she never seemed heavy to me at all.

Another thing.

I thought Maria's attitude changed throuhout the season. I thought she was mean and nasty during the first half of season 1, but as soon as the makeup got lighter, she seemed a lot nicer.

Season 2---the eyebrows! All the minority actors had painted-on eyebrows and it looked so obvious. This was way before makeup artists learned about using light eyeshadow on the brows that was close to the brow tone. Jory's eyebrows were so beautiful during season 1, but someone went heavy on the tweezers and black eye liner season 2. And speaking of Jory's look...he went from young, skinny boy to studly man throughout the years. He filled out and got a little muscular as the seasons progressed. His look also went from "school boy" to "cool boy" in Season 3 (from the eps I've seen from Season 3). I never saw Jawaharlal wearing jeans as a regular outfit until the third season. Jory had some 5, 6, and 7 o'clock shadow at the end of Season 2...which he let grow full force for his role as Scuzz on "Growing Pains."