Thoughts On Beau and The Final Season - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Dr. Thong · 07-24-2001, 11:48 AM

I've been watching the episodes I taped from the TV Land Marathon and one thing becomes apparent: There were some pretty weak shows during the last season.

I think the worst example was the episode where Horshack refused to dissect a frog - not so much the fact that he didn't want to do it, but the whiny way he went about protesting.

And while I suppose it was admirable they tackled the subject of teenage drinking, Arnold Horshack is not my idea of the poster boy for alcoholism. I guess he was touched by an angel, because he reformed in the end and devoted himself to the woman of his dreams.

As for Beau, he was pretty much just there for the most part. He was just a fill-in except for the episodes where they focused on his practical jokes. Thankfully, there were only a couple of those.

I noticed there were even episodes where Horshack, Mrs. Kotter and Woodman were missing. Let's dilute the cast even further and really make it bad!

I also think it's funny that Gabriel Kaplan is listed in the opening credits for each episode when he appeared in less episodes than John Travolta, who was credited as a "Special Guest Star" only when he appeared.

It's too bad "Kotter" had to do down in such a blaze of mediocrity. The first three seasons were great, but the fourth one made you want to put the show out of its misery - which ABC did in 1979.

07-24-2001, 02:46 PM

I honestly hate the episodes with Beau! I like the First,Second, and third season but after that forget it!

Dr. Thong · 07-24-2001, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Kotter_Fan:
I honestly hate the episodes with Beau! I like the First,Second, and third season but after that forget it!

Half the time, you're looking at Beau and wondering "Why is this guy here."

Obviously, they needed a fourth full-time Sweathog, but Barbarino he wasn't!

Richard · 07-24-2001, 05:46 PM

AMEN!

The title character(Kotter,that is)rarely appeared in the last season-and the shows from that season I saw even less rarely.

luvinjuan1980 · 07-24-2001, 08:38 PM

Beau is the missing link.

I mean look at Juan, Freddie, Horshack and
Vinnie (when he was on) and it's so clear that Beau should have stayed down South.

07-24-2001, 08:44 PM

I couldn't agree more.

07-24-2001, 09:50 PM

Yeah that whole thing was just plain wrong they should've made Carvelli as Sweathog

Buckeye Deb · 07-25-2001, 08:45 PM

I don't think it was as funny as the first three seasons but that does happen...... when you lose a scene stealer like Travolta, you are in TROUBLE!!!!!!!! The others were good but the combination along with Travolta was magic!

luvinjuan1980 · 07-26-2001, 01:11 PM

I also would rather see Carvelli and Murray as Sweathogs than Beau.

I think Beau could somehow be related to
Lyle Flanagan, that guy who went to school with Gabe.

[This message has been edited by luvinjuan1980 (edited 07-26-2001).]

ThomasE · 09-24-2001, 01:50 PM

Let's give Beau some credit. It was not his fault. The show was just watered down-weak in the last season. No Mr. Kotter,less Vinnie and if you noticed, the sweahogs wore regular clothes.
--------------

Judy Borden: Vinnie you're so low that you could crawl under a pregnant ant.

70'schick · 11-26-2001, 11:32 PM

When Beau came on this show definitely "Jumped the Shark"........... he was Awful

Mr. Garrett · 12-02-2001, 08:04 AM

Here's my 2 cents on the demise of WBK:

WBK was a classic "what could have been" with other inner city classics like The White Shadow and Chico and the Man. If anyone was born to be on WBK it was Freddie Prinze Sr. (Who was cast as Chico and CATM and WBK both debuted at the same time.) Had Freddie lived he could have replaced Travolta. Nobody else could have stolen scenes like he did.

Gabe Kaplan self destructed off the set almost exactly the same way as Rerun did on What's Happening. This caused the demise of both shows. Rerun was a set cancer that was always holding out for more money and trying to get his castmates to do the same. Gabe was from many accounts a control freak and also had more then his share of money battles with ABC. Ultimately the network reached a point where Gabe had threatened to leave so many times that they finally let him. Add this with all the writers Gabe fired in the meantime and John Travolta's rise to movie stardom and you have a ship with no captain or an anchor waiting to hit a reef and sink.

To save the show they tried to make Horschack a serious character. This was suicide because Ron's range wasn't strong enough to pull this off and one could no longer like him as a character. Beau isn't even worthy of discussing but he was possibly the most miscast person in tv history. He added nothing to the show and was the weakest link, not the missing link, goodbye!

The biggest blow of all may have been a network swipe at Gabe when Mr. Woodman started telling uncle jokes at the end of episodes. This was the end of the line and this broken down horse was sent to the woodshed around that time.

It's too bad because this show could have been one of the greats!

L8'r

Mr. Garrett

------------------
I am NOT going to be known as Sexy Lingere!
Jo

Cheryl Harrell · 12-04-2001, 09:10 AM

Yeah, Freddie Prinze would've been great on KOTTER...

Sean Snow · 12-05-2001, 07:32 PM

I'm not sure if he'd be able to do 'Kotter'...if he lived 'Chico' prob. wouldn't have gone overboard until around 1979, and he might have been bined to a contract by NBC.

BTW, Kaplan didn't fire the writers from what I've heard. James Komack is said to have done that.....Komack handeled Kotter very badly....he purposly started a fight between Marcia Strassmen and Gabe Kaplan. Also, did anyone notice how different Gabe looked in "The Breadwinners"? I didn't even know who it was at first!

luvinjuan1980 · 12-18-2001, 11:51 PM

Yeah, that's right, i remember that from the E Hollywood story.
Also, another thing about James Komack. Robert Hegyes, on his own site, said that Komack wasn't a very stable person.

But yeah, he did fire Kaplan's writers and hired writers from the Carol Burnett Show.

07-24-2001, 11:48 AM	#1
Dr. Thong a/k/a "ACK!" Forum Veteran Join Date: Jul 10, 2001 Location: New Hampshire, USA Posts: 5,546	Thoughts On Beau and The Final Season I've been watching the episodes I taped from the TV Land Marathon and one thing becomes apparent: There were some pretty weak shows during the last season. I think the worst example was the episode where Horshack refused to dissect a frog - not so much the fact that he didn't want to do it, but the whiny way he went about protesting. And while I suppose it was admirable they tackled the subject of teenage drinking, Arnold Horshack is not my idea of the poster boy for alcoholism. I guess he was touched by an angel, because he reformed in the end and devoted himself to the woman of his dreams. As for Beau, he was pretty much just there for the most part. He was just a fill-in except for the episodes where they focused on his practical jokes. Thankfully, there were only a couple of those. I noticed there were even episodes where Horshack, Mrs. Kotter and Woodman were missing. Let's dilute the cast even further and really make it bad! I also think it's funny that Gabriel Kaplan is listed in the opening credits for each episode when he appeared in less episodes than John Travolta, who was credited as a "Special Guest Star" only when he appeared. It's too bad "Kotter" had to do down in such a blaze of mediocrity. The first three seasons were great, but the fourth one made you want to put the show out of its misery - which ABC did in 1979.

07-24-2001, 02:46 PM	#2
Kotter_Fan Guest Posts: n/a	I honestly hate the episodes with Beau! I like the First,Second, and third season but after that forget it!
Kotter_Fan Guest Posts: n/a

07-24-2001, 08:44 PM	#6
Kotter_Fan Guest Posts: n/a	I couldn't agree more.
Kotter_Fan Guest Posts: n/a

07-24-2001, 09:50 PM	#7
HiThere Guest Posts: n/a	Yeah that whole thing was just plain wrong they should've made Carvelli as Sweathog
HiThere Guest Posts: n/a

12-05-2001, 07:32 PM	#14
Sean Snow moo Forum Fanatic Join Date: May 06, 2001 Location: Georgia Posts: 10,408	Just My Opinion Here...... I'm not sure if he'd be able to do 'Kotter'...if he lived 'Chico' prob. wouldn't have gone overboard until around 1979, and he might have been bined to a contract by NBC. BTW, Kaplan didn't fire the writers from what I've heard. James Komack is said to have done that.....Komack handeled Kotter very badly....he purposly started a fight between Marcia Strassmen and Gabe Kaplan. Also, did anyone notice how different Gabe looked in "The Breadwinners"? I didn't even know who it was at first!
	__________________ If by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal." - John F. Kennedy

07-24-2001, 05:46 PM	#4
Richard Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Dec 01, 2000 Location: Cleveland,Ohio-USA Posts: 352	AMEN! The title character(Kotter,that is)rarely appeared in the last season-and the shows from that season I saw even less rarely.

07-24-2001, 08:38 PM	#5
luvinjuan1980 Member Forum Regular Join Date: Jun 08, 2001 Location: West Sand Lake, NY Posts: 568	Beau is the missing link. I mean look at Juan, Freddie, Horshack and Vinnie (when he was on) and it's so clear that Beau should have stayed down South.

07-25-2001, 08:45 PM	#8
Buckeye Deb Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jul 23, 2001 Location: Nelsonville, OH, USA Posts: 28	I don't think it was as funny as the first three seasons but that does happen...... when you lose a scene stealer like Travolta, you are in TROUBLE!!!!!!!! The others were good but the combination along with Travolta was magic!

07-26-2001, 01:11 PM	#9
luvinjuan1980 Member Forum Regular Join Date: Jun 08, 2001 Location: West Sand Lake, NY Posts: 568	I also would rather see Carvelli and Murray as Sweathogs than Beau. I think Beau could somehow be related to Lyle Flanagan, that guy who went to school with Gabe. [This message has been edited by luvinjuan1980 (edited 07-26-2001).]

09-24-2001, 01:50 PM	#10
ThomasE Member Moderator Forum Fanatic Join Date: Apr 04, 2000 Location: New York, New York, U.S.A. Posts: 10,857	Let's give Beau some credit. It was not his fault. The show was just watered down-weak in the last season. No Mr. Kotter,less Vinnie and if you noticed, the sweahogs wore regular clothes. -------------- Judy Borden: Vinnie you're so low that you could crawl under a pregnant ant.

11-26-2001, 11:32 PM	#11
70'schick Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Nov 24, 2001 Location: Hicksville Posts: 23	When Beau came on this show definitely "Jumped the Shark"........... he was Awful

12-02-2001, 08:04 AM	#12
Mr. Garrett Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Nov 21, 2001 Location: Appleton, Wisconsin, USA Posts: 48	Here's my 2 cents on the demise of WBK: WBK was a classic "what could have been" with other inner city classics like The White Shadow and Chico and the Man. If anyone was born to be on WBK it was Freddie Prinze Sr. (Who was cast as Chico and CATM and WBK both debuted at the same time.) Had Freddie lived he could have replaced Travolta. Nobody else could have stolen scenes like he did. Gabe Kaplan self destructed off the set almost exactly the same way as Rerun did on What's Happening. This caused the demise of both shows. Rerun was a set cancer that was always holding out for more money and trying to get his castmates to do the same. Gabe was from many accounts a control freak and also had more then his share of money battles with ABC. Ultimately the network reached a point where Gabe had threatened to leave so many times that they finally let him. Add this with all the writers Gabe fired in the meantime and John Travolta's rise to movie stardom and you have a ship with no captain or an anchor waiting to hit a reef and sink. To save the show they tried to make Horschack a serious character. This was suicide because Ron's range wasn't strong enough to pull this off and one could no longer like him as a character. Beau isn't even worthy of discussing but he was possibly the most miscast person in tv history. He added nothing to the show and was the weakest link, not the missing link, goodbye! The biggest blow of all may have been a network swipe at Gabe when Mr. Woodman started telling uncle jokes at the end of episodes. This was the end of the line and this broken down horse was sent to the woodshed around that time. It's too bad because this show could have been one of the greats! L8'r Mr. Garrett ------------------ I am NOT going to be known as Sexy Lingere! Jo

12-04-2001, 09:10 AM	#13
Cheryl Harrell I Love You Mike 4-Ever Forum Veteran Join Date: Mar 23, 2001 Location: Pixley!!!! Actually VA--USA LOL! Posts: 6,192	Yeah, Freddie Prinze would've been great on KOTTER...

12-18-2001, 11:51 PM	#15
luvinjuan1980 Member Forum Regular Join Date: Jun 08, 2001 Location: West Sand Lake, NY Posts: 568	Yeah, that's right, i remember that from the E Hollywood story. Also, another thing about James Komack. Robert Hegyes, on his own site, said that Komack wasn't a very stable person. But yeah, he did fire Kaplan's writers and hired writers from the Carol Burnett Show.