So the pilot episode aired as the THIRD episode?

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The one where Kotter actually came back and met everyone for the first time was the third ep aired? Seems odd (epguides.com agrees with Wikipedia on the dates, so I take it this is true)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List...otter_episodes

https://epguides.com/welcomebackkotter/

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by opus

The one where Kotter actually came back and met everyone for the first time was the third ep aired? Seems odd (epguides.com agrees with Wikipedia on the dates, so I take it this is true)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List...otter_episodes

https://epguides.com/welcomebackkotter/

Attachment 277469

The Great Debate aired first because ABC felt the pilot showed the Sweathoggs as real hoodlums. So they decided to show the two episodes that showed the sweathoggs as not too rough around edge which was dumb

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Originally Posted by TVFactFan

The Great Debate aired first because ABC felt the pilot showed the Sweathoggs as real hoodlums. So they decided to show the two episodes that showed the sweathoggs as not too rough around edge which was dumb

So that was the logic ABC used?

Did they at least film a quick new beginning, with someone saying, "Hey Mr. Kotter, remember your first day?", so ep 3 would look like a flashback?

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by opus

So that was the logic ABC used?

Did they at least film a quick new beginning, with someone saying, "Hey Mr. Kotter, remember your first day?", so ep 3 would look like a flashback?

Boston didnt air the show until Mid October Yeah I guess they didnt think out crazy it would look to the public airing the pilot 3rd

[opus]

Originally Posted by TVFactFan

Boston didnt air the show until Mid October Yeah I guess they didnt think out crazy it would look to the public airing the pilot 3rd

Well, if we go by the ratings at Wikipedia, airing out of order didn’t kill them as the show was still successful (but yeah, still weird)

I thought Kotter was a bigger hit though. Top ten at least. But at Wikipedia it says it’s highest ranking was 13, and 18 and 26 the other two seasons , before plummeting and dying in season 4.

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by opus

Well, if we go by the ratings at Wikipedia, airing out of order didn’t kill them as the show was still successful (but yeah, still weird)

I thought Kotter was a bigger hit though. Top ten at least. But at Wikipedia it says it’s highest ranking was 13, and 18 and 26 the other two seasons , before plummeting and dying in season 4.

Attachment 277561

Top 20 for sure the first two seasons

[opus]

Antenna went back to the beginning today and ran the pilot episode first. So looks like in syndication the order has been corrected. Don’t know if this happened immediately when Kotter first went into syndication way back when or if the pilot continued to run third for awhile before someone finally realized that was dumb.

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by opus

Antenna went back to the beginning today and ran the pilot episode first. So looks like in syndication the order has been corrected. Don’t know if this happened immediately when Kotter first went into syndication way back when or if the pilot continued to run third for awhile before someone finally realized that was dumb.

It always been that way in syndication