Head of the Class

I learned something new everyday from this show. I wish mr. moore was my teacher in high school. It's just a dynamic classroom situation comedy with all the stereotypes there, like an 80's movie only in small doses. I'm sorry it's no "friends" or "er", but I think it got messages about growing up across simply enough, and it a really fun, friendly show.

This show is very funny. Another show from 1986. I never saw it when it was actually on TV. Most of the 80's was spent watching The Cosby Show for me. I was a child. So I have to watch all the best shows of my time on Nick at Nite and TV Land 20+ years later.

Now that I'm watching it, I know what I've been missing.

Most shows today don't even begin to meet the standards shows like this have set.

Charlie Moore (Howard Hesseman) is the new substitute history teacher for the IHP (Individual Honors Program) in New York City's Fillmore High. He has faced the toughest kids but he has never had kids like these. Principal Dr. Samuels wants them to remain his winning academic machines but Charlie befriends them like regular kids. Bernadette Meara is the sympathetic assistant principal. Arvid Engen and Dennis Blunden are nerdy best friends. Alan Pinkard is the preppy conservative. Eric Mardian is the biker with brains forced into the class by his mother. He likes the poetry-loving Simone Foster. Darlene Merriman is the spoiled rich girl. Maria Borges is grades obsessed and grounds herself for getting a B. Janice Lazarotto is the ten year old. Sarah Nevins is a nice girl and Jawaharlal Choudhury is from India. When their regular history teacher Mr. Thomas retires, Charlie becomes their permanent teacher. T.J. Jones is a sassy remedial student who works her way into the class. The fourth season has Maria, Jawaharlal, and Janice leaving the class while Alex Torres, Viki Amory, T.J., and Aristotle McKenzie join the class. Later that year, Jasper Kwong joins the already overcrowded class. In the fifth and final season, Charlie Moore leaves the job to pursue his acting dreams. Billy MacGregor (Billy Connolly) is the new Scottish teacher.

I watched this middling network teacher/student sitcom back in the day. It follows the tradition of Welcome Back, Kotter (1975-1979) but these are "nerds". There are more kids which does limit their individual stories. They are big character tropes who are built up over time. I like Khrystyne Haje with her wild red hair and big heart. She presents a romantic possibility which this show never truly exploited. For the first three seasons, this show doesn't get too soapy. Only Eric and Simone really walk that path. This is old style network high school dramedy. For the fourth season, there is a large change over and not just the truncated opening credits. The changes in the cast signal the beginning of the end. Even if the missing three are not the stars of the show, they are part of the family. At least, T.J. has a good introduction and organically joins the group. The others are much less successful. Aristotle is nothing more than a throw-in boyfriend for T.J. Viki is the unattainable hot new girl and Alex is the hot-blooded Latino. I prefer Jasper and T.J.'s introduction although there are too many students to have continuous individual stories. In season five, Billy Connolly takes over for the departing Howard Hesseman. Billy is trying too hard to be wacky and funny. It's the wrong tone. The show never took off or fell off from its middling ratings. This show is limited by the high school time. There is a short-lived spin off with Billy Connolly but it goes nowhere. It's also noteworthy that Dan Schneider would become a highly successful teen show producer. The cast is a likable group and this is a solid 80's network show.

In my opinion "Head of the Class" was one of the more overlooked and underrated primetime sitcoms of the mid to late 80's. The reason why I say this is, of course in the same era as "The Cosby Show", most shows like these get overlooked. Some of the cast members went on to act in motion pictures and other TV shows after the series ended in 1991. I guess the initial draw to the show was Howard Hesseman because like mamy of you, I remember his days on "WKRP in Cincinnati" as the popular "Johnny Fever". I wish it could come on syndication because they made the required 100 episodes for it to go in that format. They made history by being the first U.S. sitcom to film episodes in the Soviet Union. I would love to see a reunion show in the near future, but still, for this show to stay on network TV for five seasons with a relatively unknown cast of characters, even with the standards that "The Cosby Show" had set, that is saying something. To sum it all up "Head of the Class" was one of those overlooked shows that have become Cult Classics.

One of the ABC's best at the time. It provided an enjoyable half hour, with plenty of laugh's. Howard Hesseman guided the shows overachievers through 4 seasons of well written comedy. Many of the episodes had a moral to them that is missing from most sitcoms of today, even the so called "family" sitcom's.

The fifth season however did not fair well after Hesseman's departure, However, he was there to give us four solid seasons. It's sort of relevant to Phil Hartmans almost four year's on NewsRadio, before his death, and consequently the show folded without him.