MovieChat Forums > Welcome Back, Kotter (1975) Discussion > The problem with Class room extras

The problem with Class room extras

posted 7 years ago by imbluzclooby
6 replies | jump to latest

I often wondered, while watching this show which almost entirely took place in the classroom, that the extras were always there, but never had any speaking parts. I often thought it was extremely annoying and completely unrealistic for a classroom situation to only have 4 or 5 people doing all the talking and getting all the attention. Don't you think that at least the dozen others could peep up, walk around or act up now and then? At least frequently? And this bugged the Crap out of me to the core so much that I hated this show.

[–] bookman7772000 7 years ago

I agree. Too ridiculous, even for a sitcom.

[–] SuperInsano 7 years ago

I love the show, but yeah it was really stupid that none of the extras ever spoke. I wish they would've incorporated the classroom extras into the storylines more often. They could've kept the show going for many more years if they did or even if they replaced the original Sweathogs with new ones every year just like a real school would. Kotter would remain the teacher but a new set of students every year. It was sad seeing 30 year-olds playing teenagers.

[–] stevewyzard (1241) 2 years ago

In the first two seasons, the classroom extras actually did occasionally have speaking parts, the most obvious being Verna Jean. Starting with the 3rd season, your assessment is correct: the other members of the class almost literally became props.

[–] thbryn (226) 2 years ago

The first post was kind of obsessed by this aspect...but if you don't expect much from a cheaply made sitcom of the 70's it really wasn't that surprising.

The characters -other than Kaplan of course- were all pretty annoying in their mannerisms. The constant mugging for the camera ( Horshack, Washington, Epstein) was a turn off.

[–] SandyR (7330) 2 years ago

It's weird that fiction is sometimes...fiction.

[–] SandyR (7330) 10 months ago

[deleted]