Season 4 does not make sense

This show came on when I was 8, but I remember not watching it for very long. That was just so odd how it had such appeal and just the same lost it so quickly.

This was the norm with shows back then. Two other sitcoms this occurred with was What's Happening? and Carter Country.

I just looked at one episode where Arnold gets drunk and hits a girl. I'd forgotten I'd seen Della Reese on here before. I keep forgetting she appeared on the show. I just know nothing about these shows after Beau joined.

Granted, many of the episodes from even the second season are vague to me. I didn't care for when they dealt with 'issues'.

But I remember it was just phenomenal when it started. It still boggles my mind it could tank so quickly.

By season 4 Gabe Kaplan had enough with James Komack and left. Komack got rid of a lot of Kaplan's friends who helped creating the show and Gabe wanted to move the Sweathogs to college cause they got way too old. Also the loss of John Travolta hurt a lot.

I actually like season four a little better than the other seasons because, for me, and for some reason, the absence of Kotter and Barbarino, and the subsequent focus on the rest of the characters, seemed to work out. I enjoyed Barbarino's presence, but sometimes his act of being unaware and naïve went a little too far for me and derailed the proceedings. Best I can explain it.

To respond to the OP's question: you've caught a continuity error, one that often happens when a show is suddenly thrown into disarray and the producers are scrambling to fill airtime. As you pointed out, Beau, played by the 27 year old Stephen Shortridge was part of the gang in early episodes such as Once Upon a Ledge (1978), which aired as ep#4, and one in which he was featured prominently as one of the gang. Then, as you correctly noticed, ep#6 Beau's Jest (1978) "introduces" the new character Beau. Hmm!

Heading into season 4, there was a tremendous amount of turnover. John Travolta became a film star and and basically left the show, appearing in a handful of eps. Gabe Kaplan's appearances were also severely cut back. Additionally most or all of the original writers were fired and replaced. That's a lot to deal with in one production period, so there was likely some last-second shuffling to meet deadlines at the expense of continuity. Episodes were probably being rewritten, re-shot and edited at the last minute to account for the cast and crew turnover.

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wait for iiiit

Originally I hated it when it first aired, but re-watching it on DVD it's not so bad. Beau is okay, and Washington and Epstein get more focus, and they're the funniest ones, anyway. And I don't really mind Gabe Kaplan being out of the picture... I like him okay, but surprisingly didn't miss him much.

Let's not pull punches: Season 4 stunk to high heaven and was intrinsically, unapologetically, downright embarrassingly awful. It was heartbreaking as a young viewer to see such a great show get flushed down the toilet by its creators/writers/broadcasters. How could they be so clueless? Oh, wait: it was the 1970s.