This popular situation comedy was the flip side of Welcome Back, Kotter. Instead of underachieving "sweathogs," its focus was on the over achieving honor students at Manhattan's Milliard Fillmore High School. They were so brainy, in fact, that most of their former teachers had just read books while they taught themselves. Enter substitute teacher Charlie Moore, who realized that while these kids were long on facts, they were painfully short on maturity, and could use a few lessons from "the Book of Life" before they faced the real world.

Dr. Samuels was the principal, wary of Charlie's disruption of academic routine but generally supportive; and Bernadette, the energetic assistant principal. The class included Arvid, the classic nerd with glasses, pocket slide rule, and polyester pants; Maria, so driven that when she got a "B" she grounded herself; Simone, the poet; Jawaharlal, the word-mangling exchange student; Eric, the "cool dude" who hated being so smart that he was put with the geeks; Janice, a 12-year-old genius who hadn't had time to grow up; Alan the proto-yuppie; Darlene, the uptown rich girl; and Dennis, the chunky chemistry whiz who loved pizza.

Turnover in the cast was gradual, and many of these fast-track students stayed in class the full five-year run. Oddly, Mr. Moore left before they did, moving on in 1990 to pursue his dream of an acting career. He was replaced by free-spirited Scotsman Billy MacGregor. Another addition was T.J., a remedial-ed "probelm student," whose slow learning had more to do with attitude than intelligence

Cast and Characters

• Howard Hesseman as Charlie Moore (1986-1990)
• Billy Connolly as Billy MacGregor (1990-1991)
• William G. Schilling as Dr. Harold Samuels
• Jeanetta Arnette as Bernadette Meara
• Dan Frischman as Arvid Engen
• Leslie Bega as Maria Borges (1986-1989)
• Khrystyne Haje as Simone Foster
• Jory Husain as Jawaharlal Choudhury (1986-1989)
• Brian Robbins a Eric Mardian
• Tannis Vallely as Janice Lazarotto (1986-1989)
• Tony 0'Dell as Alan Pinkard
• Robin Givens as Darlene Merriman
• Daniel J. Schneider as Dennis Blunden
• Kimberly Russel as Sarah Nevis
• Rain Pryor as T.J. Jones (1988-1991)
• De Voreaux White as Aristotle McKenzie (1989-1991)
• Michael DeLorenzo as Alex Torres (1989-1991)
• Lara Piper as Viki Amory (1989-1991)
• Jonathan Ke Quan as Jasper Kwong (1990-1991)

Broadcast History, Episode Guide & TV Schedule

First Telecast: Setember 17, 1986
Last Telecast: June 25, 1991
Number of Seasons: 5
Number of Episodes: 114
Original Network: ABC
Original Primetime TV Schedule:

• September 1986- February 1987, ABC, Wednesday 8:30-9030pm
• April 1987- June 1989, ABC, Wednesday 8:30-9:30pm
• August 1989- August 1990, ABC, Wednesday 8:30-9030pm
• September 1990- January 1991, ABC, Tuesday 8:30-9030pm
• May 1991- June 1991, ABC, Tuesday 8:30-9030pm

Theme Song Lyrics and Intro

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