Los primeros de la clase

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.

During the Seventies one of the most popular TV comedies was Welcome Back Kotter which in many ways was the mirror image of Head Of The Class in the Eighties. Kotter was about a teacher essentially babysitting some kids who were marked for life as losers and trying to tell them they necessarily didn't have to be. Head Of The Class was about the education system's cream of the crop, kids with high IQs and great potential. In a sense their home room teacher Howard Hesseman doubled as a guidance counselor.

High IQs and great potential doesn't immunize you from life's problems which are magnified in the teen years. Hessemann usually dealt in each episode with one of the kid's problems either academically or personal. Each kid had a specialty, Brian Robbins who did look like he could have been a James Dean wannabe was a writer. Dan Frischman was an overachieving math genius, son of a mathematics professor as well who never had a social life. His father's idea of fun was doing algorithms with his on. Tannis Vallely had a super IQ and just had trouble fitting in in high school as she was about 10.

Tony O'Dell had an interesting role, maybe the most interesting of the kids. He was a conservative thinking history enthusiast, but was never presented as a figure of ridicule. Hessemann who clearly didn't share his beliefs encouraged him to marshal his arguments and think objectively as the best of teachers do. O'Dell was also clearly looking too old for high school, but his performance was convincing.

William Schilling was the principal who treated these kids like hot house plants had his clashes every week with Hessemann. It was not unlike those that Gabe Kotter had with Mr. Woodman on Kotter. Except the roles were reversed as the principal scoffed at Kotter's concern for these losers and Schilling was concerned lest the egos of the geniuses be bruised. Both situations worked in their respective series.

Head Of The Class really died when Hessemann left. Still it was a wonderful show for the time we had it.

I found this to be an above average sitcom. I liked the idea of a group of gifted kids in an inner city school. Howard Hesseman was superb as Charlie Moore, a rather unconventional teacher taking on a class of kids who were all smarter than him, and he knew it. He knew he couldn't tell them anything they hadn't already heard, so he knew he had to find different ways to engage them and get them to think rather than spout off facts they learned from textbooks. The Principal was a natural rival to Charlie because he didn't want anyone messing with his advanced class, so the friction there was always a plus. The kids always brought in problems that other teens face and Charlie was always there to lend a sympathetic ear, dispensing wise advice. The show lost quite a bit when Howard Hesseman left and it never recovered. Besides, these smart advanced kids needed to graduate anyway. Good 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.