The S1E1 Podcast

S1E1: Welcome Back, Kotter

"Welcome Back, Kotter" was a classic sitcom that first premiered on September 9, 1975, on the ABC network. The show was created by Gabe Kaplan, who also played the character, Gabe Kotter, a former Sweathog who returns to his alma mater to teach a group of underprivileged students. Kaplan drew on his own experiences growing up in Brooklyn to create the show's setting and characters. The Sweathogs, a group of lovable but misguided students were based on his own high school friends. A young John Travolta was cast as the charismatic lead Sweathog, Vinnie Barbarino. The show even took on a second life in the 90's when reruns were aired as part of "Kotter Fridays" on Nick at Nite.
"Welcome Back, Kotter" was an instant hit with audiences, drawing in large viewership numbers and earning critical acclaim for its humor and relatable characters. It was a groundbreaking sitcom that tackled serious issues such as poverty, race, and social class while still delivering laugh-out-loud moments. Its enduring popularity has made it a classic of 1970s television, and its influence can still be felt in many modern sitcoms today. Listen in as the S1E1 boys do a deep dive on the shows first televised episode, "The Great Debate".
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Starring: Gabe Kaplan, Marcia Strassman, John Sylvester White, Robert Hegyes, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Ron Palillo, John Travolta, Debralee Scott, & James Woods
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S1E1: Blossom

In the late '80s renowned television writer Don Reo developed a show based on the novel The Catcher in the Rye. The idea was to create a series about a wise-beyond-his-years, introspective teenage boy. NBC loved the screenplay but had one change, make theain character a girl. From this "Blossom" was born. Mayim Bialik was cast for the lead role and the Pilot episode was aired on July 1990 as a tester and after a little retooling premiered with a full season six months later. The show went on to have a very successful 5 season run.
Did Blossom have a hot show right from the first episode or was all the retooling necessary? Listen as we deep dive the show's first episode.
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Starring: Mayim Bialik, Barrie Youngfellow, Joey Lawrence, Michael Stoyanov, Jenna von Oÿ, Richard Masur, Debra Stipe, Justin Whalin, & Kelly Packard
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S1E1: Everybody Hates Chris

"Everybody Hates Chris" is a show inspired by comedian Chris Rock's memories growing up in Brooklyn. And even though everybody seems to love Raymond, unfortunately the same sentiment is not shared towards Chris. Although it seems odd to think that anybody other than Will and Jada could hate Chris Rock. The show is somewhat autobiographic but plenty of elements of the story have been changed for television. Real life Chris has a different amount of siblings and even grew up a decade earlier than what the show depicts, so don't try using this show to write any book reports.
Changes aside the show was met with a lot of critical acclaim through its 4 season run and talks of bringing it back as an animated series have recently been announced. With all that being said does this show knock it out of the park right from the start? Find out as we deep dive the first episode, "Everybody Hates The Pilot".
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Starring: Tyler James Williams, Terry Crews, Tichina Arnold, Tequan Richmond, Imani Hakim, Vincent Martella, Chris Rock, & Travis Flory
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S1E1: Happy Days

It's hard to find a person that has never seen Happy Days. This iconic show which represented life in the '50s is easily regarded as one of the most popular shows of the '70s. Set in Milwaukee, WI we meet Richie Cunningham, an all American boy and join him in his day to day interacting with his friends and family. The show was met with moderate success but by its second season was already seeing a dip in the ratings. To counter this the show's creator, Gary Marshall retooled the format a bit focusing on broad comedy and increasing the role of a minor character, a cool biker who went by the name of "Fonzie". These changes quickly turned Happy Days into the number 1 program by the mid '70s. Fonzie became a pop culture phenomenon and became one of the most merchandised characters in television history.
Despite the majority of the show's success coming after the seconds season, is there enough in the show's pilot the warrant a green-light? Listen as the boys do a deep dive on Happy Day's pilot episode, "All The Way".
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Starring: Ron Howard, Marion Ross, Anson Williams, Tom Bosley, Henry Winkler, Don Most, Gavan O'Herlihy, Erin Moran, & Kathy O'Dare
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S1E1: Live Bonus Episode (03/09/23)

In celebration of the release of our 100th episode, we decided to go live for the first time for a very special bonus episode. Here we go over some of our backstory, the story of how our show came to be, and take questions from you!
(NOTE: This is the audio straight from the live video)
CLICK HERE TO WATCH ON YOUTUBE
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S1E1: Seinfeld

Seinfeld is without a doubt one of the biggest shows of all time. The show was widely popular throughout its 9 season run and somehow 25 years since its final episode still remains one of the most watched shows through syndication and streaming. Its modern day pop culture relevance is insurmountable. However, "The Show About Nothing" was nearly "The Show That Never Was". When the pilot was originally tested the results were overwhelmingly negative. Somehow the episode still made it to air and viewers seemingly liked it more than the initial test audience. This eventually lead to a four episode season being ordered which was the smallest order in US TV history. The rest is pretty much history.
Will the S1E1 guys side with the test audience or will they be giving it the green-light? Find out as they deep dive Seinfeld's pilot episode, "The Seinfeld Chronicles".
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Starring: Jerry Seinfeld, Michael Richards, Lee Garlington, Jason Alexander, & Pamela Brull
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S1E1: Frasier

When you look at some of the greatest sitcoms of all times many either had a spin-off series or there were at least plans to make one. Cheers was no different. Only four months after the bar where everybody knows your name closed for the final time we found ourselves once again catching up with Dr. Frasier Crane. The producers of the new show didn't want the network demanding that his Cheers costars fill the first season with guest spots so they decided to take the character and move him as far from Boston as possible. Now we see Frasier moving back to his hometown of Seattle to work as the host of a call-in psychiatry show on talk radio.
"Frasier" went on to be one of the most critically acclaimed comedy series of all time and one of the most successful spin-off series in television history. Despite the show's pilot episode winning multiple Emmy Awards, can it also successfully earn itself an S1E1 green-light? Listen as we deep dive Episode 1 of Frasier, "The Good Son".
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Starring: Kelsey Grammer, Jane Leeves, David Hyde Pierce, Peri Gilpin, John Mahoney & Moose The Dog
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S1E1: Are You Being Served?

"Are You Being Served?" is a British sitcom that first premiered in 1972. The show is about the misadventures between the staff of the women's and men's clothing sections who are now forced to share a floor at a large department store. Inspired by one of the show's co-creators experiences working at a clothing store, this show was originally created as part of the Comedy Playhouse series. After the episode was already filmed the BBC actually chose to not broadcast the program. The pilot  eventually got an opportunity to be aired as a filler during the 1972 Summer Olympics when the coverage of the games was interrupted by the Munich massacre on 8 September 1972. The show was well received and actually lead to a full series being produced. This eventually turned into a 10 series run with a movie, spin offs, specials, and international adaptations.
Over 50 years later does the pilot episode still hold up or is it better to leave some things in the past? Find out as we take a deep dive into the original episode of Are You Being Served?
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Starring: Mollie Sugden, Trevor Bannister, Frank Thornton, John Inman, Wendy Richard, Arthur Brough, & Nicholas Smith
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S1E1: New Girl

"New Girl" is a show about a bubbly and quirky teacher in her early 30s named Jess who finds herself living in a loft with three men she found in an ad due to abruptly moving out of her old apartment after catching her boyfriend cheating. The show was inspired by its creator, Elizabeth Meriwether's experiences bouncing from Craigslist sublet to Craigslist sublet, for four years in L.A. when she was in her twenties. Originally working under the title "Chicks & Dicks" the show originally was meant to be more of a "Will & Grace" style comedy before evolving into the more socially oriented version that it became.
After an impressive seven season run does revisiting the show's pilot episode help us see why this show was such a huge hit with a loyal following or are we left leaving comments that will force us to feed the Douchebag Jar. Listen and find out.
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Starring: Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield, Damon Wayans Jr., Hannah Simone, & Mary Elizabeth Ellis
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S1E1: Coach

"Coach" stars Craig T. Nelson as Hayden Fox, the head football coach at Minnesota State University. He created a near perfect life for himself at the campus until one day he was stunned to find out that his daughter who he had barely seen over the last 16 years had decided to enroll there. Now Hayden is forced trying to balance leading a NCAA Division I-A school and being a dad.
The show produced 200 episodes over its nine season run. As we find out, the decision was made to push the original pilot back one spot in order to air the episode "Kelly and the Professor" first. Did ABC make the right call swapping the two? Find out as we deep dive the show's first televised episode.
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Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Jerry Van Dyke, Clare Carey, Bill Fagerbakke, Alan Rosenberg, & Travis McKenna
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