HBO Max Head Of The Class reboot probably big news for guy still real into Head Of The Class
TV Features Head of the Class
Huge news for the vocal and extant members of the collected HoTC community today, as Deadline reports that HBO Max has handed a 10-episode order to Bill Lawrence’s Head Of The Class reboot. The Scrubs and Cougar Town creator will revive the series at the streaming service, where he’ll have to face the laser-like scrutiny of those members of the internet population who still have large chunks of their social lives and identity rooted in their attachment to Class, which is probably what they call the show while living a life that requires a way to quickly truncate Head Of The Class with optimal clarity and speed.
News of the reboot first came to light last year, including Lawrence’s involvement in bringing back the series that made Dan Frischman a household name for residents of a very specific sort of household. (Also, here’s where we have to briefly double-take at being reminded that the series co-starred Dan Schneider, who would later go on to create a massive TV empire for Nickelodeon before being quietly excised from the company’s rolls after allegations of inappropriate behavior. Anyway!) The series also starred Howard Hesseman, later replaced by Billy Connolly in the final season, plus Robin Givens, William G. Schilling, and several other actors young and old alike, playing the administrators and members of a class of gifted high school students.
Lawrence’s version, meanwhile, has One Day At A Time star Isabella Gomez hopping from one reboot to the next, playing a supportive teacher operating in the Hesseman role. Jorge Diaz, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, Gavin Lewis, Dior Goodjohn, Brandon Severs, Adrian Matthew Escalona, and Katie Beth Hall are all set to co-star. (Oh, plus Christa Miller, because you’re obviously not going to have a Bill Lawrence show without Christa Miller popping up from time to time.)
Anyway, we can’t wait to see what sort of debate breaks out about the reboot on the official Head Of The Class message boards, just as soon as a second person decides to register for an account.
51 Comments
You can’t write about Bill Lawrence and not mentionTed Lasso! If Bill Lawrence can take a 2013 commercial and turn it into one of the best shows of 2020, I’m sure he can handle this. (And no Christa Miller in Ted Lasso!)
I was just thinking about Class last night! Man I wish they’d used Jasper Kwan more. Being Chinese Canadian, he was my guy!!!
Bill Lawrence doesn’t get enough credit for how successful his TV resume is.Worked on the first season of Friends.Created Or at least helped created, Spin City, Scrubs, Clone High, Cougar Town, Ground Floor, and Ted Lasso.
Is Isabella Gomez even old enough to be a teacher?
If Neil Patrick Harris can be a doctor, then there’s no age limit for teachers.
I remember the original series rather fondly, especially Mr. Moore’s history stories and the episode where they put on Little Shop of Horrors.
Vintage Hughes. How dare people like things!
Based on the comments here he clearly underestimated the level of fondness people actually have for this show
Really Billy Connolly was only on the last season? I was really little and barely remember HotC – but I remember him being on it a lot.
i thought he was on there more than one season.
Nothing against Mr. C, but it really jumped the shark by then.
what was the explanation for Hesseman’s character leaving? To become a TV actor or something? Wild..
There’s a part of me that always thinks of Billy Connolly as that guy who took over Head of the Class.
My uncle was a WB accountant and worked on the show. He and my aunt got to head over with the production crew to Russia for those episodes. They had a great time, but was always worried. He was on the trip because WB needed someone from accounting to handle the large bag of cash for bribes, used to ensure everything proceeded smoothly.
I admit, I loved it as a kid though I had lost interest by the time Billy came on. It was a rare sitcom that I remember our dad would watch with us too… But my main memories are of a two parter (?) where they went to the USSR and, of course, the musical theatre episodes which I think were devoted to Grease, Little Shop of Horrors and Hair (with musical theatre royalty Elaine Stritch–who I think also popped up on the Cosby Show–as someone very upset that the school was doing Hair. I wanna say there was some subplot where it turned out her son was drafted and died in Vietnam or something and that’s why she was upset about the show, not because of all the nudity and stuff 😛 )
It was a little bit the nudity. She was uptight.
The only episodes I remember are Russia ones. Especially the smuggling jeans.
The only episode I remember is the Little Shop of Horrors episode.Oh, and one episode where Dennis steals all the credit for a project he did with another student.
No hot redhead? No sale.
Khrystyne Haje…she was VERY important to 11 year old me.
She’s currently in a commercial for some cancer drug. She’s a mom watching her kid at a recital or something.
I’m a couple of years older than you, and I admit that she was a major reason I continued to watch the show. I mean, it was an enjoyable show in general as well, but yeah.
And she hooked up with greaser dude. Why were greasers so popular in the 80’s?
Because of Back to the Future making the 50s super trendy.
Grease revivals.
Idealization of the 50s by Saint Ronny in his campaign to “Make America Great Again”. Before all those pesky civil rights and feminazis and war protestors.
Fun true story, the summer of 91, I went to Mexico with my hippie aunt and her eccentric electrical engineer husband, specifically to view the total solar eclipse with a telescope I had built myself (I basically could have been on the show). While letting random tourists look through the telescope on the beach, I was approached by an absolute vision of redheaded loveliness. It was Khrystyne Haje. I basically shoved some little kid out of the way to let her look at the celestial phenomenon. I stammered that I loved the show, and her character. She smiled sweetly and thanked me. She seemed genuinely impressed that I had been in the gifted program and had built the telescope. Unfortunately, she was with some model-looking dude who I think may have been some sort actual prince? But at least in Cabo they don’t card teenagers so I was able to get wasted on margaritas with my uncle and cousin later.
Alicia Witt can be the principal or headmistress or anything really, I love her.
Yup
I had forgotten this show existed. I only remember Hesseman as Johnny Fever.
More music. Les Nessman.
Excuse me, that’s DOCTOR Johnny Fever.
BOOGERRRRRRRRRRR!
But..what about Jawaharlal?????
Wait, there are people who don’t like Head of The Class?It’s a classic.
I watched this as a kid, mostly because it had Dr. Johnny Fever on it. I’m still waiting for the Welcome Back Kotter reboot with Travolta as the teacher.
The opening credits can have him flying a jumbo jet to school and trying to park it in the tough inner city streets.
And a very special episode featuring guest star Xenu…
The one thing I remember from this show is that in the pilot, Hesseman explained that baseball caused the first World War.Or something like that. He was always teaching his students about big historical events from the perspective of “they all actually started from this one little thing.”I remember one of the students (the ultra-Conservative one) reacting to the WWI reveal with “By that logic, if Ronald Reagan had been a better actor, we wouldn’t have the Star Wars program.” and Hesseman gave him a “Well, yeah” nod, which blew this student’s mind.
Also, Dan Schneider, who was always the overweight character, lost a lot of weight between seasons later in the show (I think it was gastro-bypass surgery?) Anyway, in the first episode of the following season the character had been away for the summer at a fat camp (?) and showed up wearing a bulky coat looking the same weight, so all the other students were disappointed that he hadn’t lost any weight. Then he took off his coat and showed his new look (having lost all that weight) and it got a huge reaction from the cast and the audience.
This show made to the other side of the Pond and I think the only episode I can properly remember is when they go to NASA. Arvid spots a (deliberate) mistake in some calculation on the wall, which impressed the boffins there.
We actually watched the first couple of episodes a few weeks ago and the one line that stuck out to me is when they were asked where they saw themselves in 10 years and Simone said “married to Woody Allen.” Pure cringe, for all the reasons.
Lawrence’s version, meanwhile, has One Day At A Time star Isabella Gomez hopping from one reboot to the next, playing a supportive teacher operating in the Hesseman role. What, is Hesseman not alive anymore to play the part?Wait…is Hesseman not alive anymore?**-I’ve always liked him, and I like the fact that he’s one of those people who I can’t say should have been more popular than he was (Martin Mull) or was way more popular than he deserved (Rob Schneider). Howard Hesseman’s celebrity level…just about right.
Martin Mull was a phenomenal comedic actor, a musician who nearly ended up in Jimi Hendrix’s band, and a trained painter. There’s no way he shouldn’t be more popular.
But every time he shows up we’re all like…
Make Robin Givens the school principal.Note to the writers’ room: No Mike Tyson jokes.Note to nitpickers: yes, I’m aware they’re no longer married.
I was in high school when Head of the Class started, and I enjoyed it, at least for the first few seasons. The actor who played Alan was cute, so that helped, but I also liked that it was about smart kids.
I came across a rerun of it not too long ago, and I don’t think it’s held up too well. Very much a corny sitcom of its time.
I did not expect this!
Not that I’m some “Head of the Class” purist (it was a clear Kotter knock-off even to this teenager back in the late ‘80s), but the concept of this sounds less like reboot and more like the continuing trend of taking a TOTALLY different plot and tying a thin thread to a nostalgic property.Like AP Bio is more in the tradition of Head of the Class than this reboot sounds like. It’s basically going to be Scrubs meets AP Bio.
The only thing I remember about this show was the time they went to the Soviet Union and smuggled a bunch of jeans to sell to the Russian masses.
I’ll never forget how HoTC included a throwaway joke that required a knowledge of calculus to get. Got a huge laugh in the dorm lounge when I was in nerd school