Laurence Lerman

 “I never thought the show was gonna get picked up in the first place,” Ron Palillo told me in an interview last week. The show, of course, is the classic Seventies sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, in which Palillo portrayed a Brooklyn high school “Sweathog” by the name of Arnold Horshack. And the occasion for our chat is this week’s release of Kotter’s first season on DVD (Sony, $29.99 srp)

 

Palillo is thrilled that the show that made him a star is finally getting the digital treatment and those who've only seen the show in syndication could benefit the most.
 

“The good thing about this DVD thing as that they chopped minutes out of the show when they went into syndication,” he said. ”Now it’ll be really nice to see the shows the way they were originally done.”

 

Reminiscing alongside Palillo on the DVD supplement are series stars Gabe Kaplan and Marcia Strassman, as well as fellow Sweathogs Robert Hegyes and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs. Notably absent from the proceeding is John Travolta, who launched his career as Sweathog Vinnie Barbarino.

 

“I don’t know why John didn’t want to do this – it’s not my turn to watch him,” Palillo laughed. “Welcome Back, Kotter—it’s history now. I can’t change it even if I want to. So why would I want to pretend it never happened. Now it’s time to celebrate it!

 

Following his four years of work on Kotter, Palillo continued to work in television (he appeared on countless series of the era including The Love Boat, Alice and The A Team), theater and film. His most renowned motion picture appearance is a victim of Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, wherein he is slayed before the opening credits.

 

“I did that role as a favor and since I knew they were going to spend more money on my scenes at the beginning than on the rest of the film,” Palillo laughed.

 

“I’ve been told that Time Magazine said I was the only reason to watch the movie,” he added. "Jason pulls my heart out—it was fun.”