Welcome Back, Kotter is an American television sitcom that originally aired on the ABC network from September 9, 1975 to June 8, 1979. The show stars comedian Gabe Kaplan as the title character Gabe Kotter, a wise-cracking teacher who returns to his high school alma mater — the fictional James Buchanan High in Brooklyn, New York — to teach an often unruly group of remedial wiseguys known as the "Sweathogs" (the nickname reflecting the fact that the remedial classes were held on the very top floor of the high school). The school's principal was perpetually absent, while the uptight vice principal dismissed the Sweathogs as worthless hoodlums and only expected Kotter to attempt to control them until they inevitably dropped out.