Kotter (Gabe Kaplan) gets his name in the sitcom title as the beleaguered educator working at his old high school, but the "Sweathogs" -the group of lovable delinquents who give him a hard time and occasionally learn something - are the real heads of the class.
(ABC, 1975) First airing in the late '70s and then garnering new pupils in syndication, Welcome Back, Kotter was a celebration of mediocre students and the teacher saddled with them. The show unabashedly explores that in-between part of life that you can't wait to escape because it just seems so torturous at the time, and instead of glorifying it, reveals it for what it truly is: a necessary mess. They're curious about sex in so far as it's something on the periphery that they'll get to, they try to assert their individuality by refusing to wear their blazers to school, and they get excited by pop concerts and fried foods. The coming-of-age comedy, set in '90s Derry, Northern Ireland, follows a group of teen girls (and one boy) who are refreshingly average. Derry Girls falls into neither category and is excellent because it's so universally relatable - even if you didn't attend Catholic school or grow up with your extended family living in your home. One is unattainably aspirational, the other an important reflection of many people's reality. Others are steeped in sex, drugs and general disfunction - cough, Euphoria - as kids battle against overwhelming odds to make it to graduation. (Netflix, 2018) Some teen dramas provide a fantasy: a castle-like campus, complete with Abercrombie & Fitch model-like students and flashy vehicles, like The O.C.