Welcome Freshmen
Welcome Freshmen is an American comedy series that ran on Nickelodeon from 1991 to 1994 with reruns until 1996. The show took place at Hawthorne High School with a group of high school students and a bumbling vice principal. Game shows like Get the Picture and Nick Arcade had celebrity episodes starring some of the cast of Welcome Freshmen and Clarissa Explains It All.
| Welcome Freshmen | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | School Students |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Created by | Robert Mittenthal |
| Starring |
|
| Theme music composer | Peter Lauer |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 52 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | Nickelodeon |
| Original release | February 16, 1991 – 1994 |
Welcome Freshmen was filmed at Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Florida.
Seasons 1 and 2
The earlier episodes of the series consisted of comedy sketches that loosely followed a theme. Some of the comedy routines involved a tortoise named Mortise teaching children about safety, a documentarian named Mr. History who talks about past generations of freshmen, the bumbling, freshmen-hating, vice principal Mr. Lippman imagining himself as a stand-up comedian telling really bad jokes that insult freshmen, and a student named Billy Cushman who, though his appearance was occasional, provided not only a good example of how not to behave, but also a good example of flatulence.
Each episode had two or three short skits about the gang's misadventures in high school.
Recurring skits
- Home-Room Announcements-Mr. Lippman, the vice principal, doing the morning announcements (at the same time, imagining how he'd really like to say them as a stand-up format).
- The Merv-U-Mentary-Merv's amateurish attempt at uncovering news and scandals at the high school.
- Mr. History-featuring the gang as high school students of a past time period.
- Mike Who-featuring close-ups of a sidelined high school basketball player driving the crowd wild with a single wave. Eventually cut after vice Principal Lippman said it was too distracting, resulting in a tense showdown between Lippman and Who.
- Mortise the Safety Tortoise
Season 3
In the later episodes, the sketch comedy format was abandoned and Welcome Freshmen became a standard sitcom.
In the third season, the gang became sophomores, except Walter who flunked and was held behind. Merv and Tara left, with Merv skipping the rest of High School and going straight to College, and Tara and her family moving to a Biosphere. New characters came in: Manny and Erin (incoming freshmen) and Grant, a junior who was Erin's brother and soon became Alex's boyfriend. Eventually Walter moves up to sophomore as the teachers all threatened to quit if they had him another year.
Cast
- Jocelyn Steiner as Alex Moore
- Rick Galloway (actor) as Walter Patterson
- Chris Lobban as Kevin St. James
- Veronica Alicino as Miss Topaz
- Arian Waring Ash as Erin Kelly (1993–1994)
- Janis Benson as Miss Petruka
- Brock Bradley as Grant Kelly (1993–1994)
- Nicholas Caruso as Manny Barrington (1993–1994)
- David Rhoden as Merv (1991–1992)
- Jill Setter-Rusk as Tara (1991–1992)
- Mike Speller as Mr. Elliott Lippman
- Nick Barnes as Billy Cushman
- Phil Card as Mr. History
- Tracy Frenkel as Coach Roach and Coach Rochelle
- Jay Martel as Mr. Royd
- Al Arasim as Al Patterson
- John Parker Searles as Mr. Macbroom
- Mark Sarto as Mortise, the Safety Tortoise
Characters
Main Characters
- Walter Patterson: the dim-witted, good-natured, optimistic and laid-back surfer of the group. His stupidity and clumsiness are often the butt of jokes.
- Kevin St. James: the cynical, selfish and egotistical one of the group. He is a smooth talker, a ladies' man and often makes fun of his friends especially Merv, Manny and Walter.
- Alex Moore: a beautiful, popular and fashion-obsessed girly girl. Often vain and materialistic, she is obsessed with her status and has no issues manipulating others for personal gain.
- Tara: the eco-conscious feminist activist of the group. Besides Walter, she is among the nicest of the group though she joins in making fun of others at times.
- Merv: the confident, outgoing and arrogant nerd of the group. Merv is a con artist who uses his smarts to rip off people. He is often seen as an insufferable know-it-all and the butt of his friends' jokes.
- Mr. Elliot Lippman: the tyrannical and incompetent principal of Hawthorne High. He often serves as an antagonist to the main character's schemes though they do not take him seriously.
Additional Main Characters
- Manny Barrington: introduced in the final season, a naive and short-statured nerdy freshman. He befriends the main group who are a grade above him despite them treating him poorly and laughing at his expense.
- Grant Kelly: Erin's brother. Introduced in the final season.
- Erin Kelly: a musically talented freshman who often dresses in a grunge fashion. Introduced in the final season.
Episodes
Season 1 (1991)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "How We Look" | Scott Fishman | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | February 16, 1991 |
| 2 | 2 | "Extra-Curricular Activities" | Scott Fishman | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | February 23, 1991 |
| 3 | 3 | "Mind Games" | Scott Fishman | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | March 2, 1991 |
| 4 | 4 | "Knowledge is Power" | Scott Fishman | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | March 9, 1991 |
| 5 | 5 | "Growing Up" | Scott Fishman | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | March 16, 1991 |
| 6 | 6 | "Technology" | Scott Fishman | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | March 23, 1991 |
| 7 | 7 | "Money" | Scott Fishman | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | March 30, 1991 |
| 8 | 8 | "Authority" | Scott Fishman | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | April 6, 1991 |
| 9 | 9 | "Express Yourself" | Scott Fishman | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | April 13, 1991 |
| 10 | 10 | "Careers in the Making" | Scott Fishman | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | April 20, 1991 |
| 11 | 11 | "Language" | Scott Fishman | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | April 27, 1991 |
| 12 | 12 | "What We Eat" | Scott Fishman | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | May 4, 1991 |
| 13 | 13 | "Getting Even" | Scott Fishman | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | May 11, 1991 |
Season 2 (1992)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 1 | "Friends" | Tim Hill | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | 1992 |
| 15 | 2 | "Conformity" | Tim Hill | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | 1992 |
| 16 | 3 | "Choices" | Tim Hill | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | 1992 |
| 17 | 4 | "Bullies" | Tim Hill | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | 1992 |
| 18 | 5 | "The Grass is Always Greener" | Tim Hill | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | 1992 |
| 19 | 6 | "Holidays" | Tim Hill | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | 1992 |
| 20 | 7 | "Dating" | Tim Hill | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | 1992 |
| 21 | 8 | "Health" | Tim Hill | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | 1992 |
| 22 | 9 | "Ecology" | Tim Hill | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | 1992 |
| 23 | 10 | "Communication" | Tim Hill | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | 1992 |
| 24 | 11 | "Success" | Tim Hill | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | 1992 |
| 25 | 12 | "Competition" | Tim Hill | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | 1992 |
| 26 | 13 | "Secrets" | Tim Hill | Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill | 1992 |
Season 3 (1993-94)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | 1 | "Things Change" | Michael Berry | Tim Hill | January 2, 1993 | |
| Kevin and Alex are sophomores; new freshmen Manny and Erin; Walter is held back. | ||||||
| 28 | 2 | "The Harvest Ball" | Michael Berry | Gena Van Winkle | January 9, 1993 | |
| All look forward to the Harvest Ball. | ||||||
| 29 | 3 | "To Walter's Dad with Love" | Michael Berry | Michael Rubiner | January 16, 1993 | |
| Walter's dad is his teacher. | ||||||
| 30 | 4 | "The People vs. Walter" | Ron Smith | Rob Dinsmoor | January 23, 1993 | |
| Lippman's portrait is vandalized, and Walter is blamed. | ||||||
| 31 | 5 | "Othello the (Sopho)moor" | Ron Smith | Anne Bernstein | January 30, 1993 | |
| Lippman is Iago in the school's "Othello." | ||||||
| 32 | 6 | "Shiny Top" | Bob Lampel | David Potorti | February 6, 1993 | |
| Lippmann is taken for archcriminal Shiny Top. | ||||||
| 33 | 7 | "I'm Dead" | Ron Smith | Clifford Fagin | February 13, 1993 | |
| A senior wants to beat up Walter. | ||||||
| 34 | 8 | "Manny in Love" | Bob Lampel | Veronica Alicino | February 20, 1993 | |
| Manny has a crush on his baby sitter. | ||||||
| 35 | 9 | "Requiem for a Lightweight" | Bob Lampel | Alan Levy | February 27, 1993 | |
| Erin wants to wrestle; Lippman breaks a chain letter. | ||||||
| 36 | 10 | "The Lippdromeda Strain" | Adam Weissman | Howard Nemetz, Simon Rakoff, Tim Hill, & Michael Rubiner | July 3, 1993 | |
| The kids are quarantined at school. | ||||||
| 37 | 11 | "Erin for Office" | Adam Weissman | Gena Van Winkle | July 17, 1993 | |
| Erin runs for student-body president | ||||||
| 38 | 12 | "Getting What You Want" | Adam Weissman | Tim Hill | July 24, 1993 | |
| 39 | 13 | "What Rhymes with Liar" | Helen Smith | Robert Leighton | July 31, 1993 | |
| Kevin says he knows a star (Shanice Wilson). | ||||||
| 40 | 14 | "Year's End" | Adam Weissman | Tim Hill | December 26, 1993 | |
| The gang makes summer plans | ||||||
| 41 | 15 | "Drawn and Quoted" | Tim Hill | Story by: Robert Leighton Teleplay by: Rob Dinsmoor | January 15, 1994 | |
| Walter is a cartoonist for the school paper | ||||||
| 42 | 16 | "Math, Lies & Videotape" | Tim Hill | Michael Rubiner | January 16, 1994 | |
| Erin helps Walter study; Kevin tries to cheat. | ||||||
| 43 | 17 | "The Genius" | Tim Hill | Story by: Robert Leighton Teleplay by: Anne Bernstein | January 22, 1994 | |
| A child prodigy may attend Hawthorne | ||||||
| 44 | 18 | "The Stuff" | Adam Weissman | Robert Leighton | January 29, 1994 | |
| A science-class mishap results in a revolutionary glue. | ||||||
| 45 | 19 | "Marathon Woman" | Adam Weissman | Story by: Michael Rubiner & Jed Spingarn Teleplay by: Jed Spingarn | February 5, 1994 | |
| Kevin coaxes Samantha to be his dance-marathon partner | ||||||
| 46 | 20 | "Reachin' for the Stars" | Adam Weissman | Story by: Veronica Alicino & Michael Rubiner Teleplay by: Veronica Alicino | February 12, 1994 | |
| Talent scouts come to Hawthorne High. | ||||||
| 47 | 21 | "The Courtship of Walter's Father" | Adam Weissman | Jay Martel | February 19, 1994 | |
| His father falls for Walter's least-favorite teacher. | ||||||
| 48 | 22 | "Safety Last" | Adam Weissman | Tom Wargo | February 16, 1994 | |
| Hawthorne must pass a safety inspection or close. | ||||||
| 49 | 23 | "Hawthorne Confidential" | Adam Weissman | Rob Dinsmoor | 1994 | |
gollark: I mean, you could make some arguments for that along the lines of, what, the tradeoffs involved in making it more effective having some downsides in liberty, but sinthorion isn't.
gollark: "The very word 'law enforcement' implies going hard against any violation of the law. My point is that since even the best effort at law enforcement is still somewhat imperfect, you should take a more lax stance, maybe allow basic crimes everywhere."
gollark: It's a stupid point which is *clearly* stupid if generalized to other things.
gollark: ... that is so beeoidal.
gollark: Did you know? Haskell is safe from side channel attacks because its performance is so inconsistent that you can't infer anything from it.
External links
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