WONDER BROAD

(THE NEW ADVENTURES OF) WONDER WOMAN
1975-1979 ABC/CBS

WONDER BROAD
Goose #3, December 1976
artist and writer unknown

Like with the masthead, none of the staff of Goose is listed except for being credited as “A Bunch of Dirty Old Men”. The lettering looks like it may have been Tony Tallarico.

Wonder Woman was one of many TV shows GenXers like myself saw when placed in front of.what was then called “the electronic babysitter”. It was co-developed by Stanley Ralph Ross, who created the comics camp look for the Batman series the network was hoping to duplicate here. It was based on the comic that had existed since 1941. She and her alter ego of Diana Prince were played by Lynda Carter, who became one of TV's sex symbols of the 70s.

She had a magic lasso and was from Paradise Island, which she traveled to in her invisible plane. Her mother was Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons (played by Cloris Leachman, Carolyn Jones, and Beatrice Straight in different seasons. This could be either one of them, since it doesn't look like any of them)

BLUNDER WOMAN
Sick #122, August 1978
w: Arnold Drake
a: Jack Sparling

Chapter in a longer story called Plan X From Planet Nerd.

WOMAN WONDER
MAD #10, April 1954
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Bill Elder

This parody of the comic is ironically more faithful to the TV series than those other two parodies, despite being tenty-one years before the show, and before most people even had television.

Steve Trevor (Lyle Waggoner) is Diana Prince's boyfriend.

No comment about that last panel in re: how women were treated in the 50s (let alone the 70s or now even). They attempted to sell this to television using a different approach. This pilot was written by MAD's Larry Siegel.

WELCOME BACK, KUTTER

\WELCOME BACK, KOTTER
ABC 1975-1979

Yesterday was a look at MAD and Cracked's take on Welcome Back, Kotter, now we'll see Crazy and Sick's versions...

A CRAZY LOOK AT THOSE KOOKY KOTTER KIDS
Crazy #29, September 1977

WELCOME BACK, KUTTER
Crazy #18, July 1976
w: Len Herman
a: Ernie Colon

This sitcom was a vehicle for stand-up comic Gabe Kaplan, who had a show based on one single routine he did a few months earlier. The premise was that Gabe Kotter (Gabe Kaplan) is now a teacher and has returned to the school where he grew up ten years earlier, and now teaches the gang of juvenile delinquents that he once belonged to known as The Sweathogs. The principal of James Buchanan High School was Mr. Woodman (John Sylvester-White)

The Sweathogs were Vinnie Barbarino (John Travolta), Freddie “Boom-Boom” Washington (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs), Juan Epstein (Robert Hegyes), and Arnold Horshack (Ron Palillo)

WELCOME BACK, KNOTHEAD
Sick #110, June 1976
a: Dick Ayers

One thing Crazy didn't use was Gabe's at-home life with his wife Julie (Marcia Strassman)

“Up your nose with a rubber hose” was one of their catchphrases. More of their catchphrases and recurring motifs are in the video above.

WELCOME BACK, KRUDDER
Sick #115, June 1977
w:Arnold Drake
a: Jack Sparling

Gabe telling one-liners to his wife at the beginning and end of each episode was another regular theme. Charlie Tuna was the mascot for Star-Kist tuna and their catchphrase was “Star-Kist wants tunas that taste good”

The Sweathogs were always dropping in on Mr. Kotter at home, usually climbing into his window.

As a palatte cleanser, here's a TV Guide cover by Jack Davis.

WELCOME BACK, KLODDER

WELCOME BACK, KOTTER
ABC 1975-1979

WELCOME BACK, KLODDER
MAD #189, March 1977
w: Lou Silverstone
a: Angelo Torres

This sitcom was a vehicle for stand-up comic Gabe Kaplan, who had a show based on one single routine he did a few months earlier. The premise was that Gabe Kotter (Gabe Kaplan) is now a teacher and has returned to the school where he grew up ten years earlier, and now teaches the gang of juvenile delinquents that he once belonged to known as The Sweathogs. He lived in a small apartment in Brooklyn with his wife Julie (Marcia Strassman). When he's not teaching the Sweathogs, they often come to his home at night. The show opened and closed with Gabe giving one-liners like Groucho Marx or Henny Youngman.

The Sweathogs were Juan Epstein (Robert Hegyes), Arnold Horshack (Ron Palillo), Freddy “Boom-Boom” Washington (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs) and Vinnie Barbarino (John Travolta)

Some of the running bits was Epstein bringing in faked written excuses to get out of tests signed “Epstein's Mother”, and the Sweathogs always saying “up your nose with a rubber hose” (sanitized for TV from Kaplan's original “up your hole with a Melo-Role”. The principal of James Buchanan High School was Michael Woodman (John Sylvester-White)

Woodman slightly resembled then mayor of New York Abe Beame.

From TV Spinoffs Yet to Come by Tom Koch and Harry North, in #206, April 1979

From MAD's “Whatever Became Of...” TV Characters Edition by Mike Snider and Bob Clarke, in #266, October 1986.

WELCOME BACK, KUTTER
Cracked #133, July 1976
a: John Severin

Another example of Cracked parodying the same shows and movies over and over.

HOW THE KOTTER GANG SPENT THEIR SUMMER VACATION
Cracked #137, November 1976
a: John Severin

From If the Carter Family Became TV Regulars in Cracked #150, art by...who else?...John Severin.

From The Final Episodes of Soured Sitcoms by Frank Caruso in Cracked #232, November 1987

This is only the first part. Tomorrow are Crazy and Sick's versions of the program.