"Head of the Class" (1986) TV series 1986-1990

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Creators:

Michael Elias
Rich Eustis

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Release Date:

17 September 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A laidback teacher provides needed guidance about life for a special class of exceptional students.

Plot Keywords:

Teacher | High School | Competition | Genius | Nerd

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy. Another 12 nominations

Cast

William G. Schilling	...	Dr. Harold Samuels (114 episodes, 1986-1991)
Jeannetta Arnette	...	Bernadette Meara (114 episodes, 1986-1991)
Dan Frischman	...	Arvid Engen (114 episodes, 1986-1991)
Robin Givens	...	Darlene Merriman (114 episodes, 1986-1991)
Khrystyne Haje	...	Simone Foster (114 episodes, 1986-1991)
Tony O'Dell	...	Alan Pinkard (114 episodes, 1986-1991)
Brian Robbins	...	Eric Mardian (114 episodes, 1986-1991)
Kimberly Russell	...	Sarah Nevins (114 episodes, 1986-1991)
Dan Schneider	...	Dennis Blunden (114 episodes, 1986-1991)
Howard Hesseman	...	Charles P. 'Charlie' Moore (92 episodes, 1986-1990)
Tannis Vallely	...	Janice Lazarotto (67 episodes, 1986-1991)
Leslie Bega	...	Maria Borges (66 episodes, 1986-1989)
Joher Coleman	...	Jawaharlal Choudhury (66 episodes, 1986-1989)
Rain Pryor	...	Theola June 'T.J.' Jones (49 episodes, 1988-1991)
Michael DeLorenzo	...	Alex Torres (48 episodes, 1989-1991)
Lara Piper	...	Viki Amory (48 episodes, 1989-1991)
De'voreaux White	...	Aristotle McKenzie (48 episodes, 1989-1991)

Runtime:

30 min | USA:30 min (114 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Eustis Elias Productions

Trivia:

Jay Thomas was one of the comedians hired to "warm-up" the studio audience.

Quotes:

T.J. Jones: [before T.J. starts her rap] You really want to hear this?
Sarah Nevins: Yeah!
T.J. Jones: [rapping] Ok, Girl in the streets, no clothes and no heat. A crazy outlook, a torn up book, but she can compete. Girl on fire with her desire seeing stars there and bars there. Should go much higher. That's enough!
Sarah Nevins: T.J. what are you stopping for?
T.J. Jones: What are you pretending to be intrested for?
Sarah Nevins: I am intrested. You have something to say!
T.J. Jones: No one cares what I have to say!
Sarah Nevins: How do you know that?
T.J. Jones: Because of where they put me. In the sit-down-and-shut-up class!
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in "I Love the 80's 3-D" (2005)

Underrated and overlooked

In my opinion "Head of the Class" was one of the more overlooked and underrated primetime sitcoms of the mid to late 80's. The reason why I say this is, of course in the same era as "The Cosby Show", most shows like these get overlooked. Some of the cast members went on to act in motion pictures and other TV shows after the series ended in 1991. I guess the initial draw to the show was Howard Hesseman because like mamy of you, I remember his days on "WKRP in Cincinnati" as the popular "Johnny Fever". I wish it could come on syndication because they made the required 100 episodes for it to go in that format. They made history by being the first U.S. sitcom to film episodes in the Soviet Union. I would love to see a reunion show in the near future, but still, for this show to stay on network TV for five seasons with a relatively unknown cast of characters, even with the standards that "The Cosby Show" had set, that is saying something. To sum it all up "Head of the Class" was one of those overlooked shows that have become Cult Classics.