There are some things so sacred in the world of entertainment that you just know they should never be touched.
The disastrous movie remake of the Honeymooners comes to mind.
So do horrible big screen retreads of The Little Rascals, The Beverly Hillbillies and even Mr. Magoo.
But Hollywood, which never met a successful idea it couldn’t try to clone, hasn't learned from those multi-million dollar mistakes. And some fear it's about to make another one.
This time, filmmakers are planning to release a new big screen version of the 1970s sitcom classic “Welcome Back Kotter”.
The star who’ll fill the shoes of creator Gabe Kaplan? The very unlikely Ice Cube.
The rap singer claims he’s always been an admirer of the show and is anxious to take the role to prove he can give give it his own unique stamp.
"There was no bigger fan of the original show than me, and I'm very excited to be able to put a new twist on it," he notes in a statement.
The show aired from 1975-1979, and was a big hit for its first few years.
The presence of budding superstar John Travolta, the fresh writing and the catch phrases it spawned (“Up your nose with a rubber hose” from Travolta’s Vinnie Barbarino, “Hi There” from Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs’ Freddie ‘Boom Boom’ Washington and Ron Palillio’s Arnold Horshack laugh come to mind) made it popular.
But when Kaplan left over changes to the show, Travolta deserted the series for the big screen and the high school students who remained became old enough to be teachers themselves, the freshness faded, and Kotter got a failing grade.
Kaplan, who based the show on comedy routines he did centering on characters he went to school with, has been mostly out of the spotlight over the past few decades.
He co-owns the rights to the concept and once insisted he would never bring the show to the movies.
But he’s changed his mind, noting he's pleased with everything he’s seen so far and hopes movie fans will melt their reluctance to let Ice Cube take his part, and literally Welcome Back Kotter.
The theme song from the show, called 'Welcome Back’ was written by John Sebastian of the 60s group the Lovin’ Spoonful. The program was originally supposed to be called just “Kotter”, but the producers liked the theme so much, they actually changed the name of the show so they could use it. It's believed to be the only time in history a TV show's title was changed to match a song. The tune went to number one in 1976, and was Sebastian’s last big hit. It’s not clear if his version will be used in the movie.
