Head of the Class


Head of the Class is an American sitcom television series that ran from 1986 to 1991 on the ABC television network.
The series follows a group of gifted students in the Individualized Honors Program at the fictional Millard Fillmore High School in Manhattan, and their history teacher Charlie Moore. The program was ostensibly a vehicle for Hesseman, best known for his role as radio DJ Dr. Johnny Fever on the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. Hesseman left Head of the Class in 1990 and was replaced by Scottish comedian Billy Connolly as teacher Billy MacGregor for the final season. After the series ended, Connolly appeared in a short-lived spin-off titled Billy.
The series was created and executive produced by Richard Eustis and Michael Elias. Elias had previously worked as a New York City substitute teacher while hoping to become an actor.

Synopsis

Head of the Class is mainly set in the classroom of academically gifted high school students, all in the Individualized Honors Program at Millard Fillmore High School in New York City. As the series opens, Charlie Moore has been assigned as a substitute teacher to the IHP class.
The teachers and school administrators seen regularly are:
Head of the Class deals with an entire classroom of academically gifted high school students. The IHP students comprise a diverse range of personalities, ethnicities, and academic specialties. For the first three years of the show, the IHP class has ten students:
Also seen in a recurring role during seasons 1 and 2 is Marcia Christie as Lori Applebaum. Lori is an attractive Fillmore High student who is not in the IHP; Arvid has an ongoing crush on her.
There was some turnover in the cast in seasons four and five. At the beginning of season 4, it is announced that Janice—despite being younger than the others—has been accepted to Harvard as a sophomore, and has left the school. It's also established that Maria transferred to Performing Arts High School, and Jawaharlal moved to California with his family. New students in the IHP include:
At the beginning of season 5, it's announced that Mr. Moore got his big break, accepting the lead role in a touring version of Death of a Salesman, and has quit teaching. Billy McGregor becomes Mr. Moore's replacement. The students are now in their final year of high school, and as the series concludes, Fillmore High School is slated for demolition immediately after graduation. The entire class graduates, with Dennis getting accepted at MIT, Arvid at Cal Tech, and Alan at Harvard. On-again off-again couple Simone and Eric, who had become engaged, decide to cancel their engagement and go their separate ways, though they don't discount the possibility of getting back together after they finish college. As well, Janice unexpectedly turns up for the graduation ceremony, as she had never formally received her high school diploma. The series concluded with the class all receiving their diplomas.
In the series, the students often faced off against the rival Bronx High School of Science. Also, in every season, the IHP students produced the school musical. Musicals staged by the students included Grease, Little Shop of Horrors, and Hair. A number of someday-famous actors made appearances on the show, including Brad Pitt.

Show open

The opening of the show features various New York landmarks as well as Charlie Moore's journey to work every day. Charlie lives in a building in Hell's Kitchen occupied by a plant distributor on the first floor, who gives him a ride to the subway at 50th Street on the back of the truck before he makes his first delivery of the day. After Charlie grabs a hot dog for breakfast, he begins running into trouble as the subway station is on fire and he cannot hail any taxis to take him to the school. Forced to walk out of frustration, Charlie arrives late to class to the chagrin of Dr. Samuels but once he enters the classroom, his expression immediately brightens as he sees the students. It wouldn't be until season two that the credits include adding the names of the characters portrayed by their respective actors/actresses. After three seasons with the same opening, it was changed to a group photo of the class for season four. After Hesseman left the show, it was changed to notebook graphics for its final season.

Cast

Regular characters

Season one (1986–1987)

Out-of-work actor Charlie Moore began the first season as a substitute teacher, but warmed to the IHP class immediately, making it his mission to get them to think rather than merely to know. Although they are gifted academically, the IHP students had plenty of problems in their personal lives, and Mr. Moore not only is there to listen, he shows an unswerving ability to get the students to solve their own problems while making it seem like they came up with the answers on their own. By Episode 6, the class's original teacher Mr. Thomas had returned to Fillmore High, seemingly ready to return to the IHP class once Mr. Moore's tenure ended. After observing Mr. Moore's unorthodox teaching methods for most of the episode, Mr. Thomas ultimately reveals he had no intention to return but came to observe Mr. Moore after hearing concerns about him from Dr. Samuels. Seeing Mr. Moore in action, Mr. Thomas gives him his blessing, leaving Mr. Moore to become their full-time teacher, knowing the IHP will be in good hands. Throughout the first season, Mr. Moore attempted to get the class involved in more than just their studies, encouraging them to play volleyball and make a music video for the school's time capsule. At the same time, the class brought Mr. Moore into the present, acclimating him to the importance of personal computers. Near the end of the season, the IHP faces their Russian counterparts in an academic tournament, foreshadowing their famous trip to Moscow in season three.

Season two (1987–1988)

Season two began involving the IHP in the school as a whole, with Mr. Moore involving the class in the school literary journal and encouraging a lampoon of the school newspaper. Mr. Moore also decides to put on a school production of the musical Grease, and encourages the IHP to participate, alongside other Fillmore students.
While first season had some episodes that showed Charlie's personal life outside school, these become increasingly rare as the series continues. In season 2, episodes consistently focus on the lives of the IHP students, with only a very few focusing specifically on Charlie; this is the last season in which we see Charlie's apartment.

Season three (1988–1989)

"Mission to Moscow"

In 1988, Head of the Class broke new ground as it became the first American sitcom to be filmed in the Soviet Union with an episode filmed entirely in Moscow.
The IHP is invited to come to the country for a rematch of the academic meet that happened in season one, which ended in a tie. The class has a lot of experiences while in Moscow: Dennis and Arvid take an interest in two beautiful women, until they realize they might be KGB spies; Eric meets up with his relatives in what is a very positive experience for him; capitalist Alan has an argument with a die-hard socialist in a store ; Sarah and Darlene decide to record the sights and sounds of Moscow; Simone goes to put flowers on a poet's grave and meets up with a charming Russian musician; Dr. Samuels believes that his hotel room is bugged, but ends up making a fool of himself; and Charlie has a brief romance with a schoolteacher.
The IHP eventually wins the meet and the respect of the Russian team. The episode concludes with both teams attending a concert in Gorky Park swaying to the song "Far Away Lands".

Season four (1989–1990)

The fourth season saw some significant changes to the cast of characters – Maria, Jawaharlal and Janice left. Several new characters took their place: Alex Torres was a Hispanic athletics student, somewhat stereotypically portrayed as having an eye for the ladies. Although Alex seemed attracted to Darlene particularly, both he and Eric competed for the affections of another new IHP student, the blonde hippie Viki Amory. Another new character was aspiring filmmaker Aristotle McKenzie. T.J. Jones, a recurring character since the third season, joined the IHP in the fourth season. Also, the character of Jasper Kwong was added to the IHP class late in the season. The season also showed them film a two-part episode at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The students' final year of high school was split over seasons four and five. Howard Hesseman left the show after the fourth season.

Season five (1990–1991)

In the first episode of season five, Scottish teacher Billy MacGregor arrived to replace the departed Charlie Moore. Despite initial uncertainty and some hostility from the students, Billy proved to be a successful replacement for Charlie. He insisted that the students refer to him by his first name, and although he was more rousing and less laid-back than his predecessor, he proved to be just as wise and caring. Many episodes from this season focused on Billy having to adapt to living in America, and his attempts to romance Ms. Meara. Other aspects of Billy were his dislike of an outdated French textbook, which actually prompted one student to take a spur-of-the-moment jaunt to Paris, and his encouragement to the male students that the best way to get girls was to be themselves. The season concluded with the IHP students graduating from high school. Janice Lazarotto returned for a guest appearance in the finale, in which T.J. is named class valedictorian and the school is closed down and demolished.

Episodes

Novel tie-in

One major novelization was released, with the plotlines based on six episodes of the show. The book makes all the chapters flow together as one story, even though they didn't happen one right after the other on the show. It was written by Susan Beth Pfeffer and released in December 1989 by Bantam Books. The book is 120 pages long, with six chapters, each based on a different episode.
All copyrights belong to Warner Bros. The novelization erroneously credits "First Day" as having been made in 1988 rather than 1986.

Spin-off

A year after Head of the Class left the air, Billy Connolly reprised the role of Billy MacGregor for a short-lived spin-off series, Billy.

Reboot

In May 2020, a reboot of the series was announced and will be co-produced by Bill Lawrence's Doozer and Warner Horizon Scripted Television. The order includes a pilot episode plus five additional scripts and will air on HBO Max.

Home video and syndication

Head of the Class has appeared infrequently in syndicated reruns, airing on local stations and then briefly on TBS during the 1990s, and on Nick at Nite in the early 2000s. Antenna TV began airing the series in January 2018. As of February 2020, the show was streaming on Roku Channel.
In 2020, it was announced that season 1 of Head of the Class would be released as a "manufacture on demand" DVD by Warner Archive, starting on June 9, 2020. The show had previously not seen any release on home media. The show had multiple musical episodes, thereby making music rights licensing difficult; a common problem when preparing series for home release. Another series, WKRP in Cincinnati, encountered similar issues.

International broadcasts