Welcome Freshmen

*Welcome Freshmen*
Welcome Freshmen
Also known as	School Students
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Robert Mittenthal
Directed by	Scott Fishman; Tim Hill; Adam Weissman; Michael Berry; Ron Smith; Bob Lampel; Helen Smith;
Starring	Rick Galloway; Chris Lobban; David Rhoden (1991–92); Jill Setter (1991–92); Jocelyn Steiner; Mike Speller; Arian Ash (1992–93); Brock Bradley (1992–93); Nicholas Caruso (1992–93);
Theme music composer	Peter Lauer
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	52
Production
Producers	Woody Fraser; Angelika Bartenbach-Kidd; Lisa Tauger; Maureen Badger Schultz;
Production locations	Nickelodeon Studios, Universal Studios; Orlando, Florida
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	Nickelodeon
Release	February 16, 1991 –; February 19, 1994

Welcome Freshmen is an American comedy series that aired on Nickelodeon from February 16, 1991, to February 19, 1994, with repeats until October 27, 1996. The show took place at Hawthorne High School with a group of high school students and a bumbling vice principal.

Seasons 1 and 2

The earlier episodes of the series consisted of comedy sketches that loosely followed a theme, each episode had two or three short skits about the gang's misadventures in high school. Some of the comedy routines involved a tortoise named Mortise teaching children about safety, a historian named Mr. History who talks about past generations of freshmen, the bumbling, freshman-hating, vice-principal Mr. Lippman imagining himself as a stand-up comedian telling really bad old 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.

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 – a tortoise who teaches children about safety.

Seasons 3 and 4

In the later episodes, the sketch comedy format was abandoned, and Welcome Freshmen became a standard sitcom.

In the third season, Kevin and Alex become sophomores, Walter is held behind due to him missing summer school. Merv and Tara left Hawthorne, with Merv skipping the rest of high school and going straight to college, and Tara moving to a biosphere with her family. New characters came in: Manny, Erin and Grant, by the end of the third season, Manny left. In the series finale, Walter becomes a sophomore, as the teachers all threatened to quit if they had him another year.

Production

The show's first television pilot was filmed in May 1990, featuring a group of local actors in the main roles, among them was future Backstreet Boys member Howie Dorough.^[1] After the success of the pilot, the show was picked up, but the roles were recast, according to series creator Bob Mittenthal "Those kids did a good job, the proof is that the show was picked up as a series , but research told Nickelodeon it needed better-defined characters".^[2]

According to Jocelyn Steiner, several actresses had auditioned for the role of Alex before she got cast, including Brittany Daniel who was a final contender for the role.^[3]

Cast

Rick Galloway as Walter Patterson
Chris Lobban as Kevin St. James
David Rhoden as Merv (1991–1992)
Jill Setter as Tara (1991–1992)
Jocelyn Steiner as Alex Moore
Brock Bradley as Grant Kelly (1993–1994)
Arian Waring Ash as Erin Kelly (1993–1994)
Nicholas Caruso as Manny Barrington (1993–1994)
Mike Speller as Mr. Elliott Lippman
Veronica Alicino as Miss Topaz
Janis Benson as Miss Petruka
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

Walter Patterson is the dimwitted, good-natured, optimistic, lazy laid-back, and geeky slacker of the group who loves eating. His stupidity and clumsiness are often the butt of jokes.
Kevin St. James is the cynical, selfish, and egotistical one of the group. He is a smooth talker, a terrible ladies' man, and often makes fun of his friends, especially Merv, Manny, and Walter. Mostly, he is troublemaker of the group.
Merv is the confident, outgoing nerd of the group. Merv is a nerdy guy.
Tara is 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.
Alex Moore is a beautiful, popular and fashion-obsessed girly girl. Often vain, snobby, rude, and materialistic, she is obsessed with her status and has no issues manipulating others for personal gain.
Mr. Elliott Lippman is the tyrannical and incompetent principal of Hawthorne High. He often serves as an antagonist to the main characters' schemes though they do not take him seriously.

Additional

Grant Kelly is with Erin's older brother and who becomes Alex's boyfriend. Introduced in the third season.
Erin Kelly is a musically talented freshman who often dresses in a grunge fashion. Introduced in the third season.
Manny Barrington is introduced in the third 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.

Series overview

Season	Episodes	Originally aired
Season	Episodes	First aired	Last aired
1	13	February 16, 1991 (1991-02-16)	May 11, 1991 (1991-05-11)
2	13	May 9, 1992 (1992-05-09)	August 1, 1992 (1992-08-01)
3	14	January 2, 1993 (1993-01-02)	July 31, 1993 (1993-07-31)
4	12	1993 (1993)	1993 (1993)

Episodes

Season 1 (1991)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1	"Express Yourself"	Scott Fishman	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	February 16, 1991 (1991-02-16)
2	2	"Extra-Curricular Activities"	Scott Fishman	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	February 23, 1991 (1991-02-23)
3	3	"Mind Games"	Scott Fishman	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	March 2, 1991 (1991-03-02)
4	4	"Knowledge is Power"	Scott Fishman	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	March 9, 1991 (1991-03-09)
5	5	"Growing Up"	Scott Fishman	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	March 16, 1991 (1991-03-16)
6	6	"Technology"	Scott Fishman	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	March 23, 1991 (1991-03-23)
7	7	"Money"	Scott Fishman	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	March 30, 1991 (1991-03-30)
8	8	"Authority"	Scott Fishman	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	April 6, 1991 (1991-04-06)
9	9	"How We Look"	Scott Fishman	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	April 13, 1991 (1991-04-13)
10	10	"Careers in the Making"	Scott Fishman	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	April 20, 1991 (1991-04-20)
11	11	"Language"	Scott Fishman	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	April 27, 1991 (1991-04-27)
12	12	"What We Eat"	Scott Fishman	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	May 4, 1991 (1991-05-04)
13	13	"Getting Even"	Scott Fishman	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	May 11, 1991 (1991-05-11)

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	May 9, 1992 (1992-05-09)
15	2	"Conformity"	Tim Hill	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	May 16, 1992 (1992-05-16)
16	3	"Choices"	Tim Hill	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	May 23, 1992 (1992-05-23)
17	4	"Bullies"	Tim Hill	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	May 30, 1992 (1992-05-30)
18	5	"The Grass is Always Greener"	Tim Hill	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	June 6, 1992 (1992-06-06)
19	6	"Holidays"	Tim Hill	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	June 13, 1992 (1992-06-13)
20	7	"Dating"	Tim Hill	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	June 20, 1992 (1992-06-20)
21	8	"Health"	Tim Hill	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	June 27, 1992 (1992-06-27)
22	9	"Ecology"	Tim Hill	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	July 4, 1992 (1992-07-04)
23	10	"Communication"	Tim Hill	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	July 11, 1992 (1992-07-11)
24	11	"Success"	Tim Hill	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	July 18, 1992 (1992-07-18)
25	12	"Competition"	Tim Hill	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	July 25, 1992 (1992-07-25)
26	13	"Secrets"	Tim Hill	Robert Mittenthal & Tim Hill	August 1, 1992 (1992-08-01)

Season 3 (1992–93)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
27	1	"Things Change"	Michael Berry	Tim Hill	January 2, 1993 (1993-01-02)
28	2	"The Harvest Ball"	Michael Berry	Gena Van Winkle	January 9, 1993 (1993-01-09)
All look forward to the Harvest Ball.
29	3	"To Walter's Dad with Love"	Michael Berry	Michael Rubiner	January 16, 1993 (1993-01-16)
Lippman hires Walter's dad as a history teacher, Erin deals with other students calling her names.
30	4	"The People vs. Walter"	Ron Smith	Rob Dinsmoor	January 23, 1993 (1993-01-23)
Lippman's portrait is vandalized, and Walter is blamed.
31	5	"Othello the (Sopho)moor"	Ron Smith	Anne Bernstein	January 30, 1993 (1993-01-30)
Lippman is Iago in the school's "Othello".
32	6	"Shiny Top"	Bob Lampel	David Potorti	February 6, 1993 (1993-02-06)
Lippmann is taken for archcriminal Shiny Top.
33	7	"I'm Dead"	Ron Smith	Clifford Fagin	February 13, 1993 (1993-02-13)
A senior wants to beat up Walter.
34	8	"Manny in Love"	Bob Lampel	Veronica Alicino	February 20, 1993 (1993-02-20)
Manny has a crush on his baby sitter.
35	9	"Requiem for a Lightweight"	Bob Lampel	Alan Levy	February 27, 1993 (1993-02-27)
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 (1993-07-03)
The kids are quarantined at school.
37	11	"Hawthorne Confidential"	Adam Weissman	Rob Dinsmoor	July 10, 1993 (1993-07-10)
Alex uses gossip in a journalism class documentary.
38	12	"Erin for Office"	Adam Weissman	Gena Van Winkle	July 17, 1993 (1993-07-17)
Erin runs for student-body president.
39	13	"Looking for Mr.Goodwrench"	TBD	TBD	1993 (1993)
Walter crashes into Mr.Lippman's car.
40	14	"What Rhymes with Liar"	Helen Smith	Robert Leighton	July 31, 1993 (1993-07-31)
Kevin says he knows a star (Shanice Wilson).

Season 4 (1993)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
41	1	"Math, Lies & Videotape"	Tim Hill	Michael Rubiner	1993 (1993)
Erin helps Walter study; Kevin tries to cheat.
42	2	"Drawn and Quoted"	Tim Hill	Story by : Robert Leighton Teleplay by : Rob Dinsmoor	1993 (1993)
Walter is a cartoonist for the school paper.
43	3	"The Genius"	Tim Hill	Story by : Robert Leighton Teleplay by : Anne Bernstein	1993 (1993)
A child prodigy may attend Hawthorne.
44	4	"The Stuff"	Adam Weissman	Robert Leighton	1993 (1993)
A science-class mishap results in a revolutionary glue.
45	5	"Marathon Woman"	Adam Weissman	Story by : Michael Rubiner & Jed Spingarn Teleplay by : Jed Spingarn	1993 (1993)
Kevin coaxes Samantha to be his dance-marathon partner.
46	6	"Reachin' for the Stars"	Adam Weissman	Story by : Veronica Alicino & Michael Rubiner Teleplay by : Veronica Alicino	1993 (1993)
Talent scouts come to Hawthorne High.
47	7	"The Courtship of Walter's Father"	Adam Weissman	Jay Martel	1993 (1993)
His father falls for Walter's least-favorite teacher.
48	8	"Safety Last"	Adam Weissman	Tom Wargo	1993 (1993)
Hawthorne must pass a safety inspection or close.
49	9	"Seeds of Destruction"	TBD	TBD	1993 (1993)
Erin insults Mr. Lippman.
50	10	"Rainy Day Women"	TBD	TBD	1993 (1993)
Walter and Kevin vie for a girl's attention.
51	11	"Getting What You Want"	Adam Weissman	Tim Hill	1993 (1993)
Mr. Lippman's philosophy: karma by points.
52	12	"Year's End"	Adam Weissman	Tim Hill	1993 (1993)
The gang make their plans for summer as the academic year draws to a close.

References

^ "Nick Is Testing Waters Of The Local Talent Pool". www.orlandosentinel.com. Archived from the original on October 12, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
^ "NEXT ON NICKELODEON: 'WELCOME FRESHMAN' NEW SHOW'S CAST IS ALL HOME-GROWN". www.orlandosentinel.com. 19 December 1990. Retrieved 2022-08-22.
^ "Interview with Jocelyn Steiner". www.youtube.com. September 16, 2013. Retrieved 2024-01-04.

External links

[1] "Nick Is Testing Waters Of The Local Talent Pool". www.orlandosentinel.com. Archived from the original on October 12, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2022.

[2] "NEXT ON NICKELODEON: 'WELCOME FRESHMAN' NEW SHOW'S CAST IS ALL HOME-GROWN". www.orlandosentinel.com. 19 December 1990. Retrieved 2022-08-22.

[3] "Interview with Jocelyn Steiner". www.youtube.com. September 16, 2013. Retrieved 2024-01-04.

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