February 16, 1991 (1991-02-16) – February 19, 1994 (1994-02-19)
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.
