In its second year as a streaming service, HBO Max is seeking to fill its metaphorical shelves with plenty of original content to entice viewers to subscribe. One of the upcoming series is "Head of the Class," a reboot of the 1980s ABC sitcom of the same name.

This updated version will be a high school series in a similar vein to the original, with the gung-ho teacher Alicia Adams (Isabella Gomez) starring as a new mentor to a class of honors students. She will be trying to figure out her own life while encouraging her students to gain more non-academic experiences for themselves. Fans of the medical sitcom "Scrubs" and the sports-themed "Ted Lasso" will be excited to hear that this new series is being produced by Bill Lawrence, making it a promising entry to the HBO Max roster.

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I'm not sure how many DVDTalkers beside me watched the original Head of the Class, but HBO Max is rebooting the series. Robin Givens played a student in the original series, but she's returning to play a parent of the student in the reboot. My main complaint with the reboot is the actress playing the teacher is only 23. I'm sure some of the actors/actresses playing the students are older than her since Hollywood casts 25 year olds as high school students.

I enjoyed the original (it was on while I was in middle school and high school) but will more than likely not watch this one.

But to those who do, "Have fun."

I liked the original. Howard Hesseman was great and I was a fan of Khrystyne Haje.

This new one just popped up out of nowhere.
I’ll watch one episode I guess.

The original show was a product of it's time. I was in high school when it aired, but was never a regular viewer. I caught an episode here and there. So I don't have any special memories or attachment to it. I know the entire original series is also on HBO Max.

Maybe I'll check it out.

I barely remember the original. I was in grade school when it aired and we didn’t regularly watch it so I just recall little bits and pieces. I remember Hesseman, the fat kid, and the super stereotypical nerd. I didn’t even remember Robin Givens was in it until I was reminded in this thread.

The new version looks pretty vanilla. Just based on the trailer, none of the characters seemed to be terrible interesting and yeah, that teacher seems way too young. I predict 90% of the jokes will be about how young she is.

I might give it a watch and I don’t think I’ll judge it too harshly since I can’t really compare it to the original.

The "fat kid" went on to make like a bajillion Nick teen shows (though there was always the rumor of scandal).

This looks terrible but I'll probably try an episode for old times sake.

The original series is also on HBO Max if anyone wants to rewatch it for nostalgia.

Damn, I remember hearing about the Nickelodeon producer who drove Amanda Bynes crazy but I never connected that it was the same guy.

I’ve heard of a few of his Nickelodeon shows but I’ve never seen a single episode of any of them. I think I was just a little too old when those shows started.

Yeah, if you watched Head of the Class you were probably too old for the demographic of any of his Nick shows unless you had kids. Thanks to the power of Paramount +, Netflix, and reruns my kids watch those shows now though.

Brian Robbins (Eric) is also currently head of Paramount Pictures promoted after being the head of Nickelodeon

This one will have Robin givens character reprise her role as the mom of one of the characters, so this is more of a sequel than a reboot. This one looks too modern and trendy. The original took place in a run down New York City high school. this one looks like it will take place in a new modern, trendy high school which will make it feel more like the standard cookie cutter Nickelodeon type kids shows. I'm guessing since this is a modern update, they won't be able to resist the urge to make one of the kids some for of a transgender.

I love those redheads...

Lara Piper was a little bit of all right too.

More importantly, he directed Good Burger.

You don’t rise to the head of Paramount Pictures WITHOUT directing something like Good Burger. Directing Norbit just put him over the top.

This looks horrible.

They probably didn't need to have any tie-ins with the original, since I don't think many people remember it.
It was just sorta there... and then it ended. I couldn't even tell you any of the characters names.

My biggest takeaway from the original show was Howard Hesseman leaving, then being replaced with stand-up comedian Billy Connolly, and about half of the show's runtime after that was Connolly doing one of his stand-up bits in front of the class.

Biggest difference from this one and the original based on the trailer is they seemed to cast mostly highschoolers to play highschoolers. Isabella Gomez the actress who plays the main teacher at 23 is probably younger then most of the original HOC students were when that started.

Robin Givens character from the original show is the mom of one of the high school students in the new show. In the trailer Givens say to the new teacher that she reminds her of her old hippie high school teacher.

Looking at the trailer it really just looks like they created another tv show for kids set in a high school and they slapped the name Head of the Class on it so it would get branded as a reboot and get a little extra promotion from it.

Well it worked because I can't say that this show would have prompted a thread or reaction here if it weren't named "head of the class" or had Givens in it to tie it in.

Yeah, I got that. I'm saying they didn't really need that tie-in because the original show wasn't popular enough to get many people to watch for that reason.
You rarely hear anyone talk about this show, nevermind people clamoring for a continuation of it.

Yeah, this should give it an extra 30 viewers.

Wasn't the appeal of the original was that Howard Hesseman's character was a grizzled adult with actual life experiences that he could use to impart wisdom on to the kids. Having the teacher be so young kinda misses the point.


You mean to reflect that fact that many kids are also transgender? Sure thing, bring it on.

Yes, having the girl be so young takes away from the original premise from the show. I guess if they want to modernize it, they could have this teacher have a secret relationship with one of the students since it would reflect what's going on in many schools lately.

Dude, pr0nhub is that way -->

The problem with it is they are doing t just to make it look like they are being PC, but then most often just use these characters for comic relief.

A show I did not watch but was aware-of and yes, I knew Robin Givens was part of the shows cast. For what it is worth, I will give this a shot because it will only be 30m episodes, and of course is free for me on HBO Max. Unlike Saved By The Bell, which I am in the process of watching on Netflix (having never seen most of the OG SBTB eps), I will admit that I have no interest in catching up on the original Head Of The Class.