Head of the Class

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. (Exterior shots of the school were of NYC's Washington Irving High School.[3]) 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:

• Charles P. "Charlie" Moore (Howard Hesseman), a dedicated, if unorthodox history teacher who is committed to ensuring his genius-level students succeed academically while also gaining emotional intelligence. He originally came to NYC to pursue acting, and maintains an interest in theatre throughout the run of the show. Some episodes would have Charlie directing the class in school productions of musicals such as Hair or Little Shop of Horrors. He leaves the school after season 4, having landed the lead role in a touring production of Death of a Salesman.
• William C. "Billy" MacGregor (Billy Connolly), Mr. Moore's replacement in season 5. A cheerful Scotsman, Billy is more brash and energetic than his often laid-back predecessor, but is equally concerned with his students' overall well-being.
• Dr. Harold Samuels (William G. Schilling), the blustery, overweight principal of Filmore High. Dr. Samuels created the IHP program, and is very protective of it, while relishing the students' achievements and valuing the prestige they bring to the school. He also distrusts the teaching methods of both Charlie and Billy, concerned that these methods – which often involve helping the IHP students branch out of their comfort zones, as well as using unorthodox methods of teaching the class subject at hand – might distract them too much from their studies. Dr. Samuels does admire Mr. Moore and Billy, and eventually became their friend.
• Bernadette Meara (Jeannetta Arnette), the sometimes flirty but level-headed assistant principal. While there is some romantic tension between Ms. Meara and Mr. Moore, and later Billy, relationships outside of work do not come to fruition.

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. All of them look up to Mr. Moore and Billy as their mentor and friend. For the first three years of the show the IHP class has ten students:

• Arvid Engen (Dan Frischman), a generally upbeat, skinny, bespectacled nerd. Arvid is a mathematics expert, and budding scientist.
• Dennis Blunden (Dan Schneider), an overweight, wisecracking computer whiz whose fields are chemistry and physics. Cynical, prone to playing sometimes cruel practical jokes, and not always entirely ethical, Dennis has a knack for getting the socially inept Arvid involved in various schemes.
• Alan Pinkard (Tony O'Dell), a politically conservative preppy and egotist; his area of expertise is political science and he is a devout fan of Ronald Reagan. Alan competes for the highest grades in the class with Darlene.
• Darlene Merriman (Robin Givens), a spoiled rich girl who is probably even more self-centered than Alan and whose specialties are speech and debate. Both Alan and Darlene held the ambition of being named class valedictorian.
• Sarah Nevins (Kimberly Russell), who does not appear in the pilot. Cheerful and well-liked, unlike most of the rest of the class Sarah does not seem to have any one particular area of expertise. (She does mention her ambition to be a doctor.) Sarah's the most down-to-earth of the IHP class and was once cited as having the lowest G.P.A.
• Maria Borges (Leslie Bega), who is very passionate about getting A's, going as far as grounding herself in the pilot episode for getting a 'B'. Though initially wanting to be a psychiatrist, she eventually decides she wants to be a singer.
• Jawaharlal Choudhury (Jory Husain aka Joher Coleman), a recently-arrived student from India whose expertise is natural science.
• Janice Lazarotto (Tannis Vallely), despite being only 10, is in high school and the IHP class because of her advanced intellect. She is already qualified to enter Harvard, and is in fact deluged with admissions offers from colleges, but her parents insist Janice attend high school in order to mature emotionally.
• Simone Foster (Khrystyne Haje) a quiet, sensitive redhead with a particular fondness for poetry. A notable development in the show is the relationship between Simone and Eric.
• Eric Mardian (Brian Robbins), an aspiring writer and, outwardly, the most unlikely member of the IHP. Eric wears black leather, drives a motorcycle, acts tough, and ostensibly dislikes anything academic (to Dr. Samuels's delight, he is the only one in the class not on the academic team, although he would never leave the IHP). Eric constantly hits on Simone (on whom he has a crush) and the two eventually have an on-again-off-again romance.

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. (Two season 4 episodes were actually leftover from season 3; these three characters appear in these "leftover" episodes.) New students in the IHP include:

• Aristotle McKenzie (De'voreaux White), an aspiring filmmaker described by Dennis as "an extra from Do the Right Thing" for his dreadlocks.
• Viki Amory (Lara Piper), a new-ager interested in quantum physics and skin-revealing clothing.
• Alex Torres (Michael DeLorenzo), an aspiring archaeologist and self-styled ladies' man who transferred from parochial school.
• Theola June "T.J." Jones (Rain Pryor), who had first appeared as a potential IHP member in season three, and is seen frequently thereafter. She is eventually added to the cast partway through season 4. T.J., who had a chip-on-her-shoulder attitude, was originally in the remedial class at Fillmore before proving she had the capacity to join the IHP.
• Jasper Kwong (Jonathan Ke Quan) is introduced as a new transfer student late in season 4.

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. (By this point, she had already graduated from Harvard, and was lining up a job interview at IBM.) 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.[4]

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.

• Chapter 1 – "First Day", based on the 1986 episode "First Day", written by Lisa Rosenthal (otherwise known as the pilot)
• Chapter 2 – "A Problem Like Maria" is based on the 1986 episode "A Problem Like Maria" written by Cynthia Thompson
• Chapter 3 – "Crimes of the Heart" is based on the 1987 episode "Crimes of the Heart" written by Valri Bromfield
• Chapter 4 – "Cello Fever" is based on the 1987 episode "Cello Fever" written by show creators Rich Eustis and Michael Elias
• Chapter 5 – "Trouble in Perfectville" is based on the 1987 episode "Trouble in Perfectville" written by George Beckerman
• Chapter 6 – "Parents Day" is based on the 1987 episode "Parents Day" written by Ellis Bufton and Scott Glaze

All copyrights belong to Warner Bros. The novelization erroneously credits "First Day" as having been made in 1988 rather than 1986.

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.

In May 2020, a reboot of the series was ordered 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.[5]

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" (MOD) DVD by Warner Archive, starting on June 9, 2020.[10] The show had previously not seen any release on home media.[11][12] 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 (also starring Hesseman), encountered similar issues.[13][14]

• In Canada, the series was simulcast on the Global Television Network throughout its original run.
• In Australia, the series aired on the Nine Network.
• In the UK the show aired on BBC One and in Ireland on RTÉ One.[15]
• In Indonesia, it was aired by RCTI.
• In Italy, the series arrived in 1989 and first season was aired by Telemontecarlo. Then it was aired by Italia 1, from 1992 to 1993.
• In Mexico, the series aired on Televisa between 1994 and 1996, under the name Mi Profesor Favorito.
• In Latin America, the series aired on Warner Channel during mid-late 1990s.
• In Chile, the series aired on TVN.

• Head of the Class at IMDb
• Head of the Class at TV.com