Outclassed
As the Class of 2024 graduates, it's normal to wonder what the students will go on to accomplish in their lives. Will they make the world a better place or a worse one? For example, the fictional class of gifted students portrayed in the 1980s sitcom Head of the Class (as well as its spinoff and revival) contains both people who ascended to the top of the entertainment industry and people who fell from those heights into disgrace. These seven people all accomplished greater fame or infamy after becoming young members of the cast. Can you name them all? Good luck on this seven-question pop quiz, genuises.
Natanya Ross
publication date: Saturday, May 25, 2024
category: 
Television
clue: This Jersey Shore native grew up as the neighbor of a superhero.
explanation: Ross co-starred in Billy, the spin-off of Head of the Class, but is best known for playing neighbor Robyn Russo in The Secret Life of Alex Mack. more…
intended difficulty: hard
solved by: Russ Wilhelm and Steve West
Dan Frischman
publication date: Friday, May 24, 2024
category: Television
clue: His AP history student on Head of the Class may have been a genius, but his grocery store manager overseeing Kenan and Kel definitely wasn't.
intended difficulty: easy
solved by: Russ Wilhelm, Steve West, and Richard Slominsky
Johnny Galecki
publication date: Thursday, May 23, 2024
category: Television
clue: By the time he joined the cast of Roseanne as a socially awkward teen, his career had already been launched by a "big bang" event.
explanation: Prior to his most famous roles in Roseanne and The Big Bang Theory, Galecki had been in the primary cast of Billy, the spin-off of Head of the Class, as well as the film National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. more…
intended difficulty: medium
solved by: Russ Wilhelm, Steve West, and Richard Slominsky
Brian Robbins
publication date: Wednesday, May 22, 2024
category: 
Business
clue: Media executives who have reached the paramount of success, like he has, rarely started their careers acting in the sort of sitcoms that he now greenlights.
explanation: Robbins is the co-CEO of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS) after working his way up through leadership of Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures. more…
intended difficulty: medium
solved by: Russ Wilhelm, Steve West, and Richard Slominsky
Robin Givens
publication date: Tuesday, May 21, 2024
category: 
Family
clue: After Head of the Class, she made movies opposite Eddie Murphy and Sylvester Stallone, but she was so well known for her combative 1980s marriage to a heavyweight champion boxer that she was hired as the public spokesperson of the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
explanation: Givens starred in Boomerang and The Expendables. She was married to Mike Tyson in 1988 and divorced a year later, during which time she alleged spousal abuse that was later confirmed by Tyson. more…
intended difficulty: easy
solved by: Russ Wilhelm, Steve West, and Richard Slominsky
Dan Schneider
publication date: Monday, May 20, 2024
category: 
Controversy
clue: Behind the scenes, he was all that: Writer, producer, and showrunner on a series of hit shows and movies for NIckelodeon. But his former stars alleged his sexual misconduct, often while they were still underage, and this eventually proved victorious in ending his career.
explanation: Schneider was one of the top showrunners for Nickelodeon over the course of decades, producing shows like All That (1994-2005) and Victorious (2010-2013), until allegations of his misconduct came to light in 2018 and ended his partnership with the network. more…
intended difficulty: easy
solved by: Russ Wilhelm, Steve West, and Richard Slominsky
Ke Huy Quan
publication date: Sunday, May 19, 2024
category: 
Movies
clue: This recent Oscar winner now seems to be everywhere all at once, after previously quitting the entertainment business shortly after his time in Head of the Class, given how few roles there were for Vietnamese-American actors.
intended difficulty: very easy
solved by: Russ Wilhelm, Steve West, and Richard Slominsky
