Saved By The Bell

...mind that this is about Saved By The Bell as a whole rather than just a season of the show...sorry in advance!)


If you happen to be a child of the late 1980s and early 1990s, you may have come across an American adolescent sitcom called Saved By The Bell, a programme which I should have grown out of years ago but still find enjoyable to watch. As it’s way past Valentines Day, it feels like the right time to express such admiration ...
...would feature in the series, Saved By The Bell. Based in Indianapolis, there was little difference in many of the characterisation; Hayley Mills, a popular teen actress of the 1960’s, stepped in to play the title character of all thirteen episodes, which included many plot lines that specialised in the ‘coming of age’ aspects of being a teenager from power struggles to love and peer pressure. Many of these features would pop up in Saved By The Bell ... more

(Note: Ok, ok, so this is a long review (huh, no change there) but please keep in mind that this is about Saved By The Bell as a whole rather than just a season of the show...sorry in advance!)

If you happen to be a child of the late 1980s and early 1990s, you may have come across an American adolescent sitcom called Saved By The Bell, a programme which I should have grown out of years ago but still find enjoyable to watch. As it’s way past Valentines Day, it feels like the right time to express such admiration for one of America’s truly corniest exports; set in the fictional Bayside High School, the series follows the lives of a group of friends as they do battle with everyday teenager trials including school, love and friendship and not to mention the bad 80s hairstyles and fashion!

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SHOW
Originally billed as ‘Good Morning, Miss Bliss’, the show aired for one series in the early summer of 1988 and featured many cast members who would feature in the series, Saved By The Bell. Based in Indianapolis, there was little difference in many of the characterisation; Hayley Mills, a popular teen actress of the 1960’s, stepped in to play the title character of all thirteen episodes, which included many plot lines that specialised in the ‘coming of age’ aspects of being a teenager from power struggles to love and peer pressure. Many of these features would pop up in Saved By The Bell but in a way more focused on the relationships of the pupils rather than the exploits in the classroom to some degree.

A year later, the show was repackaged into the comedy we all know and love - Saved By The Bell! Or should that be the comedy that some of us know and very few dare to admit to love? Most of the old cast, including the principal, remerged and it was later explained that Miss Bliss was the build up to this particular programme. The location had changed to a mystical place in California, Bayside, and the gang became a group of six instead of a group of five friends.

Running until 1993, Saved By The Bell underwent many significant changes during its run. The most important of these was the fact that many of the pupils just disappeared without any trace, never to be seen again on such crummy teen TV. That was actually one of the shows biggest failings; not the fact it was a show aimed at an adolescence audience but its inability to keep within its logical time frames of High School. The character development was more-or-less non existent so that too was another reason as to why the show could be deemed as slightly unsuccessful.

CAST AND CHARACTERS
Throughout all seasons of the programme, there were some characters who remained constant to the show, and others who left without a trace, never to be seen at Bayside High again. Not that this was necessarily a bad thing, as you will learn in a few moments. It has to be said that to keep it simple for all of those bemused preteens out there, the personalities in Saved By The Bell weren’t exactly deep, or perhaps even meaningful but merely a couple of ridiculous American stereotypes thrown into the spotlight.

The seven characters that plagued early morning TV on a Saturday - for the most part - are as followed:

Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar; 1989 - 1993) – there is apparently one of these in every school; the wise guy, cheeky jerk that for some reason, everybody falls for and who get away with murder. In that respect, Zack’s kind of like Dr. Gregory House but without the cynicism or personality. Anyway, Zack was the lead character in Saved By The Bell so it was easier to see his good natured side as well as his cunningness. He often used his mates and fellow pupils to play pranks on the head teacher, some of which were funny, others just plain weird. Being the funniest male on the show, it’s kind of worrying in many ways because Zack perhaps wasn’t meant to be all that amusing – just the person that set the ball rolling in many episodes because of the characters known fascination with earning money and women. Not in a pimpish way mind, just in a curiously adolescent kind of manner...of course there was no pre-marital sex on this show! It’s not Skins! As an actor, Mark worked well within the boundaries that the character had to offer; did he come off as a ladies man? Yes. Did I believe he was the prankster with a good heart? Yeah. The producers couldn’t have cast anyone better to play a lead character in this kind of show; he was charming, moderately easy on the eye and seemed to have star quality too. As Zack broke the fourth wall (where he talks to the audience) on a number of occasions, it was a really easy way for some of his more questionable motives to be displayed and a good move by the writers to allow such an amount of self-reflexivity within the show.

A.C. Slater (Mario Lopez; 1989 - 1993) – known affectionately by his last name, as his full blown name of Albert Clifford would sound a bit too nerd like, Slater is the big man on campus. Literally *coughsteroidscough*. In the first episode of Saved By The Bell, it was also his first day at Bayside too so, from that perspective, it was easier to see his development as a character rather than trying to visualise him as a child like we had to with many of the other characters who reminisced about their childhoods spent together. Although there wasn’t very much character development for anybody on this show, A.C. was the premier jock at school; the sports enthusiast, the star player on the Football and Wrestling teams as well as one heck of a dancer, if you were looking for make believe talent, Slater was your man! Lopez didn’t have a lot to work with in all fairness on this show; his character – like too many of the others – was pretty much being a case of what you see is what you get. Having said that, he and Mark interacted well on a number of occasions, first as sworn enemies into best buddies to make a believable connection throughout the show.

Samuel ‘Screech’ Powers (Dustin Diamond; 1989 – 1993) – the resident geek at Bayside, Screech’s name originated because of his inability to get his voice to break. This became more painful for the viewer as the series continued and into many of the spin offs, which I’ll get onto in a little while. Unlucky in love, Screech is quite literally the dork without a clue; as the ‘action man’ behind many of Zack’s elaborate schemes, you did question Zack’s intelligence of trusting Screech with anything more than an ant as he did manage to ruin everyone of his plans, seemingly just by being himself! It must have been an extremely easy character to play; from what I’ve read about Diamond, he’s hardly what you’d call Mr. Luvva Luvva, not by any stretch of the imagination. Yet, he’s just unbearable on this show; he really can’t act to save his life. Although he admitted that it was difficult interacting with the other cast members on the same level as everyone else because of him being significantly younger, it came off as awkward as the character was intended to be but not always in a good way for the audience as it was too uncomfortable.

Kelly Kapowski (Tiffani Amber Thieseen; 1989 – 1992) – described and depicted as the All-American Girl, Kelly was the object of both Zack and Slater’s affections, hence their early rivalry and turbulent relationship during the first series. Coming from a large but enthusiastic working class family, Kelly was the schools good girl with average grades but somebody who offered a lot of school spirit due to her performances on the cheerleading and volley ball teams. Thieseen really, really cannot act; it was like watching someone being tortured into performing whenever she was on screen. She looks a bit like Shania Twain too which might not be overly endearing. After leaving for undisclosed reasons, her character ended up marrying Zack in the final feature length episode, which brought tears to my eyes for all the wrong reasons as I was so glad not to have to watch her trying to act ever again! Does anyone know if anyone has hired her in a serious role since?!

Jessie Spano (Elizabeth Berkley; 1989 – 1992) – this was the character in which the writers tried to create someone with an active interest in politics, to reinforce many of America’s aspirations. Alas, trying to do this with a confused Feminist might not have been the correct way in going about it. Although she was very much against Chauvinism of any sort, it really didn’t explain why she went out with a self confessed ‘pig’, Slater, and why she was best friends since kindergarten (or play school) with Zack! Life and its little mysteries, ay? Berkley did well to try and ignite passion into this characters dead frame of mind and Holier than Thou actions. It was necessary in some episodes, especially when oil is spilt over many of the schools animals in a freakish accident, but sometimes, the idea of a female role model just didn’t work very well as it came off as trying too hard to fit in with the notion of 1990s power woman. If you’ve ever seen Goodnight Sweetheart, think of Yvonne Sparrow but ten times more involved with EVERYTHING!

Lisa Turtle (Lark Voorhies; 1989 – 1993) – as the funniest of the female characters, Lisa was by far the most socially competent out of all of the gang but, in spite of this alleged conception, she never really had a long term boyfriend during the series. Weird. It may have been that she was too busy trying to avoid the besotted Screech who had been in love with her since they were children! Fashion conscious (if that’s what you can really call it...) and quick witted, Lisa had a good heart and wasn’t afraid to let her feelings be known. Lark’s portrayal of Lisa was perhaps the most realistic out of all of the casts; her one liners were certainly the most entertaining out of all of her classmates and saved many of the episodes from being dull to at least having moments of sparkling humour. She was severely underused in my opinion; she seemed to be a little more complex than the other females but this notion of a non-3D character was barely explored by the writers, for some bizarre reason.

Mr. Belding (Dennis Haskins; all series’) – as the Principal of Bayside High School, Haskins maintained his role right up until the bitter end of the show altogether, including the New Class version of the show. Haskins even goes on tour with the stand up comedy version of this! Always at the centre of Zack’s scheming, Belding isn’t exactly the sharpest knife in the draw and shares much of the same sense of humour that your Dad might have. Thankfully, he doesn’t always plague every minute of every single episode. But when he does, you don’t really regret it but are hardly rejoicing either!

There were a couple of other characters that made appearances throughout the show. Max, played by Ed Alonzo, was the owner of the gang’s hangout of the same name but after the first couple of seasons, he vanished. Pity, as he was actually quite entertaining; Ed is real life is a magician so he brought a different level of humour to the show in the first couple of seasons when it perhaps needed it to build some much needed momentum for different audiences and to also allow for a slightly younger audience to enjoy the show too.

After both Berkley and Thieseen decided not to renew their contract when it was revealed that another series was to be made after the gang’s so-called graduation, Leanna Creel stepped in as Tori Scott, a tough biker chick that fell for Zack. Not only did this relationship fizzle out (and, in turn, it was never explained as to why the relationship fizzled out) but it was a bit weak and a desperate way to keep the show on TV. Creel did averagely well in her capacity as the odd tomboy but it just never made sense to me as a viewer and failed to maintain the show’s original perception – on a much wider scale – of stereotypes that seemed very realistic.

SEASONS AND NOTABLE EPISODES
All in all, there were 87 episodes of the show, consisting of four seasons and a bunch of specials aired between 1989 and 1993. Not bad going when you take into consideration that it was only filmed within that time frame. Each of the episodes lasted roughly 25 minutes, once you exclude any adverts and commercial breaks from beginning to end. I am speaking of my experience from watching the show on Nickelodeon; it may have been different when it was first broadcast in America but, during the last summer holidays, the show airs during school term times at about 2pm and is repeated an hour later...yes I was still watching this garbage when I was 18 years old...and I perhaps will do this summer if it’s on!

Series 1 (1989): This season focused primarily on getting the characters individual personality – or stereotype – across. Many of the plots found inspiration in the running theme of Zack and Slater’s constant vying for Kelly’s affections, with different episodes portraying her love, in return for either man. Not in a slutty way, just in a very indecisive, American cheerleader kind of fashion. It was perhaps my least favourite series out of them all; it didn’t really spring out as making Saved By The Bell any different to many other teenage American sitcoms, perhaps not in the way some of the later series’ did.

Series 2 (1990): Being the series in which Zack finally claim’s Kelly, many of the fans will regard it as their favourite. It certainly had a nice, pleasantly friendly build up to it and made sense once the writers decided what to do with poor, rejected Slater. However, thrusting him into the arms of the ultimate Feminist – Jessie – provided many of the shows cheapest catch phrases and gags, which would run throughout the remainder of the show. Season two was an important series, for the most part, because of the relationships that were built by the writers. It also features one of the most controversial episodes, ‘Jessie’s Song’, with a mild drug addiction of...the horror, caffeine pills! That was hardcore for the 1990’s! Oddly enough it’s never been show on Nick TV in this country...

Series 3 (1991): Many of the shows special, double episodes are featured in this series, including many focused around Jessie’s changing family life from her Father marrying a much younger woman (Palm Springs Weekend 1 & 2) and ‘The Wicked Stepbrother’ two parter. Whether this was intentional or not, the show also saw the changing of the relationship status within the gang; as Kelly and Zack broke up, so did Jessie and Slater so that dynamic of the show was lost in favour of many more friendship based storylines, as opposed to lovers. There were also the Malibu Sands episodes in which the group, for their summer vacation, spent their time working at an exclusive beach resort. I’m not a fan of these episodes because I’ve seen them for what seems like millions of times before! However, many of my favourite episodes do feature in this series – as you’ll learn soon...

Series 4 (1992 – 1993): The fourth and final season of ‘Saved By The Bell’ featured the rather mundane Tori episodes as well as the infamous’ Graduation’ and ‘School Song’ programmes. It felt like this wasn’t actually the end of the show though; as a viewer, I did genuinely expect another 20 episodes shortly afterwards. Yet, it was perhaps getting past its best with Lisa’s character going from funny to being plain rude on some occasions towards Screech. Another season that had some low points but many highs, mainly because there was a little more confidence in the characters to present them in a little bit of a challenging way.

Saved By The Bell: Hawaiian Style (November, 1992): I can only remember seeing this feature length episode once. The gang once again find an implausible way to go on holiday, find someone that needs their help, helps them and then everyone lives happily ever after. Even though it is their spring break, Mr. Belding manages to pop up (why is anybodies guess! – I would be slightly creeped out if my teachers had popped up on holiday where I was constantly...). From my memory, it was just another way to keep the show in the publics mind and altogether, not that entertaining as it was just a dragged out, inexplicable version like so many of the episodes beforehand.

Saved By The Bell: Wedding In Las Vegas (October 1994): Set after one of the major spin offs of the original series, it’s finally time for Zack and Kelly to take the plunge and tie the knot. Although they get no support from their family and even friends due to money issues, it’s still quite a sweet feature length episode and ties up everything the show was originally set to be about; even in the first episode, whilst successfully breaking the fourth wall, Morris informs the audience of his desire to marry the school’s head cheerleader and this episode brings many fan girls wildest dreams to life! *Goes and hurls because she remembers she is still a cynic at heart*.

MY FAVOURITE EPISODES
It is quite difficult for me to whittle it down to just five episodes that I would class as my favourite Saved By The Bell episodes; as sad as it is, I’ve been watching this show for nearly a decade, since we got the first Sky satellite, so there are some episodes that stick out in my mind as being good from when I was younger, and many from now. However, after much deliberation, here are my five personal favourite Saved By The Bell episodes...

#5: Breaking Up Is Hard To Undo (Series 2): After Mr & Mrs Belding, Zack & Kelly and Jessie & Slater all break up in the same day, it’s only a matter of time before one side surrenders and takes control of the situation. For the most part, the episode is quite surreal and questions exactly why Mr. Belding likes to spend so much time with the pupils that make his life a living hell. However, it is an amusingly wacky contest and Lisa’s one liners are at their best here, partly because of Lark’s comedic timing and facial expressions being just so perfect!

#4: Pipe Dreams (Series 3): From a hopelessly funny episode to one that is remorselessly tragic, ‘Pipe Dreams’ centres itself around the school’s fortune as they have found oil underneath the football field. Although the are petty sacrifices to be made regarding the sports facilities, it’s the innocent animals in the school’s pond and surrounding areas that suffer, including Becky the duck after a major oil spillage. This was one of the episodes that I regarded as being one of my favourites because the humour is still there but an important, humanitarian message is being spread but not in quite as forceful a way as some episodes of the series have been known to.

#3: Graduation (Series 4): The time has come for the gang to Graduate from High School – but there’s a snag; in America, the students have to build up merits in order to aid both their academic and extra curricular work. Zack is one credit short of Graduating and the only way he can do so it by performing in the school’s last production – a ballet! It’s a sentimental episode and my feelings towards leaving school were exactly the same as Zack’s; ‘finally, we’re getting out of the dump!’ Yet, when it comes down to it, this episode displays some of the warmest moments of friendship from within the show and is a joy to watch as there are many amusing moments to behold too.

#2: School Song (Series 4): This is perhaps the only episode in which Screech has ever been authentically funny in! As the gang are leaving High School forever, they decide that they wanted to leave their legacy (my mates and I did this in a less charitable way but that’s another story!) at Bayside. So, a competition is set as to who can write the best school leavers song with hilarious results. Belding’s face during Screech’s moment of glory is priceless and is one of the most memorable scenes for either character – and for all of the right reasons!

#1: Mystery Weekend (Series 3): When Lisa wins a radio competition to visit a haunted mansion for a weekend of frolics as a part of a Murder Mystery scheme, everyone is excited. Yet, with the crimes turning out to be anything but fictional, Zack is left to clear his name on suspicion of both theft and murder. But can he do so in time? I admit – it sounds corny but this is such a fantastic display of writing and comedic acting that it can’t fail to be hilarious! I’ve always wanted to do a murder mystery weekend (even if it is only to convince people that I’m the murderer before revealing that I’m not!) so to see such an event being played out here in such a fabulous way by the actors was a joy to watch for the first time and it still is. It’s an episode that will always have me in stitches!

SPIN OFF’S TO THE ORIGINAL SAVED BY THE BELL
The first of a series of spin offs of the show was ‘Saved By The Bell: The College Years’. It followed Zack, Slater and Screech in their daily lives at the University of California even though previously it was revealed that the whole gang were going in different directions... Two other female characters, Alex (Kiersten Warren), and Zack’s initial love interest of Leslie (Anne Tremko) start of f the show yet, when Kelly makes her return, it eventually leads to old flames being re-ignited. The show suffered significantly due to the fact that it aired at prime time instead of Saturday mornings, so lasted only one season. In principal, it wasn’t a bad idea but – during some of the episodes – you did get the feeling that some of the characters had overstayed their welcome a bit too much and that the writers were trying to recycle some of the old storylines into something a little more grown up. However, with a childish character like Screech, it just came across as a bit desperate on many occasions.

‘Saved By The Bell: The New Class’ followed Belding’s attempts at handling an almost identical set of pupils to that the original show offered, in spite of numerous casting changes. It ran for seven years from 1993 but many of the episodes were strangely similar to some of the original episodes, such as two lead characters being admitted to hospital due to rather random circumstances. However the show did take the ball and run, with many episodes featuring more risqué storylines including abuse and drug taking. These notions were passed in the original show yet were handled in a bit of a gruffer, more extreme way here. Also, some of the more meaningful episodes of Saved By The Bell were never shown in the UK, particularly Jessie’s Song, for reasons best known to broadcasters so unless you’ve read about the less friendly episodes of the original Saved By The Bell, the New Class’ escapades will seem a little more grown-up.

SAVED BY THE BELL: CAREER KILLER? WHERE ARE THE CAST NOW?
It has to be said that ‘Saved By The Bell’ has done little to enhance the media career’s of many of its initial cast. In fact, Dennis Haskin’s will always be recognised as Belding as he has played the guy for so damn long! Dustin Diamond got a job actual on the New Class episodes in which he pretended he was still a pupil so he would never have to come to terms with his voice breaking. In actual fact, he was Belding’s assistant but it just made that series more unbearable than it probably should have been!

Mark-Paul Gosselaar, after years of struggling trying to find permanent acting jobs, eventually did make a comeback, starring as John Clark in the American Police Drama series, NYPD Blue. After years of making ends meet selling home videos, he managed to maintain his roles and he is, for the most part, a very talented and underrated actor. Alas, many of the cast will always be a martyr to their teen days, especially Mario Lopez; like Diamond, he has only really featured on various reality TV shows including Dancing With the Stars although he did get voted People Magazine’s Hottest Bachelor last year! A big achievement? When you’ve played such a one dimensional character as Slater for so long and been remembered for it for well over a decade then yes, getting voted bachelor of the year is a bit achievement...

DVD RELEASES AND OTHER DETAILS
If you have been reading all of this and are sat rocking backwards and forwards in your seat thinking ‘yes, this is the show for me’ – fear not! You can still get it on DVD! I am yet to because I’ve become distracted by better brands of television (and my Mum threatened to cut my debit card in half if I so much as thought about buying the box sets) but you can purchase them online although you may have to settle for a Region 1 (US/Canadian) copy of the show as Region 2 (UK) copies seem to be hard to come by. If you go on Amazon.co.uk you are looking at spending £10 - £11 for an imported box set of each series. Is it worth the money? Hold your horses and I shall tell thee...

WHO IS THE SERIES FOR?
Good question – primarily, it would have to be said that Saved By The Bell is for the strange folk of the world, or preteens as they prefer to be called, but the show also moves nicely into the bracket of the teenage years due to the themes of love and deeper relationships...perhaps not deep in any sense but love is definitely there...

It’s really not for adults – my Mum is still flabbergasted by the fact that I will purposely revolve my life around when this show is going to be on TV! If I need to go to the shops, I will either go before Saved By The Bell has been on or wait until afterwards. It is perhaps a case of small things and small minds but for me, it brings back a great deal of nostalgia from late Primary School and early High School, way before I became the cynic I am today. It’s quite a nice piece of escapism; whether this is because the set design is quite bright and colourful or because the plots are simple yet vaguely amusing, it makes you forget about the negative things that are perhaps going on in your life at the time which is, after all, what good TV – particularly sitcoms – should endeavour to do.

Of course, don’t rush out and buy your preteen every Saved By The Bell box set under the sun for Christmas; the show is quite dated now and for that reason it perhaps is a nostalgic thing as to why I like it because I love watching TV from my childhood...only sometimes...ok quite often...moving on...

OVERALL
So, what is there really left to say about the incomparable Saved By The Bell? Not a lot actually. However, it’s a show that I think if you’ve grown up with it – or were attending High School roughly around the time when it was first shown in the 1990s then it’s a treat to watch because it does have its funny moments. I went to High School in the naughties and although it was always a riot to laugh at the bad dress codes of yesteryear, the show was also good from the stand point that it did portray some startlingly real stereotypes; everyone remembers the jocks, the jokers, the nerds and geeks, the Feminists, the happy-go-lucky girls you wanted to punch in the face, the fashion conscious...

Although there wasn’t a lot in the realms of character development, this is in many ways an asset to the show now; if an episode does randomly pop up on TV one day, watch it and see how easy it is to feel like you’ve known the characters your whole life. Yes, there are some predictable, thigh slappingly wholesome storylines and yes it is beyond clichéd, but somewhere in there, there is a gem of a show because of its simple yet fun nature.

All in all, a show that I shall perhaps watch all of my life...purely for nostalgia mind, even if that is sadly the best excuse I can come up with for watching this rather guilty pleasure! 

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