The History of "Saved by the Bell" (Part I: The Original Run)

We all love Saved by the Bell, don't we? It's one of those shows that we love so much that we can name various episodes based on even a simple sliver of a scene, or even by one or two lines. I don't think anyone who watched the show when it aired knew that it would become not only a phenomenon, but a known franchise as well, yet here we are.

Similar to a lot of shows, Saved by the Bell's beginnings are quite interesting and a bit on the baffling to some fans. Without further ado, here's our story:

As we all know, the series actually began under a different title: Good Morning, Miss Bliss, and the show--while produced by NBC--actually aired on The Disney Channel, with the exception of the original pilot, which aired on NBC on July 11, 1987. The show starred Hayley Mills (best known for starring on the original Parent Trap) as the title character, Carrie Bliss, a teacher at John F. Kennedy Junior High in Indianapolis. Despite being the title character, Miss Bliss was not the focal point, as Peter Engel, the legendary genius who gave us this show, centered the series on Miss Bliss' students.

Five students were shown as the centerpiece. First off, Zack Morris, played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar, portrayed as a charming schemer, as well as the de facto leader of the group. Next was Samuel "Screech" Powers, the show's nerdy character played by Dustin Diamond, whose casting was pushed by Gosselaar. Fun fact, though the students were in junior high on the show, Diamond was actually only eleven years of age when he was cast as Screech. Lark Voorhies played rich shopaholic Lisa Turtle, who Screech has a huge crush on. Another fun fact: the character of Lisa was originally conceived as being Jewish, but Voorhies' audition largely impressed Engel so much that he cast her in the role. Max Battimo played Mikey Gonzalez, who was Zack's best friend on that original run; Screech would take that mantle in later years, and Heather Hopper played the outspoken and moral Nikki Coleman.

The rest of the cast was rounded out by T.K. Carter as maintenance supervisor Mylo Williams, Joan Ryan as Tina Paladrino, another teacher who served as a good friend to Miss Bliss, and Dennis Haskins as the school's principal, Richard Belding. After the original pilot aired only once, the retooled Good Morning, Miss Bliss premiered on November 30, 1988 on The Disney Channel. The show only lasted for one 13-episode season that ended on March 18, 1989, after which it was cancelled.

Of course, the saga definitely did not end there.

Good Morning, Miss Bliss ended up retooled and remade into the show that we all love and honor: Saved by the Bell. Regarding the cast, Gosselaar, Diamond, Voorhies, and Haskins remained on the retooled show, which was now set on the fictional Bayside High School in LA. In addition, three new characters were added. First off, the road to casting the role of good-hearted cheerleader Kelly Kapowski was an interesting one. It ended up coming down to three actresses: Jennie Garth, Elizabeth Berkley, and Tiffani-Amber Thiessen. It was whittled down to Berkley and Thiessen, with Engel casting the latter for the role of Kelly after an audition was successful. Regarding Berkley, the powers that be really liked her as well, so she was cast in the memorable role of brainy, strong-willed feminist Jessica "Jessie" Spano.

Another added character was Albert Clifford "A.C." Slater, and for that role, the character was originally conceived as being Italian-American; more specifically, they wanted another version of John Travolta's Barbarino from Welcome Back, Kotter. They couldn't find an actor to fill that bill, so they opened it up to other ethnicities. After that, they found the perfect Slater in the form of Mario Lopez. For the first season, Ed Alonzo was cast as Max, who was the owner of the teens' well known hangout, "The Max," which has to be up there with Pop's Chocklit Shoppe (Archie Comics) and the Peach Pit (a hangout that Tiffani-Amber Thiessen would get to know very well) as one of the greatest fictional teen hangouts of all time.

Saved by the Bell officially premiered on August 20, 1989, and would go on to serve as one of the top shows on NBC's "TNBC" Saturday morning lineup--which would later consist of fellow Peter Engel shows such as California Dreams, Hang Time, and City Guys. The first season, for the most part, centered on the love triangle between Zack, Slater, and Kelly, which this Archie Comics fan couldn't help but compare to Archie Andrews and Reggie Mantle's rivalry over Veronica Lodge. One thing I couldn't help but nitpick was how Zack was portrayed during that first season. In nearly every episode, Zack was always up to something, and it didn't matter how immoral it was or how hurtful it was to the others. Basically, they nearly made Zack Morris unlikable.

In Season Two, the triangle's over, as Zack and Kelly become a couple, as do Slater and Jessie--despite their differences. While Screech did continue to pine for Lisa, he did receive his own love interest in the form of Violet Bickerstaff, who was played by Tori Spelling (during the beginning of her long run as Donna Martin on 90210). It was around this time that the show first took on some gritty topics, as the memorable episode, "Jessie's Song," tackled drug use.

In the episode, Jessie was tackling a lot: schoolwork, her quest to get into Stanford, and she was also part of a singing group with Kelly and Lisa. Jessie resorts to taking caffeine pills, though I learned that the original plan was to have Jessie addicted to speed in the episode, but it was deemed too extreme for a show for kids and teens. Of course, the episode is known for the very memorable scene between Zack and Jessie, where the former realizes Jessie's use of the pills and attempts to calm her down, after which Jessie gives her noted performance of The Pointer Sisters' hit song, I'm So Excited.

The third season of the show is best known by fans of the show for the "Malibu Sands" episodes--the six episodes that featured the sextet working at the Malibu Sands Beach Resort during the summer. These episodes were the first group of themed episodes that occurred during the show's entire run (including New Class), and among many things, the Malibu Sands episodes were known for the two central guest characters: resort owner Leon Carosi and his daughter, Stacey Carosi. Leon was played by Ernie Sabella, a known character actor with many different roles, though he would go to be known for providing the voice of Pumbaa in The Lion King, as well as the film's various sequels, and the Timon & Pumbaa animated series.

As for Stacey, she was played by Leah Remini, and to say she's gone on to a lot of big things would be an understatement. Stacey remains one of the most memorable recurring characters on the series, and regarding Remini, that run would go on to result in her being cast as Carrie Heffernan on the long-running CBS sitcom, The King of Queens. Regarding Bayside, Season Three was the year that Zack and Kelly split up, with the latter dating that slithery clown Jeff--until he was caught messing around on her. It also featured a memorable two-parter involving Jessie's diabolical stepbrother, Eric, as well as the legendary "Rockumentary" episode featuring the late, great Casey Kasem. Prior to this, the famous "No Hope With Dope" episode aired, which featured the gang participating in a "Say No to Drugs"-type PSA.

The fourth and last season of the show's original run began on September 12, 1992, and it marked the gang's senior year at Bayside. Though, it was a very rocky start for two of the characters. There's a reason why I hardly watch the episode, "The Fight." The episode kicked off the fourth season, and it saw Zack and Slater boasting to each other about a girl they had just met, only for both of them to learn that it's the same girl. What follows is Zack and Slater sabotaging each other's dates, but that's not what effected me. The hard to watch moment for me was Zack and Slater actually coming to blows in the hall. That moment broke my heart then, and it still does.

Going from a heartbreaking moment to a heartwarming one, "The Senior Prom" featured one of my favorite moments in the series, as we see (among other things) Screech actually attempt to ask out other girls to the prom, while also basically promising Lisa that he would not ask her. Screech doesn't succeed, and it includes one girl, Kathy, being so cruel to him and even continuing to trash Screech to Lisa, who responds with this:

"I can't believe that a nice guy like him would ever go to the prom with a jerk like you."

At the Max, the rest of gang talks about their prom plans, and then a glum Screech enters. Screech laments over not finding a date, with Lisa responds with a reminder of what a nice, wonderful, yet strange, person he is, and he'll find a date in no time. Screech says that he will keep his promise not to ask Lisa, who actually asks him to the prom in response. You know that happiness I had when the Colorado Avalanche won the Cup in 2022? That was Screech when Lisa asked him to the prom. I always cry during that moment, and I think half of it is because Screech won out big time in the end, while the other half is that Dustin Diamond, sadly, is no longer with us.

Of course, Season Four ended with the gang graduating, and while the graduation episode aired last, it was not the last to be taped. Which brings us to this:

So a funny thing happened during Season Four: an additional order was received for eleven episodes to be shot after the graduation episode. Wow! That's a big order! One problem: Tiffani-Amber Thiessen and Elizabeth Berkley left the show and weren't coming back for those extra episodes. That's a big void that couldn't be properly filled, but they had to do something, as they also couldn't leave Lisa as the only girl in the group. Enter Tori Scott. Leanna Creel, who was 22 at the time, was hired to play Tori Scott, the leather-jacket wearing tough girl who originally served as a rival against Zack before becoming a love interest.

Creel appeared in ten of the eleven episodes as Tori, and they were all shot after the graduation finale, but of course, they aired prior to that episode and were mixed in with the rest of the season. Her debut episode, "The New Girl," aired as the fourth episode of Season Four on September 19, 1992. My thoughts: I didn't (and still don't) hate the Tori episodes, but I wasn't that crazy about them as whole, either. It looked a bit out of whack without Kelly and Jessie. Some of the episodes had their positives. "The New Girl" was OK, "Masquerade Ball" had a few funny moments, and "Earthquake" featured the birth of Becky and Richard Belding's son, named Zack.

However, there's only one Tori episode that I will say I love, and that's "The Will." In that episode, an old Bayside alumnus dies and leaves $10,000 for the school to use for whatever they want. Zack and Slater suggest giving that money to the sports program, and the girls are happy for this...until the boys say that the money should only go to boys' sports, and they belittle girls' sports. This results in a best-of-three battle between the girls and boys for the ten grand.

The graduation finale aired in primetime on May 22, 1993, ending the original run. One of the live channels on Amazon Prime features all of Saved by the Bell, including Good Morning, Miss Bliss. Speaking of that original show, syndication and the live channel retroactively airs the Miss Bliss episodes under the SBTB title--theme, opening, and all. The episodes also feature intros from Zack Morris explaining that these episodes from from an earlier time than SBTB.

In addition, a bad habit that the show had was airing episodes out of order. Season Two had an episode that was supposed to be part of Season One, while Season Four had an original Season One episode, an original Season Two episode, and an original Season Three episode. DVD releases rectify this, and so does the live channel, for the most part. The live channel airs Malibu Sands episodes consecutively, and regarding Season Four, the live channel airs Kelly and Jessie's episodes first, followed by the ten Tori episodes and the episode titled "Best Summer of My Life," which is a look back at the Malibu Sands period.

Saved by the Bell's original run left a lasting impression, and that's an understatement. The story doesn't end there, as there's much more to talk about, but for now, I will continue to enjoy that original run and the many moments from those early years with that legendary cast.