The History of "Saved by the Bell" (Part II: Films and College Years)

Though Good Morning, Miss Bliss didn't last long--just a single season on the Disney Channel--NBC took the show, retooled it, and tinkered with the cast. As a result, Good Morning, Miss Bliss was transformed into the popular Saved by the Bell. The central cast included Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Zack Morris), Mario Lopez (A.C. Slater), Dustin Diamond (Samuel "Screech" Powers), Tiffani-Amber Thiessen (Kelly Kapowski), Elizabeth Berkley (Jessie Spano), Lark Voorhies (Lisa Turtle), and Dennis Haskins (Principal Richard Belding). This was the group that was featured on the Saturday morning series for all four seasons, from the freshman year up to the graduation from Bayside High School.

As the series continued on, the popularity increased vastly, and it reached a point where we received a telefilm, a spinoff, and a second film that wrapped things up for the OG group. They were as follows:

Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style

Near the tail end of the series' original run, NBC gave us Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style, a telefilm based on the series. In this film, the sextet of Bayside students were on summer vacation in Hawaii, and they were all looking to forget about anything reminding them of their school days. However, they see Mr. Belding leading his fellow principals in a tour, and that shocks both sides, who promise to steer clear of each other. The centerpiece of the plot involved the Hawaiian Hideaway, a hotel owned by Kelly's grandfather, Harry Bannister, and that was the site of their vacation; but it was in danger of being bought out.

The film featured quite a few interesting storylines for the characters. For one, Slater and Jessie were the subjects of a bet made by Lisa, which involved going the entire vacation without arguing (of course, they lost). Zack found himself falling for Vanessa, a single mother in a bad relationship, Kelly had her own affinity for Brian Hanson, who was revealed to be involved in the surreptitious attempt to sell the hotel, and Screech...well...he ended up becoming the king of a local tribe.

Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style aired on NBC on November 27, 1992, and the additional cast included Dan Gauthier as Brian Hanson, Rena Sofer as Vanessa, and the late, great Dean Jones as Harry Bannister. Fun fact: Dan Gauthier would work with Tiffani Amber-Thiessen less than a year later in the Pauly Shore-led comedy, Son-In-Law. Dean Jones' appearance in this telefilm came just months after his memorable role in Beethoven as villainous veterinarian Herman Varnick.

Saved by the Bell: The College Years

Right after the graduation finale of the original series, Saved by the Bell: The College Years premiered on that same evening, May 22, 1993. The spinoff/sequel series originally placed the three boys--Zack, Slater, and Screech--at the fictional California University, with three different girls. The first of the three girls was Leslie Burke (played by Anne Tremko), who comes from a wealthy family, and next up was Alex Tabor (played with hilarious fervor by Kiersten Warren), an aspiring actress. In the pilot, the third new girl was Danielle Marks (played by Essence Atkins), and she was described as the daughter of a powerful judge. The cast also included Bob Golic as the students' advisor, Mike Rogers, who was also a former NFL player--similar to Golic's real life. While the character was described as having played for the San Francisco 49ers, in real life, Bob Golic (whose brother Mike Golic--of Mike & Mike fame--also played in the NFL) played for the New England Patriots, the Cleveland Browns, and the Los Angeles Raiders.

After the pilot episode, the show's second episode aired almost four months later and came with a casting change. Atkins' character, Danielle Marks, was written out in favor of bringing back Tiffani-Amber Thiessen as Kelly Kapowski. I loved College Years, it had that same charm that the original series had, but this time in that college setting. We would see Zack originally try to date Leslie, but when that fell through, he would attempt to get the spark back with Kelly. Of course, there was an obstacle in the form of Jeremiah Lasky, a professor who actually dates Kelly in episodes. I hated Lasky for years, to be honest, because anyone who gets in between Zack and Kelly is the enemy in my book. However, when I first watched the episodes, I found myself being upset at Kelly for this, because she was all hung up on Lasky and wouldn't really give Zack a chance during that time.

College Years didn't last long, only a single season with 19 episodes. It definitely had its moments, though. The episode, "Slater's War," was memorable due to Slater learning about his Hispanic heritage, and I remember it was one of the few times where I wasn't happy with Zack, as he was acting very tone deaf in response to Slater's cultural growth. I loved "The Poker Game" because I love episodes of shows where guys get together and play poker, mainly because they hilariously act like fools. "A Thanksgiving Story" had a lot of cool cameos; mostly connected to NBC. Marv Albert (who was working at NBC Sports at the time) was one, along with the late Jonathan Brandis (from seaQuest DSV), Marsha Warfield (Night Court, though she was doing Empty Nest at that time), Jenna Von Oÿ (Blossom), and Dennis Haskins appeared as Mr. Belding. The one non-NBC cameo was Brian Austin Green, and fittingly, Kelly went wild over seeing Green appear; Tiffani-Amber Thiessen would join 90210 less than a year later.

My favorite episode was "A Question of Ethics," and it's mainly because of the late, great Robert Guillame's appearance as hard-nosed Professor Hemmings. And of course, the tail end of the series saw Zack and Kelly not only back together, but after the penultimate episode, they were engaged.

Which brings us to this:

Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas

After College Years ended, NBC aired the show's second telefilm, Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas, and as the title states, Zack and Kelly tie the knot. The road to get there was not exactly paved with gold. A lot of obstacles were fired at the group, which did include Lark Voorhies back as Lisa Turtle (following her appearance in the College Years finale). The boys dealt with getting locked up and basically robbed by a corrupt cop, the girls had car trouble, the entire group dealt with criminal gangsters, and both Zack and Screech had to work as escorts for Bert Banner, played by the late, great Gilbert Gottfried. At the time of the film's airdate, Gottfried was continuing one of his memorable roles: voicing Iago on the Aladdin TV series after playing the role in the 1992 film and the 1994 sequel, The Return of Jafar.

The film saw Dennis Haskins back as Mr. Belding, and Elizabeth Berkley briefly reprised her role as Jessie Spano. Bob Golic and Kiersten Warren also appeared in their College Years roles in the film, which aired on NBC on October 7, 1994. This film always gets me emotional; sometimes I cry, sometimes I don't, but the emotion is there. For one, Wedding in Las Vegas marked the end of an era, serving as the overall end of the original Saved by the Bell extended series with the OG group. Secondly, as I stated before, Zack and Kelly got married. That was the ultimate couple on that show, and seeing them together and becoming a married couple was just absolutely beautiful.

Here's the interesting thing. On Amazon Prime's Saved by the Bell live channel, all of this airs out of order. The channel airs Hawaiian Style and Wedding in Las Vegas back-to-back, and then College Years airs after the movies. I loved the movies; Hawaiian Style was basically a longer episode of the show, while Wedding in Las Vegas was a terrific overall finale of the original group's saga. I always love watching both movies and College Years on Prime, but as we all know, the franchise didn't end at that point.