For those of you who are not savvy to the phenomenon of the very late 80’s and early 90’s, otherwise known as Saved by the Bell, this post might mean little to you. However, for those of you who relished NBC’s T-NBC Saturday morning lineup, including the aforementioned show, and for even more of you who came to love and adore this show during its countless showings on TBS and WGN during the latter half of the 90’s (unless, of course, the cubs or braves were playing and especially if they were playing each other which meant no SBTB and double coverage of the same game, enough to lead a man to madness), this post will rate high in sentimental value and perhaps, perchance and possibly take you back to Bayside, back to the Max and those brief, yet glorious days at the Malibu Sands Beach Club.
Bayside High School, the petry dish for this glorious experiment, was, at the very least, a utopian high school in which dorks, jocks, cheerleaders, brains, fashion queens and, well, Zack could live together in pure community and even befriend the school’s princi"pal" (How do you categorize a Zack Morris? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? Both good and fair questions I say.) This was a school where self-imposed social walls were broken down in the name of equality and justice. Perhaps you think my language is too strong. Perhaps you’re right. But I will not apologize for the love and passion this show inspires, not only in me, but in the thousands of Saved by the Bell devotees.
This show struck a chord. I’ve seen people get into SBtB trivia battles so intense that fights almost ensued. A college roommate and I used to get up at six in the morning to catch a couple episodes, go back to bed after the shows and go back to sleep before class. They even did an E! True Hollywood Story on it. So it is with great honor that I write this post. With no further ado, here is the list. [note: there is no doubt i could have overlooked an episode. this was like picking between my own kids (iffin i had any)]
Honorable Mention:
Episode 9.2 “Dancing to the Max”
Episode 10.7 “Rent-a-Pop”
Episode 12.t2 “Teen-Line” (note: all though this episode contains a very memorable quote about keeping the Teen-Line op-en, the Tori-run was, in my opinion one of the worst things, beside the new class, to happen to the franchise. The Tori episodes lacked the chemistry that made the show work. Like my lungs need air, my Zack needs Kelly and my Slater needs his momma. The lack of Kelly and Jessie makes watching any Tori episodes, no matter how entertaining, incomplete.)
Episode 11.16 “Rockumentary” Zack Attack
The Top 5
#5 12.3 “Screech’s Spaghetti Sauce”
-“The sauce a you can have. But the secret she’s a mine.” Start with a delicious spaghetti sauce, mix in Zack’s entrepreneurial acumen, add a little Punky Brewster and you got a winner.
#4 M.4 (the summer run “My Boyfriend’s Back”
-I loved the summer run. I missed my Mr. Belding, but Leon Carosi proved to be a fantastic antagonist for Zack and the gang. Give Leon a daughter, Stacie, who Zack falls for and summer love gets exciting. This episode tests that love when Stacie’s ex-boyfriend Craig Strand comes back to give Stacie his fraternity pin. After an extreme obstacle course coming to fruition in an ATV race, love proves to be enough.
#3 11.4 “Check Your Mate”
- ‘I surrender Screechnivich, you’re too good.” This episode is one part “Searching for Bobby Fisher” and another part “the Sting.” A lucky beret is stolen given to Screech by his lady, Violet (played by Tori Spelling). Zack and Slater stand to lose $300 in a bet they made on the chess championship with arch-rival Valley and their Russian-chess master Peter Breznev. Chess was never so exciting. Will Vinnie & Guy-Guy ever learn? I think not. Go Bayside!
#2 10.13 “The Fabulous Belding Brothers”-
‘We may not have gotten the cooler Belding. But we got the Better Belding.’ Rod is no Richard. In this episode, we see just how well Richard Belding puts the “pal” in principal. Richard Belding is the greatest television principal of all time, hands down. Zack realizes just how much Mr. Belding cares for his students in this episode, and so did we. Richard Belding was a man of integrity and honor. He was a father-figure for Zack, whose father Derek was always talking on enormous cell phones.
#1 10.9 “Jessie’s Song!”
Come on, was there every any doubt? This is, without a doubt, the height of the Saved by the Bell writing. It covers every single emotion effortlessly. It touches our hearts and doesn’t even ask permission. We get a music video for the Hot Sundaes song “Go for It,” we see the great length’s Screech will go to in order to help his friends, Jessie’s hard exterior is broken down after becoming addicted to pills she takes to keep her awake so she can keep up with everything and we see how Zack truly is the glue that holds this show together. This episode will stand the test of time. Perhaps the most famous line in any episode still rings out today. “I’m so excited. I’m so excited. I’m so…..scared.” Aren’t we all, Jessie, aren’t we all?
34 comments:
Great post!
This show was truly the height of late-Eighties kitch.
It was successful for the same reason "Friends" was:
"Friends" made us nostalgic for a post-Graduate world we never had.
"SBTB" made us nostalgic for a high school we never had.
FYI, Tori was not in the teen line episode, however, it did feature Kelly and Jessie. If you remember correctly, Zach, aka "Nitro", told Kelly's sister, I believe it was Nikki, that she was the Kapowski he really loved. Then he realized what he had done and tried to act like a geek to get her to not like him; "One grape soda, two straws missy!"
Jessie was featured because Zach and Screech had given the information to keep them fighting and at the end of the show, Lisa got them to agree on something for the first time and move on from there:
Lisa: "Is there anyone you would rather disagree more with"
Slater and Jessie: "No."
Lisa: "There, your first agreement. Build from there"
I will afford you this oversight if you can explain to me how some of the original cast of characters who went to John F. Kennedy Middle school in Indiana, all made it to California, yet still had childhood memories of living beside one another?
Your Brother
Although i appreciate that this is your blog, and therefore your list of top five SBTB's, i feel this task is an impossible one at best. Unless a vote was held (and only those who qualified can vote, kate is out, Andy is in) and 5 epidsodes each recieved 75% of the vote, i would hold all top five SBTB lists arbitrary, except for starting a general discussion like what this one will eventually become, via tim's comments. You are right tim, picking which child you like best would be easier. My honorable mentions: summer run -- volleyball match; middle school when zach loses Ms. Bliss's money on potatoes, and lets not forget Zach's bout with drinking and driving, i know i learned a valuable lesson that day. This same phenomenon of choosing the best also applies to The Simpsons.
Drennan
http://homepage.mac.com/ijball/SbtB/history.html
This link is the best I can do to help with the Miss Bliss question. I offer two ideas: the Good Morning Miss Bliss shows were a dream and also remind us that it was an entirely different entity on a different network (disney to nbc).
Now, in regards to my brother's comments on the Tori episode Teen-Line. There were two teen-line episodes. 12t.2 which I was talking about in my blog and 10.11 which is actually titled "1-900-Crushed." The latter episode includes all of the things you referenced in your comment and the former refers to all the things in mine. Kelly and Jessie were not in any episodes with Tori. She was brought in to 'fill' the void left by Tiffani Amber Theissen and Elizabeth Berkley when they left the show half-way through the grade 12 season. The bit with Kelly's sister Nikki did happen bu not in the Tori episode. In the episode entitled "teen-line" Zack dates a girl in a wheel chair (hence the wheel chair basketball game) and utters lines such as "Would you mind slouching? My date's in a wheelchair." and "Let's have another round of applause for the real star of today's game, the only one who has to be in a wheelchair, Melissa Donahue!" I do admire your zeal for the truth and that you knew Zack was called "Nitro," so I will afford you this oversight.
Scott, a universal Saved by the Bell survey would be a noble undertaking and you are the man to do it. Good to hear from you. I'll try to reply to your email tonight. Stay warm.
while I do not claim to have anywhere near the knowledge of you all on the titles of episodes or the dates that they originally aired, I would offer my choice for a favorite episode of SBtB:
the one with Zack & Screech's magic zit cream, and Kelly wins homecoming queen, complete with a bright red face, and the entire cast chanting "B-buh-B-buh-buh-buh-B! B-buh-B-buh-buh-buh-B- Go Bayside!" through the Max
Scott...
I resent your disqualifying me and questioning my judgement when it comes to evaluating such high quality television programming! If you look back to the intial posting forwarning the Top 5 SBTB episodes... I do believe that I in fact made the first mention of Tim's #1 pick. Hmmmmm... care to reconsider you previous statement.
I also bring 2 perspectives which you young boys lack... experience and a y chromosome.
You remember that episode because you should remember it. There is no doubt in my mind that it is on most people's top fives. It may not have been the funniest, but it was real, and i think a lot of us could, and still can, relate to what was happening at that time in the lives of those students. Now, you made first mention, but let me use an analogy here. Say i was to start a similar discussion on the greatest basketball players of all time. You say Michael Jordan. You say you forget what team he played for, but remember his jersey was red. Although you know who he is and his jersey color (parallel to knowing the episode, knowing it was jesse, but not knowing what she said, and why she said it which are huge to the episode) i don't think it qualifies you to have a vote in the matter with the sports journalism world, should a poll of sports writers be taken. I do not claim to be all knowing on SBTB, the fierce showdown above with tim and andy shows that, but i feel i have been in enough of the "Best of Conversations" before to hold my own.
The y chromosone merely hinders you....and as far as experience....you didn't even know what song she was singing. i feel like i am missing something not knowing of the milkshake debacle of 2003.
Having grown up in the same household as Andy and Tim (which for many years only had 1 television set mind you) I logged many hours alongside them watching TGIF, T-NBC, the abc after school specials, etc. I feel I am just as qualified to share my opinion on the matter. I loved SBTB as well. Although, I must admit, being older, wiser, more mature, if you will, that I did abandon SBTB once a more mature teen drama came along. A little show by the name Beverly Hills 90210. But I digress, back to SBTB...Mark Paul Gosselar replaced my tv crush on Ricky Shroeder and filled a void left upon the break up of NKOTB. Although Slater's dimples never quite "did it" for me, I longed for a boyfriend of my own to take me to the max and call me "mama". Why must I be denied the pleasure of reveling in my memories, my beloved childhoon memories of my tv friends?
In response to the y chromosome comment- I am merely pointing out the fact that I bring a female perspective to the debate. SBTB love is available to all who will receive it. Not just boys who spend their time qualifying every trivial detail of their pop cultural existence.
i feel as though i must moderate a little. although kate, my sister, might not be as fluent in the language of saved by the bell as some of us are, i do not feel that this should disqualify her from sharing her opinion on the matter. this forum is no facist regime nor i mussolini, all are welcome to comment without fear of rejection or hate. it is true that she became a little more concerned with the walsh's and the plight of a family from minnesota who found themselves living in the land of beverly hills, 92o21o. and it is true that she was forced to watch this show, also full house and rocketman one time on her birthday against her will (how i managed that i'll never know). it is also true that she forced me to watch dirty dancing more times than i care to admit. "nobody puts baby in the corner." you're absolutely right patrick, with your enormous head.
all that to say my sister is just as qualified as the next person to discuss this show. if she makes a mistake we should gently rebuke her. saved by the bell is not intended to be means of thought oppression.
now, the milk shake debacle of 2003 has been brought up twice. i think it is best to let sleeping dogs lie. however, dean judson abernathy III is more than welcome to tell anyone about this story. it was quite shocking and awful, in the sense that it filled jud and i with awe. i'm shaking my head just thinking about it now. wow.
I spit in my palm and extend it forward as a sign of truce, and apology.
(it must be noted that i in no way attempted to leave kate out of discussion, just final vote, which i apologize for as well)
I will also be setting up a website disucsison forumn for things of such. Mainly to openly reminise via web on things from our brentwood past (hot gossip from 1999, or mission tirp memories), but i'm sure other such discussions will arise like the one we find ourselves in today. Sorry i have taken over this postings comment page...i'll get my own, i promise.
Ok... I was feeling better about myself. Willing to accept apologies and let bygones be bygones. Thank you Tim and Scott. With Purell in hand I accept your hand shake.
But Judson, can we let sleeping dogs lie?? I do admit to saying "How can you say that is the best milkshake ever? All premium milkshakes are the same". I did differentiate between fast food "shakes" and actual MILK shakes. In no way can you compare a McD's shake to a hand dipped MILK shake. I think I was more shocked at your feeling you had to go all the way to NYC to get a good milkshake.
I want to let this validation of opinions rest. That is why they are in deed opinions and not held as fact.
But I have to throw one more hook out there... Purity Chocolate Milk... World's Best? I'll admit that it's good, but how can you say it's the BEST in the WORLD????
And Tim, Rocket Man was on TV today and I briefly watched it in your honor.
In real life, Tori (Leanna Creel) is a twin.
Useless Facts
yeah, i think jud is right. for some reason i think they were all on an episode of parker lewis can't lose. if you remember that show, i love you.
Jud--thanks for explaining the Milkshake debacle of '03.
My high curiosity has been cured. :)
H
Leanna Creel is a triplet actually. There were several (I want to say two or three others)Parent Trap movies that came out after the orginal with Haylee Mills as a young girl. The others still had Haylee Mills in them, but she was a grown up and the kids were different. Anyway, the last one, whether that be III or IV I am uncertain, had Leanna Creel and her sisters in it.
Dream. Might need the assistance of "Alf" on that one. TH
tim bedi...where have you been my whole life?!!?! you are wonderful!!! i have at least 5 seasons of SBTB!!!! your #1 choice is, hands down, the best.
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