Why the “Saved by the Bell” Revival Deserves to be Saved
Earlier this month, Peacock unceremoniously canceled the revival of iconic teen sitcom Saved by the Bell following its brilliant 10-episode second season. Here’s why the series is worth saving.
The Background
Saved by the Bell is a series with a remarkably complex history. It originated as an Indiana-set series entitled Good Morning, Miss Bliss that aired on the Disney Channel from 1987–1989. The majority of the cast was then sacked and a retooled version of the show set in Southern California and retitled Saved by the Bell premiered on NBC the following fall. That show was an enormous success on Saturday mornings, airing 86 episodes from 1989–1993 and spawning merchandise, books, and even a primetime movie. The series was followed by two spin-offs, a short-lived primetime series called Saved by the Bell: The College Years (which aired 19 episodes and a television movie from 1993–1994) and a long-running Saturday morning series called Saved by the Bell: The New Class (which aired 143 episodes over 7 seasons from 1993–2000).
Interest in the series remained strong over the next two decades for a number of reasons. First, the cast remained fairly recognizable with Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Mario Lopez, and Elizabeth Berkeley all sustaining showbiz careers into adulthood. Second, interest in reviving IP from the 1990s soared as Millennials gained power in an ever-changing Hollywood. Third, the series had a profound and enduring impact on millions during their formative adolescent years. I am one of those people. In fact, this is not the first time I have written about Saved by the Bell. One of my first articles was about to a visit to the Saved by the Bell-themed pop-up restaurant in West Hollywood, which rekindled my passion for what was arguably my first pop culture obsession. I subsequently re-watched the entire series during the lockdown, a journey I chronicled in one of my most popular articles to date.
Given all the factors listed above, it was no surprise that NBC/Universal decided to revive the series when they launched their streaming service Peacock in 2020. What was surprising, however, is how inspired the revival was. In the hands of 30 Rock veteran Tracey Wigfield, the new Saved by the Bell became a wickedly clever, high-concept series that miraculously worked on three levels simultaneously: as a standalone coming-of-age teen comedy, as a satire of contemporary American society and media, and as a continuation of the original series. The setup found the series’ original schemer Zack Morris (Gosselaar) having been elected the Governor of California. His disastrous budgetary policies led to several school closings, which resulted in ritzy Bayside High having to welcome numerous low-income students from the less affluent parts of Los Angeles. Original series characters Jessie Spano (Elizabeth Berkeley) and AC Slater (Mario Lopez) now work at Bayside as the guidance counselor and gym teacher, respectively, and Jessie and Zack’s children both go to the school and are close friends.
The first season of the series was divisive, as it brutally mocked some of the more ludicrous aspect of the original series (turning off some of its staunchest devotees) and pulled absolutely no punches with its progressive messages and social satire (leading to it being deemed “too woke” by the right). Despite my enormous skepticism about whether this property could ever be revived successfully, I found myself won over by the shockingly sharp and utterly hilarious revival. (Click here for my review of the first season.) And much to my surprise, most critics did as well. It was shockingly well-received and quickly earned a renewal for a second season.
The 10-episode second season premiered with little fanfare on November 24, 2021. Peacock’s spectacular failure to promote the second season is utterly baffling for two reasons. First, the show ultimately combines the key qualities of the two series that Peacock threw their promotional efforts behind instead (it blends the rapid-fire 30 Rock-esque humor of Girls5Eva with the socially conscious series updating of Bel-Air). Second, the few critics who did review it were mightily impressed (as evidenced by its 100% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes). The writing was unfortunately on the wall regarding the fate of the series when Peacock’s social media team did not even bother highlighting co-star Josie Totah’s nomination at the Critics’ Choice Awards for the series or its win for Outstanding Comedy Series at the GLAAD Media Awards (both impressive and well-deserved feats for a revival of a three-decade-old Saturday morning children’s show on an upstart streamer!).
When the series was canceled earlier this month, I saw a handful of tweets expressing disappointment but nothing akin to the sheer disappointment I felt. The response was so muted that I started to wonder whether I had somehow misjudged the series. Was I so caught up in my own nostalgia that I had lost any semblance of objectivity? Just to be sure, I went back and rewatched the two seasons of the revival. And the result was that I was even more impressed by them.
The Brilliant Second Season
Although the first season premiered over six months after the onset of the pandemic, it was written and mostly filmed prior to its onset. Accordingly, it makes virtually no mention of the pandemic. This forced the creative team behind the show to make a difficult choice — should they ignore it completely or address it directly? Thankfully, they opted for the latter.
The surprisingly emotional second season premiere finds everyone returning for their junior year after doing an entire year remotely due to the pandemic. Daisy (Haskiri Velazquez) and Mac (Mitchell Hoog) decide to throw a school dance that crams together all of the missed experiences from the previous year into one epic evening. Laughs abound, but there is an undercurrent of sadness to the proceedings as all of the characters grapple with what they lost during the pandemic.
Nowhere is this more poignant than when the original gang reunites at the Max to pay tribute to Screech. The heavy subtext is that their former buddy died from COVID and it was a good a way as any to write off the character given that Dustin Diamond (who portrayed him on television for over a dozen years) died of cancer at the age of 44 in early 2021. The scene feels somewhat tacked on (perhaps it was) and the writers deliberately refrain from saying what became of Screech or what the gang’s relationship with him was over the past 20 years, but it was nevertheless a fitting tribute to Diamond and a poignant ending to an episode devoted to the long period of loss we all endured.
The Season Two scripts impressively provide excellent material for each member of the show’s large ensemble. Mac (Mitchell Hoog) grapples with his complicated relationship with his father Zack (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), which manifests his desire to do something his father wasn’t able to — win the Spirit Day competition. Daisy (Haskiri Velazquez) struggles to balance academics and friendship with her first relationship. Devante (Dexter Darden) starts working at the Max and faces class issues in his relationship with wealthy classmate Nadia (Mariah Imam Wilson). Lexi (Josie Totah) deals with the impact of transphobia and learns to be a better person and for meaningful connections with one another. Jamie (Belmont Cameli) grieves and eventually accepts his parents’ divorce while relentlessly trying to find the one thing he is really good at. And Aisha (Alycia Pascual-Pena) is forced outside of her comfort zone when football season is canceled and she develops a crush on a female classmate named Chloe (Ariela Barer).
There is also considerable character and plot development among the original gang. High school sweethearts Jessie Spano (Elizabeth Berkley) and AC Slater (Mario Lopez) gradually reignite their romance as his quest to grow up and hers to move on after her divorce bring them together. Zack has been decisively voted out as Governor (in favor of Prince Harry) and struggles to figure out what to do next. Kelly (Tiffani Amber Thiessen) decides to give up her “lifestyle brand” and fulfill her dream of going to medical school. (Kelly’s plot line rights a terrible wrong from the original series, which ended with her giving up on med school to marry Zack after their freshman year of college.) And, as for Lisa (Lark Voorhies)… Well, Lisa still doesn’t have much to do. But she’s a fabulously successful fashion designer and she gets a bit more than a cameo this season.
All of these plot threads unspool against the backdrop of the season-capping Spirit Day competition, a longstanding Southern California tradition in which high schools face off in a series of events. Naturally, Bayside is facing off against their arch-rivals Valley. The event works as a great backdrop to the season as it generates numerous plot lines, surprises, and both dramatic and euphoric moments.
The scripts remains so chock-full of brilliant insults, hilarious pop culture references, and razor-sharp social satire that even after watching each episode twice, I know I missed numerous punchlines and sight gags. No series currently on television or streaming packs in the jokes per minute that the Saved by the Bell revival does. It goes beyond the fast-paced Abbott Elementary and The Other Two and approaches the levels of 30 Rock and Arrested Development.
Let’s take the season’s penultimate episode as an example. It has wickedly clever jokes referencing Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotamayor (whose confirmation hearing is Daisy’s favorite “chick flick”), the terrible accents on Bridgerton, WNBA star Sue Bird, singer-actress Janelle Monae, how much white people love Friends, James Corden’s Muppet-esque qualities, Disney’s obsession with killing off their young protagonist’s parents, 1990s high school dance stapble “All My Life” by K-Ci & Jojo, Pod Saves America, the Met Gala (with the theme of the TGIF lineup), Laura Dern and David Rubin running against each other for the Academy presidency, gymnast Kerri Strug’s ankle injury at the Olympics, and Schindler’s List. Additionally, it extensively reference original not one but for of the iconic episodes of the original series — “Dancing to the Max” (the dance contest with Casey Kasem), “Pipe Dreams” (the oil spill on the football field), “Check Your Mate” (Screech’s chess match against the Russians), and “The Last Dance” (Kelly and Zack’s breakup at the costume ball). Oh, and the episode is also crammed full of plot — a season-long mystery is explained, the events for the climactic finale are set up, and a main character comes out as bisexual.
16 Brilliant Lines from Saved by the Bell Season Two:
1. “He specializes in conscious uncoupling. He also specializes in ‘unconscious regrouping,’ which I think is just sex on Ambien.” — Jessie re: her couples therapist
2. “It’s one of the largest creators of toxic waste in America outside of The Bachelor franchise.” — Jessie re: styrofoam
3. “I’ve never listened to the flight attendant before takeoff. I only know that you should smoke your own cigarette before giving one to a child!” — Lexi
4. “One day I accidentally blew up my dad’s boat doing a gender reveal for one of my Animal Crossing villages.” — Lexi, trying to empathize with someone who got in trouble with their parents
5. “Why is there a disclaimer for epileptics and women who aren’t pregnant?” — Devante reading Lexi’s new play
6. “If I learned anything from Dua Lipa’s dancing, it’s the power of lowering expectations!” — Lexi
7. “Don’t you want to solve transphobia the way Hamilton solved racism?” — Lexi to Devante
8. “I got so many white guilt Venmos, I bought an air fryer!” — Devante to Lexi about the 2020 Black Lives Matters protests
9. “Like I told the other triplets before absorbing them in the womb, this is a one-woman show!” — Lexi
10. “Sorry about that. One of the side effects of his ADHD medication is that he’s The Omen” — Kelly re: Mac
11. “I don’t need your approval. I have a therapist now, I need hers!” — Slater to Jessie
12. Principal Toddman: “This is not an Italian soccer game, we don’t tolerate racism” Spanish Teacher: “Oh I can’t be racist, I’m gay.”
13. “It’s going to be so tragic watching the straight kids floss to the Friends theme song or whatever they do.” — Chloe, imagining what will happen at the dance-a-thon
14. “It’s an impossible role that only exposes an actress’s weaknesses, like Jackie Kennedy!” — Lexi, discussing how no one could ever play her
15. “The Fast & The Furious 10: Look Who’s Driving Now — it’s a prequel where they are all babies!” — Lexi
16. “I’m smart! I’m hot! Mark Wahlberg once hit on me in a club. OK, it was Sam’s Club. OK, it was Donnie Wahlberg. But I’m honest!” — Jessie
But at no point in the season is everything that the Saved by the Bell revival does right on better display than in the second season’s sixth episode “Wrestling with the Future.” It’s career day at Bayside and while virtually everyone is wondering what they will do with the rest of their lives professionally, Jessie is struggling with whether she should get back in the dating pool as her divorce is finalized. Kelly and Lisa try to build up her motivation to talk to a hot fireman and she realizes she hasn’t actually been out on the dating scene since her time in Las Vegas after college. This kicks off an absolutely genius satire of Showgirls, the epically awful 1995 film that Berkley starred in after Saved by the Bell. The script spoofs several of the film’s most memorably ridiculous moments, provides insightful commentary about what responsibility Berkley does and does not bear for the film, and seamlessly interweaves numerous fictions into a coherent character arc for Jessie. And Berkley proves 100% committed, giving a pitch-perfect comic performance. I have always thought she was a talented and charming actress despite Showgirls and even if it accomplishes nothing else, I hope the Saved by the Bell revival reminds some casting directors of that.
Berkley gives just one of many great performances on the show. The other standout is undoubtedly Josie Totah, the trans actress who portrays Lexi. She was the indisputable comic highlight of the first season and gets even better comic and dramatic material this season and knocks it all out of the park. She deserved to be a major star and I suspect she will be. Mitchell Hoog and Belmont Cameli take advantage of the more nuanced characters they are given this season and prove themselves to be very charming actors. Haskiri Velazquez, Alycia Pascual-Pena, and Dexter Darden continue to do great work and have great chemistry with one another. John Michael Higgins continues to commit 110% to the ridiculous role of Principal Toddman and garners his fair share of laughs. And Mario Lopez, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and Tiffani Amber Thiessen all feel much more comfortable in their old roles than they did in the prior season.
Impressively, the creative team behind the revival manages to do what every series should do in their second seasons, but most fail to actually do — keep what works and correct what doesn’t work. I only had three substantial criticisms of the first season — the lack of nuance given to several of the new characters, the lack of screen time and meaningful plot arcs given to the original gang, and a lack of polish that prevented most episodes from cohering quite as well as they could have. All of these issues were carefully addressed in the second season. I guess now I can only imagine how the creative team would have further refined the series in subsequent seasons.
Quite simply, the second season of the Saved by the Bell revival is among the best seasons of television/streaming comedy I have seen in years. It is ambitious, clever, touching, progressive, and hilarious. Its scripts are pure comic genius and its ensemble is a delightful combination of under-appreciated veteran actors and incredibly promising up-and-comers.
The Future
The Saved by the Bell felt almost bizarrely like a series made specifically for me. It resuscitated a property that meant the world to me as a child and brought it into the present-day, waxing nostalgic at its iconic moments while critiquing its more problematic elements. And it did so while creating something wildly entertaining and fresh, with a style of humor and writing that I absolutely adore.
I realize, however, that there may not be that many like me out there. Maybe the Saved by the Bell revival was canceled because it simply did not have broad enough appeal. Maybe people just weren’t interested. Maybe people checked it out and deemed it too zany, too irreverent, or too woke. Due to the fact that streamers don’t release viewership figures (at least in any way it’s possible to make sense of), we will probably never know. (And even if lack of viewers was the culprit, Peacock’s embarrassing lack of promotion for the series after the first season undoubtedly contributed.)
I think the show undoubtedly deserves another season. I would be happy with one last brief season bringing the gang to graduation. I would love to see Jessie and Slater fumble through dating and the new sextet figure out what’s next beyond Bayside. I laugh just imagining what pop culture targets the writer’s room would take on. And I daydream about how they could bring back iconic characters like former principal Mr. Belding (Dennis Haskins), biker chick Tori Scott (Leanna Creel), and Zack’s ex-girlfriend Stacy Carosi (Leah Remini).
But I am under no delusions that this little article can save the Saved by the Bell revival. Even if it gets a few more people to check it out, though, it will have been effort well spent. For now, I will sit back and wait and see what the brilliant people both behind and in front of the camera conjure up next. I guarantee you that the best is yet to come from many in this talented lot.
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