Saved by the Bell
Saved by the Bell is an American television teen sitcom created by Sam Bobrick for NBC. The series was produced by Peter Engel Productions and NBC Productions and aired from August 20, 1989 to May 22, 1993. Targeted at kids and teens, Saved by the Bell was broadcast in the United States on Saturday mornings, later as the flagship series in NBC's TNBC lineup. A reboot of the Disney Channel series Good Morning, Miss Bliss, the show follows a group of high school friends and their principal at the fictional Bayside High School in Los Angeles. Primarily focusing on lighthearted comedic situations, it occasionally touches on serious social issues, such as drug use, driving under the influence, homelessness, remarriage, death, women's rights, and environmental issues. The series starred Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Dustin Diamond, Lark Voorhies, Dennis Haskins, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Elizabeth Berkley, and Mario Lopez.
The show spawned two spin-off series: Saved by the Bell: The College Years, a primetime series that follows several of the characters to college, and Saved by the Bell: The New Class, a Saturday morning series that follows a new group of students at Bayside High School. The series also spawned two TV movies, Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style in 1992 and Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas in 1994.
In later years, Saved by the Bell has been classified as educational and informational. The show was named one of the "20 Best School Shows of all Time" by AOL TV.
Characters
In casting Good Morning, Miss Bliss, Peter Engel knew the success of the show would not hinge on Miss Bliss herself, but on her students. Engel particularly envisioned one character, Zack Morris, who "would be that incorrigible kid who could lie to your face, letting you know very well that he's lying, and make you love him for it all the same." Engel insisted that the show could not go on without Zack Morris, but he turned out to be one of the most difficult characters to cast. Engel's casting director, Shana Landsburg, finally happened across fourteen-year old Mark-Paul Gosselaar and was immediately struck by the teen's charisma, charm, and good looks. After a quick read-through, Gosselaar was immediately given the role.After casting Zack Morris, the next character sought after was Morris's nerdy friend, Samuel "Screech" Powers. Gosselaar was asked to read through the script with a number of kids, and a second audition was scheduled for finalists. It was Gosselaar himself who insisted that Dustin Diamond was right for the part as he believed Diamond was Screech in real life. After reading through the script, Diamond was given the part, although Engel later found out that he had misread his head shot and Diamond was considerably younger than the rest of the cast—a fact that, had he been aware, might have prevented Engel from casting him.
Lisa Turtle was originally conceived as a rich Jewish princess from Long Island, spoiled, materialistic, and obsessed with shopping. While still casting for the role, actress Lark Voorhies was brought into Engel's office, and he immediately knew she was perfect for the role despite the fact that it meant rewriting the character.
The principal, Mr. Gerald Belding, as originally conceived on Good Morning, Miss Bliss, was an older, humorless man, and was played in the 1987 pilot by character actor Oliver Clark. After the show was retooled for Disney Channel, the character's first name was changed to Richard and he was recast, with Dennis Haskins ultimately winning the role. Mr. Belding was rewritten to be significantly younger and to have a much different sense of humor.
When Good Morning, Miss Bliss was retooled as Saved by the Bell, four actors and their respective characters from the original series were brought over to the new series: Gosselaar, Diamond, Voorhies, and Haskins. The rest of the cast was fired, and Engel sought to replace them with new characters who would complement the old ones.
Image:SavedbytheBell3.jpg|thumb|left|250px|The cast of Saved by the Bell, clockwise from left: Screech, Slater, Lisa, Mr. Belding, Jessie, Zack, and Kelly
The first of the new characters, A.C. Slater, was conceived as a young John Travolta type who would be an army brat and wear a leather jacket. He was originally conceived of as Italian-American. However, when all efforts to cast the character were unsuccessful, Engel asked that the part be opened up to other ethnicities. Two days later, Mario Lopez, a dancer and drummer of Latino descent from Kids Incorporated, auditioned for the role. Lopez was judged the best actor who auditioned, and was cast.
For Kelly Kapowski, the love interest of both Zack and Slater, producers were able to narrow the field down to three actresses: Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Elizabeth Berkley, and Thiessen's future Beverly Hills 90210 co-star, Jennie Garth. Engel had originally met Thiessen in 1988 while casting for Good Morning, Miss Bliss and was impressed with how much her acting had improved. He wanted her for the role, believing she had the perfect all-American girl appeal for the role, while others felt that Berkley, as the more experienced actress, would be a more reliable choice. Ultimately, Engel convinced the others after a read-through with Lopez, and Thiessen received the role.
Engel and the other producers did not want to lose Berkley, however, as she was the strongest actress they had seen during casting. Berkley originally auditioned for the role of Karen, a love-interest of Zack's on Good Morning, Miss Bliss, but lost the role because she was so much taller than Gosselaar at the time. Engel believed that, now that her height was more even with the rest of the cast, she could be perfect. They were not having much luck in casting the third new character, Jessie Spano, who was conceived as a strong, feminist activist and a straight-A student, so Engel suggested offering the role to Berkley, who gladly accepted it.
Rounding out the new cast was real-life magician Ed Alonzo as Max, the owner of the gang's frequent cafe hangout, The Max, who frequently performed magic tricks. Alonzo's role, however, would ultimately only last through the end of the first season, and he left after a single guest appearance during season two.
In 1992, Saved by the Bell unexpectedly received an order for an additional eleven episodes to be shot after the graduation episode. However, Thiessen and Berkley had already decided to leave the show. Though producers knew they could not replace Kelly and Jessie, they also knew they could not leave Lisa as the only girl on the show. A new character, Tori Scott, was created as a cool but pretty biker girl who would also serve as a love interest for Zack and also act as a nemesis for him initially. Leanna Creel was cast for the part. Rather than develop a second new character, the producers decided to rely more on minor recurring characters such as Ginger, Ox, and Big Pete.
Production
''Good Morning, Miss Bliss''
In 1986, Brandon Tartikoff, then-president of NBC, asked Peter Engel to develop the pilot for a new prime time series, Good Morning, Miss Bliss. Tartikoff had been inspired by his sixth grade teacher, Miss Bliss, and had long wanted to make a show about someone like her. The series would focus on Miss Carrie Bliss, a recently married sixth grade teacher at the fictional John F. Kennedy Junior High School in Indianapolis. Though Sandy Duncan was originally considered for the titular role, the series ultimately became a vehicle for British former child star Hayley Mills. Veteran writer Sam Bobrick was brought on to write the episode and the cast included future stars Jonathan Brandis, Brian Austin Green, and Jaleel White.The pilot aired on June 11, 1987, but NBC had decided not to pick up the series even before it was shown. Tartikoff did not want to give up on the show, though, and made a deal with the Disney Channel to air thirteen episodes of the series in prime time. If the initial order did well, Disney was prepared to order an additional seventy-seven. The show was completely retooled, with Mills the sole remaining cast member from the pilot. Miss Bliss's class was changed from the sixth grade to the eighth grade, and the kids would be more central to the story.
Good Morning, Miss Bliss aired from 1988 to 1989. However, the show failed to pick up a following and did poorly in the ratings. By the time the last episode aired, Disney had already decided against ordering more.
''Saved by the Bell''
Tartikoff felt there had been strong elements to Good Morning, Miss Bliss and wanted to try the show again with a different time slot and a different approach. The elements featuring the kids had been well-received, so Tartikoff wanted to drop Miss Bliss from the show altogether and focus entirely on the teens. NBC had been losing the high end of their animated audience, kids from ten to twelve, so the idea was to create a live action comedy to air on Saturday mornings, a new idea at the time.Engel was skeptical of the new format at first, and did not want to make children's programming. However, his wife convinced him that making the show would be a worthwhile endeavor, and he soon told Tartikoff he would do the show. Engel felt, however, that Indianapolis was not exciting as a location, and moved the show to a fictionalized version of a Los Angeles neighborhood, "the Palisades." The main locations of the show would be the teenagers' school, Bayside High, and The Max, a fictional eatery they frequent. In addition, they would film before a live studio audience.
The majority of the cast was replaced, and Tartikoff gave a seven episode commitment for the show. In a meeting with Engel and Tartikoff, senior producer Tom Tenowich suggested the name Saved by the Bell. Though Engel hated the name, Tartikoff loved it. The name stuck, and filming commenced, with the first episode, "Dancing to the Max," airing in prime time on August 20, 1989.