Top 15 Saved by the Bell Episodes!!!!

 

 

No doubt this is one of my all-time greatest shows. Yep this is in my Top 5 Sitcom Shows along with Seinfeld (of course but Seinfeld is still my all-time favorite), Arrested Development, The Office, and Cheers. Strange Top 5 with Saved by the Bell in it. Honestly if I listed a blog that showed my list of the Greatest Saturday Morning Cartoon/Live Action Kids Show, Saved by the Bell would still be # 2 behind of The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show. But, I’m not going to do that list since it would take up too much time.

            Many would argue that Live Action but educational shows like Saved by the Bell may have been one of the many factors along with children’s physical activities, video games, Cable TV, and among others that caused the Downfall of Saturday Morning Cartoons in the early 90’s. Which is ok by me as I got into sports and other things as I started to grow up at the time. Actually, the best time that I ended up watching Saved by the Bell was when it was shown in Syndication on TBS. Yet, thanks to Netflix and the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon skit back in the winter I started watching some episodes again.

 

            Many of us know the premise of Saved by the Bell. It’s about a group of High School Friends with adventures growing up throughout their time at (Fictional) Bayside High School out in California.

 

1.)    Zack Morris, the Main Character of the Show.  The Charming playboy who can talk his way out of anything, he was the guy we all wanted to be like. He even had the first cell phone.

 

2.)    AC Slater, the Sports Jock of the group, mostly called Zack by the nickname, Preppy.

3.)    Kelly Kapowski, Cheerleader “All-American” Girl who has an on again-off again relationship with Zack and later became his wife after The College Years show.

4.)    Jessie Spano, class president & women rights/environmentalist who had a relationship with Slater.

5.)    Lisa Turtle, Fashion Queen & girl that loves to gossip & comes from a family of Surgeons.

And last but not least

6.)    SCREECH, the nerd of the group. Book Smart, collector of incests, Clumsey & goofy but lacked common sense and always had a crush on Lisa but she was annoyed by him.

 

They always under the watchful eye of their Principal Mr. Belding. “Heh,heh,heh,heh,heh, What is going on here???!!!”

 

  The Show had a lot of humor kids & teenagers enjoyed but the show also addressed issues kids shows didn’t talk about at the time such as Drug Use, Drunk Driving, Death, Divorce and Remarriage of Parents, Social Status, and some environmental issues as well.

            Also, as some of you fans know the Show originally was not even called “Saved by the Bell”. It was called “Good Morning, Miss Bliss” and it focused on the Teachers lives instead of the students. It did have Zack, Screech, Lisa, Mr. Belding and 2 other kids. Miss Bliss was also on the Disney Channel but it only lasted 13 episodes and it had them in Junior High set in Indianapolis before they retooled it and gave the show to NBC for Saturday Mornings & cast the actors who would play Jessie, Kelly, Slater and set it in California and called it “Saved by the Bell” Though the Miss Bliss episodes were part of Syndication even though they didn’t relate the “Saved by the Bell” Timeline.

            Today I going to list what I believe are the Top 15 Episodes of All Time. Why 15, because 10 isn’t enough and episodes #11, 12, & 13, 14 and 15 deserve some love. Plus just for fun to include more episodes.

15.) " The Fight"
           Zack and Slater in the beginning completed for Kelly's attention their freshman year but it was all male competition and nothing serious and Kelly dated Zack and Slater dated Jessie but during the first episode set during their senior year it becomes serious when both Zack and Slater vie for the attention of a new girl they both ask out at the same time and they come to fist.



Though in the end the girl didn't want nothing to do with them after the fight and Zack & Slater still fought till the end of episode when they called a truce thanks to Mr. Belding who taught them that their Friendship is more important than a girl.

 

            14.) "Breaking up is hard to undo"
                       Slater & Jessie have a fight on how to spend their first date going steady while Zack

             gets jealous that Kelly is visiting an old boyfriend. Things get worse when Mr. Belding gives

             the guys bad advice after he has a fight with his wife. It's up to them to get Mr. Belding and his wife back together so they can make up with Jessie and Kelly in this famous scene at the end of the  episode with the help of Lisa & Screech.

 

 

 

13.) “The Prom”

            At the beginning of the 2^nd Season Zack finally won over Kelly as she chooses him to go to the Prom over Slater. But, she later finds out her dad got laid off at his job and chooses not to in order to help her family out. Zack finds out and gives her a special Prom Picnic outside of the School. Slater ends up going with Jesse to start their relationship. Screech tries to ask out Lisa, but Lisa sarcastically says she will “WHEN WORMS HAVE EARS” and Screech taped plastic ears on worms LOL!!!!!!!

 

 

 

12.) "Miss Bayside"

         Zack bets Slater he can turn anyone into Miss Bayside. Sound familiar. The Movie She's All That stole a plot line from Saved by the Bell. Slater chooses Screech. Since there is no rule a guy can't enter the pageant the hilariousness begins & Screech somehow wins. 

 

 

 

11.)  “Snow White & the Seven Dorks”

            The school play has the gang team up with the nerds of Bayside to perform “Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs” but in the play they do a rap version. CLASSIC. Things get complicated when Jessie and Zack have to kiss at the end and Slater and Kelly get jealous and angry but it turns out ok in the end.

 

 

10.) “Student Teacher Week”

            In this episode the schools switches roles. A few of them become teachers and Zack end up taking Mr.Belding’s Principal spot. But, when Slater and his football buddies ditch class that Kelly is taking over Zack has to put friendship aside and do what is best as a Principal even if it upsets the Students. Things work out in the end when the Football players take the test before the Big Game and pass and they beat Valley.

 

9.) “Cream for a Day”

            It’s Homecoming and Kelly is one of the nominees for Homecoming Queen but she gets worried when she discovers she has a zit. Thanks to an experiment from Screech, Zack sells Zit Cream to the students of Bayside with a side effect that briefly turns everyone’s face purple or maroon.

 

8. Graduation

            The gang gets ready for Graduation but Zack is one credit short of graduating so he has to take a dance class and perform in the ballet in order to get that credit. The gang also joins him in the ballet, humor to follow. Also, Jessie finds out from Lisa that Screech was named Valedictorian and not her but that Screech gave it up to her and that he put others before him. This was a great way to end the show. Yet, it continued of course with Saved by the Bell: The College Years which last one season & had Zack and Kelly getting married of course.

 

 

7. “The Mamas and the Papas”

            For a class home economics assignment the group is put into pairs pretending that they are married to prepare for what marriage would be like as adults. Zack with Kelly, Slater with Jessie, and Lisa with SCREECH LOL. Though Lisa pretends to be allergic to Screech in order to break her off with him and both of them have to become children to the couples during the assignment. Lisa to Slater/Jessie and Screech to Zack/Kelly. Very funny episode.

 

 

6. “Save the Max”

            Zack convinces Mr. Belding to bring back Bayside’s Radio Station KKTY even though the station was pulled off the air back in the late 60’s due to Mr. Belding’s antics. Apparently he was the Zack Morris of that day. Anyway the gang puts the radio station back on the air with Zack as the main DJ and the others hosting variety of shows. But, Slater is not good at being Sports Announcer even though he is the Jock of the School. His friends don’t tell him but when he finds out on his own from the whole school he quits but comes back at the end of the episode to help his friends put on a telethon to help the Max in Financial Trouble.

 

 

5. “Jessie’s Song”

            Jessie is stressed out about midterms and being in an ALL-Girl Group with Kelly & Lisa called HOT SUNDAE (I Can’t believe I remember that) Here’s the video of their music video.

 

Anyway, she turns to Caffeine Pills in order to study. Slater warns her about them but she ignores him. When Zack finds out it leads to one of the most famous scenes of Saved by the Bell.

 

As it turned out Jessie couldn’t sing with the group that night. Makes me wanna stop drinking energy drinks. This was pretty much the first aired episode of the series that dealt with drug use.

 

4. “Running Zack”

 

            Zack was an athlete during the shows run mostly in Cross Country, Basketball & Track but he was overshadowed by Slater’s Athletic Success but his character was a good runner. In this episode he fails his report on family heritage but is given another chance or else he is off the track team. He is given a tutor by the name of Chief Henry, who is Native American, and Zack begins to learn about his Native American Heritage. He gets a good grade on the report but afterwards he finds out Chief Henry died and Zack doesn’t feel like running in the City Championships until he gets a dream visit from Chief Henry.

 

This was a good episode because it dealt with a sudden death of a loved one or mentor and it had a track theme to it.

 

3.)  “The Fabulous Belding Boys”

 

            The gang crams for a history midterm given to by an obnoxious teacher who will ban them from their class trip if they don’t pass. The teacher doesn’t show up on exam day and Mr. Belding’s brother Rod becomes their substitute and helps them pass it. He becomes popular with the kids and convinces them to change the school trip from Yosemite to White Water Rafting. However, on the evening the class is going to leave Zack overhears Mr.Belding and Rod argue because Rod made plans to have a fling with a stewardess instead of taking the kids white water rafting. Mr. Belding takes over the trip and Zack apologizes to Mr. Belding saying that Rod may have be cool but they got the Better Belding instead.

 

This teaches that you can’t be friends with kids you teach and you have to draw the line between having them like you but what is best for them as they grow up. Good lesson to learn from this episode.

 

2.)  “Rockumentary”

            This was a fun episode of how Zack’s band “The Zack Attack” rose to fame, broke up because the band’s beautiful public relations lady convinces Zack he’s the star, & he becomes Justin Bieber and Vanilla Ice's Love Child (take a look)

but in the end the gangs gets back together for a reunion concert. The late Casey Kasem, narrated the story in this episode. I liked the episode it kind of had a VH1 Behind The Music Feel to it even though that show would not be made until several years later in the late 90’s.Those writers of SBTB definitely influenced VH1 with this episode to make that show. FYI this episode was a dream by Zack. 

 

Well, here’s my favorite episode of Saved by the Bell

 

DRUMROLL…………………………………………….

 

1.)    “No Hope with Dope”

Yep, this is one of the best Saved by the Bell episodes ever. It has an anti-drug message in this episode. This and probably all of those Anti-Drug Commercials of the 80’s and 90’s heavy influenced me in how I take care of myself when it came to those type of things. I never smoked or chewed tobacco or did anything deadly like hard drugs in my entire life. I’m very happy for episodes like these it’s a shame that those silly kids’shows on the Disney Channel or Nickelodeon nowadays don’t address these issues.

 

Anyway, in this episode a Hollywood Teen Idol Movie Star comes to Bayside to do an Anti-Drug commercial with the students & the gang is chosen to be in it. Yet, the gang learns someone has been smoking pot on campus but it turned out to be a cigarette. Still bad for you.

However, at a party hosted by movie star the gang realizes that the movie star himself uses pot making him a hypocrite and the next day the gang refuse to take part in the commercial.

It seems all is not lost the commercial goes on as Mr. Belding calls upon his old friend NBC President(at the time) Brandon Tartikoff comes in and helps the kids with the commercial.

 

 

It’s also noted Tartikoff was a huge supporter for Saved by the Bell.

 

Well there you have it, My Top 12 episodes for Saved by the Bell. If you have any other episodes you would like to mention let me know.

 

The show did launch spinoffs, Saved by the Bell: The College Years  & Saved by the Bell: The New Class. The New Class went through many casting changes and some of the plots were recycled from the original. I mentioned that Saved by the Bell was one of the factors that killed off the Saturday Morning Cartoons and launched other Teen Shows like California Dreams, Hang Time & USA High. California Dreams was the only good one by the way.

 

 Like I mentioned it’s a shame there are no more kids shows like Saved by the Bell anymore. Though the acting at times was cheesy, and earlier storylines focused on humor it did give a glimpse of what High School life is like or at least what I thought it would be even though it took place in California. I think that’s why it’s so popular with 30 year olds today is because it was a part of 90’s nostalgia. Watch a few episodes on Netflix. That’s my Two Cents.