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Saved by the Bell was a popular teen sitcom which ran from 1989 to 1993 and built a large, loyal fanbase. Its original incarnation, Good Morning, Miss Bliss (1987), starred Hayley Mills as the goodnatured Miss Carrie Bliss who oversaw later Saved by the Bell cast Lark Voorhies, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and Dustin Diamond as well as other students. Good Morning, Miss Bliss would later be retitled Saved By The Bell.

Saved by the Bell brought fame to Gosselaar, Voorhies, Diamond, and fellow cast members Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Elizabeth Berkley, Mario Lopez and Dennis Haskins. Gosselaar became a teen idol, making the cover of Tiger Beat and a number of other teen publications. While there were many different actors and seasons, and there was even a different cast once the characters of these actors graduated Bayside High, these actors were the stars of the show during its heyday.

Saved by the Bell may be most remarkable among its genre for having two actors, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen and Elizabeth Berkley, go on to enjoy greater success as older actors, though Berkley's career in particular declined, never recovering from Showgirls. Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Mario Lopez have also enjoyed marginal success as adult actors.

Characters

• Zachary "Zack" Morris, played by Gosselaar, the charming con artist with a golden heart, Zack always managed his way into the principal's office.

• Kelly Kapowski, played by Thiessen, the cheerleader of the group who was always Zack's romantic interest. She was a good girl who rarely used profanity. When someone wronged her, she would call them "Un-nice girl!" or "You're something really really bad!" Kelly loved Zack but many times felt cheated by him so she'd pay attention to other guys every once in a while too. She worked at "The Max" as a waitress.

• Albert Clifford "A.C." Slater, played by Lopez, the muscular "jock" type who was one of Zack's best friends. He was a football player and a wrestler. He originally had a crush on Kelly, but settled for Jessie instead. His father was a major in the army who wanted to send him to Military school in Hawaii.

• Jessica "Jessie" Myrtle Spano, played by Berkley, the girl who had to study hard all the time to keep her high grades. She was very smart, but also felt her parent's pressure to keep up the good grades. Her main interest was beef boy Slater, but was also a moderate feminist, which shone through when Slater called her "babe" or "mama."

• Samuel "Screech" Powers, played by Diamond, Zack's other best friend, an aspiring scientist and all around geek who was in love with Lisa. Considered the "coolest nerd" at Bayside, his popularity was nevertheless limited to the geek girls in school and members of the chess club.

• Lisa Marie Turtle, played by Voorhies, a beautiful African American girl who was the fashion expert and wanted nothing to do with the guy who wanted to go out with her, Screech. Lisa wanted to be a fashion designer. Superficial and vain, her main interests included clothing, boys, and money.

• Mr. Richard Belding, played by Dennis Haskins, was known for being part nerd part cool guy, who was notoriously out-of-touch with his students. He was often frustrated by Zack's antics, yet was occasionally a friend of the gang. Was known on the show as the "Big Bopper."

In season three, Saved by the Bell had the characters work at a resort by the beach. Characters specific to these episodes were:

• Leon Carosi, played by Ernie Sabella
• Stacey Carosi, played by Leah Remini

In 1992, Saved by the Bell's first made for TV movie Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style aired. Kelly's grandfather invites the kids to stay at his little hotel in Hawaii. However, someone else is out to buy his land and build an apartment complex. Zack and gang end up saving the hotel.

During season four, Thiessen (Kelly) and Berkley (Jessie) walked off the show due to casting issues, only to come back at the end for graduation. No explanation for why they left was offered during the show's run, and they were "replaced" with a transfer student Tory Scott, played by teen actress Leanna Creel (a triplet). Tory was tough and semi-masculine like, but was the love interests of both Zack and Slater at one point or another.

Saved by the Bell: The College Years

When the actors got too old to be playing high school students, a new series was created, entitled Saved by the Bell: The College Years which showed the cast dealing with college life (needless to say, they all shared a dorm). College Years only lasted one season before the actors moved on to other projects. Unlike the original series which aired "after school", College Years was shown in Primetime.

Additional actors for The College Years

• Anne Tremko as Leslie Burke
• Kiersten Warren as Alex Taber
• Bob Golic as Mike Rogers
• Holland Taylor Dean Susan McMann

Originally, the six main characters on the College Years were Zack Morris, A.C. Slater, Screech Powers, Leslie Burke, Alex Taber (Kiersten Warren), and Danielle Marks (Essence Atkins). After the pilot, Tiffani Thiessen decided to return to play the role of Kelly Kapowski. Essence Atkins' character was written out of the plotline as having transferred to another college.

The show ended with a two hour movie Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas in which Zack and Kelly got married, the movie included cast members from both the orginial show and the college years show.

Trivia

• In 1993 a spinoff series was created entitled Saved by the Bell: The New Class which although set at Bayside High, featured an entirely different cast of teens. Mr. Belding remained the principal, and an adult Screech joined him as administrative assistant. Belding later worked as a mall security guard. The New Class ran from 1993 until 2000.

• The name Saved by the Bell was taken after the boxing jargon term Saved by the Bell, used when the bell rings after a fighter has been hurt, therefore, that fighter was Saved by the Bell.

• An urban legend circulated that actor Dustin Diamond was closely related to The Beastie Boys' Mike D, but there was no truth to it.

• The Miss Bliss episodes are sometimes shown in reruns as Saved by the Bell: The Junior High Years.

• The Miss Bliss episodes took place at John F. Kennedy Junior High School in Layafette, Indiana. The Saved by the Bell setting for Bayside High was in Palisades, California.

• The reason for the change in setting is because Good Morning, Miss Bliss was originally on The Disney Channel. When the show was cancelled by Disney, NBC got it and the show was reborn as Saved by the Bell. Because of this, the only Miss Bliss cast members to appear on Saved by the Bell were Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Lark Voorhies, Dustin Diamond, & Dennis Haskins.

• The show dealt with "real teen social issues" such as drug use, drinking and driving, homelessness, financial issues, divorce, first love and love lost, graduating, college, sibling rivalry, taking responsibilites for one's actions, being bullied, death, and environmental issues. Sometimes in the pursuit of such social significance, the show lapsed into periods of unintentional comedy. For example, in one episode, Zack takes a sip of beer and then immediately afterwards crashes a car through a house.

• In another startlingly true-to-life episode, a stressed-out Jessie resorts to caffeine pill abuse in order to manage her school work and committment to the singing trio with Kelly and Lisa. Ever the concerned boyfriend, Slater tries to convince her to stop. The thrill of the pill proves too strong, however, and it is only after an emotional breakdown that Jessie recognizes she has a problem.

• Dustin Diamond will return in another high school sitcom, this time on ABC. He is in pre-production of At The Hip. He will appear with conjoined twins Abigail and Brittany Hensel, who will star as Tina and Gina Fowler, sisters that don't always get along, but who learn to work together to solve high school mysteries. Diamond will appear as Principal Wilford in the pilot.

External links

• Saved by the Bell at IMDb

• Sitcoms
• TV Spin-offs
• 1990s TV shows in the United States
• NBC network shows