Hey guys,

20 years ago, Saved by the Bell saw the gang of Zack, Lisa, Screech, Kelly, Slater and Jessie graduate from Bayside High School

However, during the Fall of '93, NBC, Creator Sam Bobrick and Executive Producer Peter Engel decided to continue the series by giving Saved by the Bell a Prime Time Spin-off entitled

Saved by the Bell: The College Years

Saved by the Bell: The College Years is a sequel to the Saved by the Bell series which ran from September 14, 1993 (though the original pilot aired on May 22, 1993) to February 8, 1994, lasting one season. It was the third incarnation of the franchise. It is also the only series of the franchise to air on primetime television instead of Saturday Mornings. It aired on NBC on Tuesday Nights running back to back with Miller-Boyett's Getting By (which moved to NBC from abc) replacing the recently cancelled Quantum Leap

In Saved by the Bell: The College Years, the cast dealt with college life at the fictional California University (a thinly veiled UC Berkeley, Zack having referenced in the first episode that San Francisco was "Right across the bridge," and Kelly stating in "Wedding Plans" that "Reno is just three hours away.") The show's premise was very similar to the original Saved by the Bell series, with the six characters getting into different situations each week while remaining under the watchful eye of their resident director and later the Dean of Students

Originally, the six main characters on The College Years were Zack Morris, A.C. Slater, Screech Powers, Leslie Burke (Anne Tremko), Alex Tabor (Kiersten Warren), and Danielle Marks (Essence Atkins of The WB's Smart Guy). After the pilot, Tiffani Thiessen decided to return as Kelly Kapowski. Atkins's character was written out of the plotline with transferring out as the reason

@ the beginning of the series, Zack was pursuing a relationship with Leslie, but after Kelly transferred to CALU, Zack became interested in both of them. Eventually, Kelly became Zack's sole love interest. His relationship with Kelly was temporarily sidetracked when Kelly entered into a short-lived relationship with their anthropology professor, Jeremiah Lasky (Patrick Fabian). By the end of the series, Zack and Kelly became engaged

Zack, Kelly, Slater, Screech, Leslie, and Alex's dorm advisor was Mike Rogers (Bob Golic), an ex-football player. Although he looked and acted tough, he did have a softer side. In one episode, he took a liking to a laboratory mouse named X97, and also revealed some of his problems with women, including the fact that he never had a date in high school. One episode saw him—with Zack, Slater and Screech's help—training to get back into football. Though he qualified, he chose to stay at college. (He also was really worn out by the whole thing.)

During the later part of the series, Dean Susan McMann (Holland Taylor) joined the series as its authority figure and instantly developed a dislike for Zack, knowing about his scheming ways

The series was cancelled, as Zack and Kelly decided to elope to Las Vegas. Later that fall, the TV-Movie, Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas, aired to provide closure to the series and its characters

The show was cancelled after only ranking 88th in the yearly ratings with a 7.8 household rating (about 7.3 million households) and a 12 percent audience share.

It had to deal with major competition from abc's Full House and CBS's Rescue 911, both of which had higher ratings than Bell and were both ranked in the Nielsen Top 30 that season

Full House was still in the Nielsen Ratings Top 20 @ #16 while Rescue 911 was in the Top 30 @ #29

The Cast

Starring
Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Zack Morris
Mario López as A.C. Slater
Dustin Diamond as Samuel "Screech" Powers
Anne Tremko as Leslie Burke
Kiersten Warren as Alex Tabor
Bob Golic as Mike Rogers
and
Tiffani-Amber Thiessen as Kelly Kapowski

Also Starring
Patrick Fabian as Professor Jeremiah Lasky
Holland Taylor as Dean Susan McMann

Additional Cast
Jake Grace as Stingray
Diana Tanaka as Dr. Wong
Mindy Sterling as Clara Meade
Essence Atkins as Danielle Marks (pilot only)

Special Appearances By
Lark Voorhies as Lisa Turtle ("Wedding Plans")
Dennis Haskins as Mr. Richard Belding ("A Thanksgiving Story")
The late Jonathan Brandis of SeaQuest DSV Fame ("A Thanksgiving Story")
Marsha Warfield of Night Court Fame ("A Thanksgiving Story")
Jenna Von Oy of Blossom and The Parkers Fame ("A Thanksgiving Story")
Brian Austin Green of Beverly Hills 90210 Fame ("A Thanksgiving Story")

Other People that appeared on the show are as follows:

The late Ed Winter of M*A*S*H Fame
Singer/Actress Gloria Loring
Robert Guillaume best known as Benson on SOAP and the spin-off Benson
Legendary Sports Commentator Marv Albert
Brittany Powell who also appeared in the very 1st Season of California Dreams
Nancy Stafford of St. Elsewhere and Matlock Fame

Reruns of The College Years can currently be seen on TBS

and so, I would like to know:

What were your thoughts on The College Years?

Please share your thoughts on this

and now, here are some Video Clips:

Saved by the Bell Prime Time Special from 1993
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG2Y-uhToPs

NBC network promo compilation 12-10-1993
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rydTPqHbjh8

Saved by the Bell: The College Years premiere party commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB2A3ff0gMo

The College Years tanked because producers failed to account that the show's core audience wasn't the same age as the characters. Most fans were between 7-13---not the most desirable age group for prime time TV. ABC was doing a better job at targeting this age group with shows like Full House and Boy Meets World. It was just out of place on NBC.

If my memory serves me, the show was on right when Full House was. To me, that is what may have made the show take its nosedive.

God bless you always!!! :) :) :)

Holly

P.S. I can't speak for everyone else, but I hated having to pick between the two because I loved them both.

It's too bad it didn't run longer. I remember when "Saved By the Bell: The College Years" was on and I seem to recall catching some episodes during the original run. I have seen it in its entirety on DVD and I LOVE it! Great series. I love this show along with all the other "Saved By the Bell" shows.:) :cool:

If my memory serves me, the show was on right when Full House was. To me, that is what may have made the show take its nosedive.

God bless you always!!! :) :) :)

Holly

P.S. I can't speak for everyone else, but I hated having to pick between the two because I loved them both.
It was definitely a tough decision for lots of young Tv viewers. It was a bad move for NBC to place it against Full House.

The College Years tanked because producers failed to account that the show's core audience wasn't the same age as the characters. Most fans were between 7-13---not the most desirable age group for prime time TV. ABC was doing a better job at targeting this age group with shows like Full House and Boy Meets World. It was just out of place on NBC.

It lacked a spark or even something for viewers to latch onto. It really wasn't like the original Saved by the Bell and in that it didn't attempt to depict as being ridiculous like old show did high school. To put it in another way, there was something funny about how the original SBTB made Bayside (if that makes sense). Meanwhile, The College Years tried to be an adult, prime-time show, but was still tied down by the original Saturday morning series. Even though they were all age appropriate, it always had a feel like the characters themselves were 'playing' at being grown-up. It contrasts with a better college show (incidentally, also airing on NBC), A Different World, but they both did something good. They didn't copy Animal House (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/AnimalHouse?from=Main.AnimalHouse) and be a cliche college.

I didn;t get to watch because they started college the same year I did which was the fall of 1993

So as a freshman in college I was not watching tv I was probably around my friends adapting to college life

I watched it a couple of times but I never could really get into it.

I did think that girl with the BLONDE hair on the College Years looked better than Kelly:D

No argument with the above post! I had a crush on Anne Tremko during the series for sure.
I enjoyed The College Years, but I also never watched Full House. I watched SBTB almost religiously - including the movies it spun off - from the time the series started in the fall of 1989 (I didn't see any of the Miss Bliss episodes until watching them on WGN during syndication), and thought it was cool to watch some of the same characters in primetime. It definitely wasn't as good as the original series, and I was not surprised when it was cancelled.
Now for some of the same reasons, I did not watch The New Class. A new series at Bayside with new characters did not interest me in the least.

There were certainly things I enjoyed about The College Years, but it still lacked the spark week in and week out like the original series did.

I loved it! I preferred it, even over the original. Full House killed it. Wrong time slot.

The College Years tanked because producers failed to account that the show's core audience wasn't the same age as the characters. Most fans were between 7-13---not the most desirable age group for prime time TV. ABC was doing a better job at targeting this age group with shows like Full House and Boy Meets World. It was just out of place on NBC.

A lot of the old SBTB's charm was that it was a kitschy, colorful (not only w/ the '80s hangover fashion choices, but the pastel imagery, and mostly comic book view of high school) cheese-ball sitcom. Trying to immediately transfer that to a more sophisticated, muted (at least, when The College Years came on, it seemed more like a proper "'90s looking" show is that makes sense) prime-time show for adults was perhaps too far of a leap.

I enjoyed the College Years. The episodes were witty and it helped to keep the story going until its eventual closure.

Do I like it as much as the original Saved By the Bell? No...But I wouldn't expect to. Part of what made the original series great was that it took place in high school (well, in the 2nd version at least). Also, even though Bob Golic's character was awesome, I missed seeing Mr. Belding in most episodes.

Ultimately, I was happy that Zack, Slater, Screech and Kelly ended up going to college together. I missed Jessie and Lisa, but those first four were enough to keep the same feel. And Leslie and Alex added a lot too. So, I definitely enjoyed the College Years, but the original SBTB will always be #1 for me.

As for the New Class, I actually watched a few episodes when I was still a kid. If I recall correctly, it came on Saturday mornings on NBC back in the late 90's. To be honest, I remember liking it at the time, but I haven't come back to it since. It just seems kind of hard to watch that show with different characters at this point. I think that's why so many people diss it....Because even though the plots and the actors were fine, it just isn't the same without Zack, Slater, Kelly, Jessie and Lisa. Most people probably felt the same way...It just felt strange watching that show with different characters...It's like a new guy on the Yankees wearing Mickey Mantle's number...You know?

Uneven, to say the least...though it was considerably better than "Saved By The Bell: The New Class." (To this day, I cannot believe "The New Class" lasted seven seasons; some bigwig at NBC must've had faith in "The New Class" for it to last THAT long.) My favorite character on "The College Years" was gorgeous rich girl Leslie Burke (Anne Tremko), with hulking residential advisor Mike Rogers (former NFL player Bob Golic) a close second.

I loved it! I preferred it, even over the original. Full House killed it. Wrong time slot.

I agree. ABC's smash hit "Full House" (as well as Fox's "Roc" and the first half hour of CBS's "Rescue 911") slaughtered "SBTB: The College Years" in that timeslot (Tuesdays at 8 pm)...had "SBTB: The College Years" aired on Saturday mornings as part of NBC's "TNBC" block, it might have lasted longer.

I did think that girl with the BLONDE hair on the College Years looked better than Kelly:D

I enthusiastically concur, TVFactFan! Anne Tremko was quite stunning as rich girl Leslie Burke. Zack should've ended up with Leslie instead of his old high school sweetheart Kelly. In fact, Tiffani Thiessen was brought in to replace Essence Atkins ("Half and Half") after the pilot episode. (Atkins played D.C. native Danielle Marks, daughter of a federal judge.)

Yeah I just recently googled the "New Class" and was amazed that there were so many episodes. I didn't know it ran so long.

One of the documentaries said that the original Saved by the Bell cast started getting tired of doing the show. It's likely that this was the main reason it didn't last longer. That and they outgrew their roles.

The College Years wasnt given enough time in my opinion. 13 episodes. You need more. Also, it was mentioned about Full House. To me, by that time I think Full House had become the Michelle Show and run its course.

I enthusiastically concur, TVFactFan! Anne Tremko was quite stunning as rich girl Leslie Burke. Zack should've ended up with Leslie instead of his old high school sweetheart Kelly. In fact, Tiffani Thiessen was brought in to replace Essence Atkins ("Half and Half") after the pilot episode. (Atkins played D.C. native Danielle Marks, daughter of a federal judge.)

Essence Atkins also starred in Disney's Smart Guy with Taj Mowry of Full House Fame as she played Yvette Henderson

The College Years wasnt given enough time in my opinion. 13 episodes. You need more. Also, it was mentioned about Full House. To me, by that time I think Full House had become the Michelle Show and run its course.

Well it may have been The Michelle Show, but to me, Dave Coulier and Lori Loughlin both stole the show as Joey Gladstone Mr. Cut it Out! and "Aunt Becky" Rebecca Donaldson with her no nonsense attitude

In fact, when Full House 1st debut, the ratings were down, but thanks to abc for giving the show a second chance, Jeff Franklin, Miller-Boyett and LORIMAR hired Lori Loughlin and the ratings went up, but when the show 1st moved to Tuesday Nights, the 1st 2 seasons on Tuesdays saw the show cracked the Top 10, but when LORIMAR closed its doors and sold to Warner Bros. Television, that's when many of the LORIMAR shows changed

When Saved by the Bell: The College Years was on the air, Full House saw the season in which DJ and Steve broke-up, which IMO, wasn't a smart idea, but the show still manage to stay in the Nielsen Ratings Top 20

But back to SBTB: The College Years, I agree, having Zack & Kelly get back together was a terrible decision, not to mention, having Slater & Alex hook-up was a HORRIBLE decision and Leslie and Screech would NEVER have worked if they hooked up

Zack & Leslie would've been the perfect match, not to mention, Slater & Kelly would've worked and Screech & Alex would've made a funny couple, but Alex hates rats, Screech LOVES rats

Remember that episode?

and as for The New Class, the 1st season was a cheap rip-off of the Original Saved By the Bell Series, but by the 94/95 Season, having Screech return to Bayside as the Administrative Assistant to Mr. Belding was a rip-off of Laurel & Hardy or as I should say, a cheap rip-off of Andy Taylor & Barney Fife or Gilligan and Skipper

What's funny was during the 2nd Season Finale, Zack, Slater & Lisa reunited with Screech & Belding, but Kelly & Jessie didn't show up and neither did Bad Girl Biker Tori Scott

I guess Tiffani Thiessen decided to move on from the series, plus she was so busy on Beverly Hills 90210, plus she said that she never saw 1 episode of Saved By the Bell: The New Class

I guess NBC was desperate at keeping the show going which was another HUGE mistake by NBC

Can see why Full House ratings went up when Lori came on. :D

Yeah I just recently googled the "New Class" and was amazed that there were so many episodes. I didn't know it ran so long.

One of the documentaries said that the original Saved by the Bell cast started getting tired of doing the show. It's likely that this was the main reason it didn't last longer. That and they outgrew their roles.

Boggles your mind, doesn't it, Caramel Caterpillar? It sure as hell boggled mine!

And I do agree that the "SBTB" cast (Gossalaar, Lopez, Voorhies, Thiessen, and Berkley) had grown tired of the series by that point. They were clearly too old to (believably) portray high school students by that point (they were in their early- to mid-twenties by that point; Dustin "Screech" Diamond was still in his mid-teens). Fortunately, the original "SBTB" ended with "The Bayside Six" obtaining their diplomas; wish I could say the same for the Sweathogs of Buchanan High on the '70s hit "Welcome Back, Kotter" ("Kotter" wrapped in '79 after four seasons), though.

Boggles your mind, doesn't it, Caramel Caterpillar? It sure as hell boggled mine!

And I do agree that the "SBTB" cast (Gossalaar, Lopez, Voorhies, Thiessen, and Berkley) had grown tired of the series by that point. They were clearly too old to (believably) portray high school students by that point (they were in their early- to mid-twenties by that point; Dustin "Screech" Diamond was still in his mid-teens). Fortunately, the original "SBTB" ended with "The Bayside Six" obtaining their diplomas; wish I could say the same for the Sweathogs of Buchanan High on the '70s hit "Welcome Back, Kotter" ("Kotter" wrapped in '79 after four seasons), though.

There's this documentary I watched on SBTB (I've mentioned it in a couple other posts) where they detailed that most of the original cast members were tired of the show by the end. Tiffany and Elizabeth were itching to try other projects they didn't currently have time for. Others may have just been tired of the process.

They also said that the "New Class" was not as good as an experience because the cast members were less talented (their words, not mine). Apparently there was a lot of turnover in the New Class cast as well, although I never really watched it more than once or twice so I don't really know.

I will say that the New Class actors in my opinion were very talented, and the show seemed pretty decent when I watched it (although I haven't seen it since like 1999). That said, with a show like that you're treading on sacred ground. The original SBTB is a classic show. Very hard to try to compete with or re-create that. Like we already said, it's surprising they tried to do so, especially for as long as they did.

I'm getting back into Saved by the Bell for the first time in years and loving it!! A lot of TV I see is kind of negative but SBTB was almost always positive and uplifting. Great show.

Saved by the Bell: The College Years…Reviewed! (http://www.savedbythebellreviewed.com/2016/01/27/saved-by-the-bell-the-college-years-reviewed/)

Can see why Full House ratings went up when Lori came on. :D

and to me, that was THE Best Decision they ever made, as I said before, w/o Lori Loughlin, Full House would've never been that successful

Yeah I tried to buy this on Amazon, and its 50$+