Here is a little bit of sitcom history that will interest this board


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX5rmVzSkEY&t=112s


I think most of us who watched the sitcoms from the '80's and '90's probably know that Good Morning Miss Bliss ended up turning into Saved By the Bell. However some may not know that that was the second attempt at the Miss Bliss show. A Good Morning Miss Bliss pilot was filmed about a year earlier but it was never picked up to series. Jaleel White was actually a part of that original pilot that I linked to here. The Zack Morris, Screech, and Lisa Turtle characters didn't appear until the second incarnation of the show. The original pilot had the Mr. Belding character but it is played by an entirely different actor.

For Family Matters fans its interesting to watch Jaleel White in this pilot (even though he only appeared in a couple scenes) as his character is totally different than Urkel. You can tell that they took traits of his character here that eventually ended up turning into Zack Morris. It's a pretty good episode but you can kind of see why it wasn't picked up to series as it was a little more serious than the popular sitcoms from the '80's and early '90's.

Another notable person in this episode is the boy from the Sea Quest show named Jonathan Brandis who unfortunately is not here anymore.

God bless you and his family always!!!

Holly

Nice find, never knew this. I do know he got his start in 1984 on the Jeffersons and later on Charlie and Company in 1985

I watched this in July 1987 on NBC.

I can't help but feel bad for cast members who for whatever reason are no longer included after a show's first episode. Someone else was C.D. Parker in the first episode of Walker, Texas Ranger before Noble Willingham took over the role. Another girl was Judy Winslow in the first episode of Family Matters before Jamie Foxworth became the character. Another set of twins were Ray and Debra's boys during the first episode of Everybody Loves Raymond. They also went by the names Mathew and Gregory before they were changed to Michael and Geoffrey.

God bless you and those who are still here always!!!

Holly

P.S. Another thing that I will never understand is why certain sets are changed from the first episode compared to the rest. In the first episode of Family Matters episode, the Winslow's kitchen does not have the stairs that lead to the bedrooms.

A pilot is a test episode and there’s no guarantee that the network will order any further episodes. I believe that fewer than 20% of pilots are picked up to series. So in some cases, the producers will spend less on the set for the pilot - or not use a set at all - and then upgrade if the network orders a series. The “Hanging With Mr. Cooper” pilot was shot on the “Growing Pains” set to save money, and then got their own sets when the show was ordered to series. “The Brady Bunch” didn’t even use sets for the pilot; they used an actual house, and then built sets when the show got a series order.

I can't help but feel bad for cast members who for whatever reason are no longer included after a show's first episode. Someone else was C.D. Parker in the first episode of Walker, Texas Ranger before Noble Willingham took over the role. Another girl was Judy Winslow in the first episode of Family Matters before Jamie Foxworth became the character. Another set of twins were Ray and Debra's boys during the first episode of Everybody Loves Raymond. They also went by the names Mathew and Gregory before they were changed to Michael and Geoffrey.

God bless you and those who are still here always!!!

Holly

P.S. Another thing that I will never understand is why certain sets are changed from the first episode compared to the rest. In the first episode of Family Matters episode, the Winslow's kitchen does not have the stairs that lead to the bedrooms.



That's probably because most viewers wont remember as the show goes on since it was the very 1st episode. If you had not mentioned that I would have never known because it was easy to forget once you get used to the kitchen that had the stairs

^^^ The Foster/Lambert living room for the show named Step By Step also had an alteration after the first episode was done. Marie and Frank's kitchen was also redesigned after the first episode of Everybody Loves Raymond.

A pilot is a test episode and there’s no guarantee that the network will order any further episodes. I believe that fewer than 20% of pilots are picked up to series. So in some cases, the producers will spend less on the set for the pilot - or not use a set at all - and then upgrade if the network orders a series. The “Hanging With Mr. Cooper” pilot was shot on the “Growing Pains” set to save money, and then got their own sets when the show was ordered to series. “The Brady Bunch” didn’t even use sets for the pilot; they used an actual house, and then built sets when the show got a series order.
Thank you for sharing what you know. I remember the show named Hangin' With Mr. Cooper, but I don't remember ever seeing what I guess was the pilot episode. My first episode of the show was when Michelle from Full House is shown which according to the IMDB website was the next episode.

God bless you two always!!!

Holly

P.S. The good thing about set changes is that it can always be said that a face lift was given to whatever place looks different. Cast member changes though on the other hand is another story of course.

I can't help but feel bad for cast members who for whatever reason are no longer included after a show's first episode. Someone else was C.D. Parker in the first episode of Walker, Texas Ranger before Noble Willingham took over the role. Another girl was Judy Winslow in the first episode of Family Matters before Jamie Foxworth became the character. Another set of twins were Ray and Debra's boys during the first episode of Everybody Loves Raymond. They also went by the names Mathew and Gregory before they were changed to Michael and Geoffrey.

Let's not forget the original Carol Seaver on Growing Pains, and the original Danny Tanner on Full House. It must suck for an actor or actress to have everything retained except them.

...In fact, I remember Lisa Kudrow talking about that happening to her on the pilot of Frasier.

Getting booted from Frasier was the best thing that ever happened to Lisa Kudrow. She wouldn’t have been available for Friends.

But yeah - I feel for the other two. Trying to remember all the others who were dropped after the pilot: Liberty Williams as Shirley on “Laverne & Shirley,” Lyman Ward as Jim Walsh on “Beverly Hills, 90210,” Alfred Lutter as Tommy on “Alice”, Andrea Parker as Kate on “JAG” (though she got to come back for guest appearances); the various captains and cruise directors in the “Love Boat” pilots, the roommates from the unaired “Three’s Company” pilots; the daughters and sons-in-law from the unaired “All in the Family” pilots.

I watched this in July 1987 on NBC.

Wow that’s awesome! Did you ever watch it on Disney?

These days (at least in terms of drama series I believe) a network decides if they will pick up a pilot to series before it even airs so a lot of pilots that don't get picked up never get viewed by the public.

Game of Thrones original pilot wasn't picked up to series and Daenarys Targaryen was played by a different actress in that one. The upcoming House of Dragons pilot wasn't originally picked up to series and several of the actors from the first pilot didn't make it into the second pilot that was picked up to series.

Wow that’s awesome! Did you ever watch it on Disney?

No, my parents wouldn't pay for cable TV in 1988 or 1989. In fact, we did not get cable TV until around 1993. I could, however, watch cable at my grandparents' house. But Disney Channel at that time was a premium cable service that you had to pay extra for, and my grandparents weren't subscribers.

I did, however, watch many episodes of Hey Dude on Nickelodeon when I was at my grandparents' house.

No, my parents wouldn't pay for cable TV in 1988 or 1989. In fact, we did not get cable TV until around 1993. I could, however, watch cable at my grandparents' house. But Disney Channel at that time was a premium cable service that you had to pay extra for, and my grandparents weren't subscribers.

I did, however, watch many episodes of Hey Dude on Nickelodeon when I was at my grandparents' house.

Very cool :wave:

Since this thread is somewhat about Saved By the Bell probably should mention that it has been reported that Dustin Diamond who played 'Screech' died today from lung cancer. He had a really aggressive type as he was only diagnosed three weeks ago. I know there have been internet rumors about him dying before but looks like it is true this time.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/01/entertainment/dustin-diamond-obit/index.html

Since this thread is somewhat about Saved By the Bell probably should mention that it has been reported that Dustin Diamond who played 'Screech' died today from lung cancer. He had a really aggressive type as he was only diagnosed three weeks ago. I know there have been internet rumors about him dying before but looks like it is true this time.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/01/entertainment/dustin-diamond-obit/index.html

So sad!

Saved By the Bell - Deep Dive, Episode 7.1: "Good Morning, Miss Bliss (https://web.archive.org/web/20190222214805/http://www.savedbythebellreviewed.com/category/all-good-morning-miss-bliss-episodes/) - Pilot"

GTtF-Fmri0M

Saved By the Bell - Deep Dive, Episode 7.1: "Good Morning, Miss Bliss (https://web.archive.org/web/20190222214805/http://www.savedbythebellreviewed.com/category/all-good-morning-miss-bliss-episodes/) - Pilot"

GTtF-Fmri0M

That is a pretty good series that youtuber has going on there. He goes into a lot of the details of the guest appearances and props they used in the episodes and things like that. Hopefully he keeps going with it. Lol, and I took a look at Hayley Mills wikipedia page and saw her personal life write up and had to joke with myself that maybe it was a good thing she didn't go over to Saved By the Bell and was around the Zack Morris and A.C. Slater actors when they got a bit older. Let's just say it looks like she likes a little bit of age gap dating.

In all seriousness though when they were turning Good Morning Miss Bliss into Saved By the Bell I wonder how they decided upon which characters would get dropped and which ones would move over to the new show. After going through the videos the guy created really it seems the only character that needed to stay was Zack Morris but pretty much everyone else easily could have gone or stayed. I wonder if contract negotiations largely made them decide on which characters to carry over or if it went more deeply than that. In a way I am a little surprised that they decided to keep Mr. Belding but drop Carrie Bliss.