The Failure of Saved By the Bell: The New Class

[TVShowAddict]

It went for 7 years, I would not call it a failure

[factsoflife]

I mean it ran for 7 seasons and something like 140 plus episodes, I wouldn't call it a failure. But I will agree that it did suffer from lazy writing, poor casting and generally is not well-regarded, and has mostly been forgotten.

I was never meant to be anything more than a money grab from NBC/Peter Engel Productions. It was meant to extend the SBTB franchise, but ultimately is a blemish on the franchise.

[TVShowAddict]

Originally Posted by factsoflife

I mean it ran for 7 seasons and something like 140 plus episodes, I wouldn't call it a failure. But I will agree that it did suffer from lazy writing, poor casting and generally is not well-regarded, and has mostly been forgotten.

I was never meant to be anything more than a money grab from NBC/Peter Engel Productions. It was meant to extend the SBTB franchise, but ultimately is a blemish on the franchise.

I agree with that, it should have never been made

[irehtman]

It has to do with abused real-life of SBTB creator Sam Bobrick more often and what makes new class suffer in lazy writing, poor casting and not generally well-regarded has to do with it entire new class crewmember group being completely drugged along the way.

It wouldn't be considered never-made if the new class setting is neither in Bayside nor Valley or similar which should have also resulted on getting Belding clone included, TBH, IMO.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by TVShowAddict

I agree with that, it should have never been made

I too wouldn't necessarily consider the series an out and out "failure" if it ran for 140 odd episodes over the course of seven seasons. And the person behind the old Saved by the Bell Reviewed blog would have a better perspective for why it may have been looked at as a failure than I do.

I think that people look at The New Class is that even though it lasted longer than any other SBTB incarnation (not counting of course, 2020 revival) it's considered the "black sheep" of the franchise. Even Good Morning, Miss Bliss is held in greater reverence by fans since it's retroactively, a prequel of sorts (since it had Zack, Lisa, Screech, and Mr. Belding) to the main series.

Also, I suspect that The New Class was merely viewed as a means for NBC to milk the Saved by the Bell franchise as far as they could, since at the time the main series went off the air in 1993, it was still hugely successful. It didn't seem to come out as a genuine creative endeavor or as a way to bring a different perspective to the franchise (like The College Years attempted to do). It just felt like they were doing the old show all over again, but with less talented and/or charismatic actors or engaging characters.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by TVShowAddict

I agree with that, it should have never been made

There really wasn't any point for The New Class to be made now that I think about it. It wasn't like it had anything new (no pun intended) to say since Mr. Belding was still the principal at Bayside and Screech come Season 2, was back there also.

It just felt to a lot of people, like a watered down, Diet Coke version the original SBTB. The New Class if I'm not mistaken, was often criticized for recycling plots from the original series and having characters who were not too far removed from their predecessors.

Maybe in hindsight, Peter Engel and his crew shouldn't have done The New Class. NBC probably should've brought in some fresh blood, so that the franchise wouldn't have felt like it was merely repeating itself.

[RetroGuy2000]

It clearly wasn't a "failure", since it ran for seven seasons. But I don't think I ever watched a full episode, and it just felt like a cheap knock-off of a show that itself was kind of a knock-off of better shows.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by irehtman

Yeah, even if the New Class should never have been created or should have been alternatively, then the New Class should have a different public high school setting that should have never have been taking place in either Bayside type or Valley type or similar at all, TBH, IMO.

If Wigfield cannot let go of both that Screech character and that New Class sitcom situation, then this what should been as proposed:

1.) The New Class should have a new public high school setting, which is never a Bayside nor Valley nor similar types.

2.) The six first-season New Class clones of the first original-run class should be rebooted without problems on continuances each.

3.) The new principal of this new setting type has to be a new clone type from Belding, but no discrimination incident type.

4.) If necessary, the Screech will be rebooted and then added along the way as an non-annoying assistant, but it has to be played by a new actor than Dustin Diamond, TBH, IMO.

Somebody on the old Saved by the Bell Reviewed blog presented an actually seriously plausible theory for why people kept coming and going on The New Class:

• Season 1: Vickie, Scott and Weasel are fired since Peter Engel didn’t like them. Rachel signs a contract to be s full time cast member.
  
• Season 2: Christian Oliver is let out of his contract to go shoot Babysitters Club. Bianca Lawson doesn’t resign and Spankee is let go for stinking. Tommy and Lindsay sign a year contract extension.
  
• Season 3: Lindsay and Tommy move on and don’t resign RJ is released for sucking.
  
• Season 5: Rachel doesn’t resign after her initial three year contract is up.
  
• Season 6: Ryan’s contract is up and knowing it’s the last season he probably requests more money and is told to pound sand. Maria doesn’t ask for one and stays on or is given a small incentive raise to stay on.

Basically, the original cast likely only had two year contracts each, since it was only slated to run for two years at first. After that, it was probably three years since no one save Maria (Samantha Becker Esteban) was on past three.

[irehtman]

Originally Posted by TMC

There really wasn't any point for The New Class to be made now that I think about it. It wasn't like it had anything new (no pun intended) to say since Mr. Belding was still the principal at Bayside and Screech come Season 2, was back there also.

It just felt to a lot of people, like a watered down, Diet Coke version the original SBTB. The New Class if I'm not mistaken, was often criticized for recycling plots from the original series and having characters who were not too far removed from their predecessors.

Maybe in hindsight, Peter Engel and his crew shouldn't have done The New Class. NBC probably should've brought in some fresh blood, so that the franchise wouldn't have felt like it was merely repeating itself.

It should not have been a failure yet, but it's already been reasonable about the way the New Class sitcom was created. Although, the new class crewmember should have been drugged resulting in bad lines, but the problem is The New Class sitcom setting should've never been taking place in either Bayside or Valley or similar high school types at all, TBH, IMO.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

It clearly wasn't a "failure", since it ran for seven seasons. But I don't think I ever watched a full episode, and it just felt like a cheap knock-off of a show that itself was kind of a knock-off of better shows.

Again to take what the Saved by the Bell Reviewed blog said, while The New Class did run for seven seasons and was the flagship show for NBC's TNBC block, it otherwise has virtually no staying power.

It hasn't been syndicated in (at the time when that was written) over a decade. The last time that I recall or was aware of The New Class airing on TV somewhere other than NBC, was when it aired on the USA Network around the time that they had USA High. And that was I want to say at the latest, in 2001. To add insult to injury, the DVDs are said to be out of print now.

[irehtman]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

It clearly wasn't a "failure", since it ran for seven seasons. But I don't think I ever watched a full episode, and it just felt like a cheap knock-off of a show that itself was kind of a knock-off of better shows.

It has to do with real-life antisemitic-abuse of original SBTB creator Sam Bobrick. It would have been proved not to be a failure if the new class setting would neither be a Bayside nor Valley nor similar type of public high school types.

[irehtman]

Originally Posted by TMC

• Season 1: Vickie, Scott and Weasel are fired since Peter Engel didn’t like them. Rachel signs a contract to be s full time cast member.
  
• Season 2: Christian Oliver is let out of his contract to go shoot Babysitters Club. Bianca Lawson doesn’t resign and Spankee is let go for stinking. Tommy and Lindsay sign a year contract extension.
  
• Season 3: Lindsay and Tommy move on and don’t resign RJ is released for sucking.
  
• Season 5: Rachel doesn’t resign after her initial three year contract is up.
  
• Season 6: Ryan’s contract is up and knowing it’s the last season he probably requests more money and is told to pound sand. Maria doesn’t ask for one and stays on or is given a small incentive raise to stay on.

Basically, the original cast likely only had two year contracts each, since it was only slated to run for two years at first. After that, it was probably three years since no one save Maria (Samantha Becker Esteban) was on past three.

If Engel would have liked Vicki, Weasel and Scott altogether alternatively, then that new class setting should neither have been in Bayside nor Valley nor similar public high school types, plus none of these replacements, except for Maria, would have existed.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by irehtman

If Engel would have liked Vicki, Weasel and Scott altogether alternatively, then that new class setting should neither have been in Bayside nor Valley nor similar public high school types, plus none of these replacements, except for Maria, would have existed.

According to Dustin Diamond's book, Behind the Bell, Robert Sutherland Telfer (Scott) was let go after the first season because he had very conservative beliefs. The writer behind the Saved by the Bell Reviewed blog finds that claim to be bizarre because Peter Engel once served as dean of Pat Robertson’s Regent University. Not to get too political, but you can't get much more conservative than Pat Robertson.

Peter Engel himself would write that he was rushed to find a cast for the first season because of a deal to have them on Kellogg’s cereal boxes. So Engel went with a group of actors he wasn’t completely confident in.

[irehtman]

Originally Posted by TMC

According to Dustin Diamond's book, Behind the Bell, Robert Sutherland Telfer (Scott) was let go after the first season because he had very conservative beliefs. The writer behind the Saved by the Bell Reviewed blog finds that claim to be bizarre because Peter Engel once served as dean of Pat Robertson’s Regent University. Not to get too political, but you can't get much more conservative than Pat Robertson.

Peter Engel himself would write that he was rushed to find a cast for the first season because of a deal to have them on Kellogg’s cereal boxes. So Engel went with a group of actors he wasn’t completely confident in.

That might be a seriously severe case that Tefler was too closely to SBTB creator Sam Bobrick, TBH, IMO...

[TMC]

I also suspect that one big reason why Peter Engel's shows may have been derivative and interchangeable of one another is that Engel was spreading himself too thin. There was a time in which, almost the entire Saturday morning block on NBC was made up of his shows. Besides the original Saved by the Bell, he was doing California Dreams, Saved by the Bell: The New Class, Hang Time (come the second season), City Guys, One World, as well as his non-NBC shows like USA High and Malibu, CA. Engel himself said in his book that around the time of California Dreams' fourth season, he was overstretched and going for quantity over quality.