Favorite & Least Favorite TNBC Shows from 1992-2002 and your Pros & Cons

[simmytbone]

Hey guys,

20 years ago, we were introduced to a new kind of Saturday Morning on NBC

It was called TNBC

TNBC was the place for Teen Sitcoms, Dramas, Reality and even Game Shows

The idea for TNBC sprang from the popularity of Saved by the Bell. This ultimately persuaded NBC to cancel all of its animated programs in 1992 in favor of live action teen-oriented shows on Saturday mornings, making NBC the first network to drop children's programming entirely. As a result of this change, California Dreams, originally a sitcom about a family was changed to a sitcom about a group of teenage friends, setting the template for future TNBC shows to follow this same format.

The sitcom USA High, produced by Peter Engel, was originally intended to air on the lineup. However the series aired on USA Network along with Saved by the Bell: The New Class which aired concurrently on both networks. Another Engel-produced sitcom Malibu, CA only aired on local syndication. That series was packaged with Saved by the Bell and California Dreams and aired on local syndication markets. USA High and Malibu, CA are the only Engel-produced series that did not air on TNBC, post-Saved by the Bell: The College Years.

During the lineup's history, only two non-fiction series were produced: Brains & Brawn and Name Your Adventure. Another non-scripted NBC show, NBA Inside Stuff, aired directly after the programming block but was never actually part of TNBC.

In the year 2000, the Thomas W. Lynch-produced series Just Deal was the first TNBC scripted series not to be produced by Peter Engel since Running the Halls (1993) and the first series to be shot in single-camera format. The following year Sk8, also produced by Lynch, aired for one season before being canceled. Reruns continued to air until the lineup folded in 2002 and the time was leased to Discovery Communications, which aired the Discovery Kids on NBC programming block until the launch of qubo in September 2006.

and so, in honor of 20 years of TNBC, I would like to know:

What is your favorite TNBC Show and your Least Favorite TNBS Show and if you want to, you can add your Pros & Cons to TNBC Shows

and here's the list:

Saved by the Bell Season 4
California Dreams (1992–1997)
Name Your Adventure (1992–1995)
Double Up (1992)
Saved by the Bell: The New Class (1993–2000)
Brains & Brawn (1993-1994)
Running the Halls (1993-1994)
Hang Time (1995–2001)
City Guys (1997–2002)
One World (1998–2001)
Just Deal (2000–2002)
All About Us (2001)
SK8 (2001–2002)

NOTE:

Saved by the Bell, California Dreams, City Guys, One World and All About Us were all produced by Peter Engel Productions

Music for California Dreams was composed by Steve Tyrell who also did music for The Heights Produced by the late Aaron Spelling and The Famous Teddy Z Starring Jon Cryer of Two and a Half Men

Hang Time was Produced by Mark Fink during the 1st Season and Peter Engel produced the show for the last 5 seasons

The TNBC Dramas Just Deal and SK8 were produced by Thomas W. Lynch, the Executive Producer of Night Tracks on WTBS/TBS SuperStation, Kids Incorporated for syndication and The Disney Channel and the Nickelodeon Series The Secret World of Alex Mack and The Journey of Allen Strange

Name Your Adventure was Produced by Scott A. Friedland and was hosted by Mario Lopez of Saved by the Bell and Extra Fame, Comedian and Filmmaker Jordan Brady and Tatyana M. Ali of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Fame

Brains and Brawn was hosted by Mark-Paul Gosselaar of Saved by the Bell and NYPD Blue Fame and there were 2 co-hosts:

Danielle Harris of Halloween Movies and Tatyana M. Ali

Double Up was a Kids Version of The Dating Game and it was hosted by JD Roth of Fun House and Masters of the Maze who also produced the series under his own production company Slam Dunk Productions who also co-produced Mad Libs hosted by David Sidoni of Nickelodeon's Roundhouse and Wheel 2000 and was co-produced by Dick Clark Production founded by the late TV Icon Dick Clark

Running the Halls was Produced by Steve Slavkin Productions Creator and Producer of Nickeloden's Salute Your Shorts which Features Danny Cookesy of Diff'rent Strokes Fame and Music was composed by Ed Alton who did music for the abc sitcom Head of the Class

[PrettyinPink55]

First of all, I am so glad there is another TNBC fan on the boards!!!
I miss this block SO much!!! I often wish they would go back to this type of programming.
Those were all great shows!!!
I remember watching them as a kid, tween/pre-teen, and teen and absolutely loving it!!! I wish I could watch a lot of those shows again!!!

I can't pick just one favorite because they are so good but I'll list my favorites lol:

Saved by the Bell: The College Years
California Dreams
Saved by the Bell: The New Class
Hang Time
City Guys
Just Deal

I also LOVED USA High and Malibu, CA!!

[mets82]

Make that 3 TNBC fans. I grew up with those shows. Funny thing was that I actually thought the titles were the name of Saved By the Bell episodes. In other words, when I saw the TNBC lineup, it had Saved by the Bell, Name Your Adventure, California Dreams etc. I thought that Name Your Adventure and California Dreams were just titles to future Saved by the Bell episodes. You have to remember that TNBC was so uncommon back then and Saved By the Bell was a huge hit, who thought of capitalizing on that.


I will say I was a fan of Saved by the Bell, Saved by the Bell:The New Class, California Dreams, Hang Time, USA High and City Guys.

Only real problem I had with The New Class is that they kept changing characters every year. If they stuck with the original cast, you wonder if it would have been as popular as the original one.

[PrettyinPink55]

Originally Posted by mets82

Make that 3 TNBC fans.

Only real problem I had with The New Class is that they kept changing characters every year. If they stuck with the original cast, you wonder if it would have been as popular as the original one.

Glad to see there are others who also grew up with this and remember the lineup so fondly!!

I agree about The New Class. They did keep changing out the characters. You didn't really get to know them. Maybe that was their way of keeping it fresh? The only constants were Mr. Belding and Screech!!

[simmytbone]

Same thing with Hang Time

They did the same thing, but also, they changed the theme from Season 1 to a Newer Theme, but also, I didn't like the way they wrote off Amy Wright and Josh Sanders and replaced them with Kristy Ford and Michael Manning w/o any explanation and I didn't care for Kristy Ford, she was no Amy Wright

I mean, Amy had energy while Kristy was too girly, IMO

But also, I didn't like the last 2 seasons, I mean Eugene Brown was no Rico Bosco and plus, Dick Butkus was certainly no Reggie Theus, even though I liked the 4th Season better than the last 2 Seasons b/c of Silk teaming with Rico and Hammer, but I liked Teddy, Danny and Vince

Teddy, Danny and Vince was like Hang Time's Version of The Three Stooges

[irehtman]

Originally Posted by tnawcwvictoriafa

Same thing with Hang Time

They did the same thing, but also, they changed the theme from Season 1 to a Newer Theme, but also, I didn't like the way they wrote off Amy Wright and Josh Sanders and replaced them with Kristy Ford and Michael Manning w/o any explanation and I didn't care for Kristy Ford, she was no Amy Wright

I mean, Amy had energy while Kristy was too girly, IMO

But also, I didn't like the last 2 seasons, I mean Eugene Brown was no Rico Bosco and plus, Dick Butkus was certainly no Reggie Theus, even though I liked the 4th Season better than the last 2 Seasons b/c of Silk teaming with Rico and Hammer, but I liked Teddy, Danny and Vince

Teddy, Danny and Vince was like Hang Time's Version of The Three Stooges

Even if these Hang Time cast changes are too much, they are still NOT that bad.

I know you like the first season better, but the reason why some left is because, even if they are good in acting, their talent became really too mature!

The number of people in this cast is even, total of 8. But the cast changes are considered even-numbered, 2 or 4. At least it is not odd-numbered!

Finally, they did not change the important female characters (Julie Connor, the main important, and Mary Beth Pepperton, the most funniest).

I am no longer a Saved By The Bell fan anymore, but I am still the Hang Time fan right now. All I need to do is look forward to the Hang Time 20th Anniversary Reunion in 2015. Beginning with these former actresses: Daniella Deutscher and Megan Parlen.

[howierules86]

My top 3:

1. Hang Time (I remember taping so many episodes when ABC Family reran them in the summer of 2003, but I only thought to save one episode)
2. California Dreams
3. City Guys

[misterblowhole]

Good topic. I'll go with...

Saved by the Bell season 4
Name Your Adventure
City Guys

[simmytbone]

Originally Posted by howierules86

My top 3:

1. Hang Time (I remember taping so many episodes when ABC Family reran them in the summer of 2003, but I only thought to save one episode)
2. California Dreams
3. City Guys

I remember seeing it on abc family as well, but I was so dissapointed that they did not show Seasons 1 & 2 of Hang Time

Hopefully, they will show the 1st 2 seasons of HT if it does come out to reruns since they are my favorite over Seasons 3, 5 & 6

[TMC]

http://hellogiggles.com/dont-wake-me..._campaign=post

Sarah Heyward

It was pretty awesome to be a teen in the ’90s. After an evening of pretending to hate-watch TGIF, you could wake up bright and early on Saturday and tune in to a very special lineup of shows made just for you. No, I’m not just talking about Saved by the Bell – although that was certainly part of it. In fact, the popularity of SBTB is what spawned a bunch of apparent lookalikes, each different in their own cheesy way.

California Dreams

Arguably the most famous of the Saved by the Bell wannabes, California Dreams lasted a whopping three seasons and featured a group of attractive, multi-ethnic teenagers starting their own band. Well, originally it was about a family, but nobody seems to remember that. Naturally, the cast members are the ones singing the infamous theme song, “California Dreamin’”, and they even reunited on Jimmy Fallon recently for a repeat performance.

Hang Time

Picture Saved by the Bell but… with basketball! I’m sure that’s how they pitched this silly but long-lived teen sitcom. The original premise featured an Indiana high school boys’ basketball team with one female player. Peppered with visits from real NBA players and, be still my heart, Screech Powers, the actual cast of teens changed almost entirely every single season (and there were six seasons!). By the end, there were only two cast members who had survived the entire run.

City Guys

Okay, if Hang Time was Saved by the Bell with basketball, City Guys was kinda just Saved by the Bell. Sure, the setting was “urban” and the cast was “diverse” but it was about a bunch of high schoolers dealing with high school stuff in the glossy Peter Engel-ified world we all knew and loved. City Guys did focus on two boys in particular: Jamal and Chris. They both struggled to stay out of trouble while navigating the wacky world of high school. Oh, and it supposedly takes place in Manhattan, where everything seems to have been designed by the same architect who did The Max.

USA High

So this show actually didn’t air on the TNBC Saturday Morning lineup; instead, it aired confusingly enough on the USA Network. The name is a coincidence but try telling that to the teen programming conspiracy theorist I was as a 12-year old. The premise for this one is pretty fun: six teens attend school at the fictional American Academy of Paris under the tutelage of a strict and stuffy British headmaster and a sexy Dutch teacher. Fun (?) fact: both Shannon Elizabeth and Mario Lopez guest starred.

Saved by the Bell: The New Class

Impressively one of the worst-reviewed teen shows of all time, Saved by the Bell: The New Class featured a whole new cast of characters (that changed practically every season) roaming the colorful halls of Bayside under the lovingly watchful eye of Mr. Belding. If you see another familiar face in the photo above, that’s because Screech was part of this charade, as well. He joined the cast during Season 2. From what I remember, this show freely recycled plot lines from the original series, right down to a love triangle modeled exactly after Zack-Kelly-Slater. Also, there was a character named Maria Lopez. Is that not incredibly strange given that Slater was played by Mario Lopez??? Add it to the conspiracy list.

Much as I miss being allowed to order off the children’s menu without shame, I long for the days when there was a special block of programming just for people my age. Let’s start a campaign to turn Friday nights or Saturday mornings or weekday afternoons into “Late 20s TV”. I hear Mr. Belding is thinking of turning Bayside into a graduate school after hours.

[mets82]

I'd like to see any of these shows make the light of day again.

[TMC]

From ‘Saved By The Bell’ To ‘Hang Time': We’re Ranking The TNBC Saturday Morning Shows

[irehtman]

I have a feeling that all of these SBTB: original class castmembers should officially move onto new projects from and do better than the SBTB: original class for the rest of their lives:

* Mark Paul Gosselaar
* Mario Lopez
* Tiffany Amber Neilsen
* Elizabeth berkley
* Lark Voorhies
* Dennis Haskins

Hang Time became more of from a TNBC to a real NBC sitcom along the way. Secondly, All 20 former members are alive, but some of them retired from acting and some of them took a hiatus from acting, which is good. Finally, none of the 20 members got jailed, deceased nor fired from acting, so that is also a good sign for Hang Time.

[simmytbone]

IMO, Season 1 of Hang Time was THE Best, Season 2 was even cooler, Season 4 was better than Season 3 b/c of Rico, Hammer and Silk, Season 3 was OK, not the best though and Seasons 5 & 6 STUNK!

[irehtman]

Originally Posted by simmytbone

IMO, Season 1 of Hang Time was THE Best, Season 2 was even cooler, Season 4 was better than Season 3 b/c of Rico, Hammer and Silk, Season 3 was OK, not the best though and Seasons 5 & 6 STUNK!

True, but Hang Time Seasons 5 & 6 did not stunk that bad as Saved By The Bell: New Class Seasons 6 & 7. The focus on Hang Time is more importantly on the female part, simmytbone, IMO.