Did The New Class kill Saved by the Bell?

[simmytbone]

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 Spin-off entitled

Saved by the Bell: The New Class sort of like Saved by the Bell: The Next Generation

Saved by the Bell: The New Class is a spin-off of the Saved by the Bell series which ran from September 11, 1993 to January 8, 2000. The series lasted for seven seasons on NBC as a part of the network's TNBC Saturday Morning line-up. It was the fourth and final incarnation of the franchise

The show had the same concept as the original series but featured a new group of students now roaming the halls of the fictional Bayside High School

Mr. Belding, played by Dennis Haskins, remained as the school's principal

Many of the stories were recycled plots of its parent series. The first season cast included Robert Sutherland Telfer, Jonathan Angel, Isaac Lidsky, Natalia Cigliuti, Bianca Lawson, and Bonnie Russavage. Unlike the original series, which featured very few major cast changes throughout its run, The New Class regularly changed its core cast with Mr. Belding being the only constant factor

The series was universally panned by critics and most fans of the original series and is one of the worst reviewed teen shows, but had a positive reception to new fans of the franchise

Cast

Starring
Dustin Diamond as Samuel "Screech" Powers (seasons 2–7)
Samantha Esteban as Maria Lopez (seasons 3–7)
Robert Sutherland Telfer as Scott Erickson (season 1)
Isaac Lidsky as Barton 'Weasel' Wyzell (season 1)
Bonnie Russavage as Vicki Needleman (season 1)
Bianca Lawson as Megan Jones (seasons 1–2)
Natalia Cigliuti as Lindsay Warner (seasons 1–3)
Jonathan Angel as Thomas 'Tommy D' De Luca (seasons 1–3)
Christian Oliver as Brian Keller (season 2)
Spankee Rogers as Bobby Wilson (season 2)
Sarah Lancaster as Rachel Meyers (guest star season 1, seasons 2–4)
Salim Grant as R.J. "Hollywood" Collins (season 3)
Richard Lee Jackson as Ryan Parker (seasons 3–5)
Ben Gould as Nicky Farina (seasons 4–7)
Anthony Harrell as Cornelius "Eric" Little (seasons 4–7)
Lindsey McKeon as Katie Peterson (seasons 4–7)
Ashley Lyn Cafagna as Liz Miller (seasons 5–7)
Tom Wade Huntington as Tony Dillon (seasons 6–7)
and
Dennis Haskins as Principal Richard Belding

Scott Erickson, played by Robert Sutherland Telfer, is the school's schemer in the mold of his predecessor, Zack Morris. He is also a transfer student from rival Valley High School. as Zack had done in the original series, Scott broke the "fourth wall" by addressing the audience. Early episodes featured Scott vying for the affection of Lindsay, the girlfriend of the school's jock, "Tommy D" in a manner very similar to the original series' early rivalry between Zack and Slater for the affections of Kelly. (Season 1)

Thomas "Tommy D" De Luca, played by Jonathan Angel, is the jock of the gang, and was similar to A.C. Slater. He is the star quarterback for Bayside High's football team. He and Lindsay are a stable couple despite Lindsay being involved in every school organization and Tommy's macho behavior towards Scott. (Seasons 1-3)

Barton "Weasel" Wyzell, played by Isaac Lidsky, is the nerdiest kid in school. Weasel befriends Scott from the start and even tags along when Scott devises many of his schemes. He tends to be the successor of the original series' Screech. He and Lindsay have been best friends since pre-school and he has a huge crush on Megan, which much like Screech's crush on Lisa, was not reciprocated. (Season 1)

Lindsay Warner, played by Natalia Cigliuti, is the most popular girl at Bayside High. She is essentially a successor to Kelly Kapowski. She is involved in every school organization. She is also the love interest for Tommy D. She's bubbly and cheery, and usually hangs with her best friends Megan and Vicki. (Seasons 1-3)

Megan Jones, played by Bianca Lawson, is the show's "brain" or over-achiever. She is one of the smartest students in school and doesn't let anyone forget it either. Like Weasel and Lindsay, Megan is Vicki's best friend and is usually the voice of reason to the neurotic Vicki. A recurring gag in the series is her many attempts to avoid Weasel's unrequited love for her. Her character is a combination of original series characters Lisa Turtle and Jessie Spano. (Seasons 1-2)

Vicki Needleman, played by Bonnie Russavage, is the neurotic best friend of Megan. She is a cheerleader and develops a crush on Scott. The character was supposed to be a successor to the original series' "Jessie" but has no precedent in the original series. (Season 1)

Rachel Meyers, played by Sarah Lancaster, is the school's fashion expert and shop-a-holic. You can say that the character is a cross between Lisa Turtle and Jessie Spano due to her being the tallest female cast member of The New Class (Guest Star Season 1, Seasons 2-4)

Brian Keller, played by Christian Oliver, is a new transfer student from Switzerland. Sort of like the Swiss Version of Zack Morris (Season 2)

Bobby Wilson, played by Spankee Rogers, is a bit of a goofball. Kinda like Screech (Season 2)

Ryan Parker, played by Richard Lee Jackson, is transfer from Bayside's arch-rival Valley High. He was like Zack Morris when it came to pranks (Seasons 3-5)

Maria Lopez, played by Samantha Becker, is an outspoken cheerleader. Sort of like another Lisa Turtle (Seasons 3-7)

R.J. "Hollywood" Collins, played by Salim Grant, is also a transfer from Valley High and is a fashion expert. Sort of like the Cool Version of Screech (Season 3)

Nicky Farina, played by Ben Gould, is Ryan's stepbrother from New York. He's the love interest of Maria. (Seasons 4-7)

Katie Peterson, played by Lindsey McKeon, is a Bayside swimmer. She's the love interest of Nicky. (Seasons 4-7)

Cornelius "Eric" Little, played by Anthony Harrell, is Bayside's star Football player, and musician. (Seasons 4-7)

Liz Miller, played by Ashley Lyn Cafagna, Liz was a new girl to Bayside after Rachel Meyers left and moved to Boston. She is a sheltered star of the Bayside's swim team, she's the love interest of Ryan Parker. (Seasons 5-7)

Tony Dillon, played by Tom Wade Huntington, Tony transferred from Valley to Bayside after Ryan Parker left. Like Eric & Nicky, Tony is also a football player. He's the love interest of Maria Lopez. (Seasons 6-7)

Samuel "Screech" Powers, played by Dustin Diamond, is a former Bayside student. He returns to Bayside High as Mr. Belding's assistant. Like his high school friend, Zack Morris, Screech schemes to pull things off when things go wrong, and he gets a little carried away on what he's doing. (Seasons 2-7)

During an NBC repeat of Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style (August 7-September 11), the commercial breaks featured original segments, set in Bayside High School and The Max, where the cast of the original series and the cast of the first season of The New Class met and talked with each other. These segments were a "passing of the torch" type of story. Also present were Dennis Haskins as Principal Richard Belding and Bob Golic as the resident advisor from CALU. One segment involved Zack and Scott in the school hallway, where Zack gives Scott a list pertaining to Mr. Belding to cause trouble for him. Mr. Belding overhears this and takes the list away, joyfully triumphant at outsmarting Zack. After he walks away, Zack hands Scott "the real list."

The show was notable for its cast changes. Each season featured one to three cast changes. The constant changes made it confusing for new viewers who were not watching the show from the start as cast members would come and go without any real explanation, and presumably contributed to lower ratings as the seasons progressed sort of like Hang Time and Law & Order

After the initial criticism of the first season of The New Class as essentially being a poor copy of the original series, the producers changed a number of elements of the show for the second season. Robert Sutherland Telfer, Isaac Lidsky, and Bonnie Russavage were all fired. Three new characters were introduced for the 1994-95 season. Brian Keller (Christian Oliver) became the new transfer student from Switzerland, Bobby Wilson (Spankee Rogers) was the newest cool kid, and Rachel Meyers (Sarah Lancaster) was the school's fashion expert and shop-a-holic. Lancaster also appeared in a single episode as Rachel in the 1st season

The writers also invited back original cast member Dustin Diamond as Screech for the show's second season, as he became available after the cancellation of Saved by the Bell: The College Years. Providing continuity, Screech returned to Bayside High to work as Mr. Belding's assistant as part of a work/study program and also help build a bridge between the two series. Screech ended up remaining for the rest of the show's run, with very little mention being made throughout the story of his continued enrollment at California University. Further, the show's sets were redesigned to change the appearance of Bayside from that of the original series and Mr. Belding was given a new office

Prior to Season 3 cast members Bianca Lawson, Christian Oliver and Spankee Rogers left the show, and three new characters were brought on. Schemer Ryan Parker (Richard Lee Jackson), lively and outspoken cheerleader Maria Lopez (Samantha Esteban), and fashion-conscious R.J. "Hollywood" Collins (Salim Grant) were transfers from Valley High School and they were sort of like the Valley Version of Zack, Lisa and Screech

@ the end of the third season, original cast members Natalia Cigliuti and Jonathan Angel had decided to move on to other projects. Salim Grant was also let go and did not return for the new season, beginning in September 1996. New cast members Ben Gould (Nicky Farina), Lindsey McKeon (Katie Peterson), and Anthony Harrell (Eric Little) joined the show for its fourth season. Gould played Ryan's stepbrother from New York and was the love interest for Katie and later Maria. Katie was the newest "goody-goody" and Eric was the school's star football player

Season 4 was Sarah Lancaster's final season and she was replaced in Season 5 by Ashley Lyn Cafagna as Liz Miller, a sheltered star of the school's swim team and is initially pursued by both stepbrothers, Ryan and Nicky. Also, the gang's original hangout, The Max, was renovated for the new season after the original burnt down in the fourth season finale

Season 6 followed and new cast member Tom Wade Huntington replaced Richard Lee Jackson as Tony Dillon, another Valley High transfer student and love interest for Maria. It was widely reported that Season 6 was in fact the final season for the series. In addition, NBC decided to prolong the series by splitting the number of episodes in half into another season (Season 7). These episodes had already been filmed at the same time as the sixth season and the cast remained the same

Concluding the series in a similar fashion to the original, all characters go their separate ways into college. Eric is accepted into the Chicago School of the Arts to pursue his singing career and Liz is accepted into Stanford to pursue her Olympic aspirations (both constant themes throughout the series). Maria is accepted into UCLA and Tony is accepted into SDSU, prompting the two to end their relationship. Katie is accepted into Columbia, but is unable to go due to financial troubles. She instead plans to head for an unnamed Cal State University. Thus the series ends with Katie and Nicky's future in relative uncertainty, as he is accepted into NYU. Mr. Belding is offered the position of Dean of Students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (the alma mater of Dennis Haskins). While no mention of Screech's future is made whatsoever, many do assume that Screech is made principal of Bayside High.

Reruns of The New Class were seen on USA Network but only the 1st 4 Seasons of The New Class have been rerun on USA

USA However, did not air reruns of last 3 seasons which featured Ashley Lyn Cafagna as Liz Miller

Saved by the Bell: The New Class saw Special Appearances by the likes of Frank Bonner better known as Herb Tarlek on WKRP in Cincinnati, Kristen Miller of USA High, Olympic Gold Medalists Shannon Miller and Janet Evans, NFL Legend Jim Harbaugh, NBA Legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Amy Jo Johnson better known as The Original Pink Power Ranger Kimberly Hart on Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers

There was also appearances by Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Zack Morris, Mario Lopez as A.C. Slater and Lark Voorhies as Lisa Turtle

Mario Lopez would appear twice on The New Class which includes the 4th Season

Dustin Diamond, Mark Paul Gosselaar, Lark Voorhies and Dennis Haskins are the only cast members to appear in all 4 incarnations of Saved by the Bell

Good Morning, Miss Bliss, Saved by the Bell, Saved by the Bell: The College Years and Saved by the Bell: The New Class

Dennis Haskins has appeared in all 143 episodes of The New Class

Dustin, Mark-Paul, Lark and Mario are the only cast members to appear in all 86 episodes of The Original Saved by the Bell

Dustin Diamond appeared in 248 episodes of The Saved by the Bell Franchise which is more episodes than anyone else

Sarah Lancaster and Dennis Haskins would later work together on an episode of The WB Drama Series 7th Heaven appearing in the 16th Episode of the 7th Season of the show entitled "Stand Up"

Sarah played a Masseuse named Veronica while Dennis played a Traffic Officer

and so, I would like to know:

Did The New Class killed Saved by the Bell?

That's the Question!

Please share your thoughts on all of this

Saved by the Bell: The New Class series premiere promo (partial)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZFkcfQOT8w

Saved by the Bell Finale Promo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGZ9_9TdFzU

Zack, Slater, & Lisa make a surprise reunion to Bayside High - Saved by the Bell: The New Class
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBmcw4DltLs

Saved by the Bell: The New Class - Where are they Now?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zynNgBelS7o

Tiffani-Amber Thiessen SLAMS Saved by the Bell: The New Class
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kecaEQ9gCm4

[irehtman]

Not completely, the only part that killed SBTB, was the series finale, when they did not mention Screech' future at all. That was messed up. Screech should have transferred to another place in that episode.

[SBTB Geek]

The show was on for over a decade. Nothing and no one killed it. It just ran its course.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by SBTB Geek

The show was on for over a decade. Nothing and no one killed it. It just ran its course.

Yeah, The New Class ran a good 7 seasons (several more than the original SBTB) and was always considered the anchor/flagship of NBC's Saturday morning (TNBC) programming of that period. It probably lasted much longer than was warranted. There really wasn't anywhere else unique or interesting to go w/ the franchise. It was something that was really popular during the early '90s (quite frankly, the people who watched the original SBTB on NBC were whom The New Class was more than likely, most targeted at, hence bringing back Screech), and the kids you liked it grew up and moved on.

[MacLeaper]

Seeing as how "Saved By The Bell: The New Class" premiered after the end of "Saved By the Bell", how could it possibly have killed it? If anything, SBTB:TNC prolonged the legacy of SBTB with a 7 season long run.
And as a longtime fan of SBTB, I have seen all the episodes of "Good Morning, Miss Bliss", "Saved By the Bell", "Saved By the Bell: The College Years" and "Saved By the Bell: The New Class", as well as the TV-movies "Saved By the Bell: Hawaiian Style" and "Saved By the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas" (not to mention read all the books and comic books)- and I will say again that I love all of them. It's all good.

Sarah Lancaster and Dennis Haskins would later work together on an episode of The WB Drama Series 7th Heaven appearing in the 16th Episode of the 7th Season of the show entitled "Stand Up"

Sarah played a Masseuse named Veronica while Dennis played a Traffic Officer

Didn't know that. Cool! I will have to look out for that episode of "7th. Heaven".

[TMC]

Originally Posted by MacLeaper

Seeing as how "Saved By The Bell: The New Class" premiered after the end of "Saved By the Bell", how could it possibly have killed it? If anything, SBTB:TNC prolonged the legacy of SBTB with a 7 season long run.
And as a longtime fan of SBTB, I have seen all the episodes of "Good Morning, Miss Bliss", "Saved By the Bell", "Saved By the Bell: The College Years" and "Saved By the Bell: The New Class", as well as the TV-movies "Saved By the Bell: Hawaiian Style" and "Saved By the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas" (not to mention read all the books and comic books)- and I will say again that I love all of them. It's all good.


Didn't know that. Cool! I will have to look out for that episode of "7th. Heaven".

The New Class in hindsight, felt like a cash-in. If they had done something different w/ the formula, like maybe make Mr. Belding the focus instead of the kids, or even give us a Valley (Bayside's often talked about not not seen rival school) sitcom, then maybe The New Class could've had a better chance at standing on its own.

[MacLeaper]

Well, it's not like another production company was making a similar show to "Saved By The Bell" (The Fox channel already had that with "Parker Lewis Can't Lose"- which is a great show in itself too, by the way.) But "Saved By The Bell: The New Class" was created by Peter Engel- the same guy who did the original series. So it's not like it's a rip-off or anything.
And those could be interesting ideas, but I don't know if I'd honestly want to watch a show just about Mr. Belding and Mrs. B. and baby Zack or just about the Valley High School. But you never know- it could be something different and more interesting than I might think.
Yes, they could have done something different in some ways, but to be fair- the show did do a lot of things different. For instance, it actually had a rotating cast of characters, which is a lot more realistic to high school. There were a lot more episodes that showed Mr. Belding getting involved with the students' activities even outside of school- and a lot of side jobs that Mr. Belding and Screech did together. There were a number of Valley students who transferred to Bayside during the course of this show and that made for an interesting dynamic too. And of course, the show ran for 7 years- that alone should say something, as that's 3 years longer than the original show ran. (Or 2 years longer if you count the "Good Morning, Miss Bliss" run in there too.)
In my opinion, it stands on its own just fine. Early episodes may have reused some similar plotlines from early episodes of SBTB, but SBTB:TNC really hit its stride later on in the series and developed characters that were different than the original SBTB gang and not just apparent clones.
In any case, I still enjoy all of it, so it doesn't really matter to me.

[irehtman]

The New class had an important reason, even if it is not as great as the original. There was a plot on Screech coming back, not only to bring back some old fans. He wanted to complete his teen popularity in Bayside High and gain better respect with the new class students.

The original class was made too difficult to invite Screech.

The new class is supposed to be like the original class, but the problem with the new class is that they are too weak too exclude each other in a fast speed.

[simmytbone]

Hey, did you know that USA Network aired reruns of The New Class, but only the 1st 4 Seasons of the show?

TBS has never aired reruns of The New Class

I'm just curious to wonder how come?

[irehtman]

Originally Posted by tnawcwvictoriafa

Hey, did you know that USA Network aired reruns of The New Class, but only the 1st 4 Seasons of the show?

TBS has never aired reruns of The New Class

I'm just curious to wonder how come?

The New Class had problems. They did not air seasons 5 to 7 in USA which contained both 16-year-old Ashley Cafagna and 22-year-old Tom Wade Huntington in them.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by SBTB Geek

The show was on for over a decade. Nothing and no one killed it. It just ran its course.

The big, fundamental problems w/ The New Class:
*They altered the cast way too much. It was extremely hard to develop proper cohesion or chemistry if they were just going to replace people ever season. I don't know if that's exactly the actors' faults or the producers lacking in patience.

*It had really weak/lazy writing (even by SBTB's standards) and direction. This was compounded by the feeling that The New Class loved to rehash scripts/plotlines from its parent show.

*It unfortunately aired during a time in which the FCC was getting tighter on what was "appropriate" on Saturday mornings. Because The New Class and other TNBC shows had to meet E/I guidelines, just about every episode had to include a forced, heavy-handed "moral to the story" at the end. Part of the appeal of the original SBTB (not to say that it wasn't guilty of pulling the "Very Special Episode" card themselves) is that it offered a completely fantasized, cartoonish version of high school. It seemed like the writers of The New Class were trying to do something more "real" (a la Boy Meets World), but didn't have the where with-all to through with hit. Basically, they felt like '80s style episodes in a '90s setting (when thus were getting less "black and white").

*The Flandarization of the Screech character. I don't know if we should blame Dustin Diamond for this or the writers, but for some reason Screech on The New Class became a virtual cartoon character (complete with the ridiculously contrived "Shaggy" voice and annoying facial expressions). To make matters worse, on The College Years and even on I think, his first season on The New Class, he was a relatively mature character. Screech was no longer a natural character who just so happened to be a tad bit quirky and goofy, he became completely one-dimensional. Plus, there really wasn't much of a justification or point to having Screech around other than to desperately lure in old fans. It made it harder for The New Class to have any sort of identity of its own.

*And while we're on Screech, there's relegating Mr. Belding to being apart of some cheesy, New Age Laurel and Hardy type act in the sideplots.

[irehtman]

Originally Posted by TMC

The big, fundamental problems w/ The New Class:
*They altered the cast way too much. It was extremely hard to develop proper cohesion or chemistry if they were just going to replace people ever season. I don't know if that's exactly the actors' faults or the producers lacking in patience.

*It had really weak/lazy writing (even by SBTB's standards) and direction. This was compounded by the feeling that The New Class loved to rehash scripts/plotlines from its parent show.

*It unfortunately aired during a time in which the FCC was getting tighter on what was "appropriate" on Saturday mornings. Because The New Class and other TNBC shows had to meet E/I guidelines, just about every episode had to include a forced, heavy-handed "moral to the story" at the end. Part of the appeal of the original SBTB (not to say that it wasn't guilty of pulling the "Very Special Episode" card themselves) is that it offered a completely fantasized, cartoonish version of high school. It seemed like the writers of The New Class were trying to do something more "real" (a la Boy Meets World), but didn't have the where with-all to through with hit. Basically, they felt like '80s style episodes in a '90s setting (when thus were getting less "black and white").

*The Flandarization of the Screech character. I don't know if we should blame Dustin Diamond for this or the writers, but for some reason Screech on The New Class became a virtual cartoon character (completely with the ridiculously contrived "Shaggy" voice). To make matters worse, on The College Years and even on I think, his first season on The New Class, he was a relatively mature character. Screech was no longer a natural character who just so happened to be a tad bit quirky and goofy, he became completely one-dimensional. Plus, there really wasn't much of a justification or point to having Screech around other than to desperately lure in old fans. It made it harder for The New Class to have any sort of identity of its own.

*And while we're on Screech, there's relegating Mr. Belding to being apart of some cheesy, New Age Laurel and Hardy type act in the sideplots.

First of all, I know the original class is well-entertaining, but I think the original class build up too much difficulty along the way. Right now, I have a feeling that it was both the original class producers and writers' fault for being too careless including Dustin-Screech into the difficult original class in a hurry.

All students of the new class is supposed to get along with each without being too difficult on each other in the first season, unlike the original class.

But since you mentioned that they talked about rehashed info from the original class into the new class, at the same time, then I guess that rehashed info without difficulty does NOT get tolerated because Bayside is probably a strict public type of high school.

Screech was the correct choice to get with all the students into the new class, which is permanently non-difficult for him. Luring old fans is no longer a strong answer to reveal. I don't care if he annoys Belding or not at the same time, but as long Screech gets along with all new class students, which is important for him to feel more relieved. He was supposed to be realistic on his character role beginning in Season 4, although they may have made his character role too strong. On the final seasons, 6 and 7, they may have overdone it.

I know the original class is was better than the new class, but right now, even if the original class is continued to get underrated in America, unfortunately, the original class is now continued to become overrated in the entire world.

Whatever the new class is showing about, is also true in real life, but needs more publicity in a careful way.

Did the FCC on Saturday mornings get tighter during the 90's back then, anyhow?

[TMC]

Originally Posted by irehtman

First of all, I know the original class is well-entertaining, but I think the original class build up too much difficulty along the way. Right now, I have a feeling that it was both the original class producers and writers' fault for being too careless including Dustin-Screech into the difficult original class in a hurry.

All students of the new class is supposed to get along with each without being too difficult on each other in the first season, unlike the original class.

But since you mentioned that they talked about rehashed info from the original class into the new class, at the same time, then I guess that rehashed info without difficulty does NOT get tolerated because Bayside is probably a strict public type of high school.

Screech was the correct choice to get with all the students into the new class, which is permanently non-difficult for him. Luring old fans is no longer a strong answer to reveal. I don't care if he annoys Belding or not at the same time, but as long Screech gets along with all new class students, which is important for him to feel more relieved. He was supposed to be realistic on his character role beginning in Season 4, although they may have made his character role too strong. On the final seasons, 6 and 7, they may have overdone it.

I know the original class is was better than the new class, but right now, even if the original class is continued to get underrated in America, unfortunately, the original class is now continued to become overrated in the entire world.

Whatever the new class is showing about, is also true in real life, but needs more publicity in a careful way.

Did the FCC on Saturday mornings get tighter during the 90's back then, anyhow?

I should take a drink every time you use the word "difficult" to describe Dustin Diamond! And yes, the FCC was getting more restrictive around this time. It started w/ the Children's Television Act of 1990 and got even worse w/ the 1996 Telecommunications Act.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by MacLeaper

Well, it's not like another production company was making a similar show to "Saved By The Bell" (The Fox channel already had that with "Parker Lewis Can't Lose"- which is a great show in itself too, by the way.) But "Saved By The Bell: The New Class" was created by Peter Engel- the same guy who did the original series. So it's not like it's a rip-off or anything.
And those could be interesting ideas, but I don't know if I'd honestly want to watch a show just about Mr. Belding and Mrs. B. and baby Zack or just about the Valley High School. But you never know- it could be something different and more interesting than I might think.
Yes, they could have done something different in some ways, but to be fair- the show did do a lot of things different. For instance, it actually had a rotating cast of characters, which is a lot more realistic to high school. There were a lot more episodes that showed Mr. Belding getting involved with the students' activities even outside of school- and a lot of side jobs that Mr. Belding and Screech did together. There were a number of Valley students who transferred to Bayside during the course of this show and that made for an interesting dynamic too. And of course, the show ran for 7 years- that alone should say something, as that's 3 years longer than the original show ran. (Or 2 years longer if you count the "Good Morning, Miss Bliss" run in there too.)
In my opinion, it stands on its own just fine. Early episodes may have reused some similar plotlines from early episodes of SBTB, but SBTB:TNC really hit its stride later on in the series and developed characters that were different than the original SBTB gang and not just apparent clones.
In any case, I still enjoy all of it, so it doesn't really matter to me.

That isn't exactly the point. Why didn't the original SBTB feel the need to change cast members every few seasons (save for the "Tori" episodes)? Plus, we hardly know anything about Valley other than it's the rival school to Bayside, so it isn't like there's much a tension-fueled dynamic to build off of anyway. It was just a lazy excuse to explain the appearance of a brand new cast member.

Also I hate to break the news to you, but nobody really watched Saved by the Bell for Mr. Belding (and yes, I do now realize, that I'm contradicting myself). Sure, he was an important character, but if we wanted to see a show about a teacher, then Good Morning, Miss Bliss would've lasted longer than just 13 episodes.

[irehtman]

Originally Posted by TMC

I should take a drink every time you use the word "difficult" to describe Dustin Diamond! And yes, the FCC was getting more restrictive around this time. It started w/ the Children's Television Act of 1990 and got even worse w/ the 1996 Telecommunications Act.

I apply "difficult" on the original class, instead, because both Dustin Diamond and his Screech role cannot stand anything, containing too much difficulty, involved on, like that original class.

All students of the new class weren't too difficult on both Dustin Diamond and his Screech role. I don't care if he annoys Dennis Haskins' Belding role or not at the same time, along the way. I know Belding is also difficult on Screech somehow.

About that Telecommunications Act of 1996... impossible...