Every Episode of Saved by the Bell, Ranked From Worst to Best (Vulture)

[TMC]

http://www.vulture.com/2015/11/every....html?mid=imdb

Saved by the Bell is evidence that nostalgia alone can keep a pop-culture artifact's flame burning endlessly. A monster hit for NBC's Saturday-morning programming during its run from 1989 to 1993, the teen sitcom featured little in terms of innovation or quality — its plots were well-worn in cliché, the acting ranged from competent to deplorable, there were very few high-wattage guest stars, and the jokes possessed a staleness that Generation X would presumably wretch at a few years later. The strongest case you can make for the show's legacy is that it provided a basic bedrock for the success of teen shows that were to come, from the high-stakes melodrama of Beverly Hills, 90210 to the legion of imitators that followed in its wake (we're looking at you, California Dreams).

Despite it all, though, Saved by the Bell has persisted. Syndication in a pre-streaming era deserves a bit of credit for this unlikely feat, as endless early-morning and late-afternoon airings on TBS in the late '90s provided plenty of palatable entertainment for breakfast TV sessions and latchkey-kid hangs alike. We as a culture, inexplicably, retain a level of fascination with Saved by the Bell: human-meme-generator Jimmy Fallon has hosted not one, but two cast "reunions" on his late-night programs in the past five years, while the extremely public flameout of Screech actor Dustin Diamond has provided the kind of car-crash entertainment that the real Saved by the Bell only gave us sparing tastes of (we’re looking at you, overly caffeinated Jessie Spano).

The entire series is still on Netflix, too — meaning that there are most likely teenagers applying the "Netflix and chill" ethos to a show whose characters would've preferred a trip to the video store and some root beer. For those interested in digging through Saved by the Bell's more estimable moments, we've ranked every episode of the original series from worst to, well, least-worst.

A few notes before we begin: We've combined two-parters into single episodes, ditched Saved by the Bell's short-lived precursor Good Morning, Miss Bliss, and ignored clip-show episodes with one notable exception (just wait for it). Also, we've numbered the episodes by air date — Saved by the Bell, for whatever reason, initially aired out of order and with little to no regard for continuity, so discerning episode numbers in any other fashion gets messy.

[mets82]

I skimmed through the list. I'll just say that Save that Tiger has to be up in the top 10. That's an actual episode where you didnt roll your eyes at the jokes. They were actually funny. And no way should Snow White episode be number 2. Its not that great and the Dorks are more annoying than anything else.

[JO Sweet Heart]

I can't argue with what was named the best and I think that Elizabeth did a wonderful job on her acting when she cried in Zack's arms. She knew that she had gone about her studying issue the wrong way and was scared that she would never be able to break loose from the pills that she had become addicted to.

God bless you and her always!!!

Holly

[TMC]

The Original Class: The Ten Best Episodes

The Original Class: The Ten Worst Episodes

[Caramel Caterpillar]

Whoa! That was a long read, but a good one....

My favorite SBTB episode is "Cut Day," as anyone who recognizes my screen-name would not be surprised by.

Something about Zack's quest to spend cut day with his friends, cut every class in a mischievous way (my favorite was painting the curb around Belding's car, and of course giving Belding the chocolate covered insects) just made it one of the most fun episodes to watch. You kind of feel for Zack because he can't spend cut day with his friends in its entirety (of course, if he's cut 9 times, you'd think he'd have gotten plenty time off anyway, plus he should have kept track of his skipped days better). Also the drama with Jessie and Graham plus Kelly and Slater was pretty good too.

Jessie's Song was a decent episode, but it was very sad to watch for me, so I don't know how excited I'd be to watch it again.

I agree that Snow White & the Seven Dorks should not be #2. The rapping wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, but it still wasn't their best work.

Continuing on the subject of Jessie, anyone else think that SAT's episode was really good? That guy who plays the actor (James I think) is absolutely HILARIOUS in that episode when he imitates the Harvard rep. I could not stop laughing when I first saw it. And that scene with him and Belding to get Zack out of his AP courses...priceless.

I'll make a list of my favorite episodes and post it later.