Memories of Saved by the Bell

As young teenagers or "tweens," many of us might have fawned over the ever so popular-Zach Morris. We tuned in every week to our favorite show, Saved by the Bell which aired between 1989 and 1993. It was a sitcom that followed a 1988 series called, "Good Morning Miss Bliss."

Saved by the Bell consisted of the characters Zack Morris, AC Slater, Kelly Kapowski, Lisa Turtle, Jessie Spano, Screech Powers and the principal, Mr. Belding. It centered around their lives in high school and the ups and downs of being a teenager. Zack always had his one love, Kelly, who was constantly crushing over her. Although, there were times where Kelly's interest was elsewhere, and Zack would manage to find other fish within the high school sea.

Zack Morris and AC Slater were probably two of the guys that most teenage girl viewers would crush on. Zack was a smooth talker, smart and had humor. AC had the muscles, was on the wrestling team and knew how to show who was boss. While Screech was the high school nerd, he was cute in his own geeky awkward way. We got to see a softer and yet adorable side of Screech when he fell in love with Violet (played by Tori Spelling)-who too, was cute and geeky. Lisa Turtle was the shopaholic who enjoyed fashion, Jessi was the overachiever and Kelly was the girl next door and sweet cheerleader.

The gang on Saved by the Bell attended Bayside high and participated in high school dances, sports and even worked during the summers. The show was also great in promoting positive messages such as how it was wrong to do drugs, the down side of bullying and doing activities for charities. While there was plenty of comedy, there was also story-lines that are teens could also identify. It even showed the negative effects of drinking and driving as well as the over-use of caffeine pills.

After its run with the television series, another spin-off, Saved by the Bell, the College years was aired. The characters of Zack Morris, Kelly Kapowski and Screech Powers carried over. Then a movie, "A Wedding in Las Vegas," also was created that featured the popular couple, Zack Morris and Kelly Kapowski getting married. All of the original characters made a come-back for the television movie.

Later on, after the original cast of Saved by the Bell had finished airing, another spin-off was aired again. Although, only there were just a couple of the returning characters: Mr. Belding and Screech Powers. The new spin-off was titled, "Saved by the Bell: The New Class." While it did have some viewers, it was never as popular as the original class with Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Tiffany-Amber Thiessen, Elizbeth Berkley, Dustin Diamond, Lark Voorhies and Mario Lopez.

Today, some networks still air some of the original series of Saved by the Bell, but over-all the show is pretty hard to find on network television. There are also seasons that can be purchased on DVD for those who are long-time fans. Websites such as Hulu.com air excerpts from the show and http://tv.blinkx.com offers episodes from most of the seasons.

While most of us still continue to fawn over Zack Morris, we all realize that we must grow up and leave high school. Although-no matter what, the memories will always be with us and the popular group will always be "friends forever."


Resources:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096694/

http://www.tv.com/saved-by-the-bell/show/457/summary.html