Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Saturdays, I will be reviewing Saved By The Bell, which ran on NBC from 1989 to 1993.  The entire show is currently streaming on Prime and Tubi!

Good Morning Miss Bliss failed where it aired on the Disney Channel but Brandon Tartikoff, president of NBC, felt that the show still had a potential future on NBC.  Specifically, Tartikoff felt the kids — Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Dustin Diamond, and lark Voorhees — and Dennis Haskins were the ones worth keeping around.  As such, Hayley Mills was let go.  Max Battimo and Heather Hopper were dropped from the cast.  The show was retconned from taking place in Indiana to taking place in California.  The show itself was retitled Saved By The Bell….

Episode 1.1 “Dancing To The Max”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on August 20th, 1989)

This is it.  This is the first episode of Saved By The Bell, the network morning show that would go on to dominate syndication for 20 years.  That’s the thing about Saved By The Bell.  It’s not necessary to have been anywhere close to being a teenager when this show began.  It’s not necessary to have watched the shows when they originally aired.  If you grew up in the 90s or the aughts, you knew Saved By The Bell.  It was one of those shows that always seemed like it was airing somewhere.  Even as recently as two years ago, it was airing on MeTV and there were frequent marathons on E!  Today, it’s on Prime and Tubi.  That’s not bad for a show that, if we’re to be absolutely honest, really wasn’t that good.

The first episode — which actually premiered in prime time before the show subsequently moved to its Saturday morning time slot — sets up the show.  Zach Morris (I know that some people claim that it’s spelled Zack but I’ve always gone with Zach), Screen Powers, Lisa Turtle, and Mr. Belding have all been resecured from the Indiana Hell of Good Morning, Miss Bliss.  Now, they all live in California and they all attend Bayside High School.  They hang out at the Max, a tacky restaurant owned by a tacky magician named Max (Ed Alonzo).

Joining the ensemble are Jessie Spano (Elizabeth Berkley), Kelly Kapwoski (Tiffani-Amber Thiessen), and AC Slater (Mario Lopez).  Both Slater and Zach have a crush on Kelly.  Screech likes Lisa.  A dance contest is approaching, one that is hosted by Casey Kasem.  (All the teenagers on the show go crazy over someone who, realistically, most of them had probably never heard of.  Max imitates Casey Kasem saying his name twice.)  Screech wants to ask Lisa to be his partner but Lisa’s already been asked by someone else.  Kelly can’t choose between Zach and Slater so they agree to have a dance-0ff.  Uh-oh, Zach can’t dance!  Maybe his childhood friend Jessie will teach him….

Jessie doesn’t have a date because she’s tall.  When she tells Kelly and Lisa about being insecure about her height, they joke that she could become a basketball player.  This gets a big laugh and I assume this episode aired before the WNBA was a thing.  Eventually, Zach tells Kelly to enter the contest with Slater because he’s going with his best friend, Jessie.  Meanwhile, Lisa sprains her ankle, get dumped by her partner, and ends up entering the contest with Screech.

It’s interesting to watch the character dynamics in this first episode.  Jessie is not the straw feminist she would later become.  Slater is a jock but still sensitive enough to comfort Screech.  Kelly is actually portrayed as being somewhat shallow.  Watching this episode, one gets the feeling that Zach and Jessie were originally meant to be the show’s main couple until someone decided that Zach and Kelly had better chemistry and that Jessie’s feminism and Slater’s chauvinism would make for an interesting combination.  Lisa doesn’t like Screech but she doesn’t quite hate him as much she would in later episodes.  Even more importantly, Zach is nowhere near as cocky as he would be in later episodes.  He’s actually insecure about something.

As for the dance contest, Lisa and Screen dance “The Sprain” and they win, largely due to Slater and Zach bullying everyone into voting for them.  “C’mon,” Casey Kasem announces, “let’s all do …. THE SPRAIN!”  Everyone starts hopping on one foot and, at home, I cringe like you wouldn’t believe.

God, this was a stupid episode.  And yet …. it was very likable.  The young cast had a lot of talent.  In this episode, even Dustin Diamond’s Screech is tolerable.  I cringed at the extremely cheesy dance contest but I also smiled.  I guess that’s the power of nostalgia.  Sometimes, even the really bad things make you feel good when you rewatch them.