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 can be purchased on Prime!

Zack injures his knee and has to go to the hospital!  Hilarity ensues!

Episode 3.6 “Operation Zack”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on September 28th, 1991)

Along with being a track star, a radio announcer, a member of the student council, and the leader of Zack Attack, Zack Morris is also a star basketball player.  Bayside’s basketball team has a big game coming up.  They’re coached by a short person.  That’s the joke.  While rushing out of the dressing room for lay-up drills, Zack collides with Mr. Belding and somehow injures his knee.  Screech rushes him to the hospital and, in a preview of what he would do to Mr. Belding on countless episodes of The New Class, Screech continually pushes the wheelchair-bound  Zack into walls and desks, causing him to reinjure his knee.  The show thinks it’s hilarious but I’ve injured my knee and my ankle before and I know how painful it is.  Screech is a moron.

Lisa’s mother, Dr. Turtle (Susan Beaubian), says that Zack’s knee is going to require surgery.  She says that it’s no big deal but everyone else acts as if Zack has been given a death sentence.  “They’re going to hack Zack!” Zack says.  He has a dream where he sees his own funeral.  (Screech appears as his guardian angel.)  Zack disguises himself as a doctor and tries to sneak out of the hospital.  Dr. Turtle catches him.  Lisa, who is volunteering as a candy striper, tells Zack that everything is going to be okay.

And everything is!  The surgery is a success.  Zack even survives Screech trying to turn on the television by using the bed’s remote control.  And Mr. Belding does Zack’s homework for him.  That makes no sense. How is that even allowed?

This episode was pretty dumb.  That said, I did once watch it while I was actually in the hospital because I was recovering from an asthma attack and, at that time, it did cheer me up.  Dumb as it is, the episode does get at a universal truth.  Everyone hates going to the hospital.

Finally, this episode features one of Dustin Diamond’s worst performances.  Screech is especially annoying here because, for once, his stupidity actually does hurt someone.  Zack doesn’t need some doofus clumsily pushing his wheelchair while shouting, “Lady with a baby!”  Whenever Screech caused Zack to bump into something, I felt shooting sympathy pains.  Mark-Paul Gosselaar looked fairly annoyed whenever he had to share a scene with Dustin Diamond.  In this case, I don’t blame him.

Next week, Screech plays chess and loses his lucky beret.  What a dummy.