Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing Saved By The Bell: The New Class, which ran on NBC from 1993 to 2o00. The show is currently on Prime.
This week, Screech screws up again.
Episode 2.24 “Belding’s Prize”
(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on December 24th, 1997)
Mr. Belding is super excited about joining the National Society of Principals! Except — uh-oh! — Screech forgot to mail in the application. What an idiot. Actually, what a pair of idiots. Screech may have screwed up but Belding shouldn’t have been depending on him in the first place. Mail your own application, Belding!
Screech could tell Belding the truth or he could lie and hire James The Actor (Mark Blankfield) to pretend to be the Grand Master of the Society and they could have a big fake ceremony at the school. Screech goes with the latter. It never seems to occur to Screech that, when he gave Belding a fake letter telling him that his application had been accepted, he could have just left it that. Instead, he decides to do a fake ceremony at the school. And he decides to hire James the Actor, despite the fact that Belding has met James in three other episodes.
This was the final time that Mark Blankfield plays James the Actor on Saved By The Bell. This is also his weakest outing as James, largely because the character is totally different here than he was in his previous appearances. Previously, James was quirky but good-hearted and determined to help the Bayside Gang out, whether the gang was led by Zack or Scott. This time, James is portrayed as being so self-absorbed and stupid that he literally leaves the fake ceremony after he gets a call telling him that he’s been hired for Broadway Show. He accidentally pulls off his fake beard. He accidentally pulls off the fake label that Tommy put on the trophy that James presented to Belding. James screws everything up and Mark Blanfield plays the role as if James acquired a cocaine addiction between appearances.
In the end, Belding forgives Screech. I have no idea why.
Meanwhile, the Gang wants to order the millionth burger at the Max so they’ll win tickets to the MTV Music Video Awards. Unfortunately, other students are ordering burgers too so the Gang spreads a rumor that Max burgers are actually bad for your stomach. That’s a great way to support your favorite hangout. Spread a food poisoning rumor and get the place shut down. Way to go, Gang, ya mooks!
When Tommy buys 200 burgers but still fails to order the millionth one, the Gang sells the burgers back to their fellow students and then use the money to buy more Max burgers. Eventually, the grill gets shut down and Mr. Belding ends up winning the contest.
This episode featured Dustin Diamond at his worse. He was never particularly good but at least he seemed to be trying for the first half of the second season. But, in this episode, he speaks in his falsetto voice, he’s cartoonishly broad in his movements, and he goes all wide-eyed whenever he pretends to be sad or serious. This is the Screech who showed up for the rest of Saved By The Bell: The New Class.
This wasn’t a great episode but it did remind me that the MTV Music Video Awards used to be a big deal. It’s amazing how things change.
