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 Good Morning, Miss Bliss, which ran on the Disney Channel from 1988 to 1989 before then moving to NBC and being renamed Saved By The Bell.  The entire show is currently streaming on Prime!

This week, Miss Bliss takes over the school.

Episode 1.12 “Clubs and Cliques”

(Dir by Burt Brinckerhoff, originally aired on March 11th, 1989)

Mr. Belding is teaching Miss Bliss’s class!

Why?

Well, the answer doesn’t make much sense but here it is.  The School Board has ordered Belding to name one of the teachers as an “assistant principal” who can be in charge whenever he’s out of the building.  Most schools just hire an assistant principal but whatever.  Maybe this is an Indiana thing.  Since there are only three teachers to choose from and one of them is the mad scientist who wanted to force Nikki to dissect a frog, Mr. Belding goes with Miss Bliss.  But, before Miss Bliss can officially have the job, she has to serve as a principal for a week.  Belding covers her class.

At first, Mr. Belding is nervous.  But, by the end of the class period, he’s thrilled.  He tells Miss Bliss that he thinks he did a wonderful job and that the kids really got something out of it.

“Mr. Belding,” Miss Bliss replies, “it’s only homeroom.”

Okay, I’m just going to say it …. WHAT A BITCH!  Seriously, how condescending can one person be?  This is who you want to make principal?  Is this how you motivate people?  Again, this is why I cannot stand Miss Bliss.  Seriously, if anyone ever said that to her — “It’s only homeroom,” — she would have rightly been offended.

(Then again, I have to wonder whether or not Mr. Belding’s ever taught a class before.  This episode seems to imply that he hasn’t.  Was that a common thing with principals back in the 80s?)

Miss Bliss has a lot to deal with because it’s pledge week.  Apparently, the coolest club at JFK Middle School is the Rigma club and Zach has been told by Rick (J. Trevor Edmond) and Trevor (Christopher Carter) that he can wear a Rigma jacket if he’s mean to all of his friends.  Zach calls Lisa’s parents and let them know that she wears makeup in school.  He throws ice cream at Nikki’s sweater.  He reveals that Mikey has a crush.  He calls Screech a “nothing.”  He loses all of his friends and then he finds out that he wasn’t even being considered for Rigma membership.  Instead, it was all a big joke on the part of Rick and Trevor.

Now, to give credit where credit is due, Mark-Paul Gosselaar did a pretty good job playing up Zach’s regret after he realized he had lost all of his friends for nothing.  The episode is interesting because it shows a side of Zach that would totally disappear over the course of Saved By The Bell.  In this episode, Zach is insecure and desperate to belong.  By the time Saved By The Bell really got going, it had been established that Zach had no insecurities and was automatically loved by everyone he met.  Insecure Zach is infinitely more compelling but a bit less fun than confident Zach.  Watching this episode, it’s hard to believe we’re watching the same Zach Morris who will eventually lie about a being a descendant of Chief Joseph.

Things work out in the end.  His friends forgive Zach.  Even more importantly, Miss Bliss gets in trouble for not calling and asking for permission from the Board of Education before giving everyone everything they wanted.  “She’s not perfect,” Belding chuckles.  You got that right, Mr. Belding!