Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell: The New Class 2.2 “All Work No Play”

Posted on May 12, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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, the Gang gets a summer job! Why would anyone want to work during the summer? What a bunch of losers.

Episode 2.2 “All Work And No Play”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on September 10th, 1994)

It’s summer time! (During its second season, Saved By The Bell: The New Class aired two episodes each Saturday morning. One episode would be a high school episode while the other would feature the Gang off-campus.) Mr. Belding has been hired to manage the Palisade Hills Country Club. The first mistake that Belding makes is that he hires Screech to be his assistant. Then he allows Screech to hire Brian, Bobby, Tommy, Rachel, Megan, and Lindsay as his staff.

Thinks quickly go downhill.

While trying to show-off for Rachel, Brian attempts to drive a golf cart with his feet. (“This is how I steered snowmobile in Switzerland,” Brian says.)
Assigned to wash and wax the car belonging to club owner Ed Harrington (Frank Bonner), Tommy D and Lindsay instead take the car for a joyride, which leads to Brian denting it with the golf cart.
The car has a dent and the paint job is scuffed. Tommy works out the dent and then repaints the car with Rachel’s nail polish. To help the polish dry, Tommy and Brian remove the car’s front panel, take it to the country’s club’s kitchen. and unplug the freezer so that they can instead plug in a huge fan.
Whoops! They forget to plug the freezer back in and $4,000 worth of food goes bad.
Bobby can’t drive but still tries to cover valet parking.
Screech is too busy falling in love with Ed’s daughter, Allison (Clare Slastrom), to be of any help.

Mr. Belding does the right thing and fires all of them. But then the Gang decides to throw a Luau for the club’s members (instead of the county and western barbecue that was originally planned) and it’s such a hit that Belding hires them back.

Seriously, what the Hell? Yes, the Gang saved the day but they only had to save it because they were so grotesquely immature and irresponsible in the first place. This was one of the worst recurring plotlines to appear on Saved By The Bell: The New Class. Someone would get a new job, they would totally screw it up, they would get fired, and then they would get rehired just because they felt bad after the fact. Personally, I think that if you steal a car, destroy a golf cart, and cause $4,000 worth of meat to go bad, you should be fired. I don’t care if you then put on a hula skirt and play a ukulele and and put on a little Hawaiian performance on a sweltering day in the middle of the desert. You’re fired.

GO HOME!

This episode annoyed the Hell out of me. I can accept a lot from this show but what I can’t accept is a plot where every complication could have been avoided by everyone not being a massive dumbass.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell 2.2 “Zack’s War”

Posted on May 9, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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 Tubi!

This week, Zack goes to war! Actually, now that I think about it, he really doesn’t. This title makes no sense.

Episode 2.2 “Zack’s War”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on September 15th, 1990)

Bayside High School is now home to a Cadet Corps program. Led by Lt. Chet Adams (Cylk Cozart), the Cadet Corps appears to be the same thing as the ROTC but it’s called the Cadet Corps and despite all of the attention that it receives here, it’s never mentioned again after this episode.

Slater’s dad is in the army so he can’t wait to join the Cadet Corps. Zack jokes about never joining the Cadet Corps so Belding gives him 30 Saturday detentions …. unless, Zack joins the Cadet Corps and talks all of his friends into joining. Soon, Zack, Slater, Kelly, Jessie, Lisa, Screech, Butch, and Louise are all members of the Cadet Corps. That’s …. 8 people. Wow, that’s a really weak turn-out. Zack has a lot more friends than that! Seriously, if only 8 people show up to one of my watch parties, I usually end up depressed for a week.

Anyway, you may notice some new names there. Louise is the unathletic belle of the school nerds. Butch is an apparently sociopathic bully who doesn’t want Screech talking to his girlfriend. For this episode, I guess we’re just supposed to forget that Screech has always, in the past, been in love with Lisa.

The second day of Cadet Corps, Lt. Adams announces that it’s time for an athletic competition. He allows Zack to pick the teams. Zack puts Screech, Lisa, and Louise on one team. The other team is made up of Butch, Kelly, and Jessie. Zack says Slater can lead the team with Screech, Lisa, and Louise. Lt. Adams says, “Nope,” and he puts Zack in charge of the unathletic team.

Zack gets mad at quits the Corps. Luckily, Screech visits Zack and shames him. (Zack should consider himself lucky that Screech didn’t pull a knife.) Zack rejoins the Corps and leads his team to victory, somehow!

That’s the short version of this dumb episode. This is another one of those weird episodes where an authority figure — in this case, Lt. Adams — tells Zack that, if he wins an arbitrary competition, he’ll be allowed to skip class for the rest of the year. Zack wins the competition but, when Adams says he won’t be seeing Zack anymore, Zack replies, “Why? Are you quitting?” No, Zack, you prick — you’re quitting! Except Zack doesn’t quit for some reason. He’s proud to be in the Cadet Corps.

Needless to say, the Cadet Corps are never mentioned again.

Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell: The New Class 2.1 “The Return of Screech”

Posted on May 5, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, we start the 2nd season of Saved By The Bell: The New Class!

Episode 2.1 “The Return of Screech”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on September 10th, 1994)

After the disappointing reviews and ratings of the first season, Saved By The Bell: The New Class rebooted itself for the second season. Robert Sutherland Telfer, Isaac Lidsky, and Bonnie Russavage were all fired and the characters of Scott, Weasel, and Vicky were dropped from the show. (No mention was ever made of where they had gone. They just vanished.)

Suddenly, Megan and Lindsay’s best friend was Rachel Meyers (played by Sarah Lancaster, who appeared once during the first season). Meanwhile, Swiss exchange student Brian Keller (played by a German actor named Christian Oliver) became the new head schemer while Bobby Wilson (Spankee Rodgers) became the new annoying sidekick with a crush on Megan. From the start of the second season, everyone acted as if Brian and Bobby had always been there. As for Lindsay and Tommy D, they continued to date. And because Brian had a crush on Rachel, there was no longer anyone around trying to break the two of them up.

Mr. Belding was still the principal but now, he had a much bigger office with a window. He also got a new administrative assistant, an education major who was on a work/study program with Cal U. As you probably already guessed from this episode’s title, that administrative assistant turned out to be Screech Powers (Dustin Diamond).

Now, to give credit where credit is due, neither Screech nor Diamond are quite as annoying in this episode as they would eventually become. By the end of the series, Diamond was giving such a broad performance as Screech that it almost came across as being deliberately self-destructive. In this episode, though, Diamond just plays Screech as being overly earnest and too eager to please. He may get on everyone’s nerves but at least he’s not doing the weird voices or the twisted facial expressions that would later come to typify his performance.

As for the plot of this episode, it’s dumb. Rachel needs $700 so she can replace the jacket that she borrowed (without permission) from her mother. Brian throws a party and sells tickets to help her raise the cash but when it turns out that Bobby’s house is not available for the party, Brian tricks Screech into unlocking the gym and allowing the party to be held in there. When Belding shows up and demands to know what’s happening, Screech takes the blame and decides that he should return to Cal U. And, really, he probably should have. I mean, after all the years he spent with Zack, Screech should have been able to see that he was being manipulated. What a moron.

But Brian does the right thing and tells the truth to Belding. Brian and the Gang all get two-weeks detention. Belding tells Screech that the students respect him and that he taught them an important lesson about the telling the truth. I’m not sure how accurate any of that is but the important thing is that Screech stays at Bayside.

This episode was actually not as bad as I was expecting it to be. Brian is a bit more likable than the first season’s Scott and this episode didn’t feature any of the mean-spiritedness that seemed to typify so much of the first season. Even Screech was tolerable!

Don’t get used to it, though. The season’s just getting started.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell 2.1 “The Prom”

Posted on May 2, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, we begin season 2!

Episode 2.1 “The Prom”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on September 8th, 1990)

It’s time for the prom!

Wow, the second season really jumps into things, doesn’t it? Most high school shows tend to take the “each season is one school year approach” but the second season of Saved By The Bell opens with prom.

It’s time for Kelly to finally decide who is going to be prom date (and boyfriend), Slater or Zack. If the first season occasionally featured Kelly acting a bit flighty and, at times, self-centered, the second season introduces us to the new Kelly, who is in love with Zack but who also doesn’t want to hurt Slater’s feelings. This is also the Kelly who suddenly comes from a huge blue collar family. Kelly agrees to go to prom with Zack (and Slater, being awesome, accepts her decision with grace). But when her father is laid off from his job at the defense plant (“World peace has broken out,” he explains — and you can thank Ronald Reagan and the first George Bush for that! USA! USA! USA!), Kelly gives up going to prom because her family needs the money that she would have spent on the evening.

(Kelly, Zack’s superrich! Just have him pay for everything….)

Zack is upset, until Slater tells him that Kelly’s father lost his job.

“Poor Kelly,” Zack says.

“That’s right,” Slater replies. “Poor Kelly. Not poor Zacky.”

HELL YEAH! I LOVE SLATER!

Slater does go to prom, with Jessie. (This is an important episode for Slater and Jessie too.) Meanwhile, Screech asks Lisa to be his date. When Lisa turns him down, Screech begs her to just see a movie with him. It’s a zombie movie and Lisa loves it! But apparently, Screech has an issue with people who love movies because he gets mad at Lisa for talking too much and decides to go to prom alone. For some reason, Screech becomes the prom’s DJ. Meanwhile, Lisa bores her date by talking nonstop about the zombie movie ….. wow, this all feels very familiar to me.

As for Zack and Kelly, they do go to prom! They dance outside of the gym and it’s one of the few genuinely romantic moments to be found in Saved By The Bell. It’s also one of the few moments that captures the unique mix of melancholy and optimism that goes along with being a teenager.

The second season is off to a great start!

Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell: The New Class 1.13 “Running the Max”

Posted on April 28, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, we finish up season one of Saved By The Bell: The New Class.

Episode 1.13 “Running The Max”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on December 4th, 1993)

The season one finale of Saved By The Bell: The New Class opens with Scott talking directly the audience. Hey, that’s something that Scott hasn’t done for a while….

When he goes into his Social Studies class (which is being taught by Mr. Belding because Mr. Tuttle is appearing on Oprah to discuss teachers who overeat), he has to pick a group to join. Lindsay says, “Hey, Scott, why don’t you join us?” She says it as if Scott is still a relatively new acquaintance as opposed to the friend who is always a part of the main group.

Despite having made up with each other several episodes ago, Scott and Tommy D suddenly don’t like each other again.

Vicki suddenly has a crush on Scott again, even though that plotline was abandoned episodes ago.

Weasel suddenly has a crush on Megan, despite the fact that plotline was also abandoned shortly after the first season started.

Oh, and Weasel is again making jokes that sound like they were originally written for Screech.

Watching this episode, it quickly becomes apparent that it was meant to air much earlier in the season but it was instead used as the season finale. That says a lot about how shoddy the first season of Saved By The Bell: The New Class really was. The finale was an episode that was originally meant to air when everyone was still getting to know one another. Vicki’s crush on Scott is a major subplot in this episode, despite the fact that the writers eventually abandoned the idea. By moving this episode to the end, the show wrecks havoc on its continuity but then again, when has continuity ever mattered at Bayside?

On top of all that, this is a dumb episode. Three businesses agree to let the students run things for a week. Who would agree to such a stupid idea? Scott, Tommy, Megan, Weasel, Vicki, and Lindsay end up running the Max. The Max appears to be open 24 hours a day so I’d love to know how they’re running the Max and still going to class. For that matter, how are only six students going to run an entire restaurant? Anyway, long story short: Scott is a bad boss, everyone quits except for Weasel (so, do they all fail the class?), but then they change their mind after they hear that Scott feels bad about his behavior. The gang hosts a banquet for the football team. Tommy comes up with the idea of turning into a Country-and-Western-themed barbecue. Wait a minute — TOMMY’S ON THE FOOTBALL TEAM! Why isn’t he at the banquet?

This was a dumb ending to a dumb season. Half of the cast was fired at the end of season one. Robert Sutherland Telfer, Isaac Lidsky, and Bonnie Russavage would not return as Scott, Weasel, and Vicki for season two. (Indeed, none of their character would ever be mentioned again, despite Tommy D, Lindsay, and Megan still being around.) I can’t say that I disagree with the decision. Telfer was miscast as the new Zack Morris. Russavage never made much of an impression. (In all fairness, she wasn’t helped by the fact that the show’s writers didn’t really seem to know what to do with Vicki.) Lidsky probably did as well as anyone could with the role of Weasel but, from the second season onward, Saved By The Bell didn’t need a new Screech. New students would take their places and they would be joined by a familiar face.

We’ll start season two next week!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell 1.19 “Slater’s Friend”

Posted on April 25, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, we finish up the first season.

Episode 1.19 “Slater’s Friend”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on November 28th, 1992)

Who killed Artie?

That’s the question that Zack, Kelly, Jessie, Lisa, and Screech are left to consider when Slater’s pet chameleon Artie dies. Slater specifically asked them to take care of Artie while he was out of town. When Slater returns to Bayside, both Zack and the girls attempt to fool him with a duplicate chameleon because no one on this show ever just tells the truth. When Slater figures out that Artie is dead, he’s bitter and he’s angry and he even disrupts Coach Rizzo’s (Frankie Como) speech class. Belding, of all people, emerges as the hero, telling Slater that it’s okay to be sad. In the end, Artie is given a funeral and the cast sings Artie Boy.

This episode has long had a reputation for being the worst episode of Saved By The Bell. NBC was so embarrassed by it that they actually didn’t air it until four years after it was filmed. In his highly-suspect autobiography, Dustin Diamond claimed that everyone was trying not to laugh during the funeral scene.

Well, you know what? This episode — as silly as it is — kind of works. If you’ve ever lost a pet, you can relate to Slater’s grief. And really, Slater having a pet chameleon makes sense when you consider the fact that he spent his entire childhood traveling from one military base to another. It’s not like he could really own a cat or even a dog under those circumstances. A lizard on the other hand….

This episode is actually a good example of how good Mario Lopez actually was in the role of A.C. Slater. When Slater says, “It’s just a dead lizard,” your heart breaks for him. When he hugs Mr. Belding, you feel Slater’s pain. Even in an episode that ends with everyone singing a song about a chameleon, Mario Lopez gave it his all.

Worst episode ever? Not hardly! We’ve still got the Tori episodes to review, after all. In fact, my only complaint about this episode is that Coach Rizzo was never brought back. He was my favorite teacher at Bayside!

Next week, we’ll start season 2!

Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell: The New Class 1.12 “Tommy A”

Posted on April 21, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s midterms!

Episode 1.12 “Tommy A”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on November 27th,1993)

Tommy D has got his driver’s license!

Everyone’s excited because Tommy’s father has promised to buy him a car and that means Tommy will be able to drive them everywhere. Keep in mind, no one is excited for Tommy. Instead, they’re just excited that they’re going to get a chauffeur who is too dumb to realize that he’s being taken advantage of. Consider this your reminder that the first season of Saved By The Bell: The New Class featured some of the least likable character to ever appear on a dopey teenage sitcom.

Uh-oh, Tommy’s father is concerned about Tommy’s terrible grades. He informs Tommy (and, for some reason, Mr. Belding) that, unless Tommy gets at least one A on his midterms, he won’t get his car.

The gang tries to come up with a class that Tommy could do well in. This is kind of dumb as it’s already been established that Tommy is an amazing mechanic and that he takes autoshop. He’s also a jock and therefore, he should do well in his physical education class. The gang, however, decides to get Tommy an A in his science class. Because the teacher grades on a curve, the gang tells the nerds in the class that they have the answers to the midterm and that they’ll signal which answer is correct by coughing. By giving the nerds the wrong answers, they’ll help Tommy get an A….

So, to be clear here …. I mean, what the Hell? Seriously, who comes up with a plan like this? Wouldn’t the teacher notice that there are a lot of extra students in the class on the day of the midterm and that they’re all coughing in unison? As well, it’s one thing to try to help Tommy pass. It’s another thing to try to make a bunch of other students fail. Not even Zack Morris would have gone that far. (As I’ve mentioned before, the first season of Saved By The Bell: The New Class has been oddly mean-spirited.)

It doesn’t matter, though. Tommy still flunks his science midterm. Now, he only has one chance left to get an A and it’s in …. ENGLISH!

Oh my God, how difficult is the English midterm going to be? Apparently, the entire grade will be determined by each student standing in front of the class and giving a one minute speech. What? What type of class is this?

Luckily, Scott and Weasel have a scheme. Weasel dresses up like a janitor and he convinces Mr. Snavely, the strict English teacher, that it would be dangerous to enter his classroom. Mr. Belding steps in to give and grade the English midterm. Scott figures that Belding will go easy on Tommy and Scott is right. Tommy speaks for less than a minute and basically says that everyone should just be themselves. Belding gives the speech an A. TOMMY’S GETTING A CAR!

And Megan realizes that she doesn’t have to play dumb to get boys to like her. That was the episode’s B-plot. It was pretty dumb and required Megan to behave in a way that was totally out-of-character.

Anyway, Tommy D is now Tommy A. He thanks his friends for helping him. Hey, Tommy, they just want a ride!

Next week, the first season ends!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell 1.18 “Screech’s Birthday”

Posted on April 18, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Screech has the worst friends in the world.

Episode 1.18 “Screech’s Birthday”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on November 14th, 1992)

Screech is upset because all of his “friends” (and his robot, Kevin) forgot his birthday. His friends decide to make it up to him by throwing him a small party in Mr. Belding’s office. However, in order to use Belding’s office, they need control of the halls so they come up with an elaborate scheme to get hall monitor Neil (Jesse Wilson) fired so that Screech can take his place. However, Screech takes his job too seriously and sends everyone to detention, including almost everyone who is supposed to be at his party.

Oh my God, what is Zack going to do!?

Zack uses the PA system to ask that Slater, Lisa, Jessie, Kelly, and Screech come to the principal’s office.

Seriously, that’s all he does.

A few thoughts:

First off, the only reason that Zack his available to call everyone to the principal’s office is because Screech doesn’t send him to detention despite the fact that he catches Zack in the hallway without a hall pass. Now, you might think Zack has immunity because he’s Screech’s best friend but Screech previously sent Lisa — the girl he loves — to detention so why would he give Zack a break? Add to that, Screech is mad at Zack for forgetting his birthday. So, I would think Zack would especially be someone that Screech would want to punish.

Secondly, why couldn’t they just throw Screech a surprise party at Zack’s house? Or Slater’s house? Or the Maxx? Or anywhere other than Belding’s office?

Third, this episode does feature two of my favorite supporting characters, Neil the nasty hall monitor and Mr. Dewey (Patrick Thomas O’Brien), the burned out teacher. Sadly, this was Neil’s only appearance.

Fourth, this episode was filmed for the first season and aired in syndication as a part of the first season but, for some reason, NBC didn’t air the episode until the fourth season. It’s really not any worse than the typical Saved By The Bell episode so it’s odd that NBC held off on airing it for so long.

Fifth, always remember your friends’s birthdays. It’s not that hard!

Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell: The Class 1.11 “Weasel Love”

Posted on April 14, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Weasel’s found love again. Or has he?

Episode 1.11 “Weasel Love”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on November 20th, 1993)

Weasel’s online girlfriend, Natalie (Stephanie Dicker), moves to California and enrolls at Bayside. At first, she looks and acts just like Tori Spelling during Tori’s time on the original Saved By The Bell. However, Megan, Vicki, and Lindsay give her a makeover that …. actually, makes her look significantly worse. But everyone at Bayside insists that it makes her look better so Weasel starts to feel insecure. Tommy D, Scott, and Mr. Belding (really?) give Weasel a makeover to team him how to be cool. That coolness goes to Weasel’s head and soon, he and Natalie aren’t speaking.

Uh-oh! Natalie and Weasel are both in the school band! Natalie plays piano. Weasel plays saxophone. (Needless to say, we never actually see Natalie’s hands when she’s playing piano.) How is the band going to win that trip to New York if Natalie and Weasel aren’t capable of performing a duet together?

Well, maybe Tommy can hop on the computer and send Natalie a message “from Weasel” apologizing. Natalie is touched but later, Weasel reveals that he didn’t write the message. But Weasel and Natalie still talk through their differences and the band wins that New York trip!

As for this episode’s B-plot, Tommy D and Scott trick two of the nerd characters into leaving the band so that they can replace them. As I watched Scott and Tommy trick the nerds into thinking that they were losing their hearing, it occurred to me that it takes a lot of charisma to make a schemer likable. Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Mario Lopez had that charisma, which is why the first Saved By The Bell worked despite Zack being a sociopath. Robert Sutherland Telfer and Jonathan Angel on the other hand….

(Actually, in all honesty, Jonathan Angel was likable as Tommy. He had the goofy dumb guy thing down. Telfer, however, didn’t have Gosselaar’s cocky charm. As a result, Scott usually comes across as being more desperate than confident.)

Anyway, this was another dumb episode. There’s no consistency when it comes to how characters like Weasel are portrayed so it’s really had to care about their lives one way or another. This episode, Weasel got a girlfriend. Even though I haven’t seen the remaining season one episodes yet, I can guarantee that she will never be mentioned again.

Finally, the band sounded terrible. Leave them in New York.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell 1.17 “Close Encounters of the Nerd Kind”

Posted on April 11, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, we have perhaps the dumbest 30 minutes of television ever.

Episode 1.17 “Close Encounters of the Nerd Kind”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on November 23rd, 1990)

After breaking the school’s video camera, Zack and the gang need to come up with some money and they need to do it quickly! They see that a tabloid will pay money for pictures of an alien so they send in a picture of Screech. Thompson (Sean Masterson) turns up at the school to investigate the claim. Screech pretends to be an alien. Uh-oh, Thompson’s from the government and he wants to dissect Screech!

This is without a doubt the stupidest episode of Saved By The Bell that I’ve ever seen and that’s saying something. Everyone in the school — including freaking Mr. Belding — puts on a mask to show Thompson that he’s been fooled.

That’s not very nice, Thompson says.

Neither is telling a bunch of kids you’re from a magazine, Belding replies.

What does that even mean, Belding?

Seriously, I try to cut this show some slack but even when I was an occasionally stoned college student watching Saved By The Bell so I’d have something other to do other than study, I still groaned whenever this episode came on.

Did they ever fix the video camera? They should have let the government have Screech.