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


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.

  1. 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.)
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Whoops!  They forget to plug the freezer back in and $4,000 worth of food goes bad.
  5. Bobby can’t drive but still tries to cover valet parking.
  6. 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.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 5/3/26 — 5/9/26


Hollywood Demons: After the Bell (HBOMax)

The latest episode of Hollywood Demons took a rather superficial look at life behind the scenes at Saved By The Bell.  The formerly reclusive Lark Voorhies was interviewed and it was good to see her looking healthy and happy.  As well, Max Battimo, from Good Morning Miss Bliss, was also interviewed and talked about what it was like to not be invited to join the cast of Saved By The Bell. 

The majority of the episode focused on Dustin Diamond and his years after Saved By The Bell.  The episode tried to generate some sympathy for Diamond and I have to admit that I’ve always felt that it wasn’t right to cast him as a high school student when he was barely 12 and had so little in common with the rest of the cast.  That said, in this documentary, Dustin Diamond also came across as being mentally unhinged.  One crew member told a story about Diamond threatening a Saved By The Bell: The New Class actor with a knife.  The name of the actor was not given, though from the details provided (the incident occurred while Diamond’s mother was dying of cancer and Diamond threatened to get the actor fired), it seems that the incident took place in 1996, during the film of the New Class‘s Fourth Season.  Assuming Diamond didn’t pull the knife on any of the female cast members or Dennis Haskins, that leaves Richard Lee Jackson, Ben Gould, and Anthony Harrell.  Jackson was in his second season on the show and was the lead actor so I don’t think Diamond would have threatened to get him fired.  Gould and Harrell were new.  On twitter, I found a tweet from 2014 of someone mentioning that they had been given a tour of Hollywood by someone who Dustin Diamond pulled a knife on.  Since Harrell has been busy with his musical career, that would leave Gould as the probable target of Diamond’s abuse.  Of course, that’s all speculation on my part.  The important thing is that Dustin Diamond didn’t come across as being particularly sympathetic, despite the documentary’s best efforts.

Unfortunately, while Lark, Max, and Ed Alonzo were all interviewed, Mark-Paul, Mario, Tiffani, Elizabeth, and Dennis Haskins were not.  I’m not surprised.  When you’ve actually got a career going, you don’t want to taint it by being interviewed by a tabloid television show.  Still, considering that they were the stars of the show, not interviewing them seemed like a missed opportunity.

Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (Shout TV)

I watched three more episodes of this odd series on Friday night.  The monsters were trippy!

Night Flight (NightFlight+)

I watched an episode on Friday night.  John Cougar Mellencamp talked about his career.

Saved By The Bell (Tubi)

My review of Saved By The Bell will be dropping soon, assuming I don’t fall asleep before I can write it.

Watched and Reviewed:

  1. 1st & Ten,
  2. Baywatch,
  3. CHiPs,
  4. Crime Story,
  5. Decoy,
  6. Freddy’s Nightmares,
  7. Hunter,
  8. The Love Boat,
  9. Pacific Blue,
  10. Saved By The Bell: The New Class,
  11. St. Elsewhere

 

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


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, 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.

 

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


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.

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!

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 4/19/26 — 4/25/26


Boy Band Confidential (HBOMax)

Another week, another special about boy bands.  I watched this 3-hour, two-part documentary on Wednesday and Thursday.  Joey Fatone was one of the producers so it’s not a surprise that a major theme of the documentary was that Joey Fatone was a pretty cool guy.  This show hit all the usual points — hey, there’s Lou Pealman! — without adding much new insight.

Crime Story (Tubi)

My review will drop this upcoming Monday.

Degrassi: The Next Generation (Tubi)

My review will drop tomorrow night.

Hollywood Demons (HBOMax)

I watched two episodes.  The first one was about Stephen Collins (yikes!).  The second was about Jerry Springer.  Now that Jerry is dead and his show is definitely never coming back, all of his producers are trying to cash in by letting you know that they were anti-Jerry the whole time.  It all feels a bit self-serving.

Homicide: Life on the Street (Peacock)

My review will drop tomorrow.

Saved By The Bell (Tubi)

Along with this week’s review episode (which will be dropping shortly), I also watched three Patrick Muldoon episodes on Friday.  RIP.

Watched and Reviewed:

  1. 1st & Ten
  2. Baywatch
  3. CHiPs
  4. Decoy
  5. Freddy’s Nightmares
  6. Hunter
  7. The Love Boat
  8. Making It Legal
  9. Pacific Blue
  10. Saved By The Bell: The New Class
  11. St. Elsewhere

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


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.

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!

 

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 4/12/26 — 4/18/26


Growing Pains (Tubi)

Matthew Perry played the boyfriend of Kirk Cameron’s sister.  He drank too much, he crashed his car, and he died.  This is one of those very special episodes that one might roll their eyes at, if not for the fact that it guest starred Perry.  Because it did guest star Perry, it was very sad to watch.

Homicide: Life On The Street (Peacock)

A review for this episode will be dropping tomorrow.

Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (Shout TV)

In this show,  from Japan, a group of teenagers used the power of the dinosaurs to defeat a witch.  I watched three episodes on Saturday.  The stop-motion dinosaurs and tigers were cute.

The Right Time (YouTube)

This was a 90s music show that was hosted by singer Tom Jones.  I watched two episodes on Friday.  The first one was called “Pop Music” and I enjoyed it.  The second one was called “Gospel Music” and it was a little dull.

Saved By The Bell (Tubi)

A review for this episode will be dropping later tonight.

Who’s The Boss (Prime)

On Friday, after Jeff and I finished up The Trip, Amazon took us straight into this Tony Danza-starring sitcom.  We watched the first episode, which was pretty forgettable.  (Danza is a former baseball player turned housekeeper and no one can believe it.)  The theme song kind of got stuck in my head though.

WKRP In Cincinnati (DVD)

Jeff and I watched several episodes of this 70s sitcom over the week.  Even if the humor was a bit dated, it was a funny show.  Herb Tarlek’s suits were amazing.

Watched and Reviewed:

  1. 1st & Ten
  2. Baywatch
  3. ChiPs
  4. Decoy
  5. Freddy’s Nightmares
  6. Hunter
  7. The Love Boat
  8. Miami Vice
  9. Pacific Blue
  10. Saved By The Bell: The New Class
  11. St. Elsewhere

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


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, 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.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 4/5/26 — 4/11/26


Diff’rent Strokes (Tubi)

It wasn’t by choice!  On Wednesday, I watched a movie on Tubi and then Tubi sent me to an episode of Diff’rent Strokes before I could stop it.  Mr. Drummond’s friend, Larry (McClean Stevenson), visited from Oregon.  Drummond got Larry a chance to audition for his own talk show.  Larry’s daughter (Kim Richards) didn’t want to move and, for some reason, she blamed the whole thing on Gary Coleman.

Fridays (Prime)

This was a comedy sketch show from the early 80s.  I watched the premiere episode on Saturday morning.  There were a lot of familiar faces in the cast, including a dark-haired Larry David.  Unfortunately, none of the skits were really that funny.

The Greatest Event In Television History (Prime)

In this Adult Swim series, Adam Scott recreated the opening credits of classic television shows and destroyed his life in the process.  Jeff Probst hosted.  Jon Hamm guest-starred and “died” shortly after filming his scenes.  (Don’t worry, his ghost later appeared.)  Paul Rudd slept with Adam’s wife.  Host Jeff Probst said, “Adam’s life is now ruined.”   Billy Joel played piano.  I watched all four episodes on Tuesday and it was funnier than it had any right to be.

Jesus of Nazareth (Tubi)

On Easter, I binged this seven hour miniseries from 1977.  Written by Anthony Burgess and directed by Franco Zeffirelli, this gorgeously produced production took the idea of having an all-star cast quite literally.  Even the minor roles were played by familiar faces, everyone from Donald Pleasence to Rod Steiger to Ernest Borgnine to James Earl Jones, Ian McShane, Laurence Olivier, Stacy Keach, Christopher Plummer, and Michael York.  Olivia Hussey played the Virgin Mary.  Anne Bancroft played the Magdalene.  It was very well-done and surprisingly moving.

The Masters (Prime and Paramount+)

I watched a bit of the Masters this week.  On Saturday, when it was storming outside and I had just returned from attending a memorial service for an old friend of my father’s, it provided a nice distraction.

Nero Wolfe (A&E)

I watched the final two episodes of Nero Wolfe on Tuesday.  It was a truly entertaining show, featuring great work from Maury Chaykin and Timothy Hutton.  It’s a shame that it was canceled after only two seasons.

Sledgehammer (Prime)

This was an 80s sitcom, featuring David Rasche as an out-of-control cop.  I watched two episodes on Friday and it was actually pretty funny.  Rasche talked to his gun and made fun of liberals.  I enjoyed it.

I also watched and reviewed:

  1. 1st & Ten
  2. Baywatch
  3. CHiPs
  4. Decoy
  5. Freddy’s Nightmares
  6. Highway to Heaven
  7. The Love Boat
  8. Miami Vice
  9. Pacific Blue
  10. Saved By The Bell
  11. Saved By The Bell: The New Class
  12. St. Elsewhere

Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell: The New Class 1.10 “Swap Meet”


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.

It’s time for the annual school swap meet!

Episode 1.10 “Swap Meet”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on November 13, 1993)

It’s time for the Swap Meet, the annual Bayside tradition that has never been mentioned before this week’s episode.  All of the students — and Mr. Belding — go to the gym to sell the old stuff that they don’t need anymore.  Does anyone in this school actually go to class?

Weasel, Scott, and Tommy D. have their own table, where they are apparently selling random things from Weasel’s garage.  Scott desperately needs some money so that he can take Rachel Meyers (Sarah Lancaster, who would become a regular starting with season 2) to the Janet Jackson concert.  Scott is not happy when Weasel takes the ten dollars that Scott and Tommy D have made at the table and spends it all on comic books.  Fortunately, one of those comic books turns out to be Defender Dog #59, the one with the “famous misprint!”  Scott and Weasel go to call the comic book shop to find out how much the comic book is worth.  “It’s worth 600 raviolis!” Weasel announces.  Huh?  Who talks like that?

While Scott and Weasel are dancing in the hallway, Tommy D sells the comic book for nine dollars to Marv and Harv Dorkman (played by Grant Gelt and Karl Michael Maschek).

Marv and Harv, as you guessed, are two of Saved By The Bell‘s stereotypical nerd characters.  They refuse to sell the comic book back to Scott.  When Scott realizes that Marv and Harv have crushes on Megan and Vicki, he convinces Megan and Vicki to go to the movies with them and to lie about loving comic books.  Megan and Vicki think that, by doing this, they’ll get the Defender Dog comic book.  Instead, Marv and Harv sell the comic book to Crunch Grabowski (Ryan Hurst) and then use the money that they made to buy necklaces for Megan and Vicki, which Megan and Vicki  promptly reject.

“I can’t believe this,” Scott says.

“Getting that comic book back is harder than Chinese square dancing,” says Weasel.

It’s hurting my head just to recap this.

Anyway, Crunch doesn’t want to sell the comic book so Scott convinces Crunch to come to the local comic book shop, which is owned by Honolulu Harry.  So, of course, Weasel puts on an old man mask and pretends to be Honolulu Harry and Tommy D. pretends to be a nerd who wants to sell a copy of Defender Dog so that Weasel (as Harry) to tell him that no one likes Defender Dog.  Crunch cannot handle being seen with an unpopular super hero so he trades Defender Dog for Lou the Ant.  Scott gets the comic book but then the real Honolulu Harry shows up and refuses to buy it from him because he caught Tommy D. in the back of the comic book shop.  “You touched my comics!” Harry yells.  What are people supposed to do in a comic book store?

Poor Scott!  Well, no, not really.  There’s a hundred smart things that Scott could have done during this episode and he didn’t do a single one of them.  He deserves what he gets….

Oh wait, the Dorkmans spent a lot of money to get four tickets to the Janet Jackson concert.  Megan tells them that she and Vicki would love to go to the concert with them.  Megan says she’ll hold on to two of the tickets and that she and Vicki will meet them at the concert.  The Dorkmans give the tickets to Megan and Vicki and then Megan and Vicki give them to Scott so he can take Rachel to the concert.

“You guys did this for me?  You guys are the best.” Scott says.

Rachel shows up to go to the concert with Scott.  She asks if the tickets were hard to get.

“No, not when you have really great friends,” Scott says.

Awwwww! the audience replies.

The audience has probably forgotten that Vicki had a huge crush on Scott just a few episodes ago and Megan and Scott were hinted to be a couple-in-the-making at the start of the season.  Beyond continuity, the main message here seems to be that, if your friend is a pathological liar, it’s okay to to lie to help him out.  The Dorkmans, who apparently spent a lot of money on the tickets that Megan just gave away, are already at the concert waiting on their dates.  Vicki and Megan’s actions would perhaps be justified if the Dorkmans were creeps but, for the most part, they’re just two guys who wears glasses and like comic books.  And while it is true that the Dorkmans bought those tickets without bothering to ask Vicki and Megan out beforehand, it’s also true that Megan flat-out lied so that she could then give the tickets to Scott.

One thing that I have noticed about Saved By The Bell: The New Class is that it seems to really hate its nerd characters.  The original series had stereotypical nerds as well but they were still, more or less, likeable and the show’s characters may not have hung out with them but they weren’t intentionally cruel to them.  Saved By The Bell: The New Class, on the other hand, feels as if it was written by the same people who spilled the pig’s blood on Carrie White.

Anyway, this episode was terrible.  Thank goodness there’s only three more episodes of the first season to go.