Late Night Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell 3.3 “The Glee Club”

Posted on August 29, 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, the gang joins the Glee Club!

Episode 3.3 “The Glee Club”

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

When Zack learns that the winners of a nationwide glee competition will get a trip to Hawaii, he demands that all of his friends join the Bayside Glee Club. The only problem is that Jessie is the only one who can sing, and she refuses to take off her face mask because she thinks she’ll catch ~~COVID~~ Lisa’s cold.

Luckily, Screech’s girlfriend Violet (Tori Spelling) can sing, but she can only do it if Screech is present and supporting her. After Screech acts like an idiot meeting her parents (he mentions that Violet’s mother looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger), Violet is told she’s no longer allowed to spend time around him. Violet will have to quit the Glee Club. Good thing Jessie can sing! Oh no! Jessie took off her face mask and caught Lisa’s cold.

This episode firmly established that Zack is not only a liar but a terrible liar, one who succeeds only because of the exaggerated stupidity of everyone around him. When Mr. Belding demands that Mr. Tuttle whip the Glee Club into shape, Zack’s solution is to tape another glee club’s performance and have Bayside lip-sync to it. Somehow, neither Belding nor Tuttle notices. Later, when the Glee Club performs at the competition, Zack plays the tape again. This time it gets screwed up. At first everyone is singing too fast, then too slow. “That was our impression of a glee club tuning up!” Zack says, and everyone buys it. You can call Zack’s behavior borderline sociopathic and you’ll have a point. But seriously: how dumb is every adult in Zack’s life?

Violet does eventually sing. Screech steps up to support her when she falters. Bayside wins the competition, even though they really should have been disqualified for all of that “tuning up” nonsense. Violet’s parents are so impressed by Screech’s support that they decide he can date their daughter. If I remember correctly, Violet disappeared after one more episode.

This episode does have one truly funny moment. When Jessie says she caught Lisa’s cold, everyone glares at Lisa. “Sorry,” Lisa says, in a tone that suggests she’s not that sorry. Lark Voorhies delivers the line perfectly. Otherwise the episode suffers because it revolves around two of the worst actors to ever grace the halls of Bayside. Any episode that features Screech’s love life is destined for cringe.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 8/23/26 — 8/29/26

Posted on August 29, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I spent this week binging Crime Story, St. Elsewhere, and Baywatch. My goal here is to write up three months worth of Retro Television Reviews over the next week so that I can devote all of September and October to horrorthon.

I also watched Big Brother 28. Thursday was the 1,000th episode of Big Brother. Since I’ve see every episode, I did the math and discovered that I have spent the equivalent of 43 days just watching Big Brother. That left me feeling very depressed.

On Friday, my friend Pat McCurry put together a tribute for Tim Curry and Dolly Parton. First, we watched a thoroughly forgettable 2000 sitcom called Bette. As you can guess from the title, it starred Bette Midler as herself. The episode that we watched featured Bette appearing on Dolly Parton’s Halloween special. Dolly was charming. The rest of the sitcom was pretty forgettable. We followed this with an episode of a 90s crime show called Wiseguy. Tim Curry played a crooked music producer. The show was serialized so I really couldn’t follow the plot but Curry gave a typically magnetic preformance.

Along with my binging, I also watched and reviewed CHiPs, Pacific Blue, 1st & Ten, Hunter, Sledge Hammer, and Saved By The Bell.

And I also watched a Republican Presidential Primary Debate from 1996! It was on YouTube. I liked that Lamar Alexander. Did he win?

Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell: The New Class 2.15 “A Perfect Lindsay”

Posted on August 25, 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, while everyone is dancing, Lindsay is starving.

Episode 2.15 “A Perfect Lindsay”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on October 29th, 1994)

TV’s “hottest show,” Club Jam, will be holding a dance contest at the school!

Brian asks Rachel to be his partner and is overjoyed when she says yes. (As I watched this episode, I had to remind myself that it was supposed to be taking place before the country club episodes, which explained why Rachel and Brian were not dating.) However, when Rachel sees that Megan is going to be dancing with some guy named Kent (Adam Bonfiant), she says that she and Brian don’t have a hope of winning.

Oh, don’t worry, Rachel. Brian has a plan! Brian tells Kent that the way to win the contest is to offer Belding a bribe. Because Kent is apparently an idiot, he does just that. Mr. Belding gives Kent detention and Megan dumps Kent as her dance partner. Fortunately, Bobby needs a partner. Unfortunately, shortly after asking him to be her partner, Megan discovers that Bobby can’t dance.

Meanwhile, Screech shows up at the Max and demonstrates his dance moves. It’s extremely cringey but the audience goes nuts. Dustin Diamond is so spastic and uncoordinated that the whole thing just feels cruel. I really wanted to step into time machine so I could travel to 1994 and shout, “They’re not laughing with you!”

Lindsay, meanwhile, fears that she’s fat. When Megan and Rachel mention that the camera adds 40 pounds, Lindsay has a fantasy where she dances with Tommy while wearing a fat suit. The audience laughs but Lindsay not amused. She skips a meal, which leads to both Tommy and Rachel theorizing that she has anorexia. When Tommy says that the dance contest isn’t worth risking her health, Linday dumps Tommy as her partner and instead teams up with Kent.

During the dance contest, Lindsay suddenly starts to feel faint. She has to go to classroom to rest her head on a desk. Brian gives up his chance to dance with Rachel and goes with Tommy D to help out Lindsay. Lindsay says she’s fine and then she faints.

With everyone else in the classroom, Megan and Bobby win the dance contest! It turns out that Megan only needed a week to teach Bobby how to dance like a pro. After the contest, a smiling Lindsay apologizes to everyone. Bobby nods and says, “Go eat something.” Lindsay happily trots off to do just that….

,,,,which is actually not how anorexia works at all. I mean, I appreciate the fact that the show was trying to warn its viewers about eating disorders but suggesting that anorexia can be cured by simply telling someone to go eat is really kind of irresponsible. This episode focuses on Lindsay not eating while ignoring why she stopped in the first place. Including a fantasy sequence where the audience laughs at Lindsay wearing a fat suit probably did more to promote anorexia than Bobby saying, “Go eat something” did to prevent it.

Oh well. At least Lindsay didn’t sing I’m So Excited.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell 3.2

Posted on August 22, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Mr. Belding takes his job too seriously.

Episode 3.2 “Breaking Up is Hard To Undo”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on December 16th, 1990)

Slater and Jessie make it official! They’re now a couple. Slater wants to celebrate by going to a football game. Jessie wants to celebrate by going to the ballet. Suddenly, Slater and Jessie are no longer a couple.

Zack is looking forward to celebrating his anniversary with Kelly. However, Kelly is planning on having dinner with her ex-boyfriend, Todd. Todd is rich and “looks like Mel Gibson.” Zack forbids Kelly to see Todd. Kelly and Zack break up.

When a student council meeting falls apart due to Jessie and Kelly’s attempts to defund the football team and start a dance department at the school, Mr. Belding ends up breaking his gavel. (“I broke my gavel” is the funniest line in the episode but nobody laughs.) When Mr. Belding and his wife get into an argument over her mother-in-law staying with the Beldings and Mr. Belding ends up getting kicked out of his house, Mr. Belding decides to hang out with Zack, Slater, and Screech. Zack comes home and discovers Belding hanging out in his bedroom….

Uhmm, what?

This is a weird episode. The break-ups are one thing. I could believe that part of the episode. But why are Zack’s parents allowing his principal to live in Zack’s bedroom? In the real world, principals and teachers get fired and worse for that sort of thing. Seeing as how this episode also features a moment in which Zack stops time so that he can order some flowers for Mr. Belding “from Mrs. Belding,” I’m going to assume that this is a dream episode.

The dream comes to a conclusion at the Max, in which Slater and Zack before demonstrate how they should have reacted to Jessie and Kelly. Slater announces that doesn’t care about football, strips down to a skintight leotard, and dances around the Max with Lisa (who is wearing a Jessie wig). Screech then dressed up like a cheerleader so Zack can tell Screech that he trusts him and it’s okay if Screech wants to have dinner with Todd.

This was a weird episode. Slater dancing was a great moment but Mr. Belding moving in with Zack asked for a little too much suspension of disbelief, even by the standards of Saved By The Bell. Couldn’t Mr. Belding have moved in with Rod instead?

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 6/16/26 — 6/22/26

Posted on August 22, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Big Brother 28 (24/7, CBS, Paramout+, and Pluto TV)

I’ve been writing about the show that I love to hate over at Reality TV Chat Blog.

Election Coverage (Tuesday Night)

Last week was the last big primary night of 2026. I mostly watched the results from Florida. The defeat of Alex Vindman in Florida should be all the proof that one needs that the Resistance era is over.

Darke of the Night (YouTube)

My review of this unsold pilot will drop in September.

Homicide: Life On The Street (Peacock TV)

I binged several episodes of Homicide this week and wrote and scheduled reviews of each one.

Juvenile Court (YouTube)

My review of this unsold pilot will drop next week.

Law & Order (Hulu)

I watched an episode of Law & Order that served as a crossover with Homicide. My review of both episodes will drop at some point in September.

Radio 1990 (Nightflight Plus)

I watched an episode of this 80s music video show on Friday night.

Saved By The Bell (Prime)

This week’s review will drop shortly.

Sylvan in Paradise (YouTube)

My review of this pilot will drop in September.

Warden Duffy of San Quentin (YouTube)

My review of this pilot will drop in September.

Watched and Reviewed:

Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell: The New Class 2.14 “Farewell Dance”

Posted on August 18, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Yay! It’s the final country club episode!

Episode 2.14 “Farewell Dance”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on October 22nd, 1994)

The summer is coming to an end and so is the gang’s indentured servitude at the Palisades Country Club. The farewell dance approaches and with it comes the hope of romance and the pain of the heartbreak.

For instance, Bobby pretends to be rich so that snobby club member Michele (Ebonie Smith) will go to the dance with him. Michele loves it when Bobby talks about how his father is a millionaire who owns a private jet and hangs out with the Queen of England. But when Lindsay points out that Michele isn’t falling for the real Bobby, Bobby decides to tell Michele the truth. Michele dumps Bobby and apparently, we’re meant to see Bobby as the victim here. Bobby shouts that he wouldn’t ever go on a date with a girl who refuses to date poor people. Uhmm, Bobby, have you considered that maybe she just refuses to date liars? Anyway, as often happened on any episode where Bobby or Megan even thought about dating anyone who wasn’t listed in the opening credits, Bobby and Megan ended up going to the dance together.

Meanwhile, Screech is upset because Allison is going to be moving to New York to attend Julliard. Screech announces that he’s going to go to New York with her, even though that means he won’t get his degree. (Can’t Screech just transfer to a school in New Yor?) Allison decides that she can’t go to Julliard because it would mean Screech giving up his dreams. (“You have a future with Mr. Belding and Bayside,” Allison tells him. Uhmm ….. what?) Screech realizes that Allison has to pursue her dreams so he tells her to go to New York without him. Allison plays Screech a really bland piano piece that she wrote for him and then they share a final dance.

The main problem with this episode …. oh Hell, you know what the main problem was. The main problem’s initials are D and D. Dustin Diamond gives such a cartoonish performance that it’s hard to believe that Allison would have ever fallen for him in the first place. There are no emotional stakes when it comes to any story involving Screech because there’s nothing real about Screech. As a character, he’s the equivalent of Bobby’s father’s private jet.

All that said, at least the county club episodes are over with! Yay! Always be thankful for the little things.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell 3.1 “The Fabolous Belding Boys”

Posted on August 15, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Rod Belding comes to Bayside.

Episode 3.1 “The Fabolous Belding Boys”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on December 9th, 1990)

“You’re jealous of your own brother!” Zack snaps at Mr. Belding in this episode and you really do have to wonder how Zack was always able to get away with using that tone of voice with his principal. Most students would end up getting expelled if they talked to any adult that way.

Mr. Belding really goes through the ringer this episode. After the authoritarian history teacher has a nervous breakdown, Belding reluctantly allows his younger brother, long-haired Rod (Edward Blatchford), to teach the class. Soon, Rod is throwing away the midterm exam and allowing the students to pick their own grades. (Screech gives himself a B-.) Rod also convinces the students — well, a small handful of them — that the next class trip should involve white water rafting instead of going to Yosemite like his brother suggested.

That Rod is one cool guy until he decides, at literally the last minute, to blow off the rafting trip so he can hang out with a stewardess. “Cover f0r me!” Rod tells Mr. Belding. “Get out of my school, Rod,” Belding says, not knowing that Zack has overheard the entire converastation.

Mr. Belding does cover for his brother by claiming that Rod has the flu but he also volunteers to take his brother’s place on the rafting trip. Now, it’s already been established that Mr. Belding has no experience with white water rafting and apparently, he can’t even swim. So, there’s a good chance that the senior class is going to lose a few members over the weekend. But for now, all that matters is that the school trip is back on.

Zack apologizes to Mr. Belding.

“Rod is the more exciting Belding,” Mr. Belding admits.

“We got the better Belding,” Zack replies.

Awwwww!

This is definitely one of the best episodes of Saved By The Bell. For once, Belding gets to be something other than a fool and Zack is forced to admit that he was wrong wrong. Dennis Haskins shines in this episode and, for that matter, so does Edward Blatchford as Rod.

As I watched this episode, I was reminded of that episode of Good Morning Miss Bliss in which Bliss’s mentor was hired as a substitute and did a lot of the same crap that Rod did. On Good Morning Miss Bliss, the substitute was portrayed as being a hero. On Saved By The Bell, he’s a self-absorbed creep. The Saved By The Bell version is the better version.

It’s the better Belding.

Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell: The New Class 2.13 “Bayside Story”

Posted on August 11, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Oh no, it’s another Bayside vs Valley episode!

Episode 2.13 “Bayside Story”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on October 22nd, 1994)

It’s time for Bayside and Valley to meet on the athletic field …. again!

*sigh*

Seriously, how much water can this show draw from the well of this particular rivalry? Ever since the original Saved By The Bell, there have been episodes about Bayside competing against Valley. Every episode begins with Mr. Belding complaining that Bayside never beats Valley. And yet, every episode also seems to end with Bayside defeating Valley so I’m really not sure what Belding’s problem is.

This episode, after Valley toilet papers the Bayside hallways, Mr. Belding complains that Bayside hasn’t defeated Valley since Slater graduated. Tommy D, Lindsay, Rachel, Megan, Brian, and Bobby all nod in agreement, which is odd since Slater graduated before any of them started at Bayside. Belding also mentions that Screech is in Vegas for Zack and Kelly’s wedding and, again, everyone nods as if they know who Zack and Kelly are. None of these students knew who Screech was when he first came back so how would they know Zack and Kelly? Am I just giving this too much thought? Perhaps.

As the head cheerleader, Megan is determined that the cheerleading squad (which is apparently made up of only her, Rachel, and Lindsay) is ready to declare death to Valley. But then she meets Doug (Bumper Robinson), the captain of Valley’s football team, and she ends up falling for him. Her friends are horrified that Megan would date someone from Valley but that doesn’t stop them from using Megan’s relationship to take advantage of Doug by pulling off one of those elaborate SBTB schemes where everyone dresses up in a stupid costume and distracts Doug long enough for Brian and Bobby to use a spy camera to take pictures of Valley’s playbook.

(Seriously, the whole thing is really stupid.)

Shortly afterwards, Megan ends up breaking up with Doug because she can’t handle everyone’s disapproval. The Gang feels guilty so they decide to give the pictures of the playbook back to Doug but, as opposed to just giving him the film, they instead decide to pull off another elaborate prank that involves everyone putting on costumes.

The reason why I’m not going into a lot of details about the pranks and the costumes is that it’s all really stupid. And I’m worried that if I spend too much time describing all of this, my brain might short-circuit. Let’s just say that it never occurs to anyone to just do the simplest of things, like maybe practicing really hard on the football field and trying to win the game legitimately.

That said, there a few things that work in this episode.

Amazingly, there actually is a funny running joke in this episode. Unlike most of the characters on this show, Brian knows nothing about American sports and continually has to be told the most basic facts about football. (“It’s played on a field, not a rink!”) Christian Oliver delivered his lines with the right amount of enthusiastic naivete and it was kind of nice to see Brian transformed into something more than just a stand-in for Zack.

The episode ends with the Bayside Gang meeting the Valley Gang at the Maxx and everyone crying as they realize that they’re not so different after all. That was actually kind of sweet. And then Belding ran in wearing riot gear because he was convinced a fight was about to break out. That actually made me laugh a little. So, dumb pranks aside, this episode wasn’t a total loss.

In conclusion, I should mention that my high school had a hated rival that was actually only a few blocks away from us. Our football team hated their football team and all that other stuff. Unfortunately, since my school was pretty much an art school, I don’t think we ever won a game against them. Some of that was because my school didn’t even have a football field so our team had to go over to the rival school whenever they wanted to practice.

Seriously, not even Slater could have saved them.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell 2.13 “From Nurse To Worse”

Posted on August 8, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Kelly wants to go steady but Zack’s fallen in love with the new school nurse.

Episode 2.13 “From Nurse To Worse”

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

Zack has asked Kelly to go steady but, when Kelly finally tells him that the answer is yes, Zack smiles stupidly and says, “That’s great, what was the question?” before wandering off. Zack has met the new school nurse, Nurse Jennifer (Nancy Valen), and is so busy imagining a future with her that he’s totally forgotten about the fact that he’s supposedly been in love with Kelly for years.

When people talk about Zack Morris being “trash,” this is the type of episode that they’re thinking about. Zack treats Kelly horribly, all because he’s convinced that new school nurse is going to risk her job by dating a 10th grader. Of course, Nurse Jennifer doesn’t help by telling him that he’s cute. When Jennifer finds out about Zack and Kelly, she helps Kelly out by pretending to be crazy. It perhaps would have been simpler for Jennifer to just tell Zack that it would have been illegal for her to have dated him but then we wouldn’t have gotten the sight of Jennifer pretending to be terrible at her job.

As was typical of Saved By The Bell, Slater’s B-story was actually more interesting than all of Zack’s nonsense. It’s time for everyone’s flu shot and Slater is scared of needles. Mario Lopez always did a good job of portraying Slater’s insecurities and there’s something rather endearing about the look of terror on his face when he’s called to the nurse’s office for his shot.

For those of us who are into continuity, this episode was a weird one. Not only did the new nurse do a lot of stuff that didn’t make sense but the episode itself seems to ignore everything that has happened in Zack and Kelly’s relationship over the past few episodes. Suddenly, Kelly and Zack are back to dating whether or not to be an exclusive couple. I thought that had been settled a while ago. Judging by the episode’s production code, this episode was originally meant to be the second of the season and would have aired right after The Prom episodes. For whatever reason reason, NBC didn’t air it until late in the season, when it no longer made sense.

Technically, this is the end of season 2. Whether or not that means anything is debatable because apparently, way back in 1990, season 3 started the very next week. With Saved By The Bell, one gets the feeling that these things were decided at random. Well, no matter! Next week, we’ve got season 3 and The Fabolous Belding Boys!

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 8/2/26 — 8/8/26

Posted on August 8, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

America 2100 (YouTube)

I reviewed America 2100 here,

Baywatch (Tubi)

You can read my review here!

Big Brother (24/7, CBS, Paramount+, Pluto TV)

You can read my ongoing review of Big Brother here.

Cheaters (Tubi)

Cheaters is on Tubi! I watched a few episodes on Saturday. This show is a guilty pleasure for me because 1) it was filmed in Dallas and 2) Joey Greco is just so judgmental!

CHiPs (Prime)

You can read my review of CHiPs here.

Crime Story (Tubi)

You can read my review of Crime Story here.

Diff’rent Strokes (Tubi)

After buying their father a birthday present, Arnold and Kimberly decided to hitchhike home. They were picked up by a man who locked Arnold in a room and then threatened to rape Kimberly. This was pretty disturbing for a sitcom! I watched this two-part episode on Thursday and I was relieved when the police finally showed up to rescue them.

Freddy’s Nightmares (Tubi)

I wrote about the series finale here!

Election Coverage (Tuesday Night)

I was pretty depressed going into this week’s primary elections but I have to admit that watching the results in Michigan cheered me up, Even though the latest DSA flavor-of-the month, Abdul El-Sayed, won his primary, it was only by one percentage point as opposed to the election being the blow-out that so many predicted. Not everyone is on board with extremism and I take some hope from that.

On Thursday, I watched as the election results rolled in from Tennessee. Other than that one congressman that lost his primary, the Tennessee results weren’t quite as exciting as the Michigan results. I did find myself amused as I remembered how, way back in 2018, some pundits were convinced that Taylor Swift coming out as a Democrat would somehow turn the state blue.

1st & Ten (Prime)

You can read my review here.

Flight of the Conchords (HBOMax)

I watched one episode from the first season (Todd joined the band and things quickly fell apart, despite his skill with the bongos) and one episode from the second season. (Bret and Jermaine met Murray’s best friend, Jim.) Both episodes made me laugh. This is definitely a show that I miss, even if it does seem like Bret and Jermaine probably did everything they could with the concept during the first two seasons.

Hunter (Tubi)

You can read my review here.

The Love Boat (Paramount Plus)

You can read my review here.

Mad TV (Tubi)

Mad TV’s on Tubi now! I watched two episodes on Thursday and, unfortunately, they were even worse than I remembered.

The Office (Peacock TV)

“THIS WAS THE BEST DUNDIES EVER! WHOOOOO!” As much as I complain about the show’s final two seasons, the first three seasons are about as good as anything that has ever aired on television. On Friday, I watched The Dundies.

Pacific Blue (Tubi)

You can read my review of Pacific Blue here.

Saved By The Bell (Prime)

My review will be dropping shortly.

Saved By The Bell: The New Class (Prime)

You can read my review here!

St. Elsewhere (YouTube)

You can read my review of St. Elsewhere here!

60 Minutes (CBS, Sunday Night)

I caught the last 30 minutes of 60 Minutes on Sunday night. It’s funny that, for all the acclaim that this show has received and all the current controversy surrounding it, the only time that I have ever watched it has been when I’ve been waiting for something else to start. It seems like I always end up turning on the show whenever Anderson Cooper is doing one of his “look at my exploring the wilderness!” type of stories.

Survivor 50 (CBS, Wednesday Night)

As I watched this week’s rerun of Survivor 50, it occurred to me that the all of the Survivor icons are starting to get really, really old. A better name for Survivor 50 would have been Survivor: Seniors’ Retreat.