Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell: The New Class 2.25 and 2.26 “Goodbye Bayside”

Posted on November 3, 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, season 2 comes to a close with a two-part epiosde!

Episode 2.25 and 2.26 “Goodbye Bayside”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on December 31st, 1994)

“Kids can make a difference!” is the message of the second season finale of Saved by the Bell: The New Class, and technically that is true. Right now, as I write this, a bunch of young people in Michigan are casting their first-ever vote for a 4’8″ anti-Semitic weasel. The kids can make a difference, but maybe they shouldn’t, because kids are stupid.

Luckily, the kids attending Bayside in 1994 weren’t spending all of their time listening to Nazi-adjacent Twitch streamers. When they said they wanted to make a difference, all they meant was that they wanted to save their school from J. Walter McMillan (Victor Brandt), the real estate tycoon who spent five million dollars to purchase the school from the school board. McMillan is planning on having the school torn down, and he’s even planning on doing it before prom! Mr. Belding is losing his job. Screech is going to have to do his work-study at another school. Megan will be going to private school, which would actually probably increase her chances of getting into a good college — so yay, Megan! Meanwhile, Bobby, Brian, and Lindsay will be transferring to Lincoln High. (Given that Brian is supposedly a foreign-exchange student, shouldn’t he be going back to Switzerland at some point?) Rachel and Tommy D are going to Valley. “I don’t talk to people from Valley!” Tommy says. “Now I can’t even talk to myself!”

(Oh, Jonathan Angel. So often your performance as Tommy D was the sole pleasure to be found on this show.)

The kids decide it’s time to protest! It’s also apparently time for Screech to pretend to be an attorney so he can sabotage the deal. (I guess James the Actor finally realized it was kind of dumb to spend all of his time hanging out with a bunch of stupid high school kids.) This is what drives me crazy about Saved by the Bell: The New Class. There is no reason to believe that Screech could successfully pretend to be a lawyer. But that’s what the Gang goes with! Screech introduces himself to the School Board as “I.M. Slick, attorney,” and no one notices that he looks and sounds exactly like Belding’s assistant. Then Screech introduces himself to McMillan as “I.M. Slicker, attorney,” and it doesn’t occur to the very wealthy and very connected McMillan that he’s never heard of this guy before. Mr. Belding eventually discovers what Screech is up to and he puts a stop to it.

However, Mr. Belding doesn’t say anything when Rachel pretends to be the school nurse and tells McMillan that the entire school is under quarantine due to a measles outbreak. McMillan says that he’ll hold off on demolishing the school until the measles outbreak has ended. To me, it seems like the perfect time to demolish the school would be during a measles outbreak, but what do I know. Belding and the kids discover that McMillan went to Bayside in the ’50s, so they decide to throw a 1950s prom to try to convince McMillan to spare the school. Belding and Screech both dress up as Elvis.

McMillan comes to the prom but he’s not impressed — and really, why should he be? Slater (Mario Lopez) and Lisa Turtle (Lark Voorhies) both suddenly walk into the gym and demand that McMillan not tear down the school. The audience goes wild. Then Sandy Bennett (Aileen Fitzpatrick) shows up. Sandy was once the girl on whom teenage McMillan had a crush. Seeing Sandy is enough to get McMillan to change his mind about a five-million-dollar business deal. Sandy says that her nephew insisted that she had to save Bayside. Who is her nephew? A long-haired Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) steps into the gym and the audience goes wild again.

And it is nice to see Mario Lopez, Lark Voorhies, and Mark-Paul Gosselaar back at Bayside. It’s also interesting to note that none of them seem to be particularly enthused about seeing Dustin Diamond again. (Gosselaar has said that shooting this episode was the last time he ever saw Diamond.)

Bayside is saved! Season two comes to an end with a two-parter that was dumb but crowd-pleasing. (Slater will make at least one more New Class appearance. This episode was it for Zack and Lisa until the short-lived Peacock revival.) This episode was also the final episode for Christian Oliver, Spankee Rodgers, and Bianca Lawson. Next week, when we start season three, Brian, Bobby, and Megan will all be gone and they’ll never be mentioned again. We can assume Brian went back to Switzerland and Megan probably did go to that private school. As for Bobby, who knows? What I can tell you is that the season three cast will feature some of the actors and characters who are the most regularly associated with Saved by the Bell: The New Class.

For now, let’s just be happy that Bayside High School has been saved… again.

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Highway to Heaven 1.8 “A Divine Madness”

Posted on November 16, 2023 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 Thursdays, I will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!

This week, things get a bit silly on the highway.

Episode 1.8 “A Divine Madness”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on November 7th, 1984)

Oh, this episode.

Years ago, a ruthless land developer named Arthur Krock (Ron Moody) built a castle for his beloved wife. Tragically, his wife passed away and Arthur had a nervous breakdown. Now, he spends all of his time in his castle and he believes that he actually is King Arthur. He says that he’s waiting for the return of his Guinevere. Only Marian (Helen Kleeb), his loyal maid, has remained with him over the years. He, of course, calls her Maid Marian even though that’s a Robin Hood reference and not anything from the Arthurian legends.

Though the elder Arthur Krock is still the head of his company, the day-to-day business is handled by his son, Arthur Krock, Jr. (played by a young and beardless Jonathan Frakes). Bitter over his unhappy childhood, Arthur, Jr. is just as ruthless as his father once was. Arthur, Jr. has a 12 million dollar deal to force a woman named Gwen (Jean Allison) off of her land and he’s determined to get it done, even if it means displacing all of the dogs that she and her veterinarian son (Scott Stevenson) look after.

Arthur, Sr.’s daughter, Linda (Ellen Maxted), hires two new handyman and you can probably already guess that they’re going to be Jonathan and Mark. Working around the castle, Jonathan arranges for Arthur, Sr. to meet Gwen. When Arthur, Sr. discovers that Gwen is short for Gweneviere, he announces that she can stay on her land. Arthur, Jr. goes to court to get his father declared incompetent.

Can you guess what happens? Well, if you think that Arthur, Sr. hires Jonathan to be his lawyer and then announces in court that he has not been the father that he should have been …. you’re absolutely correct!

When people talk about Highway to Heaven being a campy or cheesy show, it’s usually episodes like this that they’re talking about. Unabashedly sentimental in its approach, this episode suffers from the fact that Arthur, Jr. has a point. Arthur, Sr. is clearly mentally ill and allowing him to run the company is totally unfair to his employees and the people who have invested in his business. Just because Arthur, Jr. isn’t particularly likable, that doesn’t make him incorrect. If the episode had merely portrayed Arthur, Sr. as an eccentric who didn’t want to have to deal with the pain of the real world, that would be one thing. But this episode has Arthur, Sr. living in a literal castle, sitting on an actual throne, and referring to his son as being Lancelot. It’s all just a bit too much and Ron Moody’s over-the-top performance doesn’t particularly help. To the show’s credit, it does eventually acknowledge that Arthur, Sr. needs some help but still, the whole thing just feels a bit …. well, silly.

Next week, Jonathan and Mark help a movie star become a better father! Hopefully, he doesn’t think that he’s Prester John or Robin Hood or anyone like that.

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Highway to Heaven 1.6 and 1.7 “One Fresh Batch of Lemonade”

Posted on November 9, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week’s episode finds Jonathan and Mark working as physical therapists!

Episodes 1.6 and 1.7 “One Fresh Batch of Lemonade”

(Dir by Michael Landon, aired on October 24th, 1984 and October 31st, 1984)

Deke Larson, Jr. (Ken Olandt) is a high school baseball star who is being watched by the scouts, much to the joy of his father, Deke, Sr. (Jim Haynie). The elder Deke was quite an athlete in his day and his house is still full of the trophies that he won through the years. Deke, Sr. was recruited to play professional baseball but he never made it out of the minor leagues. As a result, Deke, Jr. has spent his entire life being prepared to do what his father never accomplished.

However, that dream comes to an end when Deke, Jr. has a motorcycle accident and is hit by a truck that is being driven by Richie Halbertson (Bart Conner), a gymnast who attends a rival high school. As a result of the accident, Deke, Jr. loses both his legs. Now, he spends his time at a rehab clinic, consumed by his own bitterness.

Jonathan and Mark are the clinic’s newest physical therapists. While Jonathan tries to get Deke, Jr. to accept his condition and forgive Richie, Mark tries to talk to Deke, Sr. With the help of a quadriplegic law student named Scotty (James Troesh), Deke, Jr. starts to realize that it’s better to focus on what he has instead of obsessing on what he’s lost. Deke, Jr. starts to recover from his bitterness and soon, he’s even being nice to the classmate (Samatha Paris) who has a crush on him. But when Jonathan suggests that Deke, Jr. could still compete as gymnast, will Deke, Jr. be able to accept being trained by Richie Halbertson? And will Deke’s parents be able to set aside their own anger to support their son?

If you answered no to any of those questions, you’ve obviously never seen this show before.

This two-parter is pretty much the epitome of a typical Highway to Heaven episode. It’s earnest, heartfelt, well-intentioned, and there’s isn’t a moment of cynicism to be found. It’s the type of episode where Jonathan tells two snotty teenage boys that they shouldn’t park in a handicapped spot and, when the boys ignore him and go into a nearby bookstore, God turns their car upside down. (Plus, they get a ticket!) Even the episode’s title, which refers to the old-saying about making lemonade whenever life gives you lemons, pretty sums up Highway to Heaven‘s unapologetically positive outlook. At the same time, it’s also an episode that, because it is so earnest, won’t take anyone by surprise. If you can’t guess how this episode is going to end, I can only assume that you’ve never watched television or a movie before.

Predictable as it may be, it’s still an effective episode, largely because it is so unashamed of being sentimental and heartfelt. You do have to wonder just how exactly Deke, Jr. managed to become a competition-worthy gymnast in what appears to have just been a matter of weeks but still, this is a case where the good intentions make up for the rough spots.

Next week, Jonathan and Mark help an industrialist who thinks that he is King Arthur. Who does the grail serve?