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Things Only Adults Notice About Saved By The Bell
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00:00Was Zack Morris, hero to Bayside High, actually a villain the whole time?
00:05Did he actually have superpowers?
00:07And what was up with Screech's creepy robot Kevin?
00:10We answer these burning questions and more with things only adults notice about Saved
00:15by the Bell.
00:16You could make a full-length documentary on the inconsistencies in Saved by the Bell,
00:21but the most jarring timeline mistakes are all a result of how the show started out as
00:25something very different than what it became.
00:27All right, what's going on?
00:30Nothing.
00:31What do you mean?
00:32Originally, the show was called Good Morning, Miss Bliss, and was built around Parent Trap
00:35star Hayley Mills as a teacher at John F. Kennedy Jr. High School in Indianapolis, and her students.
00:42When Miss Bliss was canceled after one season, the show was revamped into Saved by the Bell,
00:46which put the focus on the kids instead.
00:48The school's location was changed from Indiana to Bayside High in Los Angeles.
00:52And while Zack, Screech, Lisa, and Mr. Belding stuck around, the other characters, including
00:57Miss Bliss, were dropped.
00:58I hate to tell you this.
01:00Milo, please don't start a sentence that way.
01:03Everything else stayed the same, and that led to some illogical backstories later in
01:07the series.
01:08For example, Zack and Jessie often reminisce about their childhoods together as neighbors,
01:12when they likely lived more than 2,000 miles away from each other.
01:16Kelly Kapowski apparently went to junior high with the group as well, but we know that can't
01:20be true either.
01:21But it's also pretty weird that three kids and their principal all moved across the country
01:25to the same new school district at the same time.
01:29While Saved by the Bell had plenty of unrealistic antics and ridiculous plot points, the show
01:34was grounded in reality, more or less.
01:36I'm here to investigate an alien sighting.
01:38You really believe that there are people here from other planets?
01:41Well, they have to be somewhere.
01:44It definitely got weird, but almost everything that took place, however unlikely, could have
01:48actually happened, except for one major element, Zack Morris' bizarre ability to stop time.
01:55The timeout scenes mostly work as a narrative conceit, giving Zack a chance to speak to the
01:59audience directly about whatever is going on in the show.
02:02On more than one occasion, though, he actually interacts with the people and things around
02:05him while they're frozen in time, even using it at one point to dodge a punch thrown by
02:09another character.
02:11It's likely because of this that some people buy into the theory that Saved by the Bell is
02:14all part of Zack's imagination or dream world.
02:17How else can you explain Zack's mystical powers, his incredible luck, or his elite status within
02:22the school?
02:23When you compare his change from a junior high student in Indiana to the coolest kid at a
02:28California high school, the theory becomes even more plausible.
02:32Speaking of unexplained and incredibly implausible elements of Saved by the Bell, we really need
02:38to talk about Kevin.
02:39Unlike many of the nerds in Saved by the Bell, Screech never really seemed all that smart.
02:44With a 1,200 score on the SATs, he occupied a weird sort of in-between space for 90s nerds,
02:50and was usually more awkward than Brainy — except for the time he designed and built a living
02:55robot named Kevin, that is.
02:57The fact that Screech somehow created a full-on artificial intelligence is weird enough.
03:09But really, the problem here isn't the how.
03:12It's the why.
03:14Screech spends the entire series being justifiably dunked on by his crush, and being used as a
03:19pawn in the complicated schemes of his only friend, teenage con artist Zack Morris.
03:24With that as his social life, he somehow created a robot that, despite having intelligence,
03:29emotions, and all the other hallmarks of humanity, had no choice but to live in his bedroom and
03:34be his friend.
03:35Screech even made Kevin incapable of making any facial expressions other than smiling,
03:41which just adds to the creepiness of the whole situation.
03:44It could be worse, though.
03:45Being created to spend your entire life in Screech's bedroom listening to his jokes is bad enough,
03:50but at least he didn't use his weird talent for robotics to build a cybernetic Lisa Turtle
03:55to take the place of the real one.
03:57That we know of.
03:59It doesn't take an adult to notice that certain characters go missing throughout the seasons
04:03of Saved by the Bell.
04:04In fact, no matter what your age, you would have to be in pretty rough shape not to notice
04:08that Kelly and Jesse mysteriously vanish for about half the episodes in Season 4.
04:13It's only really as adults that we notice how scrambled Season 4 really was, and why there
04:18was actually a pretty good reason for it.
04:20For half of that season, we saw episodes with the new student, Tori, played by Leanna Creel.
04:25This was because, after shooting the Season 4 finale, the network ordered more episodes,
04:29shooting for the even 100 they'd need to get the show into syndication.
04:33Unfortunately for the producers, this happened during pilot season.
04:37As Mr. Belding himself, Dennis Haskins, explained in an interview,
04:40Kelly and Jesse actresses Tiffany Amber Thiessen and Elizabeth Berkley wanted to move on to
04:45other projects instead of coming back to Bayside for the TV equivalent of Summer School.
04:50To fill the void, the show brought in Creel, shot a 10-episode arc about Tori, and then crammed
04:54those episodes into the middle of the season where they hoped nobody would notice the change.
04:59While they certainly made some attempts at very special episodes, Saved by the Bell's track
05:04record of teaching its viewers actual lessons was spotty at best.
05:09More often than not, the show indulged in its fair share of fear-mongering, especially
05:13in regards to soft drugs.
05:15In the show's defense, the happy-go-lucky feel just wouldn't allow for an episode on
05:18heroin, but it's hard for an adult to take the drama surrounding caffeine pills seriously.
05:23I got hooked on caffeine pills so I could stay up and study.
05:27Not only did I hurt myself, I hurt my friends.
05:29This is really good stuff.
05:31The original plan for the infamous Jesse Song episode, however, was to warn kids about something
05:36a little stronger.
05:38According to the show's executive producer Peter Engel, the caffeine pills were originally
05:42supposed to be genuine methamphetamines.
05:45In his book I Was Saved by the Bell, Engel explained that NBC's Standards and Practices
05:49Department vetoed the decision and made them change the speed to standard-issue caffeine
05:54pills.
05:55As Engel wrote,
05:56We might as well have had Jesse getting addicted to Earl Grey, or breaking into the Max to snort
06:01coffee grounds.
06:03Saved by the Bell deserves some credit for its seemingly colorblind casting of its main
06:07actors, but it also wound up with some of the most insanely cringe-worthy moments when
06:12it turned its attention to race.
06:14Need an example?
06:15Just take a look at Running Zack, and try not to shudder when Zack's presentation begins.
06:20In the episode, the kids are assigned to do a report on their ancestry, and it does not
06:24go well.
06:26In addition to Lisa referring to the Underground Railroad as the original Soul Train, and Jesse
06:30freaking out over the reveal that her ancestors were slave traders, we have Zack.
06:36After learning that he has a distant Native American relative, Zack gives a jaw-droppingly
06:41racist presentation where he paints Screech's face with lipstick and has him wave around
06:45a tomahawk.
06:46Since this is Zack Morris, the teacher gives him a do-over rather than just failing him.
06:50So, Zack goes out and does some actual research, meets with a real Native American named Chief
06:55Henry, and then somehow becomes even more racist.
06:58Zack's second presentation is delivered in a full buckskin costume, complete with a war
07:03bonnet, and he refers to himself as Running Zack.
07:06The show obviously means well, but if your attempt to deal with a serious issue hinges on
07:10Screech doing racist vaudeville bits, maybe just stick to jokes about math tests.
07:15In general, kid shows exist within an innocent universe.
07:20Add in that Saved by the Bell aired in the late 80s and early 90s, and you have a perfect
07:24storm of sin-free entertainment.
07:26Adults, on the other hand, are jaded.
07:29We've been beaten down by the world and groomed into downtrodden cynics.
07:32If there's something sinister lurking in the shadows of Bayside, we'll spot it.
07:36Belding still wants us parading around in bathing suits.
07:39That's why we struggle to see Mr. Belding the way we used to.
07:43He used to be part of the gang, a well-meaning principal who took an interest in his students.
07:47Nowadays, it's pretty clear that he wouldn't last long as a principal, and might even end
07:51up on the news.
07:52Seriously, we have questions.
07:55We wonder why he's laying on Zack's bed, for instance.
07:57According to the show, this is perfectly normal behavior, and there were no consequences
08:01for it or any of Mr. Belding's other weirdly creepy actions.
08:05Like, say, wrestling with Slater, barging into the girls' locker room, and shutting down
08:10the school's attempt at actually educating children in order to deliver a moral lesson
08:14to exactly one of them.
08:16When we were kids, Zack was a true ladies' man.
08:21He could do no wrong.
08:22Whenever he gave a female character his unsolicited attention, it was a blessing, and the women
08:27of Bayside High should've thanked this golden-haired god for giving them the time of day.
08:32Today, however, a character like Zack probably couldn't exist as a hero.
08:36Even in the original series, there are a few moments where Zack's schemes went from innocent
08:40to practically criminal.
08:42Oh, I'm furious.
08:43But killing Zack isn't the answer.
08:45He'll just do it again.
08:47Take Model Students, for example, an episode in which Zack creepily takes unwelcomed photos
08:51of female students in swimsuits and uses them to create and sell a Girls of Bayside calendar.
08:57That's a plot better suited for a modern horror movie than a kids' TV show.
09:01Or even worse, the Zack tapes, where Zack learns to use subliminal messaging to get his
09:06way.
09:07Unfortunately for the women at Bayside High, Zack's way is to coerce women into relationships
09:12against their will through mind control.
09:14It might be played for laughs on the show, but that is a straight-up supervillain plot.
09:19It's no wonder that Jesse has to rally the entire school into one united force, bailing
09:23on all of classes they're supposed to be taking in order to stop him.
09:27It's basically Saved by the Bell endgame.
09:31The rules of acceptable behavior have changed alongside our growing social awareness and
09:35sensitivities.
09:36Zack and the kids watching him back in the Saved by the Bell era might not have known
09:40better, but we do.
09:42That's why, when watching this show as an adult, we might be hit with the nagging question,
09:47if this show was made today, would Zack be the bad guy?
09:50Knowing Mr. Morris' antics have definitely not aged well, but even back in the 90s, we
09:54knew Zack was flawed.
09:56If nothing else, he lies constantly about some pretty big things.
10:00I can't believe it, Zack Morris is dying.
10:04Fast forward a few years, and we've got plenty more disturbing behaviors that paint Zack as
10:08a pretty bad dude.
10:09When Wendy wins Zack in Date Auction, Zack ignores her, insults her, and shames her for
10:14being overweight.
10:16In Home for Christmas, he insults homeless people and develops a minor savior complex
10:20about one of them.
10:21He constantly bullies the kids in school and even mocks his friends.
10:25In Teen Line, the victim of his insults and social obliviousness was a young woman in a
10:30wheelchair.
10:31Whoa!
10:32You're in a wheelchair!
10:33But there's a reason he's so horrible, at least in the first half of every episode.
10:38All of those many mistakes that he made taught him lessons, and learning those lessons made
10:42him a better person.
10:43Still, it's hard to watch the way Zack treated others around him, and then forgive him simply
10:48because he learned it was wrong.
10:50But maybe we learned to be better people through Zack's horrible mistakes.
10:54If you're ever in doubt, just ask yourself what Zack Morris would do, and then try to
10:57do the opposite.
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