My thoughts on the College Years

[upsididus]

I remember watching this show first run as a fifth grader. It was clearly an improvement over the original series (although that's not saying much). The loss of ice queens Lisa and Jessie was certainly a vast improvement. It would have been even better if they dumped Slater as well, upon further reflection. Anne Tremko (Leslie) was quite a hottie. Even then I thought she was quite good looking. The other was only about average but a much better character than either Lisa or Jessie to be sure. Of course the whole idea of Screech being in this series was ridiculous. He was valedictorian. He would have gone to one of the finest schools in the country. Even if he was poor (and this had never been suggested before) he would have gotten a full tuition scholarship to some place much better than Cal U. The writing was clearly better for this show too, I even remember an episode where an attractive girl preferred Screech to Zack, something actually quite believable but never attempted in the original show. Unfortunately, like many episodes of Saved by the Bell, where Zack starts dating a random girl, Screech never breaks up with this woman, but conversely we never see her again. Am I remembering that correctly? Hooking Screech up with Leslie would have been interesting. Any thoughts on that? I remember there was one episode where Slater was berating Screech for being a screw-up. That one sucked.
Many here were probably disappointed that this one was cancelled after only one season. Not me though. This allowed Screech to return to Bayside in the vastly superior Saved by the Bell New Class, which was a better show than the original series and the College Years combined, which picked up tremendously after he came back (in a situation that may have been even more ludicrous than how he ended up at Cal U. , and certainly was when he stayed on for 2,3,4,5, and possibly 6 seasons(depending on how you see the last 2 seasons, as they were all filmed as one)).
Does anyone here remember the episodes of the 3rd season of the New Class where Screech, Mr. Belding and the students from that year returned to Cal U, sans all the regulars of the College Years other than Screech? Those episodes were quite good. At the end of one of them, Screech and the Bayside students are about to get slimed by Screech's old frat brothers. Screech thanks the Bayside gang and (correctly) refers to them as his real friends, in contradistinction to his former frat brothers. Personally, I would have thought that scene would have been even more effective if Zack and Slater had appeared in that episode, but that's just me.

[Barb]

upsididus said:

I remember watching this show first run as a fifth grader. It was clearly an improvement over the original series (although that's not saying much). The loss of ice queens Lisa and Jessie was certainly a vast improvement. It would have been even better if they dumped Slater as well, upon further reflection. Anne Tremko (Leslie) was quite a hottie. Even then I thought she was quite good looking. The other was only about average but a much better character than either Lisa or Jessie to be sure. Of course the whole idea of Screech being in this series was ridiculous. He was valedictorian. He would have gone to one of the finest schools in the country. Even if he was poor (and this had never been suggested before) he would have gotten a full tuition scholarship to some place much better than Cal U. The writing was clearly better for this show too, I even remember an episode where an attractive girl preferred Screech to Zack, something actually quite believable but never attempted in the original show. Unfortunately, like many episodes of Saved by the Bell, where Zack starts dating a random girl, Screech never breaks up with this woman, but conversely we never see her again. Am I remembering that correctly? Hooking Screech up with Leslie would have been interesting. Any thoughts on that? I remember there was one episode where Slater was berating Screech for being a screw-up. That one sucked.
Many here were probably disappointed that this one was cancelled after only one season. Not me though. This allowed Screech to return to Bayside in the vastly superior Saved by the Bell New Class, which was a better show than the original series and the College Years combined, which picked up tremendously after he came back (in a situation that may have been even more ludicrous than how he ended up at Cal U. , and certainly was when he stayed on for 2,3,4,5, and possibly 6 seasons(depending on how you see the last 2 seasons, as they were all filmed as one)).
Does anyone here remember the episodes of the 3rd season of the New Class where Screech, Mr. Belding and the students from that year returned to Cal U, sans all the regulars of the College Years other than Screech? Those episodes were quite good. At the end of one of them, Screech and the Bayside students are about to get slimed by Screech's old frat brothers. Screech thanks the Bayside gang and (correctly) refers to them as his real friends, in contradistinction to his former frat brothers. Personally, I would have thought that scene would have been even more effective if Zack and Slater had appeared in that episode, but that's just me.

haha I'm sorry, but are you a fan? Cause it seems like you don't like much about the show. Sorry if I'm wrong, it just doesn't seem like it from your post.

[upsididus]

Are you familiar with the website "jump the shark?" It's one of the best Web sites out there, by far. The premise is people getting a chance to vote on whenever they felt just about any tv show ever made in the US (and a few foreign ones as well) went downhill. It is basically anything goes, with some comments being things the writers completely made up, but there are many very well thought out posts as well. Some are extremely funny, especially many day one votes. Needless to say the site is highly recommended (www.jumptheshark.com).
Am I a fan? Well, jump the shark brought the show back into memory, as did seeing the DVDs at stores. I certainly loved it as a kid (I was born in 1982). My favorite character was always Screech. I even owned his biography but lost it a long time ago.
I was able to get the DVDs out of the library recently, and watching a few episodes as an adult, the original show doesn't seem to be very good. The first season, with Max and Kevin the robot was probably good for about 2.5 out of 4 stars but that was about it. The rest you could keep. I never liked Jessie or Slater much. Lisa was hot when she was younger but puberty wasn't kind and her nastiness only got worse over time. Even as a kid I found it difficult to watch the Tori episodes (also the episodes at the beach).
I also began to watch the New Class episodes again for the first time, as I remember liking it, and being quite amazed that of all the shows companies could put on DVD, the New Class was chosen. I remember watching that show first run on Saturday morning until I "found religion in 9th grade (1997) and stopped watching TV on the Sabbath. I remember liking it quite a bit.
Watching it again on DVD, I must say I was quite impressed. I was much more interested and watched a lot more episodes than the original series. I agree with those who say the first season was the worst, but it was still great and up through the 3rd season it only seems to improve with time. The original kids (except Screech) were no legends of any kind and the New Class characters did just fine, such as Rachel Myers who was 10 times the Kelly that Kelly ever was (and Kelly was good!). I've seen up to about the middle of third season or so and it only seems to be getting better.
So to answer your question-am I a fan of the original series? No, not anymore. The College Years-maybe a little. The New Class-Absolutely. I hope I don't offend anybody on here-too much, anyway.