Bulldog, I think you should post the history on this board as well. You should make it a sticky post at the very top.
Begining
Saved By The Bell began as Good Morning Miss Bliss on NBC in the Facts Of Life timeslot in 1987. Since the ratings were low, NBC took a pass on the show. Soon after it its pilots air on NBC, The Disney Channel picked it up to air on thier channel for 13 episodes in 1988 for a winter spring run. In the pilot episode on NBc, Miss Bliss was a newlywed and the cast included a super serious character played by Brian Austin Green and a non-geeky Jaleel White (Urkeel from Family Matters).
The pilot episode on NBC was cast almost entirly different from the show we know now. Brian Austin Green, Jaleel White and almost all other characters were dropped when the show moved to The Disney Channel. On The Disney Channel, Miss Bliss was a widow and the characters of Zach, Lisa and Screech were added. This is the first of many changes with SBTB.
GMMB
The setting for Good Morning Miss Bliss was at JFK Junior High School in Indianapolis, IN. The schools principal was of course Mr. Belding but in this show he had a pricipals assistant, Milo. The schools most popular teacher was Miss Bliss. Miss Bliss`s best friend was drama and art teacher Tina Palidrino.
The students included Zach, Lisa, Screech, Mikey, and Nikki. Mikey was a lot like Zach in SBTB. He and Zach were schemers always with a plan. Nikki was exactly like Jesse in SBTB. She was into helping the enviroment and saving the frogs. Screech still was still a goofball but in my opinion he was pertrayed a little more smarter and not dumbed down for comedy. Good morning Miss Bliss was a more serious show.
In GMMB the teachers took thier jobs seriously and while the principal cared, the big bopper kept his distance. The Main focus was on Miss Bliss and her dedication to her students. The students antics took second stance while the teachers, ecspecially Miss Bliss came first. They were funny but not useless like in SBTB. When the shows run on The Disney Channel ended, Disney decided not to renew the show.
The Decision About SBTB
The show was produced by Peter Engel, and William F. Phillips (Executive in Charge of Production). Its original concept was thought by Brandon Tarenkoff with NBC who based it on his expirence with one of his teachers from elementry school. After Disney `s decision not to renew, a second look was taken at GMMB by NBC and a few changes were made. NBC decided to add the show for its Saturday Morning Linup making it the first live action show to premier in the weekend morning timeslot geared towards kids.
The show was renamed Saved By The Bell and was set in Pacific Palisades, Calfornia (southwest of Los Angeles and Santa Monica). It premiered August 20, 1989 in primetime. Saved by the Bell aired twice in primetime (once on August 20, and once later) before settling into its Saturday morning timeslot starting on September 9, 1989. Zach, Screech, Mr. Belding and Lisa were the only characters kept from the oringinal show. The characters of Jesse Spano , Kelly Kapowski and A.C. Slater were added to the cast, all to attend Bayside High with thier principal Mr. Belding and a whole slew of zany teachers like Mrs. Culpepper.
With the absence of Miss Bliss the shows focus turned to Zach and his friends with the teachers taking second. Saved By The Bell followed Zach and the gang for four seasons following thier freshman year through thier Senior year (1989-93). It grew to enormous popularity and featured thier summer job at Lisa parents summer resort and a Hawaiian stlye movie at Kellys Grandfathers resort.
The Tori Episodes
In the shows senior year a change was made. Kelly Kapowski portrayed by Tiffani (Amber) Thiessen and Jessie portrayed by Elizabeth Berkely both decided to leave the show to persue other projects. To make it appear as if Tiffani and Elizabeth or Kelly and Jessie never left the show, a few tricky manuevers were made by the producers. Kelly went to Paris on a modeling adventure and Tori Scott the tough biker chick appeared as a new student at Bayside. She quickly made friends with Lisa when she helped her with the fall ball and made enimies with Zach when she bailed and then rescued a project they had together. Tori`s character was in my opinion, the perfect character to choose if wanting to replace a character. She was very different from Kelly and Jessie and her personality did`nt make her character the sole reason for being there seem like a replacement.
Truth be told, Saved By The Bell actually had two senior years. One with Kelly and Jessie and the other with Tori Scott Many people wonder why in the graduation episode Tori was absent. The truth is the graduation episode was filmed before the " Tori episodes". The two senior seasons ran on the same day to make it appear as if Kelly and Jessie were still there with Tori, they just had different classes or something. The producers made sure it did`nt appear like the world of Bayside High changed.
The College Years
At The end of Savd By The Bell it appeared as though the gang would all attend different colleges but in true Saved By The Bell fashion Zach, Slater, Screech and Kelly all attended California University (Cal U) together. The show was introduced with the primetime airing of the SBTB graduation episode. In the pilot episode Kelly was absent and a character, Danielle Marks, portrayed by Essence Atkins, was in her place. In the first episode Kelly was not a part of the cast. She did`nt join the show till the second episode.
The College Years included three new characters. Mike was the resident former football player R.A. (Being a part of the NFL was also true for him in real life) and drama queen Alex and studious rich girl Leslie were Kelly`s roomates. The show ran for 18 epsisodes but was cancelled due to its low primtime ratings. The show ended with Zach propsing to Kelly. After the shows end a movie named Wedding In Las Vegas followed featuring the wedding of Zach and Kelly and the events leading up to it. Saved By The Bell lasted for five years and a little over 100 episodes. But even with The College Years over, Saved By The Bell was not over yet.
The New Class
Recognizing Saved By The Bells popularity, the producers of the show decided to continue with a new set of students and renamed the show: Saved By The Bell: The New Class. The show kept Mr. Belding as the schools principal but changed the inside look of the school. After the first seasons run it was decided to add Screech back to the show to help boost ratings. Dustin Diamond(Screech) joined the show during the second season and became a principal in training at Bayside High. The shows first cast was entirely different from its last. Many changes took place with The New Class. Its lack of consitincy, reused plot lines and wannabe characters made the show unpopular with SBTB`s oringinal fansBut despite its low ratings and few devoted fans, this show stretched on seven seasons. (I do see The New Class as an asset because it brought on new fans to the original bell)
SBTB Lives On
Even though Saved By The Bell is no longer on the air, fans can still get a fix in a lot of ways. TBS shows SBTB four times a day. Saved By The Bell merchandise can be purchased on e-Bay . You can find everything form videos to bath sets with Zackberry Body Wash. The most recent and exciting news since SBTBs run on NBC is the release of SBTB on DVD through Lions Gate Entertainment and includes seasons one and two. Lions Gate is planning on also releasing seasons two and three in the near future. Peter Engel who will always be the force behind Bell has unfortunatly just proclaimed in a recent interview with SBTB: Trivia that he does not think the cast will get together in the near future for a reunion due to thier busy schedules. This is unfortunate but afterall the Andy Griffeth show was on in the 1950`s and they are just now having a reunion special! That fact right there gives me hope that I will one day see a reunion special on NBC.
Sources
Marias Saved By The Bell Site
The Saved By The Bell Websource.
My Own Knowledge and Books.
By: Carrie
