Saved by the Bell

Saved by the Bell was a popular teen sitcom which ran from 1989 to 1993 and built a large, loyal fanbase. Its original incarnation, Good Morning, Miss Bliss (1987), starred Hayley Mills as the good-natured Miss Carrie Bliss who oversaw later Saved by the Bell cast Lark Voorhies, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and Dustin Diamond as well as other students. Good Morning, Miss Bliss would later be retitled Saved by the Bell.

Trivia

• In 1993 a spinoff series was created entitled Saved by the Bell: The New Class which although set at Bayside High, featured an entirely different cast of teens. Mr. Belding remained the principal, and an adult Screech later joined him as administrative assistant. Belding later worked as a mall security guard. The New Class ran from 1993 until 2000.
• At the end of the show's first season, NBC boldly sold the series off into syndication with the Miss Bliss episodes included to pad out syndication package. The Miss Bliss episodes, featured a new opening sequence in line with the Saved by the Bell opening sequence, also included introductions by Zack that establish the show as part of the Saved by the Bell universe, despite the numerous continuity problems between the two shows.
• The Miss Bliss episodes took place at John F. Kennedy Junior High School in Lafayette, Indiana. The Saved by the Bell setting for Bayside High was in Palisades, California.
• The reason for the change in setting is because Good Morning, Miss Bliss was originally on The Disney Channel. When the show was cancelled by Disney, NBC got it and the show was reborn as Saved by the Bell. Because of this, the only Miss Bliss cast members to appear on Saved by the Bell were Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Lark Voorhies, Dustin Diamond, & Dennis Haskins.
• The show dealt with "real teen social issues" such as drug use, drinking and driving, homelessness, financial issues, divorce, first love and love lost, graduating, college, sibling rivalry, taking responsibilites for one's actions, being bullied, death, and environmental issues. Sometimes in the pursuit of such social significance, the show lapsed into periods of unintentional comedy. For example, in one episode, Zack takes a sip of beer and then immediately afterwards crashes a car into a telephone pole.
• In another startlingly true-to-life episode, a stressed-out Jessie resorts to caffeine pill abuse in order to manage her school work and committment to the singing trio with Kelly and Lisa. Ever the concerned boyfriend, Slater tries to convince her to stop. The thrill of the pill proves too strong, however, and it is only after an emotional breakdown ("I'm so excited, I'm so excited, I'm so... scared!") that Jessie recognizes she has a problem.
• At every possible opportunity, Slater would spontaneously break into dance. This can be evidenced during an episode where Zack and Slater were both pursuing the new girl in school, and later got into an altercation at The Max over a bowl of punch. When Zack pours punch down Slater's shirt, Slater shows his surprise by pop-locking as the punch runs down his back.
• Despite his character being known for his blond hair, Gosselaar is actually brunette. Although born with fair hair, like most kids his hair transitioned to darker roots. Throughout his years as Zack, his hair was painfully bleached to achieve the blonde hair. Gosselaar's hair color on NYPD Blue is in fact closer to his real hair color.
• The character of Lisa Turtle was originally written as a Jewish-American, but producers loved Lark's audition that the character was re-written as an African American.
• The addition of Tori and the unexplained disappearances of Kelly and Jesse are known to fans as the 'Tori Years.'
• Berkley and Thiessen both auditioned for the role of Kelly Kapowski, the execs behind the show adored both girls so wrote the role of Jessica Spano just for Berkley.
• Zack would often break the fourth wall, ostensibly freezing time by proclaiming, "Time out!" and making a "T" gesture with his hands. The other characters on screen would "freeze" while Zack directly addressed the audience on whatever was happening and even occasionally manipulated the scene. One instance involved him using his cell phone to order flowers, seemingly suggesting that time only froze for those present in the room. In one episode Zack avoided being punched by freezing time, this was the only time he would ever do it.
• Numerous fansites have arisen which have portrayed the character of Screech in an explicitly homosexual light. The most notorious of these is the now-defunct DustinDiamond.com, against which the actual Dustin Diamond filed litigation, although he would eventually lose the case. He has also been the victim of numerous accounts of harassment, both in person and on various forums on the Internet, based on his role as Screech.