The longest-running Saved by the Bell TV present may truly be the least recognized. It’s not streaming in full, it’s laborious to search out on bodily media, and it may not even be thought-about SBTBcanon. However Saved by the Bell: The New Class saved the Bayside story occurring Saturday- morning NBC lengthy after Zack, AC, Jessie, and the remainder of the unique Saved by the Bell gang graduated. Right here’s the lowdown on the little-remembered spinoff.
1. It was the longest-running present within the Saved by the Bell franchise.
Whereas the unique Saved by the Bell ran for 4 seasons and 86 episodes, its 2020 revival ran for 2 seasons, and the spinoff Saved by the Bell: The School Years ran for only one, Saved by the Bell: The New Class lasted seven seasons and 143 episodes, taking the franchise into a brand new millennium.
2. Mr. Belding was an everyday character all seven seasons, and Screech was one for six seasons.
Dennis Haskins is credited for all 143 episodes of The New Class, reprising his half as Mr. Belding, principal of Bayside. Dustin Diamond joined the forged in Season 2 — within the aptly titled “The Return of Screech” — as Screech returns to the college as Mr. Belding’s assistant.
3. Acquainted faces like Bianca Lawson and Sarah Lancaster have been collection regulars.
The present modified up its core forged of scholars continuously, however Chuck star Sarah Lancaster and Fairly Little Liars star Bianca Lawson overlapped within the Season 2 roster.
Different collection regulars over time included future All My Kids star Natalia Cigliuti, a pre-One Tree Hill Lindsey McKeon, R&B boy-bander Anthony Harrell, future Daring and the Stunning star Ashley Tesoro, musician Richard Lee Jackson (brother of Jonathan Jackson), future U.S. Supreme Court docket clerk Isaac Lidsky, and the late Sense8 actor Christian Oliver.
4. Many unique Saved by the Bell stars made cameos on The New Class.
O.G. Saved by the Bell characters Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), A.C. Slater (Mario Lopez), and Lisa Turtle (Lark Voorhies) all popped up in The New Class’ Season 2 finale, “Goodbye Bayside: Half 2,” to avoid wasting the college from demolition. And within the Season 4 finale, “Fireplace on the Max: Half 2,” Slater returned to bid farewell to a beloved hangout for Bayside college students.
5. Huge-name actors have been as soon as New Class visitor stars.
Hollywood stars James Marsden, Taraji P. Henson, Milo Ventimiglia, Tara Reid, and Gabrielle Union all had visitor elements on the present. Marsden was going by Jimmy on the time, and Henson was such an unknown that she was forged to play “Woman #3” in a single episode.
6. Paperback novels introduced The New Class to the printed web page.
Writer Beth Cruise wrote novels for Saved by the Bell: The New Class after doing the identical for the unique Saved by the Bell. Ten New Class books hit bookshelves between 1994 and 2005, with titles like Spilling the Beans and Franken-Bobby!
7. All seven seasons got here out on DVD… although they may be laborious to search out now.
Picture Leisure launched all seven seasons of Saved by the Bell: The New Class on DVD in 2005. Nevertheless, the DVD units appear to be out of print, and third-party listings on Amazon go as much as $250 per set.
8. The Saved by the Bell revival didn’t deal with The New Class as canon.
When the Saved by the Bell revival debuted on Peacock in 2020, govt producer Franco Bario — a producer for the franchise for the reason that days of the Saved by the Bell predecessor Good Morning, Miss Bliss — advised TVLine that the revival wouldn’t pay The New Class a lot consideration.
“We don’t actually take care of The New Class,” he stated on the time. “I did the primary three seasons of The New Class, after which I left ‘the group.’ The New Class was [practically] a brand new class yearly. It wasn’t, I don’t suppose, a part of the DNA of the [revival].”