Top 10, er 4 Saved By The Bell Episodes

August 28, 2003

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	"It's all right, cause we're saved by the bell"...so simple, yet so true

Saved By The Bell has dominated my life since 1989. The first episode I ever watched I just stumbled across on TV. It was the episode where there is a dance contest at The Max. Jessie fears she is too tall, Slater is mullet-ified, Screech pines for Lisa and she eventually chooses him as a dancing partner. Casey Kasem even had a cameo in this episode. As irony had it, Lisa and Screech end up winning. I was immediately hooked.

What other show started the whole TNBC trend? What other show started the careers of Baily of from Party of Five and Veronica Vaughn, not to mention Tori Spelling pre-impants? What Saved by the Bell did for Casey Kasem is the equivalent to what Pulp Fiction did for John Travolta. I think the show peaked when Zack et all were supposed to be in grades 10 and 11 since most of the episodes below are from that year. I am also not including any of the Tori episodes since Jessie and Kelly were "missing" from those episodes. Sadly, none of the Malibu episodes made the final cut.

If you have never watched or don't like Saved By The Bell, I pity you. That being said you should probably stop reading this since it will not make any sense to you. This started out as a Top 10 list of episodes but the more reruns I watched and the more I thought about it, I think there are truly only four standout episodes and the some that go into this "Not quite great but much better than normal" category; basically honorable mentions, and the rest are either average or bad. Well, Without further ado...

HONORABLE MENTIONS
Fatal Distraction (grade 9)
Zack bugs a slumber party that Kelly, Lisa, and Jessie have to find out what Kelly really thinks of him but the girls discover the bug and plan their revenge.

	"Well, if it isn't Max Power"...sort of, Max and Screech Powers

Cream for a Day (grade 9)
Kelly wins the Homecoming queen nomination but frets over a small zit that has appeared on her face. Screech develops a cream that makes zits disappear like magic. The cream has one side effect that is discovered a bit too late; it turns skin purple. Kelly stands before the school to claim her award with a purple face. Slater works to end a losing streak the football team has had lately due to Valley High School.

Beauty and the Screech (grade 9)
Beauty and the Screech (grade 9) Kelly is doing poorly in Chemistry and unless she does well on an upcoming test she will be unable to go to a George Michael's concert which she has tickets for. Zack talks Screech into tutoring Kelly. Kelly goes to Screech's room and studies with him, and learns about Screech's robot Kevin and all of his unusual hobbies. Kelly does learn chemistry and bonds with Screech in a way that Zack did not have in mind. You know, this episode is good but the plot twist was the best. What plot twist? The robot that lives with Screech.

Miss Bayside (grade 10)
Zack bets with Slater that he can assure that anyone he wishes wins the Miss Bayside contest. Slater agrees to the bet and chooses Screech as the person he wishes to see as Miss Bayside. Jessie finds the whole beauty contest a sexist.

1-900 Crushed (grade10)
Zack decides to start a 900 advice line called teenline as part of a scheme to make money. Lisa answers the calls giving her own brand of advice on relationships, but she quickly becomes upset with how Zack is treating her. Zack confuses Kelly and her sister and a misunderstanding ensues.

Driver's Education (grade 10)
Zack tries to rig things so that Slater will fail his drivers ed test but the plan backfires, then Slater and Kelly try to some crazy scheme. Zack eventually learns a lesson.

	If only Jonny practiced what he preached

No Hope with Dope (grade 11)
Jonny Dakota, a rock star know for his anti-drug stance comes to Bayside to film an anti-drug commercial. Jonny (like everyone else) soon falls for Kelly and he invites Kelly et all to a party. Uh oh, can Jonny be too good to be true?

Pipe Dream (grade 11)
A biology project focusing on a pond near Bayside results in oil being found. An oil company moves in to sign a contract to drill for the oil. Zack and the gang decide that such drilling would ruin Bayside and hurt the wildlife in the area so they speak out against the plan.

All in the Mall (grade 11)
Zack finds $5000 at the mall and plans to use the money to buy tickets to a U2 concert which he can scalp to make even more money. The lines for the tickets proved longer than anyone had in mind. The money is returned to someone at the mall after much thought.

Check Your Mate (grade 11)
A Russian foreign exchange student from Valley comes to Bayside and he is a master chess player. Screech is good at chess as well. Zack and Slater bet with rivals from Valley High School that Screech will beat the Russian in an upcoming chess game. Ultimately the bet is cancelled on the match and then Screech and the Russian play just for themselves.

THE FINAL FOUR
Drum Roll please....
No one can deny that those episodes were all great episodes but there are 4 episodes that blow these away. Typically, Saved By The Bell maybe on in the background while you're doing other things, but if any of these episodes air, then I've always been glued to the TV. It's like those times when you're flipping through channels and you catch a bit of the movie and you just have to continue watching no matter what (e.g. Tombstone). So, that being said, in reverse order...

	As good as Belding was, I sometimes wonder if Mr. Tuttle would have made a better principal

4. The Friendship Business (grade 9)
A Teacher, Mr. Tuttle, decides to teach about economics by allowing students to experience real world business via their own businesses. Zack and the gang form a group known as Friendship Bracelets and they sell bracelets to promote friendship. All is going well for the business until Zack becomes too bossy. Jessie and some others break away from Zack and form their own business buddy bands. Lisa who originally made the friendship bracelets for Zack quits and Screech leaves with her. The dream sequences of Lisa being exhausted after making so many products for Zack is classic. Zack pretends to go out of business which causing his competition to overproduce because they believe they have no competition. Zack then spreads word that principal Belding wears buddyband products made by his competition which causes everyone to demand a refund. Ultimately the gang sits down at the Max and a new product love cuffs is born and Zack shares with his teacher that sometimes teamwork and friendship is better than just focusing on the bottomline. Other products that students made for the class include a pocket protector which the nerds thought everyone would want.

What can you say about this episode? It has everything. The gang teams up, then breaks up. Each person picks sides. Zack is ostracized. Jessie shows her "get it at all costs" attitude. The entire concept of buddy bands is ludicrous. The video that Slater, Kelly, and Jessie use to promote buddy bands is horrendous. Zack and the group learn a lesson. Mr. Belding is used to almost plot perfection. There is a dream sequence which is phenomenal. And if all that isn't enough, Mr. Tuttle really stands out in this episode. In the history of media there have been only a handful of great teachers, you know, the kind that you felt you could hang out with but would also teach you about academics and life (e.g. Mr. Feeny from Boy Meets World, Mr. Shoop from Summer School, Mr. Clark from Lean On Me, Mr. Escalante from Stand and Deliver, Mr. Moore from Head of the Class)? Tuttle easily is par with all of these great TV Teachers.

	"They may have the cooler Belding, but we got the better one."

3. The Fabulous Belding Brothers (grade 10)
Belding's brother Rod joins the faculty as a substitute teacher and promises to take the kids on a white water rafting trip only to disappoint them later by bailing to spend the evening with a stewardess; it's a good thing the "better Belding" steps up to the plate.

There are a LOT of good moments to this overlooked episode. I think this is the first appearance of anyone in Mr. Belding's family. It marked the introduction of Richard's brother Rod, well-played by Ed Blanchard (the dad on Malibu, CA, sadly his last role according to imdb.com). Everyone in the school is excited about a white-water rafting trip. This time the producers even upped the budget to have some extras in addition to the twins, the black dork, the frizzy haired dork, and ox the jock. Bailey is even in this episode. Zack realizes that Mr. Belding, although a dork, really cares about the kids. I think one of the funniest scenes is when this fat kid runs into the gym/classroom/driver's ed room/home-ec kitchen/auditorium and yells "hey everybody, the buses are here." That scene just sticks with me because it's so over the top. It must have been at least 15 takes, each time the director asking for more enthusiasm. Plus, this fat kid isn't in any other episodes, he's just a 1-time extra. Classic SBTB.

2. Rocumentary (grade 11)
In this episode, Zack's band, Zack Attack, happen to be rehearsing in Zack's garage. It turns out that as they're rehearsing, famous record mogul Brian Fate walks by and offers the kids a contract. This leads to fame, fortune, ruined friendships, rock bottom, and eventual triumph.

This episode shows you the greatness of this show and it was tough to make this #2 instead of #1. Do you realize that VH1 made a hit show based entirely on this concept? Without this episode, VH1 Behind the Music would never have been born. The episode marks the 2nd appearance by Casey Kasem. It makes up and entirely different story/storyline. 90% of the show is fictionalized. The best band name they could think of was Zack Attack. It had the greatest song in the history of Saved By The Bell: Friends Forever. Zack's hair in the band is so obscene and the sheer absurdity of all of them playing instruments. I know it's tough to make it looks like people are playing instruments but they might as well just got a bunch of fischer price instruments. That being said, still a great episode.

	I was excited for Jessie but scared for her as well

1. Jessie's Song (grade 10)
Jessie is overachieving (as usual) and ends up having to study and work on a music/dance video (rehearse and do the costumes) and resorts to taking over the counter pills to keep her awake. At first, no one thinks it's a problem, everyone that is except for A.C. In the end, Zack stumbles into problem and turns it into a one-man intervention.

Hands down, the best episode of Saved by the Bell, ever. This episode is so good. It gives you everything in a classic SBTB episode. Zack's scheme (the music group). An important message (even over-the-counter drugs are bad). Music number ("Put your mind to it, you can do it..."). Screech (dancing in the music video). Montage (the Kelly, Jessie, Lisa music video). The Emmy Scene ("I'm so excited, I'm so excited, I'm so...scared"). A ridiculous scene ("Remember when we snuck out and saw E.T.? And we were scared?"). Plus, to top it all off, an awesome title for the episode: Jessie's Song? That cracks me up. Can you imagine the faces of the cast when they read this script. Most sitcom stars never get an episode this good.

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