Every generation has their group of TV teeny-bopper high school kids that they all know and love. If you grew up watching Saved By The Bell, get ready to feel a little geriatric — the series debuted thirty years ago! We’ve been watching the exploits of Zack, Slater, Kelly, and company for over a quarter of a century. We’ve witnessed Zack try to get with Kelly, succeed and lose her to Jeff for years. We’ve cringed over Screech’s never-ending, borderline stalking of Lisa.
For many of us, despite us having our own friends, our Saturday morning pals were way cooler, even in reruns thirty years later. Here are 10 Things That Make No Sense About Saved By The Bell.
Tori And Jessie And Kelly Oh My
Though Kelly and Jessie were in the final graduation episode, they were nowhere to be found for several episodes during the gang’s last year at Bayside. This is because actresses Tiffani Thiessen and Elizabeth Berkley chose not to renew their contracts for the remaining episodes . Randomly inserted in their place was Tori Scott, a biker girl who fit in with the crew immediately. However, in the Tori episodes, there was no mention of Kelly or Jessie whatsoever.
The Move From Indiana
The show’s first season was actually called Good Morning, Miss Bliss. Most fans know that Mark-Paul Gosselaar even came out in character to introduce these episodes as their “junior high days.”
But when the show got retooled for high school, not only did we lose Miss Bliss, Mikey and Nikki, but Zack, Screech and Lisa magically moved to California from the Midwest. We also got Kelly and Jessie, the latter of whom was Zack’s next door neighbor since childhood — did she move from the Midwest too? Slater was the new kid on the block.
Why Is Screech Friends With Zack?
Screech and Zack grew up together, and that seems to be defining trait of their friendship. But even if you account for Zack needing help with homework and Screech needing help with social skills, the risk just isn’t worth the reward. All of Zack’s ridiculous schemes usually involve Screech risking bodily or emotional harm — not to mention infections, diseases, destruction of personal property, and even gambling a dog away. Being friends with a supposed cool kid just isn’t worth the aggravation.
Why Is Anyone Friends With Zack?
Screech’s symbiotic relationship with Zack is one thing, but what about the rest of the crew? They all have to deal with his antics and their repercussions. He’s got a life-size cardboard cutout of Kelly in his room, yet she eventually goes out with him. He sabotaged Jessie’s aspirations to be class president just to get a free trip to Washington. That’s just the tip of the iceberg — being friends with Zack generally means you’ll have your clothes sold, your privacy invaded, or even convinced that you have a deadly disease and you have to leave town.
Driver’s Ed In A Golf Cart
In the Season 2 episode, “Driver’s Education,” Zack and Slater again compete for Kelly’s affections. This time, Zack’s afraid Slater’s going to get the girl because he’ll have his license before Zack does. Zack does what any paranoid sociopath would do — sabotages the Driver’s Ed car. But that’s not the weirdest part; for some strange reason, Driver’s Ed is not only part of the school curriculum, but it’s taught using a golf cart! Carts are fun to drive up and down the links with, but they don’t really operate like a real car.
Jeff’s A Criminal
During “The Last Dance” we met Kelly’s boss, Jeff. While Zack is all kinds of bad, he’s not a low-life cheating slimeball kind of bad. All young Kelly wanted to save up enough money to buy a dress for the costume ball.
She got a job at the Max, which all of the sudden had a college-aged hunk as a manager. Not only did he not care that Kelly had a boyfriend her own age, but Jeff decided that dating someone underage isn’t so bad. After stealing Kelly from Zack, a few episodes later, Jeff caught was cheating on her at a night club.
Zack Morris Is A Criminal
You read that headline right. Growing up, plenty of fans just thought he was a merry prankster. But upon careful scrutinizing, Zack Morris is a sociopath who doesn’t care who he hurts, how he hurts them, and what laws he breaks to do it. One scheme alone involved selling counterfeit hats, kidnapping, false imprisonment, and impersonating the said kidnapped person, all to win a bet with the guys from Valley. And that’s all just in one episode!
Falling For Zack’s Shenanigans/Letting Him Get Away With Anything
Not only is it hard to understand why Zack’s never been expelled, but it’s even harder to understand how everyone falls for his antics, and continues to put up with them all the time. He’s allowed to assume responsibilities for big important projects, like putting the yearbook together — which he turned into a video dating tape, complete with all of the girls’ phone numbers!
Even when Zack gets caught, like when he has Screech dress up as an old lady and record the girls in the bathroom singing, he turned it around to get them and encouraged them to become the next girl supergroup — Jessie’s addiction to caffeine pills be damned.
We Need To Talk About Kevin
While he seems completely rudimentary looking back, Screech’s robot Kevin was far ahead of its time. It’s the early nineties and Screech was apparently genius enough to build an automated robot butler and friend named Kevin.
But despite being a fully functional robot, Kevin was essentially discarded of like Anakin tossed 3PO, and never heard from again.
Belding In The Bedroom
Only in sitcomland could a principal or any other educator be allowed to have, or even want, the kind of relationship Belding had with the students at Bayside. He regularly interrupting classes, and even used the same bathroom as the boys! He also decided to take them on the class field trip after his brother bailed on them. But the strangest thing Belding ever did was head to Zack’s after a fight with Mrs. B. Even more off-the-wall was watching him convince Zack and Slater to stand their ground in their own arguments with Kelly and Jessie. It seems completely wrong even by 1990s standards.
Next: The Myers-Briggs® Types Of Saved By The Bell Characters
