I recently reactivated my Peacock subscription for two reasons. One was for a WWE Pay Per View. The other was because of the second season of Saved by the Bell being released. I watched the whole 12-episode season in a single morning. For those who may not know, I watched the original 80s/90s Saved by the Bell when it was current. Rebooting fan favorite shows from the 80s and 90s is all the rage these days–and this is said as a joke in two separate episodes–though clearly, the executive producers learned from the mistakes of other reboots. For one, this reboot clearly isn’t trying to cash-grab on old school nostalgia. It simply tries to tell a completely new story and that is why it works so well.

The first season opens by bringing Daisy, DeVante, Aisha and other students from an inner city high school to Bayside High School, which is located in Beverly Hills. Here they meet Mack, Lexi and Jamie where the cultural and economic clash is further compounded by a generational clash: AC Slater and Jessie from the original show are back as teachers working at Bayside. Zack Morris married high school sweetheart Kelly and they are Mack’s parents. He’s governor of California during the first season and they do make some appearances. Lisa makes a brief appearance toward the end of the first season.

One of the things the Reboot does well that the Original mostly stayed away from was weaving social and cultural issues into the show in a way that’s both informative and intentional without coming off as patronizing or condescending. For example, Aisha becomes Bayside’s star Quarterback in Season 1. DeVante, who lives with his grandmother wrestles with his pride when he dates a black girl who happens to come from a rich family in Season 2. Little moments like those really brought out the Reboot’s charm.

 

 

 

Noticably left unmentioned in the first season of the Reboot is Screech, who was played by Dustin Diamond.

Diamond became something of an internet pop culture icon in the early days of the internet (I never saw the appeal personally). He was several years younger than his co-stars and in his mind, he could never relate with the others. The one-sided rift between himself and the others went public when he wrote a tell-all book in the early 2000s in which he basically alleged everyone else was sleeping with each other and everyone but him is an idiot or full of themselves or both.

Of course, the others vehemently denied Diamond’s alliegations. In a joint statement, the others stated Diamond kept to himself when they weren’t shooting scenes and made no effort to interact with them. Staff who worked on the show including one of the Executive Producers dismissed Diamond’s tell-all book as “inaccurate”. It didn’t stop some from buying the book though. Diamond’s estranged relationship with his former castmates split fans of the cast because people wanted to believe both sides were right.

The problem is Dustin Diamond was wrong–and a liar. The reason he wrote the book was purely for money.

You see, unlike his coworkers Diamond’s life after his time on the show ended sucked. Mario Lopez, who played Slater on the show has been a co-host of Inside Edition for 20 years in comparison. The others found work inside and outside Hollywood over the years and as was revealed in the Reboot, they literally haven’t changed since the original show’s run.

Before I forget. Dustin Diamond passed away from a medical issue last February about a month after learning he had cancer. He was 44 years old. Despite what he did to his former costars, they ran a tribute to his character at the end of the premiere of Season 2.

 

 

Speaking of Season 2.

The final line of Season 1 involved Macl uttering the forboding phrase “What’s the Corona Virus?” while everyone is looking at their smartphones. Season 1’s filming likely began before the Pandemic shut down the world and that line was in acknowledgement of the currently ongoing pandemic. Season 2 opens with a more noted acknowledgement of the ongoing Pandemic with Mack indirectly advertising the vaccines by stating he’s fulling vaccinated when Daisy raises concerns over the return to school in-person.

 

One of the things that I really like about the Reboot is while it doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel or be a “sequel” in the strictest sense it has the benefit of having the the original cast at its disposal. Season 2 brought back one more cast member from the original show who was mostly absent: Lisa, who is played by Lark Voorhees. During her one appearance in Season 1, it’s revealed she’s a fashon designer and is Paris when the others video chat with her for a few minutes.

In Season 2 she appears in person. Apparently, Lark felt snubbed when Season 1 was filmed and more so given the others had significant roles in the Reboot. While Zack and Lisa are Mack’s parents, Slater and Jessie work as teachers at Bayside. By the time Season 2 starts, Zack is no longer Governor of California. Bored to tears, he decides to go back to school–sort of–and ends up driving his son insane for a bit.

While Season 1’s main story was about Inner City kids intergrating into Bayside, Season 2’s main story involves the school’s longtime rivalry with Valley High. We see serious character developent frm Mack and Daisy in particular. Daisy has her first serious relationship with Gil, a nerdy transfer student who comes to Bayside when in-school learning resumes. He can’t put his finger on it but something about Gil rubs Mack the wrong way and he uses every trick and prank he knows to try to find out. Lexi and Jamie, who know Mack better than anyone intervene thinking Mack’s tacking things too far. Then it’s revealed in dramatic fashion Daisy’s boyfriend is really a spy from Valley High. So, it turns out Mack was right about GIl all along. Daisy gets her own measure of payback by beating Gil in an event at the Spirit Games at the end of the season.

Mack, who led Team Bayside from planning to the event threw Valley a curveball they didn’t see coming in the final event to win the event for their school. One interesting loose end from Season 2 that was teased and will probably be revisited in Season 3–let’s be honest, it will happen–is a potential pairing between Mack and Daisy. Lexi and Jamie set that ship so we’ll have to wait and see if it actually sails.

 

 

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