A ‘Saved by The Bell’ revival is coming with Mario Lopez and Elizabeth Berkley

Embed from Getty Images
I am not ashamed to say that I’m enjoying reboots of shows. I don’t expect high art, so I’m not disappointed, even if I don’t think the quality of the show is great. I’m looking for something relaxing that doesn’t require a ton of thinking. It might have to do with what a sh-tshow everything is right now, too. The shows are comforting because they involve familiar characters in predictable situations. I watched all of BH90210. I’ve seen a chunk of Fuller House and Will and Grace, and I’ll probably tune in to the first episode (at least) of Punky Brewster. Designing Women is coming, too! I missed Murphy Brown, so maybe I am partially responsible for its non-renewal. (I particularly love One Day at a Time, and am glad it’s going to get a fourth season on Pop TV.)

If you have been hoping to revisit Bayside High, you’re in luck, because NBC is bringing a reboot of Saved By the Bell to its streaming service! TVLine has more:

Saved by the Bell is getting revived at NBCUniversal’s forthcoming streaming service.

Original cast members Elizabeth Berkley and Mario Lopez will be back for the new episodes, which will hail from Tracey Wigfield (30 Rock, The Mindy Project). As for the plot, the revival will find California governor Zack Morris (!) in hot water for closing too many low-income high schools. When he suggests sending the affected students to the highest-performing schools in the state — including Bayside High — the influx of new students “gives the overprivileged Bayside kids a much-needed and hilarious dose of reality,” the logline reads.

Despite Zack’s presence in the show description, there’s currently no word on the potential return of his portrayer, Mark-Paul Gosselaar (who is about to star in ABC’s black-ish spinoff mixed-ish).

[From TVLine]

I find it odd that Zack seems to be the linchpin in this show, but Mark-Paul Gosselaar isn’t signed yet? And, I wonder if he does sign on, whether the producers will also be able to get Tiffani Thiessen to come back to play Kelly Kapowski-Morris. I doubt Dustin Diamond will participate. I haven’t heard much about Lark Voorhies since her mother revealed that Lark has bipolar disorder, but I hope that she’s doing well and that if she wants to participate, she does.

The show’s premise is strange and makes me cringe a bit. It sounds like the existence of privilege and who has it (Governor Zack and the Bayside kids) and who doesn’t (the students from low-income districts) is going to be played for laughs (but also serious drama!) so that the Bayside folks and Zack Learn Important Lessons. Ugh. Maybe it will be a lot more nuanced, but I doubt it. I also wonder how well the show will do on a streaming service. The Punky Brewster reboot is also going to be on Peacock, but are people going to shell out money for one more streaming account?

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

24 Responses to “A ‘Saved by The Bell’ revival is coming with Mario Lopez and Elizabeth Berkley”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. Rapunzel says:

    Will Jesse and Slater be working at Bayside? Will Mr. Belding be there? This is so vague.

  2. Chelly says:

    I personally am so tired of these remakes/reboots. And SBTB had like 5 spin-off shows in the 90s it became vomitrocious…hard pass

    • naomipaige99 says:

      I’ m with you. Enough is enough with all these remakes/reboots. I’m so not going to watch this. I didn’t even watch the new 90210 BS show. Ugh!

    • tealily says:

      Yeah, there is no way in hell I’ll watch this. But people watched Fuller House, so I guess there’s a market who didn’t get enough of a dumb show the first go ’round.

  3. Gil says:

    I’m not saying this was a high level drama but Elizabeth Berkley is a really really bad actress. I mean even as child I could tell her acting was trash. Zack the governor ? Because he was rich and white? This revival sounds like a big mess.

  4. Erinn says:

    Oh thank god that this gem of a show is coming back. Truly one of the classics of our time.

    I actually hated this show. And I can’t stand Mario Lopez. So I honestly kind of hope this just flops so they stop making these dumb reboots.

  5. Sierra says:

    Nope – loved the original but Mario is cancelled so won’t watch the reboot.

  6. Escondista says:

    Can we please move on?! This is the television equivalent of high school being your golden years.

  7. Rapunzel says:

    Read more details and Jesse and Slater will play parents? Don’t tell me they’re gonna be married.

  8. Becks1 says:

    I’m over the idea of reboots in general, but this one seems especially bad. SBTB is one of those shows that I loved at the time bc it was this cheesy over the top show (oh Belding is going to give Zack *that look* again, watch out Zack!) but it had its moment in the sun and we should just let that be enough.

  9. Giddy says:

    Will the storyline pick up with Elizabeth Berkley being a stripper/murderess in Las Vegas? Because that might be interesting.

  10. 10KTurtle says:

    I watched SBTB in middle school, and I guess I liked it then, but it is *so* hard to watch today. Zach is a narcissistic sociopath, and every single character is such a bully. They are so nasty to the “nerds” and especially cruel to Screech. The actors have all said the off-screen behavior mirrored the scripts, so it’s easy to see how Dustin Diamond developed the problems that he did.

  11. CROWHOOD says:

    Zack Morris is Trash is a great fb follow! They break down how zack was the worst in each episode in 2 minute videos.

    • jensays says:

      Zach Morris is trash is the best. PERFECTLY highlights how messed up SBTB was… and how poorly Zach treated the other characters on the show.

    • LaUnicaAngelina says:

      Zach Morris is Trash is amazing!

      On a separate note, I absolutely enjoyed BH 90210. It was clever, meta cheese and the season length was perfect. Like you, Quimby, the world is a shit show so the escape is nice.

  12. L84Tea says:

    OMG, leave my childhood alone!!

  13. Peanutbuttr says:

    I thought they definitively acknowledged on the show that Jessie and Slater were incompatible: she being smart and socially conscious, he being a sexist pig.

  14. Chaine says:

    Yuck, just who I would pick to star in a new show for kids, notable transphobe Mario Lopez. I want to know what the goods are that he has and on whom that he keeps failing upwards in his career.

    • ME says:

      Yeah normally failing upwards is reserved for white men. I don’t know how Mario is able to do it. First with being hired on Access Hollywood and now this.

  15. ME says:

    Why bother with a re-make? High school has changed so much since the airing of SBTB. They are going to try to make it more “modern” which will just make it like any other “teen show”. It won’t last. Leave things alone sometimes. Re-boots rarely ever make it.