Saved by the Bell: The College Years

Saved by the Bell: The College Years
The cast of The College Years.
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Sam Bobrick
Developed by	Elaine Aronson
Written by	Elaine Aronson Andy Guerdat Steve Kreinberg Noah Taft Bennett Tramer
Directed by	Miguel Higuera Jeffrey Melman
Starring	Mark-Paul Gosselaar Mario López Dustin Diamond Tiffani-Amber Thiessen Anne Tremko Kiersten Warren Bob Golic Patrick Fabian Holland Taylor
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	19
Production
Executive producer(s)	Peter Engel
Running time	22 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Picture format	NTSC (480i)
Original run	September 14, 1993 – February 8, 1994
Chronology
Preceded by	Saved by the Bell
Followed by	Saved by the Bell: The New Class

Saved by the Bell: The College Years is a sequel to the Saved by the Bell series which ran from September 14, 1993 (though the original pilot aired on May 22, 1993) to February 8, 1994, lasting one season. It was the third incarnation of the franchise. It is also the only series of the franchise to air on primetime television instead of Saturday mornings. It aired on NBC on Tuesday evenings.

Premise

In Saved by the Bell: The College Years, the cast dealt with college life at the fictional California University (a thinly veiled UC Berkeley, Zack having referenced in the first episode that San Francisco was "Right across the bridge," and Kelly stating in "Wedding Plans" that "Reno is just three hours away.") The show's premise was very similar to the original Saved by the Bell series, with the six characters getting into different situations each week while remaining under the watchful eye of their resident director and later the Dean of Students.

Originally, the six main characters on The College Years were Zack Morris, A.C. Slater, Screech Powers, Leslie Burke (Anne Tremko), Alex Tabor (Kiersten Warren), and Danielle Marks (Essence Atkins). After the pilot, Tiffani Thiessen decided to return to play Kelly Kapowski. Atkins's character was written out of the plotline with transferring out as the reason.

At the beginning of the series, Zack was pursuing a relationship with Leslie, but after Kelly transferred to Cal U, Zack became interested in both of them. Eventually, Kelly became Zack's sole love interest. His relationship with Kelly was temporarily sidetracked when Kelly entered into a short-lived relationship with their anthropology professor, Jeremiah Lasky (Patrick Fabian). By the end of the series, Zack and Kelly became engaged.

Zack, Kelly, Slater, Screech, Leslie, and Alex's dorm advisor was Mike Rogers (Bob Golic), an ex-football player. Although he looked and acted tough, he did have a softer side. In one episode, he took a liking to a laboratory mouse named X97, and also revealed some of his problems with women, including the fact that he never had a date in high school. One episode saw him – with Zack, Slater and Screech's help – training to get back into football. Though he qualified, he chose to stay at college. (He also was really worn out by the whole thing.)

During the later part of the series, Dean Susan McMann (Holland Taylor) joined the series as its authority figure and instantly developed a dislike for Zack, knowing about his scheming ways.

The series was cancelled, as Zack and Kelly decided to elope to Las Vegas. Later that fall, the TV-Movie, Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas, aired to provide closure to the series and its characters.

The show was cancelled after only ranking 88th in the yearly ratings with a 7.8 household rating (about 7.3 million households) and a 12 percent audience share. It had to deal with major competition from ABC's Full House and CBS's Rescue 911, both of which ranked in the Nielsen Top 30 that season.

Episode list

Main article: List of Saved by the Bell episodes

#	Airdate	Prod. Code	Title
1	May 22, 1993	60500	"Pilot"
2	September 7, 1993	60501	"Guess Who's Coming to College?"
3	September 14, 1993	60502	"Zack Lies And Videotape"
4	September 21, 1993	60503	"Rush Week"
5	September 28, 1993	60504	"Slater's War"
6	October 5, 1993	60505	"The Homecoming"
7	October 12, 1993	60506	"The Poker Game"
8	October 19, 1993	60507	"Prof. Zack"
9	October 26, 1993	60508	"Screech Love"
10	November 2, 1993	60509	"Dr. Kelly"
11	November 23, 1993	60510	"A Thanksgiving Story"
12	December 7, 1993	60512	"Teacher's Pet"
13	December 14, 1993	60513	"Kelly and the Professor"
14	December 21, 1993	60511	"A Question of Ethics"
15	January 4, 1994	60514	"The Rave"
16	January 11, 1994	60515	"Bedside Manner"
17	January 22, 1994	60516	"Love and Death"
18	February 8, 1994	60517	"Marry Me"
19	February 8, 1994	60518	"Wedding Plans"

Cast

• Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Zack Morris
• Mario López as A.C. Slater
• Dustin Diamond as Samuel "Screech" Powers
• Tiffani-Amber Thiessen as Kelly Kapowski
• Anne Tremko as Leslie Burke
• Kiersten Warren as Alex Tabor
• Bob Golic as Mike Rogers
• Patrick Fabian as Professor Jeremiah Lasky
• Holland Taylor as Dean Susan McMann

Additional cast

• Jake Grace as Stingray
• Diana Tanaka as Dr. Wong
• Mindy Sterling as Clara Meade
• Essence Atkins as Danielle Marks (pilot only)

Special Guest Stars

• Lark Voorhies as Lisa Turtle ("Wedding Plans")
• Dennis Haskins as Mr. Belding ("A Thanksgiving Story")
• Jonathan Brandis as Himself ("A Thanksgiving Story")
• Marsha Warfield as Herself ("A Thanksgiving Story")
• Jenna Von Oy as Herself ("A Thanksgiving Story")
• Brian Austin Green as Himself ("A Thanksgiving Story")

DVD release

Saved by the Bell: The College Years was released on DVD in Region 1 by Image Entertainment on August 17, 2004. As of 2010, this release has been discontinued and is out of print. The series is now available on Amazon Instant Video.

External links

• Saved by the Bell: The College Years at the Internet Movie Database
• Saved by the Bell: The College Years at TV.com