Saved by the Bell: The New Class is a
spin-off of the
Saved by the Bell series which ran
from September 11, 1993 to January 8, 2000. The series lasted for
seven seasons on
NBC as a part of the network's
TNBC Saturday morning line-up. It was the
fourth incarnation of the franchise.
The show had the same concept as the original series but featured a
new group of students now roaming the halls of the fictional
Bayside High School. Mr. Belding played by
Dennis Haskins remained as the school's
principal. Many of the stories were recycled plots of its parent
series. The first season cast included
Robert Sutherland Telfer,
Jonathan Angel,
Isaac
Lidsky,
Natalia Cigliuti,
Bianca Lawson, and
Bonnie Russavage. Unlike the original
series, which featured very few major cast changes throughout its
run,
The New Class regularly changed its core cast with
Mr. Belding being the only constant factor.
Cast
Characters
Scott Erickson, played by
Robert Sutherland Telfer, is the
school's schemer in the mold of his predecessor, Zack Morris. He is
also a transfer student from rival Valley High School. As Zack had
done in the original series, Scott broke the "
fourth wall" by addressing the audience. Early
episodes featured Scott vying for the affection of Lindsay, the
girlfriend of the school's jock, "Tommy D" in a manner very similar
to the original series early rivalry between Zach and Slater for
the affections of Kelly.
Thomas "Tommy D" De Luca, played by
Jonathan Angel, is the jock of the gang, and
was similar to A.C. Slater. He is the star quarterback for Bayside
High's football team. He and Lindsay are a stable couple despite
Lindsay being involved in every school organization and Tommy's
macho behavior towards Scott.
Barton "Weasel" Wyzell, played by
Isaac Lidsky, is the nerdiest kid in school.
Weasel befriends Scott from the start and even tags along when
Scott devises many of his schemes. He tends to be the successor of
the original series' Screech. He and Lindsay have been best friends
since pre-school and he has a huge crush on Megan, which much like
Screech's crush on Lisa, was not reciprocated.
Lindsay Warner, played by
Natalia Cigliuti, is the most popular girl
at Bayside High. She is essentially a successor to Kelly Kapowski.
She is involved in every school organization. She is also the love
interest for Tommy D. She's bubbly and cheery, and usually hangs
with her best friends Megan and Vicki.
Megan Jones, played by
Bianca Lawson, is the show's "brain" or
over-achiever. She is one of the smartest students in school and
doesn't let anyone forget it either. Like Weasel and Lindsay, Megan
is Vicki's best friend and is usually the voice of reason to the
neurotic Vicki. A recurring gag in the series is her many attempts
to avoid Weasel's unrequited love for her. Her character is a
combination of the original series Lisa Turtle and Jessie
Spano.
Vicki Needleman, played by
Bonnie Russavage, is the neurotic best
friend of Megan. She is a cheerleader and develops a crush on
Scott. The character was supposed to be a successor to the original
series' "Jessie" but has no precedent in the original series.
During an NBC repeat of
Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian
Style [August 7-September 11], the commercial breaks
featured original segments, set in Bayside High School and The Max,
where the cast of the original series and the cast of the first
season of
The New Class met and talked with each other.
These segments were a "passing of the torch" type of story. Also
present were Dennis Haskins as Principal Richard Belding and Bob
Golic as the resident advisor from Cal-U. One segment involved Zack
and Scott in the school hallway, where Zack gives Scott a list
pertaining to Mr. Belding to cause trouble for him. Mr. Belding
overhears this and takes the list away, joyfully triumphant at
outsmarting Zack. After he walks away, Zack hands Scott "the real
list."
Major cast changes
The show was notable for its cast changes. Each season featured one
to three cast changes. The constant changes made it confusing for
new viewers who were not watching the show from the start as cast
members would come and go without any real explanation, and
presumably contributed to lower ratings as the seasons
progressed.
After the initial criticism of the first season of
The New
Class as essentially being a poor copy of the original series,
the producers changed a number of elements of the show for the
second season. Robert Sutherland Telfer, Isaac Lidsky, and Bonnie
Russavage were all fired. Three new characters were introduced for
the 1994-95 season.
Brian Keller (Christian Oliver) became the new transfer
student from Switzerland
, Bobby Wilson (Spankee
Rogers) was the newest cool kid, and Rachel Meyers (Sarah Lancaster) was the school's fashion
expert and shop-a-holic. Lancaster also appeared in a single
episode as Rachel in the first season.
The writers also invited back original cast member
Dustin Diamond as Screech for the show's
second season, as he became available after the cancellation of
Saved by the
Bell: The College Years. Providing continuity, Screech
returned to Bayside High to work as Mr. Belding's assistant as part
of a
work/study program and
also help build a bridge between the two series. Screech ended up
remaining for the rest of the show's run, with very little mention
being made throughout the story of his continued enrollment at
California University. Further, the show's sets were redesigned to
change the appearance of Bayside from that of the original series
and Mr. Belding was given a new office.
Prior to Season 3 cast members Bianca Lawson, Christian Oliver and
Spankee Rogers left the show, and three new characters were brought
on. Schemer Ryan Parker (
Richard Lee
Jackson), lively and outspoken cheerleader Maria Lopez
(
Samantha Becker), and
fashion-conscious R.J. "Hollywood" Collins (
Salim Grant) were transfers from Valley High
School.
At the end of the third season, original cast members Natalia
Cigliuti and Jonathan Angel had decided to move on to other
projects. Salim Grant was also let go and did not return for the
new season, beginning in September 1996. New cast members
Ben Gould (Nicky Farina),
Lindsey McKeon (Katie Peterson), and
Anthony Harrell (Eric Little) joined the show for its
fourth season. Gould played Ryan's stepbrother from New York and
was the love interest for Katie and later Maria. Katie was the
newest "goody-goody" and Eric was the school's star football
player.
Season 4 was Sarah Lancaster's final season and she was replaced in
Season 5 by
Ashley Lyn Cafagna as
Liz Miller, a sheltered star of the school's swim team and is
initially pursued by both stepbrothers, Ryan and Nicky. Also, the
gang's original hangout, The Max, was renovated for the new season
after the original burnt down in the fourth season finale.
Season 6 followed and new cast member
Tom Wade Huntington replaced Richard Lee
Jackson as Tony Dillon, another Valley High transfer student and
love interest for Maria. It was widely reported that Season 6 was
in fact the final season for the series. In addition, NBC decided
to prolong the series by splitting the number of episodes in half
into another season (Season 7). These episodes had already been
filmed at the same time as the sixth season and the cast remained
the same.
Concluding the series in a similar fashion to the original, all
characters go their separate ways into college. Eric is accepted
into the Chicago School of the Arts to pursue his singing career
and Liz is accepted into Stanford to pursue her Olympic aspirations
(both constant themes throughout the series).
Maria is accepted into
UCLA
and Tony is accepted into SDSU,
prompting the two to end their relationship. Katie is
accepted into
Columbia, but is
unable to go due to financial troubles. She instead plans to head
for an unnamed
Cal State
University.
Thus the series ends with Katie and Nicky's
future in relative uncertainty, as he is accepted into NYU
.
Mr.
Belding is offered the position of Dean of Students at the University of
Tennessee at Chattanooga
. While no mention of Screech's future is
made whatsoever, many do assume that Screech is made principal of
Bayside High.
Episode list
DVD releases
Image Entertainment has released
all seven seasons of
Saved by the Bell: The New Class on
DVD in Region 1. There are no bonus features included in any of the
DVD sets.
| DVD Name |
Ep # |
Release Date |
| Season 1 |
13 |
January 25, 2005 |
| Season 2 |
26 |
March 8, 2005 |
| Season 3 |
26 |
June 14, 2005 |
| Season 4 |
26 |
August 16, 2005 |
| Season 5 |
26 |
October 18, 2005 |
| Seasons 6 & 7 |
26 |
December 6, 2005 |
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