Saved by the Bell: The College Years

Saved by the Bell: The College Years is an extension of the original Saved by the Bell series with a very similar premise. The plot revolves around the six characters getting into trouble each week at the fictitious California University (Cal U), under the watchful eye of Mike Rogers (Bob Golic), their resident adviser. The fictional school is set vaguely near the city of San Francisco (likely a reference to the real UC Berkeley, commonly known as Cal, in the similarly located Berkeley, CA). The series includes Zack Morris, Samuel "Screech" Powers, and A.C. Slater (from the original Saved by the Bell series) as the main characters, along with newcomers Leslie Burke (Anne Tremko), Alex Tabor (Kiersten Warren) and Danielle Marks (Essence Atkins). After the pilot, however, Atkins's role was written out and Tiffani-Amber Thiessen returned to the show in her role of Kelly Kapowski.

During the first and second episodes, the series centers around Zack's schemes to try to get his suite-mate, Leslie, to fall for him. Starting with the third episode, however, the plot branches out to become more centered around the entire gang and their various college issues. At the start of the series, resident adviser Mike Rogers is portrayed as tough-as-nails though he begins to soften as the series goes on. Mike played for the San Francisco 49ers at one point, but later decided to quit to go back to school. In one episode, he trains to return to professional football, but after proving himself capable of doing it, decides to stay with his current job and continue his education. Beginning with episode 15 ("The Rave"), Holland Taylor became involved with the series, portraying the more authoritative Dean McMann. She takes on the role of the tough-as-nails authority figure that Mike had originally been intended to be at the beginning of the series. Somewhat similar to Mr. Belding, she takes a disliking to Zack's schemes and often punishes him in various ways because of his antics (albeit with a bit more malice than Belding ever displayed).

An overarching theme of the series is Zack's efforts to win back the affections of Kelly, who is in love with their anthropology professor, Jeremiah Lasky (Patrick Fabian). By the end of the series, Zack has won Kelly over again and they become engaged.

• Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Zack Morris
• Mario Lopez 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
• Essence Atkins as Danielle Marks (pilot only)
• Patrick Fabian as Professor Jeremiah Lasky
• Holland Taylor as Dean Susan McMann

The series was cancelled after only one season, due to low ratings, averaging only a 7.8/12 rating/share, and ranking 88th out of 118 shows in the yearly ratings. It had to deal with viewer competition from both Full House and the first half of Rescue 911, both of which ranked in the Nielsen Top 30 that season. Only 19 episodes were produced. The nineteenth episode, "Wedding Plans", left the series with a cliffhanger ending, where Zack and Kelly had not yet married.

To give closure to the series, a 90-minute TV movie, Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas, was produced to wrap up the series. All the main actors agreed to come back for the movie, except Anne Tremko, who declined a role in the movie. In Saved by the Bell: The New Class, Zack, Slater and Lisa (who only appeared in episodes 19 and 20) all appeared again in the episode "Goodbye Bayside: Part 2". Slater appeared one more time in "Fire at the Max: Part 2" of The New Class. Screech would return in The New Class, starting with its second season, as Mr. Belding's administrative assistant on a work-study program from Cal U. Slater and Jessie Spano, a character from the original series, became main characters in the 2020 sequel series while Zack, Kelly, and Lisa all made guest appearances.[2][3][4][5]

Saved by the Bell: The College Years was released on DVD in Region 1 by Image Entertainment on August 17, 2004.

The events of the final episode of the series lead directly into the events of the second Saved by the Bell film: Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas.

Four novelizations based on the show were released in late 1994 by the publisher Aladdin Paperbacks, all written by Beth Cruise. The books all feature the main cast, and have similar storylines that relate to the main plots in the TV sequel.

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• Saved by the Bell: The College Years at IMDb
• Saved by the Bell: The College Years at TV.com