Saved By The Bell

[Guest Zack Malibu]

Im still wondering what necessitated the change from Max to James as the main waiter/Head of Max's? What was James's first appearance like? Did they give any reason for Max leaving, or was it just a thing where they all said "Hey, It's James" and never mentioned Max again

Well Max OWNED The Max. James was just a waiter. But Ed Alonzo didn't stay on past the first season, and James became the comic relief/plot device. The Max just existed as a hangout for the kids, and a backdrop for some of the storylines (Save The Max, or the time it burnt down on The New Class.) Max himself wasn't mentioned once he was gone.

[Guest RevEvil]

Maybe the Kat left Lawler for Screech!!

I believed Screech dated Johnny Cash's daughter. Also, remember the epic Slater- Val Venis feud?

[Guest RevEvil]

It had something to do with their contracts. Berkley was trying to break into movies, while Theissen had a deal waiting for her to join the cast of Beverly Hills, 90210. Both wound up resigning their deals, but LeeAnna Creel was brought in as Tori to "fill in" for them. Once everything was sorted out, Tori was dropped, never to be heard from again, and continuity was restored.

Actually, all of the Kelly/ Jessie episodes of the senior season were shot before the Tori eps. Kelly rejoined the show on the second episode of the college year.

[Guest Zack Malibu]

I know there was some type of holdup with Thiessen's contract at one point, because if you remember the pilot of The College Years, they had Leslie and Alex, and they had the other girl Danielle, who's father was a judge. By the time the season premiere rolled around, she was gone and never talked about again, and Kelly was back.

[Guest MDH257]

They mentioned her.

 

I remember Screech telling Kelly that they had room for her because "a girl just transfered".

[Guest MillenniumMan831]

Whatever happened to Gem Diamond? Is he just some dufus off the street to play the part, or has he been in other semi-well known projects? He was definitely my favorite guest star on SBTB.

 

Zack: Jeweler, ringologist, and GGTK?

Diamond: Good Guy to Know

[Guest Zack Malibu]

Gem Diamond ruled. They also used him on California Dreams as a used car salesman that Sly took lessons from, and he sold Sam a junk car.

 

I think he may have also been on an episode of The New Class.

 

Oh, BTW...I recently watched one of my City Guys tapes and caught the episode with Rob Van Dam guest starring. Certainly better than any of the movies he was in, that's for sure.

[Guest NoCalMike]

Here is the scoop on Kelly Jessie. They quit the show after the "Junior" year. They both wanted to pursue other roles and were afraid another year would solidify them as nothing but Saved by the Bell material. They agreed to shoot some episodes though before they left, hence HALF OF THE SENIOR year is with them, and half is not. Also, notice Lisa Turtle's hair style was drastically different in the "TORRIE" episodes? It seemed like the gang AGED about 12 months worth between the "KELLY/JESSIE" Senior year episodes and the "TORRIE" Senior year episodes...........more info on the way if needed~!

[Guest NoCalMike]

Something that always cracked me up about Screech was the writers never seemed to make up their mind as to whether to make him the "SMART NERD" or the "AIRHEAD NERD"....There are several episodes where he is tutoring, or on the Decatholon team, yet there is just as many episodes where he doesn't know what anyone is ever talking about and is just completely in the dark about stuff.....

[Guest NoCalMike]

SOme more SBTB observations(never ending) What made the show for me, after repeated REPEAT viewings, was A.C. Slaters OVERACTING.....it was just too funny, no matter if he was the main storyline, or a guy in the backround, he was just trying so bad to act it came off as being extremely cheezy, but it is so GREAT at the same time........Remember the episode where the cheerleaders reveal the NEW cheerleading uniforms and do the song/cheer about them? Look in the loweright corner and watch Slater dance along with them and he just gets all into even though I don't even think viewers are meant to know he is even in the camera shot......Stuff like that is SO GOLDEN AND CLASSIC.

[Guest Zack Malibu]

Screech was a nerd, but he just lacked common sense.

[Guest bob_barron]

I still don't see how Screech won valedictorian. I think they gave it to him cause Jessie's family owned slaves

[Guest treble charged]

I don't think that's why they made Screech the Valedictorian. I do remember the episode where Jessie found out about her forefathers owning slaves, though. She felt really bad about it, and kept offering to do things for Lisa. I think that may be the same episode that Zack is a track star in.

 

Didn't they Jessie basically concede the Valedictorian to Screech, because she felt sorry for him?

[Guest ShooterJay]

Didn't they Jessie basically concede the Valedictorian to Screech, because she felt sorry for him?

No, it was the other way around.

[Guest Zack Malibu]

I still don't see how Screech won valedictorian. I think they gave it to him cause Jessie's family owned slaves

Well, according to Screech, he had a frog on his arm that gave him answers in biology .

 

It seems that all the Engel shows at one point deal with the issue of slavery and racism. Saved had the episode with Jesse, California Dreams had the one where Tony found out his ancestry came from slavery and was embarrassed by it, and City Guys recently reran the episode where Jamal's uncle, an African American History professor motivated Jamal to start an all-black group at school and stop hanging out with Chris because he was white. They also had an episode where the deputy mayor's daughter had to tell her dad that she was dating Chris and not Jamal since he was a racist and wouldn't approve.

 

Man, the day these shows pop up on Nickelodeon or TVLand, I'm gonna feel OLD.

[Guest Zack Malibu]

Now that I think of it, Dreams had an ep where the band played a country club, or some "high society" function. Tony met a girl there, and her father didn't approve since Tony was black, so he tried to buy Tony off to get him to stop seeing her.

[Guest RevEvil]

California Dreams had the one where Tony found out his ancestry came from slavery and was embarrassed by it...They also had an episode where the deputy mayor's daughter had to tell her dad that she was dating Chris and not Jamal since he was a racist and wouldn't approve.

Tony wasn't exactly mensa material, was he?

 

Also, The fact that someone serving under Guilianni was racist doesn't surprize for some reason .

[Guest Zack Malibu]

Speaking of "Giulliani", anybody other than me ever catch the inside references to the girls names on City Guys? Cassidy's last name was Giulliani (with the show being set in NY, I'm sure it was a jab at Rudy) and Dawn's last name was Tartikoff, which is the last name of NBC President (?) Brandon Tartikoff. Tartikoff appeared as himself on Saved By The Bell on the episode where Zack and the gang find out movie star Johnny Dakota is a pot smoker.

[Guest The Czech Republic]

y'know with all the Canadians here you'd think more people would be talking about DeGrassi Junior High. I'm not even from Canada, I just remember episodes from WTTW-11 and middle school health classes.

 

Wake up in the morning, feelin' shy and lonely, gee I gotta go to school...

 

btw...Joey Jeremiah could kick Screech's ass six ways from Toronto.

[Guest MDH257]

and Dawn's last name was Tartikoff, which is the last name of NBC President (?) Brandon Tartikoff.  Tartikoff appeared as himself on Saved By The Bell on the episode where Zack and the gang find out movie star Johnny Dakota is a pot smoker.

Brandon Tartikoff left NBC in the early '90's to become the head of Paramount (he didn't last long) and sadly died (of Cancer ?) several years ago.

He was long gone from NBC by the time City Guys debuted.

 

Tartikoff knew how to run a network 1000 times better than the news weasels running NBC now.

 

For those who don't know what I'm talking about: The President of NBC is Andy Lack, the Fmr. head of NBC news and the man who turned NBC into the Dateline network. The head of NBC Entertainment is Jeff Zucker, the Fmr. producer of the Today show (NBC's new show "Good Morning Miami" is a thinly vailed stroaking of Zucker's ego, the story of a producer who leads a last place morning show to glory - just like Zucker at Today.)

 

Something just bothers me about news executives being promoted to head the entertainment division.

[Guest MDH257]

y'know with all the Canadians here you'd think more people would be talking about DeGrassi Junior High. I'm not even from Canada, I just remember episodes from WTTW-11 and middle school health classes.

 

Wake up in the morning, feelin' shy and lonely, gee I gotta go to school...

 

btw...Joey Jeremiah could kick Screech's ass six ways from Toronto.

Battle of the Bands: The Zit Remedy vs. Zack Attack

[Guest kingkamala]

Hey Zack did Hang Time have a finale or did it just get canceled? I remember watching it one week then the next week it was mysteriously missing from the line up.

[Guest Zack Malibu]

Hey Zack did Hang Time have a finale or did it just get canceled? I remember watching it one week then the next week it was mysteriously missing from the line up.

Honestly I don't know, because I too did not see it. The last episode I remember seeing was when Jay Hernandez' character got into an argument with some guy in the mall parking lot, and it wound up being his g/f's father.

[Guest The Czech Republic]

Is TeeNBC or whatever still around? A while ago I was flipping channels Saturday morning and to my disgust there was a whole block of Peter Engel shows. Gah.

[Guest Zack Malibu]

Is TeeNBC or whatever still around? A while ago I was flipping channels Saturday morning and to my disgust there was a whole block of Peter Engel shows. Gah.

TNBC will cease to exist in a few weeks. City Guys ended this spring, and the episodes on NBC now are just reruns from that season. I have no idea what Just Deal wound up being all about, since I only saw 2 episodes. That SK8 show looked like crap to me, and so did All About Us. TNBC is off the NBC schedule as they've gotten a block of shows called Discovery Kids, which I believe is some type of deal with The Discovery Channel. So basically as of now, the only TNBC shows we have are the Saved By The Bell and City Guys syndicated reruns.

[Guest RevEvil]

Brandon Tartikoff left NBC in the early '90's to become the head of Paramount (he didn't last long) and sadly died (of Cancer ?) several years ago.

He was long gone from NBC by the time City Guys debuted.

Taritokoff died in '97, so perhaps Dawn was given that last name as a tribute to him.

[Guest Zack Malibu]

Brandon Tartikoff left NBC in the early '90's to become the head of Paramount (he didn't last long) and sadly died (of Cancer ?) several years ago.

He was long gone from NBC by the time City Guys debuted.

Taritokoff died in '97, so perhaps Dawn was given that last name as a tribute to him.

I had been unaware that he passed, so it's probably true that it was done in rememberance. City Guys started in '97, so what you said would make sense.

 

Also, Wesley Jonathan (Jamal from City Guys) looks to have found a new home...he'll be appearing in a new sitcom with Amanda Bynes from Nickelodeon and Jennie Garth from 90210. And I know Scott Whyte (Chris Anderson) hosts Chicken Soup For The Soul on PAX.

[Guest MillenniumMan831]

Hey Zack,

 

What was your opinion of One World? I've seen maybe 6 or 7 episodes of it a few years ago and I thought it had its own little charm. It wasn't AS corny as the other TNBC shows and actually had some witty stuff from time to time. Although, all the racially diverse, 'troubled delinqurnt kids' on the show calling their foster parents mom and dad was a little much.

[Guest Zack Malibu]

Hey Zack,

 

What was your opinion of One World? I've seen maybe 6 or 7 episodes of it a few years ago and I thought it had its own little charm. It wasn't AS corny as the other TNBC shows and actually had some witty stuff from time to time. Although, all the racially diverse, 'troubled delinqurnt kids' on the show calling their foster parents mom and dad was a little much.

I liked One World, but never went out of my way to tape it or anything. I would pretty much always watch it, but never "got into" it. It was basically a time-killer for me. But I agree, it did have some good writing, like the episode where the black son (Neil) and the younger son (might have had the 3rd son, the "surfer kid" looking one with them) and the cop pulled them over when they were in a new car. Turns out the cop was racist and let the other two go, but kept harrassing Neil in the station, until the parents came to pick him up and realized what was going on.

[Guest MDH257]

Punky Brewster's dog was named after Brandon Tartikoff.

 

I think he also was Cheers' last customer (the guy who knocks on the door and Ted Danson tells him they're closed). They never showed his face, but I remember the producers revealing that after he died.