Saved by the Bell (2020 TV series)

Saved by the Bell (2020 TV series)

On September 17, 2019, it was announced that a single-camera revival of the series was in development for NBC’s planned streaming service, Peacock. Most of the main actors from the original Saved by the Bell series, except for Dustin Diamond and Dennis Haskins as Screech and Mr. Belding, respectively, reprised their roles.

About Saved by the Bell (2020 TV series) in brief

Summary Saved by the Bell (2020 TV series)On September 17, 2019, it was announced that a single-camera revival of the series was in development for NBC’s planned streaming service, Peacock. Most of the main actors from the original Saved by the Bell series, except for Dustin Diamond and Dennis Haskins as Screech and Mr. Belding, respectively, reprised their roles. The series centers around a new group of Bayside High students from \”overprivileged\” and working-class families, among the latter of which were transferred to the school as part of a plan by now-California Governor Zack Morris to send lower-income students to the highest-performing schools in the state. Executive producer and showrunner Tracey Wigfield developed the idea alongside Elizabeth Berkley and Mario Lopez, who joined the show also as producers. The writing team was reassembled for a couple of weeks in August and according to Wigfield, most of the changes were just stuff that we had to simplify or we couldn’t shoot at the school anymore. A lot of the references to the coronavirus were also added as well as some reference to the actual school, or anything else that took place in the gym or theater, or an actual school. The character of Mr. Toddman was written as a principal “constantly being pranked by his privileged students and yelled at by their entitled parents” but gets a second chance to make a difference when Baysid High “gets an influx of new, low- Income students”.

The show premiered on November 25, 2020, on Peacocks. The COVID-19 production shutdown caused by the pandemic forced the three remaining teleplays to be changed and to simplify some details in order for the new shooting to be viable for the show to exist. The writers’ room’s advisor was Dashiell Driscoll, the executive producer of the web-series Zack Morris Is Trash, along with 50 Central’s Shantira Jackson, among others. ”I wanted to remain true to the fact that Jessie was a bit ahead of her time. So I wanted to make sure that when we reconnected with her we understood what she actually has accomplished’, said Wigfeld. “This is a single camera, kind of edgier comedy. If you never saw the, it’s just a funny show about high school in 2020”, said one of the show’s co-producers, Mario Lopez. The original series was a Saturday morning show for kids, but the new series would “maintain that heart with all of the humor” and appeal to both the new generation and the original fans. Wigfields offered transgender actress Josie Totah a producing credit to play transgender cheerleader Lexi in order to have a voice in the writing process. Totah said she was grateful that Universal and Tracey wanted to be a producer on this project because I didn’t feel comfortable doing my gender identity if representation didn’t exist.