Saved by the Bell: The College Years

I remember watching (and recording) the last episode of the original "Saved by the Bell" as a nine year old and seeing the special announcement during a commercial break that there would be a college version of the show starting in the fall. I practically counted the days until the series premiere, and I truly enjoyed the few episodes that aired. It was canceled not because it was a bad show, I think, but because the truth is that lighthearted shows like "Saved by the Bell" just do not belong in a competitive prime time environment. This show was ridiculed just because, what, it was getting beat in the ratings by "Full House"? Come on! Expectations were way too high. It would have been safe on Saturday mornings like the original, never mind that it was about college students. We fans would have watched regardless.

Finally a clever show that follows a plot and it's soon canceled. I mean, we have the most popular cast members of the original series in the most difficult student era of their lives: College.

The idea was very interesting but producers didn't feel it had potential. Some jokes were funny and clever and so were the situations that had a feeling of maturity towards our characters.

Also, the new cast members, including teachers were solid additions to the show. Mike Rogers was a fun character and added some spice to the show. The rest of the cast was clichéd but it's okay, I mean, it displays true life in college.

The show had potential believe me, but you can't go against producers. A cult show in the future, that's for sure..

A spin off full of laughs. I never laughed so hard in my life as I did the one lonely season this gem graced the NBC airwaves. I still have stacks of VHS tapes labelled "SBTB:TCY," which stands for "Saved By the Bell: The College Years." The gang is back: Mark Paul Gosselar, Mario Lopez, Dustin Diamond and Tiffani Amber Theissen are the original members in the show. Too bad they brought in Bob Golic, who is unfunny. Still the show is pretty good and it's a really too bad that it only lasted for a year, 1993-94. I'm giving this one a final rating of 7 out of 10 because while it wasn't perfect, it was entertaining and pretty solid.

I know that many Saved by the Bell fans were not as excited about The College Years. But you know what? I love Saved by the Bell and I also enjoy the College Years as well. It was a different kind of humor and more grown up for the kids of Bayside High. While there were some crazy questions like how we thought that Zack was supposed to go to Yale and Slater was supposed to go to Iowa, it was still nice seeing the gang back together once again for some more goofy adventures through the new experience of college.

Zack, Slater, and Screech are back and they're grown up and in college! They now share a co-ed dorm with three other girls: Leslie, Alex, and Danielle. Danielle soon "transfers" and Kelly comes back to join the guys and moves into the same dorm. They experience the life of being a freshman and having to be the small fishes in the big pond. We have somewhat of a replacement for Mr. Belding with Mike, the dorm manager. They once again experience different pressures of homework, romance, drugs, and trying to fool the scary Dean McMann.

We had a few interesting stories like the love triangle that happens between Zack, Leslie, and Kelly. The love story of Kelly and Professor Lasky, the sexy bachelor who all the college girls have a crush on. Screech has some sexy ladies after him. Slater isn't on top in wrestling any more and has a new girlfriend, their drama queen dorm mate, Alex. And one of the most wanted things by the fans, Zack and Kelly falling in love and getting married.

While the College Years is once again unrealistic, like how the dorm mates seem to have all the same classes together, which is a lot harder to believe in college. Slater, Zack, Kelly, and Screech sharing the same dorm was very unrealistic. The whole way the situation between Kelly and Professor Lasky was handled. But then again the Saved by the Bell series was never that realistic.

Now in my opinion Saved by the Bell: The College Years was never given a fair chance. I really enjoyed some of the humor in this season, I loved the relationship between Dean McMann and Zack, these two always killed in laughter. I think people are too harsh on this show, it's not Saturday morning any more, kids, it's prime time, get over it. Give this show a fair chance, it's a lot of fun.

If you liked the original "Saved By The Bell" series, then you probably watched this follow-up series, and found it to be more of the same. This short-lived program was marginally more intelligent than the original, and it followed many of the same characters who made SBTB a Saturday morning hit. I can't really explain why I watched the original series, and I can't offer any better explanation as to why I watched this one. If you grew up with these characters, I would think that "The College Years" seemed like more of the same likable stupidity. If you didn't watch the first show, then this second "Saved By The Bell" will probably just seem like stupidity.