Bonjour, Miss Bliss

As a kid born in 1985, I became of a learning age around 1990. At that time, SAVED BY THE BELL was just starting off. Zack, Slater, Kelly, Screech, Lisa, Jessie, Mr. Belding... they were all there. Reruns started about two years after that.

And the reruns messed with my head.

You see, I had no prior knowledge that this Bayside-based high school sitcom actually had roots in a former show entitled GOOD MORNING, MISS BLISS. But apparently everyone else had, so there were no explanations when these episodes were aired under the SAVED BY THE BELL moniker and threw my entire viewing experience off its axis.

It was ve-e-e-ery '80s. Zack was pretty young (around 14 or 15?) and he was aside a prepubescent Screech and two new kids that seemed to be 1989 in the raw. Miss Bliss was weird; and the episode where they invest in potatoes is just damn bizarre.

Like the entire show.

I always thought that this, "Good Morning, Miss Bliss" was just the original "Saved by the Bell" because everything was the same, high school layout, writing, classrooms, etc. etc. etc...I could go on. You had your first AC Slater; that forgien kid with the jerry curl hair. The yuppie, friend of Zacks with the same big hair as Jessie. The only thing missing was the hot chick; Kelly. But take Hayley Mills thirty years before and she could be a Kelly. (Damn, Hayley Mills was cute back in the day.) Anyways, to me this will always be the original Saved By the Bell. Either way, they are both good shows to fall asleep to take you back to your high school days.

My opinion of this original version of "Saved By The Bell" has remained virtually unchanged since it premiered over a decade ago. Basically, it's rarely funny, sometimes quite slow-moving, and yet, I still occasionally watch the reruns because it is a pain-free way to kill some time. That's hardly an endorsement, but it is quite the compliment considering how weak this show really is. I can't explain why I watched it when it first aired, and I can't explain why I sometimes watch it now...perhaps these days it's a nostalgic thing, but I don't really know. One thing's for sure: unless you grew up watching this and "Saved By The Bell", you shouldn't bother giving this show a chance.

I loved Hayley Mills in the original series as Miss Bliss. But the rest of the series just displayed many stereotypes that we would be better off without. A brainless jock, a Barbie doll ditz, a spoiled rich kid, a young womanizer and a geek just for starters. Selfish, self indulgent teens with no real substance. With the exception of perhaps one or two characters, their first instinct was always to dupe someone or get something they were told they couldn't have. It was always at the expense of someone else. The only time they showed any morals or regret was when they were caught and told how they should act. And while they made fun of geeks at every opportunity, how is it that Scheech (a self admitted geek) was one of their circle of friends? Of course he was the fall guy for many a prank. Pityful. I would not let my children watch this show....ever.

I watch Saved by the Bell every morning, and for a while, I noticed that there was no Slater, Kelly, or Jessie. And that's just weird. Because Saved by the Bell always had those people, and this show, called "Saved by the Bell" did not.

I really didn't enjoy this version. There were two students who didn't even make it to the actual show, and that's lame.

Anyway, it's 7AM, and I'm missing Saved by the Bell, the one where Kelly has to pick between Zack and Slater to take to the dance (It's a pretty old one, Slater just showed up at Bayside yesterday), so I have to go.

What do you all think of this show as it related to the actual show Saved by the Bell, you know, the one that got super popular in the early 90s and that we all grew up on?