Everybody has their show, the one they most relate back to kinda encapsulating their childhood. My show is without a doubt, Saved by the Bell. The show itself was revolutionary and groundbreaking, and ahead of its time. It tackled the tough issues that similar shows would never go near: Like caffeine pill addiction, the death of pet lizards, and how it’s ok to date girls that are on the wrestling team.
I can’t help but thank the gang for preparing me for the ups and downs that life inevitably throws at you. I’ve actually had several situations that have eerily closely resembled Saved By The Bell episodes. So, when I contemplate life or come to a crossroads, I think about What Would Zack Morris Do? With Valentines Day just over, what an ideal time to share some of the life lessons around love that Saved By The Bell has taught me.
Life Lessons I Have Learned From Saved by the Bell: Love and Relationship Edition
1. Don’t Trust Guys Named Jeff…ever
I never liked this name after that scumbag manager of the Max stole Kelly from Zack. The older I get the more this rule proves itself.
2. Enjoy What You Have When You Have It
This lesson is usually learned the hard way, and Zack was no exception. When he found himself left out in the cold when Kelly dumped him…Screech dropped this knowledge bomb…
“Better to have been dumped by the best looking girl, than never to have been dumped at all.” –Samuel Screech Powers
This shining moment of clarity that Screech provided Zack may be the best advice he offered his number one bud. Appreciate what you have, live in the present, because most things don’t last forever.
3. Find Your Kelly (or Zack)
Of the 87 girls Zack dated in high school and college, one in particular always seemed to hold onto his heart. Now I’m not saying to go back to a past girl or boy, but if you have someone in your life that is special, go after them and hold on. And if not, find one.
4. Not Everyone Is a Kelly (or Zack), Don’t Settle for Anything Less
Don’t go thinking that someone like Jeff Hunter, the Max manager, is a Zack. Sure he’s older and has that sweet job running your favorite after school hangout…but if he’s shady, he’s shady. And one day you’ll just end up sneaking into a club underage and finding out he’s cheating on you. After all, he’s no Zack.
5. Don’t Go Chasing the Unattainable aka Don’t be Screech
There is nothing worse than chasing after someone that will never come around. Years and years of pursuing Lisa led to nothing but wasted time and effort. In the end you’ll crash too. Just hope it doesn’t also end with a creepy disgusting sex tape and a bitter tell-all book. Make a move, put yourself out there, and if the answer is “no”, move on. No big deal.
6. Always Be Yourself…Never Compromise That
Kelly didn’t succumb to the peer pressure of uber cool Jonny Dakota. Sure she could have smoked marijuana just to hang with the teen-idol mega-star, but that’s not who Kelly was.
Lisa taught us the dangerous of being someone you’re not. Who can forget when she compromised her ditsy shopping ways to become a studious book worm when geeky hunk Brian led her to beleive her current self just wasn’t good enough. Be confident in yourself. If they don’t like who you are, find someone that does.
7. Enjoy the Single Life, Enjoy it a Lot
Lisa was always having a blast and she never really tied down to anyone, except for of course Eric, Jessie’s bad-boy step brother, for one episode. Zack ended up with Kelly, but dated and had a blast when he wasn’t. He had to learn what he liked. So should you.
8. Learn Something From Every Relationship
In order to find what works for you and what doesn’t, you need to learn something from those in and out of your life. Even the homeless girl, Laura, Zack dated for the Christmas episode taught him something. She taught him that it’s better to date girls who don’t live in cars with their dads. (That’s an important one I might add, you should write that one down)
9. Dysfunctional Isn’t Normal
Even with Slater and Jessie looking passionately into each others eyes and singing “Endless Love” as a duet at the Halloween Ball, their relationship was a mess. The constant bickering and fighting isn’t how a relationship should be. Fighting, yelling, jealously, and general drama don’t get better over time. Sometimes, no matter how hard you want a relationship to work…it won’t. Best to cut the rope before you hang yourself with it. After all, Jessie ended up being a Showgirl’s stripper.
10. Seize On Opportunities When They Appear, The Don’t Last Long
Whether he struck while the iron was hot with his bosses daughter from the Malibu Sands Beach Club, Stacy, or was selling advertising space on A.C’s football jersey…no one was better at turning lemons into lemonade than Zack. If the opportunity is open, seize it and seize it fast.
So what has the Bayside Gang taught you about life? I’d love to hear from you. Also, feel free to challenge be to some Saved By The Trivia in the comments. But like Valley vs Bayside…I assure you that you will lose.
I respect your authority on SBTB and all things related and so I’d like to take this opportunity to get your opinion on a discussion I recently had with a friend. My friend, we’ll call J, had a firm stance that while there is ALWAYS an “It girl” in every television social group, the same does NOT hold true for males, i.e., there’s no such correlative “it guy” amongst the group. His two references to support his argument were my two prime examples to refute it; these being Zack/Slater of SBTB, and Brandon/Dylan of 90210. My stance is there is an equivalent “it guy”, ie. Zack and Dylan. J’s stance is neither one guy stood out as being the one guy that all the girls wanted; that guys are cool with just sort of sharing the “pool” so to speak. Whereas there is always a definitie “it girl”; J stating the examples of Kelly Kapowski and Kelly Taylor (what’s with the name Kelly, by the way?) Your thoughts?
A few other lessons — when you can avoid it, never put yourself in a position where your professional and love interests are at odds with your conscience (i.e., Don’t get roped into being judge of a beauty pageant that your boss Papa Bear wants to rig at the expense of the love of your life).
Also, while not really about love, per se, a couple general rules of thumb are (1) never try rapping the story of Snow White, and (2) for God’s sake, don’t use caffeine pills.
OK, I knew that you liked Saved by the Bell, but I didn’t realize how much you knew about the show. Most of these references are over my head, and I actually did watch the show & reruns! I think we all have a show or two that we love and from which we can quote and make references. My shows are Felicity and Beverly Hills 90210 (besides Seinfeld and Friends). This was so over the top!! Excellent post, Scott. I’ll need to borrow your DVD collection – you must have the complete set, no?
haha…I don’t have the DVD’s. No need, their branded into my head. Truth be told, I haven’t seen an episode on prob 5 yrs. For some reason, I’ve pretty much memorized all of them. I still state that if Zack Morris would have read calculus problems on TV…I’d be a Rhodes Scholar. Thanks for the comment Chanthana.
If you have not read Chuck Klosterman’s brilliant analysis of SBTB in sex, drugs and…(chocolate? candy canes? whatever), you should.
Nope, haven’t heard of it. Thanks for the reading recommendation! Always looking for good stuff, I’ll put it on the list. Thanks Tyler
Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs…. I have it I think, next time you’re in my neck of the woods I’ll send it your way.
The Zack/Lisa episode weirdness was only topped by the Zack/Jesse episode weirdness … how was it that he got to date EVERY major girl on the show and yet Kelly married him in the end anyway? (I may or may not have the two-part wedding episode on tape, BTW.)
And, I still think one of my favorites was when they created the Zack Attack and sang “Friends are Friends Forever.”
Uhhhhhhhhhh…what do you mean how did he date every girl and still marry Kelly????
Because he’s Zack Morris. Do I really need me to go into more of an explanation. He held the hearts of a generation. You’re not going to date then marry the guy who creates the “Buddy Bands” empire and then smashes into the music industry with “Zack Attack”, I don’t buy that.
Did anyone else notice how they kind of through out the idea of Zack and Lisa, just for one episode (where they kissed in front of Screech) and then you never heard about this EVER again. It was like they were testing the waters and then thought, “Naahhh…”
Also, who could forget the episode where the big Tycoon oil guy was drilling for oil on the school grounds and everyone was hyped about all the cool new facilities this was going to bring about. But then, when the oil leaked onto the football filed and into the marsh, Zack’s favorite goose got covered in the stuff and died.
I just loved the fake goose doll that Zack held, all covered in oil, with Zack trying to pretend to cry, but you can just tell he’s laughing his head off on the inside. 🙂
Eric
I LOVED Saved by the Bell. I remembering thinking that my life was boring because I never had experiences like them lol. I still watch syndicated episodes! So many life lessons learned by teenagers (and then college students when they got older).
Wait…you didn’t have similar experiences as the gang from Bayside? Where did you go to high school!!?? Seriously.
Are you trying to tell me that than an oil company didn’t find an oil reservoir underneath your high school and you got totes pumped because you were all going to be rich…only to find out that something goes horribly wrong and the pet class duck you’ve come to love is murdered in horror of the high school oil spill?
Cause that totally happened to me.
R.I.P. Becky
♬ and I make it to the corner to see the BUS FLY BY… it’s all right ‘cos I’m saved by the bell… ♫♪
Man, I loved this show. It was popular in Ireland too 🙂 It’s totally shaped my life. I’m still trying to find my Kelly though! But as Zack showed us, the single life can be really cool.
I just remember thinking how high-school life in the states must have been the most amazing thing ever; there are girls there, you don’t have to wear a uniform, your teachers aren’t priests… 😛
That show may just have been what pushed me to definitely consider travelling some day! Of course, I started off in the states.
Something interesting happening in every episode has been burned into me; “do one thing every day that scares you”, or at least something ridiculous and fun.
I loved Zack’s cellphone too; my favourite episode was the one with the Bonsai tree and the radio competition that Zack kept trying to win by calling from it. And my favourite quote from an episode is:
Zack: Kelly, this news disappoints me verily! I thought you and I could go over some more lines from “Romeo and Juliet”.
Slater: What? I don’t believe this. You’d rather study than go to the beach?
Zack: Partying is such sweet sorrow… chump.
Kelly goes with Zack rather than Slater – sometimes studying and working instead of partying pays off big time 😉
Great post idea
Yesssssssssssssssss!!!! This is the most brilliant beyond brilliant post I’ve ever read! You pretty much just made my life.
You saw this, right?! http://bit.ly/aVhSTq
I’m with Sara on this one. This post was Brilliant. I will forever envy the fact that Zack had a cell phone the size of an iPad. Oh the 90’s…
Thanks for the shout Sara!! As an avid SBTB fan i thought you might appreciate this one 🙂
I did see the Jimmy Fallon thing…honestly…I wasn’t into it. Jimmy was just trying to cap on the Zack Attack success.
What, no Rigma’s references?!
The Rigmas were in the Miss Bliss episodes and I don’t count those as real episodes. They were like a bad dream. Didn’t get official SBTB until they were in Cali.
Ouch no love for Miss Bliss? I don’t think Mylo and Mikey appreciate your memory of their legacy and contributions as building blocks for future seasons! The show got way better after but that season was good also…good enough to keep going in a new format.
I guess I can’t complain too much about the Indiana year, it did give birth to future SBTB. Great reference to Milo, he was def underrated. But the Miss Bliss gang couldn’t hold a candle to Bayside, they were too whiny. Besides, that phase of the show focused too much on Miss Bliss, and who the hell cares about Pollyanna.
Definitely one of the most perplexing mysteries in TV history is what circumstances caused Zack, Lisa, Screech and Principal Belding all to move from Minnesota to the same school in California at the exact same time. I really think that Miss Bliss should have made an appearance at the wedding finale in Vegas…
The caffeine pill addiction episode was a pivotal turning point for me. I still will say to people when I am overwhelmed “I’m so excited…I’m so excited…I’m so…I’m so…confused!!!” It’s like my SOS.
Haha. I think thats gotta be the most popular episode. How realistic and easy to relate too. I mean how many other high-school girls are dealing with the pressures of getting into college and balancing their teen pop music group shooting their first music video, other than everybody! Love that one.
I cannot actually even say the words “I’m so excited” without breaking out into a Jesse impersonation. Seriously. Luckily, almost everyone immediately gets the reference so I don’t look like a total freak!
At this point the “I’m so excited” phrase is universal. If you’re rippin that one out and no one seems to get it…I’d find some new company ASAP. The Jessie impersonation is as American as apple pie.
Oh, the younger years… SBTB was definitely the show that defined me as an adolescent (not saying I’m proud of this, not saying I’m not 😉 )
I had such a crush on Kelly. One day I just couldn’t stand it anymore so I tried my best to draw a picture of her (you know, to try and impress her) and wrote her a letter. I can’t remember if I actually mailed it, but hey, I tried. 🙂
My wife and I watch reruns when we run into them. Thankfully we both share our appreciation for the Zack Attack. I mean how could you now appreciate a kids show that makes their star look like a Vanilla Ice look-a-like, while becoming too important for his friends, forgetting what’s most precious to him, while dreaming in his garage, just before an actual band practice session?!
Great post and thanks for triggering some happy memories. 🙂 Now off to plant a bug in our bedroom so if my wife ever has a slumber party I’ll be able to sit in the other room and listen in on all their talk about boys and stuff…
Eric
Seriously?
Yes, seriously.
It’s funny, I will always have a soft spot for Zack Morris and the crew of Saved by the Bell (and by soft spot, I mean crush on…). Whenever I see a re-run on a Saturday morning, I always tune in. However my husband hates the show. He feels like it’s too campy, too scripty, and too annoying to sit through as an adult.
(I haven’t asked him about it, but I’m pretty sure my husband grew up in a SBTB free household…)
Thank you for reaffirming my love for the show. After-school-special or not, it taught us plenty of lessons then that we can still use today.
I don’t mean to impose on your relationship…but what do you mean your husband doesn’t like SBTB? Did he grow up in communist Russia where they were only exposed to Bay Watch? I don’t even know how to compute that statement…SBTB free household.
I want his brain analyzed by scientist people because we need to know how the human brain functions and reacts without SBTB goodness.