TV Review #3: Saved By The Bell (2020)

 

In 2018, NBC created a streaming service that will probably never get shown in Canada because of some dumb reasons or something. It was called Peacock because of the NBC Peacock mascot thing. And uh they decided to make a sequel series to Saved by the Bell because we will never stop making sequels or reboots or remakes now. Get used to it. We will revamp or sequelize literally every single thing you ever loved, no matter what it is. Seriously there will be an Indiana Jones 5 coming out in 2022, when Harrison Ford will be 80. They are cheap and easy and everything. 

This opening honestly makes me sound like I hated this thing and I hate all remakes/reboots/sequels or whatever. I'm just saying that corporations don't want to make new things when they can wring every single bit of dough from something but that doesn't mean every single one of these will be bad. I just think some of these will end up being good because someone cared about the original show. I mean they did get Peter Engel the creator of the original show to be one of the Executive Producers. I dunno how much work he's doing on the show but he's 84 but I guess at least trying to get him to do something is something? I don't even know where I'm going with this.

I haven't seen the original Saved by the Bell in a very long time. Whenever TBS stopped being TBS and became Peachtree TV and I don't even think I get the channel anymore. TBS would show 82 episodes a day. Like you could seriously just sit there and watch the entire show, it's sequel series, the two tv movies, and maybe even The New Class in about one week. That's gotta be like several hundred episodes. Saved by the Bell the New Class was one for like six or seven years.  I just wanted to talk about this reboot because honestly I'm just interested in how stuff from the past will work in this future of ours that I've got weird mixed opinions that only make sense to me. I guess that's a part of being an adult.

Uh, so yeah. The tv show that ended in 1993 (not counting the College Years and The New Class) is different than 2020. The Hollywood culture is different and hell culture in general is different. This show starts with an underprovided school getting shut down and the students going to the more priviliaged  Bayside. The new kids are all mostly pretty entertaining. Daisy, Aisha, Devante, Mac Morris, Jamie and Lexi. We also get to see Jessie Spano, AC Slater, Zack Morris, Kelly Morris and one episode with Lisa, whos now a fashion pioneer in gay old Paree! I really like AC Slater now being a pretty big loser. Daisy is Hispanic and I guess the main character of the show, it's hard to say with a ensamble show like this. She's trying to make the world a better place. She's like the new Jessie Spano for this show I guess.  Aisha is a black lady. DeVante is a black dude. Lexi is a transgender cheerleader. It's definitely more diverse and all that, and they all feel like more than just stereotypes. Lexi gets to be a bit of a mean bitch at times.

That's also one of the shows main problem. Mac Morris and Lexi are kinda dickheads who go to becoming a bit nicer a bit too quick. I really think it should have been longer than 10 episodes before they became more empathetic. They needed to spend more time before they became a bit nicer. It feels very quick in the last few episodes because the show needed them to be nicer. I dunno. They could have also done the oh shit some shitty racist lady wants to shove the Douglas kids out of Bayside again. They could have let that story breathe for more than the few episodes it had. They could have also let Aisha and Jamie stay dating for more than 5 seconds. I guess when you have 10 episodes you gotta get the stories going quicker? I guess keep the people binge watching to keep on seeing what else happens. Oh and they are apparently going to take on the corona virus in season two. I don't think I want to see this show take on that mess. 

FINAL VERDICT: A few positives in this final paragraph first. I did actually laugh quite a bit watching these episodes and I really did enjoy the first few. I just think they shoved a lot of plot that could have been done better in the last few episodes ya know? Some of the comedy is mixed bag too though. The Principal guy can be funny but also tries too hard in some scenes. I would have also liked to see Mr. Belding and Screech and even that biker chick Tori show up (even if two of these get mentioned in the shows episodes). It's definitely trying a bit more than some remakes and I do think that if you get Peacock you really should give this show a shot and to check it out. It's not perfect but it was a fun enough watch over the past two days. I'm actually kinda exicted to re-watch Saved by the Bell the original series again too. I wonder how I'll feel about that now as an adult. I do hope they let the subplots breathe a bit more in season two but I think people want bingeable "oh man what's gonna happen next" stuff these days.