I don't normally write things up for something like this. Hell, I don't normally watch something like this. I'm far removed from the target audience of a Lifetime movie. This is a special case however. Saved by the Bell, for better or worse, holds a special place in my heart. I'll go ahead and say that there's no series that I've seen every episode as many times as SbtB (get used to that shorthand). I'll never claim that it was a good show in the 30 Rock or Sopranos sense, but it is undeniably charming and I first watched it at the right age. Of course, when I heard that there was going to be a movie about what happened behind the scenes, I was on board for something of a cross between a complete train wreck and an interesting perspective.
Almost immediately, the movie makes it very clear that this is Dustin Diamond's (Screech's) story/interpretation and for anyone familiar with Diamond's book or who has seen him in anything after about 2000 (for me, it was Celebrity Fit Club), that's a sign of interesting and scandalous things to come. Surprisingly, that isn't the case. The movie is pretty toothless. Having not read Diamond's book, I don't know what exactly was omitted, but this avoids making any bold claims. In fact, a couple weeks ago, Lifetime released a clip from the movie and that turns out to be the most drama in the movie amongst the cast. Mark Paul is a little rebellious against his very responsible mother. Dustin starts drinking a little. Mario brings some girls on set. A couple of the girls maneuver through crushes with the boys. There isn't any scandal. I'm not sure if the producers were afraid of lawsuits or didn't want to upset fans too much. There certainly wasn't much here to demand that it be the "unauthorized" story.
If scandal was the first reason to watch, the second was SbtB trivia. In that respect, it was informative. Lisa was supposed to be a Jewish princess. Mark Paul goes by Mark Paul, not Mark. Jenni Garth got passed on for the Kelly role. Mark Paul is part Indonesian. Jessie was created for Elisabeth Berkley. Dustin's first kiss was on camera with the beautiful Tori Spelling. There's a lot of tid-bits like that. Some I knew, some I didn't. Others, like Mark Paul's motor bike, I already knew the actual story (He probably didn't buy that against his parents' wishes. His whole family is big into those and he has a brother who went pro). I wasn't entirely aware of the number of cancellations the show had either, or that Tiffani and Elisabeth came back specifically for the graduation episode. I knew that last season was shot weirdly, but I never knew how graduation worked. I doubt there's much here that I couldn't've found on their Wikipedia pages, but it's nice to see it presented in a different way, like the writers had a fact sheet with items to check off as they wrote the script.
Let's see. We covered the sensational stuff. Got through the fan service. Anything else? Oh yeah, the movie itself. It's bad. The dialogue is painfully on the nose (I knew the "we're competing against Bugs Bunny" line was coming. I just didn't know how). The pacing of the story was dull. The actors were not very good and didn't seem to be all that studied up on who they were playing. I probably hold the characters too dear, but those actors only looked like the real actors minimally. All these things are to be expected for a hastily thrown together Lifetime movie. More than anything, I want to reassure you that this doesn't deviate from that norm.
This is an interesting viewing experience for any fan of Saved by the Bell. I'd like to strongly recommend anyone unfamiliar with the show or barely versed in it stay away from this. 1) It's not for you. 2) It's not even as good as the show. 3) It's not all that interesting. While the decision to de-claw Diamond's perspective of the events makes for a much more balanced story, it's not like it was supplemented by great character development or something. I honestly can't say there is anything notably better than spending a day on the Wikipedia page for the show. In terms of behind the scenes movies that never needed to be made, it's a bearable viewing experience and based on everyone I've talked to about this, that's all anyone needed.
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