For my supplemental screening this week I decided to watch a show that laid the groundwork for current teen dramas: Saved by the Bell. After having viewed Glee and Secret Life of the American Teenager, I was curious to see the ways that teen television was different or the same in the late 1980′s and early 1990′s. I had seen a few episodes of Saved by the Bell growing up, but it has probably been about ten years since I last saw an episode. The first thing that really jumped out at me was the way the show dealt with realistic teenage social issues in an unrealistic way. In this sense, I actually found the show to be really similar to SLAT. As was discussed in the blog posts and in class, while SLAT addresses the temptations of teenage sex, it does so in a highly unrealistic way. We see the high school guidance counselor talk with Ben about sex in a way that would be improbable between an adult and a teenager. Furthermore, the fact that the guidance counselor has condoms for students at the high school is also not believable. In Saved by the Bell, we also see unrealistic conversations between adults and teenagers as well as situations that would never actually happen.
I wanted to watch the show from its first season, so I decided to view episodes 3 and 4 from the first season. Every Saved by the Bell episode starts the same way (at least from what I saw): with the main character, Zack Morris, looking into the camera to talk about a realistic problem that he (and presumably other high schoolers) face. In episode 3, Zack starts the episode by talking to the audience about “that teacher that everyone hates”. For anyone in high school or even middle school, this is a subject matter that they can relate to. I am sure that all of us growing up had a hard teacher who always seemed to be grumpy and enjoyed making our lives difficult. However, to exhibit this notion, Zack yells “Terrible Testaverde” next to the school lockers and everyone beside him screams and drops their books. Obviously, this is highly unrealistic, but nonetheless the show gets its point across that people are terrified of this teacher and high schoolers can still relate since they have probably had a teacher they disliked.
If the scene of Zack yelling a teacher’s name and everyone becoming terrified is unrealistic, then what is the purpose of this scene? In class we talked about the notion of a show “playing down” to its younger audience and I believe Saved by the Bell is doing just that. To me, Saved by the Bell is not primarily a show for high schoolers to relate to their lives (though this does occur sometimes), but is rather a show for elementary and middle schoolers to get a “sneak peek” of what high school life is like. Though the show deals with serious social problems, it seems to do so in a comical, childish way. By dealing with subject matter such as sex, love, cheating on a test and taking responsibility for one’s own actions in a light-hearted manner, the show can be popular among a wider age range. Suddenly, serious issues can be incorporated into a storyline for middle school or even elementary school children. Furthermore, because Saved by the Bell deals with serious issues in a comedic way, it is even more entertaining. This allows children who are going through the same situations to laugh them off and realize that these are situations that all high schoolers must go through.
In episode 4 of the first season, Bayside High School holds a “Girl’s Choice” dance where the girls get to ask the boys to the dance. However, because Zack and Slater both want Kelly to ask them, they turn down other girls in hopes that Kelly will ask them. In fact, Slater even says he turned down seven girls AND a teacher, highlighting the fact that he has irresistable sex appeal. Furthermore, Zack has a conversation with the principal about Kelly and how he hopes that she will ask him to the dance, but in the mean time, other girls are getting mad at him that he is turning them down. The principal says to Zack, “Look, when you’re a Ladies’ man, you’re going to make them mad sometimes. You’re not going to please them all.” The conversation between Zack and his principal reminded me of the conversation in Secret Life of the American Teenager that Ben had with his guidance counselor about joining the band: both highly unlikely in the way that a school administrator would talk to a student. In both shows, there is a lack of portrayal of sex because the viewer never actually gets to see anything besides hand-holding or a kiss on the cheek, however this is where I feel the two stop in comparison. As Tiffany Henning points out, the lack of sex in SLAT “creates a very sterile and official vibe around the after effects of sex”. However, in Saved by the Bell, I felt that the lack of sex occurred simply because the kids did not really want to and/or were not ready to have sex. While SLAT deals with the temptations of sex, the kids in Saved by the Bell do not really seem to be of high school age and thus do not have the same temptations. While the boys do have crushes and they do allude to wanting to hang out with girls alone in their rooms, it seems that they would not know what to do with the girl once they got them there. I think this is all chalked up to the fact that the show’s target audience is younger than high school. For anyone familiar with the show, does Screech really seem like he is in high school? Furthermore, when watching the show it is painfully obvious that there is a laugh track. To put it bluntly, the jokes are not funny and are not of high school age.
Despite seeming to tailor to a younger audience, I really enjoyed watching Saved by the Bell. Maybe one of the reasons I enjoyed it was because it was a bit nostalgic for me to be watching the show again. Nonetheless, this is not a show that I would choose to watch regularly if it were still on television. As I was watching, it was fun for me to compare it to similar teen television today. Though the series 90210 was on TV at the same time and both featured “high school” students, they were very different shows and obviously had different target audiences, similarly to how I see SLAT and Glee today. While Saved by the Bell may not be targeting the older-teenage range, it is clear how it gained a strong following among tweens who wanted an insight into what high school life is like, whether that portrayal was realistic or not.
Some interaction that is unlikely to actually occur between high schoolers:
I agree that both Glee and 90210 look at high school from an older perspective while SLAT and Saved by the Bell look at high school from a younger perspective. However, it’s interesting how the different the purposes of SLAT and Saved by the Bell are. Saved by the Bell, from how you’ve described it, I’ve never actually seen an episode, seems like it tries to find more humor in high school situations than SLAT to try to alleviate some anxiety felt by some viewers who are about to enter high school, or just to entice viewers with what they think is a cool situation without alienating them with humor and topics they can’t relate to. SLAT on the other hand, seems to take itself so seriously that I would have a hard time imagining kids younger than high school age, or even high schoolers themselves, enjoying the show. SLAT seems so pedantic that I can only imagine viewers watching it if their parents forced them to or if they can’t find information about sex anywhere else and are desperate for it. Glee similarly seems to take a much more lighthearted look at high school than 90210. A reason for this might be that viewers of 90210 were typically high school students who tended to take their affairs too seriously while Glee is intended for viewers who already went through high school and can find more humor in typical high school situations with the help of retrospect. I guess like all TV it comes down to catering to your target audience.
I would agree that Saved by the Bell seems to look at social issues with a much more light-hearted approach than SLAT. Saved by the Bell, especially because of characters like Screech, comes off as a pretty silly and goofy show. However, I think we have to remember that SLAT is actually a high successful show and has a lot of tweens and teens watching. While to us, it seems like sex facts are constantly shoved down the viewers throat, I wonder if younger viewers would feel the same way. I actually think that younger viewers may feel a little empowered from watching a show that talks about “taboo” subjects. Especially for those younger than high school, I do not think they have a lot of insight or information about sex. SLAT seems to fill this void by informing its audience about sex and who is having it.