‘Saved By the Bell: The New Class’: 8 Screech-Worthy Facts About the Spinoff

The longest-running Saved by the Bell TV show might actually be the least known. It’s not streaming in full, it’s hard to find on physical media, and it might not even be considered SBTBcanon. But Saved by the Bell: The New Class kept the Bayside story going on Saturday- morning NBC long after Zack, AC, Jessie, and the rest of the original Saved by the Bell gang graduated. Here’s the lowdown on the little-remembered spinoff.

1. It was the longest-running show in the Saved by the Bell franchise.

Whereas the original Saved by the Bell ran for four seasons and 86 episodes, its 2020 revival ran for two seasons, and the spinoff Saved by the Bell: The College Years ran for just one, Saved by the Bell: The New Class lasted seven seasons and 143 episodes, taking the franchise into a new millennium.

2. Mr. Belding was a regular character all seven seasons, and Screech was one for six seasons.

Dennis Haskins is credited for all 143 episodes of The New Class, reprising his part as Mr. Belding, principal of Bayside. Dustin Diamond joined the cast in Season 2 — in the aptly titled “The Return of Screech” — as Screech returns to the school as Mr. Belding’s assistant.

3. Familiar faces like Bianca Lawson and Sarah Lancaster were series regulars.

The show changed up its core cast of students frequently, but Chuck star Sarah Lancaster and Pretty Little Liars star Bianca Lawson overlapped in the Season 2 roster.

Other series regulars over the years included future All My Children star Natalia Cigliuti, a pre-One Tree Hill Lindsey McKeon, R&B boy-bander Anthony Harrell, future Bold and the Beautiful star Ashley Tesoro, musician Richard Lee Jackson (brother of Jonathan Jackson), future U.S. Supreme Court clerk Isaac Lidsky, and the late Sense8 actor Christian Oliver.

4. Many original Saved by the Bell stars made cameos on The New Class.

O.G. Saved by the Bell characters Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), A.C. Slater (Mario Lopez), and Lisa Turtle (Lark Voorhies) all popped up in The New Class’ Season 2 finale, “Goodbye Bayside: Part 2,” to save the school from demolition. And in the Season 4 finale, “Fire at the Max: Part 2,” Slater returned to bid farewell to a beloved hangout for Bayside students.

5. Big-name actors were once New Class guest stars.

Hollywood stars James Marsden, Taraji P. Henson, Milo Ventimiglia, Tara Reid, and Gabrielle Union all had guest parts on the show. Marsden was going by Jimmy at the time, and Henson was such an unknown that she was cast to play “Girl #3” in one episode.

6. Paperback novels brought The New Class to the printed page.

Author Beth Cruise wrote novels for Saved by the Bell: The New Class after doing the same for the original Saved by the Bell. Ten New Class books hit bookshelves between 1994 and 2005, with titles like Spilling the Beans and Franken-Bobby!

7. All seven seasons came out on DVD… though they might be hard to find now.

Image Entertainment released all seven seasons of Saved by the Bell: The New Class on DVD in 2005. However, the DVD sets seem to be out of print, and third-party listings on Amazon go up to $250 per set.

8. The Saved by the Bell revival didn’t treat The New Class as canon.

When the Saved by the Bell revival debuted on Peacock in 2020, executive producer Franco Bario — a producer for the franchise since the days of the Saved by the Bell predecessor Good Morning, Miss Bliss — told TVLine that the revival wouldn’t pay The New Class much attention.

“We don’t really deal with The New Class,” he said at the time. “I did the first three seasons of The New Class, and then I left ‘the organization.’ The New Class was [practically] a new class every year. It wasn’t, I don’t think, part of the DNA of the [revival].”