Showbiz has been something of a reboot-a-palooza recently as great shows are being brought back from days gone by for another go. Fans whose favorites have been off the air for years have had reason to hope that there might be another season or two in their futures, either as a continuation or a new take on the material. Sadly for fans of Saved by the Bell, however, star Tiffani Thiessen says that a return to Bayside High won’t be happening for one very big reason: it just wouldn’t be as good as the original.
Tiffani Thiessen – previously known as Tiffani Amber Thiessen in her days as the teen cheerleader who became the first love of many young boys’ lives – opined about a reboot's chances.
It’s never going to happen. You’d never be able to do a reboot of that show and do a good job with it. The best thing we did was the Jimmy Fallon reunion last year. That’s as close as it will get!
All things considered, it’s hard to blame Thiessen for not wanting a reboot. While the Full House continuation Fuller House has had many of those nostalgic for the 90s excited, Saved by the Bell doesn’t quite have the format for a reboot. Any return to Bayside wouldn’t be the same without most of the original crew, and it’s hard to imagine a premise that could possibly bring them back together for fresh shenanigans and still make some degree of sense. At least Saved by the Bell: The New Class, which brought back Mr. Belding and Screech, happened soon after the original.
Even if we could argue with Thiessen about a Saved by the Bell reboot possibly being as good as the original, there’s no arguing with the numbers brought in by The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story movie on Lifetime. The ratings were pretty abysmal even by cable standards. While the movie was loosely based on a book by Dustin Diamond that was loosely based on the behind-the-scenes action on the Saved by the Bell set, and certainly would have attracted more of an audience if any of the original actors had participated in major roles, the numbers certainly couldn’t be encouraging to anybody considering bringing the series back in any form.
Besides, any new venture into the world of Saved by the Bell couldn’t possibly be any better than the sketch that brought most of the cast onto The Tonight Show to reprise their roles, complete with 90s fashion and technology and catchphrases. It’s pretty much one of the best things ever. No reboot could possibly be funnier.
At the end of the day, do we really need to know what happened to the crew of Bayside High? Isn’t it more fun to wonder if Kelly and Zack are still together or if Screech ever came out on top or if Jessie became an inspirational speaker after her “I’m so excited!” brush with darkness? And can't we just imagine other sextets of popular teenagers traipsing past the hallway lockers without having to see it? We have some great memories from Bayside High, and I think that we’ll be just fine without a reboot.
You can still catch Thiessen mixing it up with some Saved by the Bell co-stars - with Mark-Paul Gosselaar also good for a future appearance, she told Entertainment Weekly - on her Cooking Channel series Dinner at Tiffani's, which will get a Season 2 premiere at some point in 2016.
