Two episodes ago we were missing Kelly. This time we "missed" Jesse. Did we though? The cast certainly didn't. They don't even mention purchasing a U2 ticket for her.
The episode is pretty light on content, but I'll give you what I can.
It technically shouldn't count, but it has been so long since I have seen a boom in a shot that I had to include this one, even though it is absolutely supposed to be in the shot. So, boom? Sure.
Now let's look at some character breaks and call it a day.
Once again, Screech is the one breaking. The window was literally just shut in his face, yet he can't help hamming it up before getting a look of shock on his face.
Next:
This one is almost understandable. The group has just engaged in a pretty comical fight - but it was still a fight! Slater and Lisa make eye contact and then have to make that stupid teeth-in-chin face to pull themselves together. At least Screech could keep a straight face.
Feel free to share what stood out to you in the comments below.
Edit: I just found something else out concerning this episode. Remember the sports store salesman? Remember how terrible his acting was when he recognized that it was time to close? Well, it seems as if this actor - Tony Sabin Prince - got into doing puppeteering. He was Fran Dinosaur.
I think it is safe to say that this episode boasts one of the worst raps ever. It is shudder-worthy. Zack has no flow whatsoever.
Even worse: Zack's math. Here is the arithmetic:
$2 per call x 5 hours per day x 7 days per week = Huh? That's technically $35. We need another piece of data in order to call this a way to get rich.
How many calls are you expecting to take in one hour? Some calls could run longer than others. Maybe you don't get many calls in an hour. Come on, high school business kid! Fill out those numbers.
Let's pretend that the missed step of calculating calls per hour didn't get skipped. Here is the math with each call taking 5 minutes AND calls filling each hour:
60 minutes per hour/5 minutes per call = 12 calls per hour
$2 per call x 12 calls per hour x 5 hours per day x 7 days per week = $840 per week.
Yes boys. Now you are talking.
Split between two boys: $420 per week. I'd take that. (This is assuming, of course, that Zack doesn't play Screech for a fool and stiff him some cash.) When Lisa gets figured in, she takes half for herself and the boys split the other half: Lisa takes $420 and the boys each get $210. Not bad at all for high school kids on a weekly basis. I think my paper route paid me less on a monthly basis.
This, however, is by no means rich. And, of course, this is the best case scenario. You know Zack goes through dry spells in taking calls. Then again, he also needs multiple phones at some times. Also, how are the students paying for these calls? And how is Zack collecting without his parents' help? Also, why are you still reading this stupid paragraph that doesn't really matter because this is a teen show that gets its kicks on camp and fun and good-looking people?
So, weak rapping, frail business plan - what did this episode have going for it? Boom mics.
Boom!
That boom mic is a little difficult to see. Allow me to present to you the power of further yellow markings:
Yellow Boom!
Better.
Here is the other:
Overboard Boom!
With that out of the way, let's take a look at our guest stars. Michael McManus plays Mr. Manfredi.
Michael McManus
What is going on here? This guy had a recurring role on "Baywatch?" He looks like art barfed on weird. He was the classic television actor and had parts in numerous popular shows. He branched out, however, and was a writer/producer for the mid-90s hit "Mafia" with Jay Mohr (when that guy was relevant). I tip my hat there; I loved that movie and its incredibly inappropriate funeral scene.
Let's move on. Quickly.
Kelly's cute little sister Nicki is played by Laura Mooney.
Laura Mooney
She was cute enough to garner spots in shows like "Mister Belvedere" (in which she plays two different characters in different years) and "The Wonder Years" (in which she plays three different characters in different years), as well as the fantastic movie "Suburban Commando."
Laura also lent her voice to many popular things, like "Animaniacs" and some "Winnie the Pooh" productions. Sadly, I can't find any current information on what she is doing now. I did find, however, that a Polish television site ranks her work as an 8 out of 10 (based on three votes). Way to go.
Feel free to share what stood out to you in the comments below.
It's one thing to have a boom mic in one of your shots. It's another to have one in many shots. Behold:
Boom! The show barely starts when the snafu goes down.
Boom!! It can't even stay away during a key scene.
Boom!!! Oh, wait for it. (Look in Kelly's mirror over Zack's right shoulder.)
Boom!!!! Yup, they move the mic towards Zack and get caught in the mirror. Mighty fine work, boys.
Another brilliant (read: "production failure") is Screech's state of affairs after taking photos of the girl's swim team.
Am I supposed to believe that perfectly dry Screech had pool water in his snorkel? As much as I am to believe that he got candid shots of the girls, right?
I can understand, though. Dustin Diamond would have been miserable doing take after take if he had to stay in sopping wet clothes. Just like he would be miserable combing out his 'fro for every take in the last scene.
That's right, Screech. Don't let that confetti in your hair! (If you'll recall, he tries to walk completely around the fallout radius.)
And now for the part of the blog that I am growing to hate: Guest stars. My objective was to point out guest stars that may have made a name for themselves in other places in which Saved by the Bell was simply a spring board. Sadly, hardly any guest stars so far have made a name elsewhere. Our nerds have been prime examples (minus that Tori Spelling stint). So, I will avoid the nerds here - I may have even covered one or more of them in previous posts.
Greg Kean
Adam Trask, the creepy-yet-insightful photographer, is played by Greg Kean. You may know him if you have sat in on your mother watching TV movies. Or you may have seen him in his only recurring role as Clancy Lass in "Dead Like Me." Or, if you are like me, then you have never seen him in anything memorable, even though I have seen that one episode of Smallville he was in briefly.
And that is how this one will end. Kind of a dud ending. We'll get over it.
Feel free to share what stood out to you in the comments below.
If'n ya like yor blogs as vidjeas, saunter over HERE.
If you had a strict upbringing then you may recall this episode as the one that your parents saw where, to their dismay, Zack does not get punished for his lying. He gets rewarded. With a kiss. Yes, this is the episode where my parents marked Saved by the Bell as a bad influence and I could not watch it any longer in my own home. I could, however, watch at a friend's house. So that was the real lesson from this episode: Have good friends.
But maybe my parents were on to something. The plot? Mr. Belding pimps out his niece to a delinquent. He allows Zack to skip suspension if the boy goes on a date with Penny Belding. Penny may not have known she was pimped. She was pimped, nonetheless.
Speaking of Penny:
Jodi Peterson
This is Jodi Peterson. I'm glad the producers chose to show us that Mr. Belding's gene pool wasn't completely shallow. Penny seemed like a nice enough girl. Then again, she did get fooled by Screech in a wig. (Way to just go with it, sweetheart.) Jodi appeared in numerous teen shows in the early 90s. She had a small role in "Growing Pains" and single gigs in "Life Goes On," "Step by Step," and "Getting By." She also had three different roles in three years for "Blossom." Sadly, it seems her career died after appearing in a Leslie Nielsen movie. Appropriately, it was "Dracula: Dead and Loving It."
The other blind date guest star was Timothy Williams playing Brett.
Timothy Williams
Don't let that Rob Schneider-like baby face fool you, homeboy was about 23 or so when he shot this episode. Like many other guest spots we've seen, Timothy's career doesn't have a ton of prominent shot-to-fame stuff. He does, however, have Hollywood experience in other areas. Timothy writes and it seems to suit him. Among his projects, readers of this blog may be most interested in his contributions to "Bobby's World" with Howie Mandel. He also wrote and acted in "Brothers." Way to go, little guy. I love seeing actors branching out. (And he isn't so little. He is listed as 5'6", which isn't too bad. It is just jarring seeing him go up against the 5'10" Elizabeth Berkley.)
The last guest star is Mr. Hudson, as played by I.M. Hobson.
What I gather from this guy is that he mostly played men of authority with a slight nod at his weight. But that's all I want to focus on. Because I want to move on. As in, I'd like to watch the next episode now.
Subtle boom.
Feel free to share what stood out to you in the comments below.
I don't know if she was an integral part of the extras cast before (like the twins you always saw in the first two seasons) but I am seeing Molly the Troll everywhere. It's freaking me out.
Sadly, aside from the paper-thin plot, there wasn't much going on here. Mr. Tuttle has already been introduced. No other guest stars are credited (though I would have loved some backstory on that wavy haired guy). All I have left is --
Boom!
Hopefully the next episode gives us more to talk about.
Feel free to share what stood out to you in the comments below.
Not only is a video of this blog HERE, but a rap is thrown in to boot!
Bah! I trumpeted the fact that Max hasn't been in this season for the first two episodes and then there he is for the third. I jinxed it. Well, at least it was a depressed, non-magical Max. That was nice. Here is a picture of Max sleeping behind Jesse, who supposedly sleeps with a creepy grin on her face.
Now, I give Dustin Diamond gentle ribbings now and again, but this episode is one of my favorites of his. The dude shines. His afro-splosion, fetal position in the Max, and callous eating of Max's dog (yeah, it's implied) is great and all, but his characters are phenomenal. This scene especially takes the cake.
He relates a tale and does all the sound effects in a fantastic fashion. It's one of the first times I have thought his character has been used to its full potential. This scene alone makes this episode worth the watch.
Later, Screech busts out an Al Bundy impression. For those of you younguns who don't know "Married...With Children," allow me to introduce you to Al Bundy:
Married... With Children
Yes, that is Ed O'Neill from "Modern Family." And yes, that is the show that helped every person in the world see that Christina Applegate had it going on. Screech's impression is decent, but it is sadly marred by a boom operator who couldn't let little Screech have his radio glory.
Now, let's have a little lesson in television magic. First off is the newspaper. Notice the back of the current newspaper running the review of the KKTY:
Now notice the back of the paper that Jesse finds from the 60s:
Yes, they are the same. But they can do that to save on costs. Why should the producers think we should know any different? They shouldn't have to print two different papers for two such incredibly key plot moments, right?
For more television magic, check out Slater's right hand:
This is Slater handing Zack $125. Unless the money was tightly folded and had been taped to his pants (because his hand doesn't go in his pocket) then I submit to you that there was no money in that hand. His donation is worthless. Nobody may notice, however, since they were all asleep.
This trick is handy here since his motion is from the arm away from the camera and blocked by his body and it passes such a small visible space before being hidden by the DJ station. The movement is so fast that you would hardly realize that nothing was actually happening outside of Slater moving his arm - except for now thanks to the internet and screen capturing existing. Sorry, producers. Next time, just give him some light green paper to pretend as money.
Wait, that money couldn't have been taped to his pants. We saw his pants as he entered. Curiouser and curiouser.
Well, that's all for this go-round.
Feel free to share -- Gah!
It's that Molly troll from last episode! It's a wonder Jesse could sleep at all with that thing creeping around the Max.
Feel free to share what stood out to you in the comments below.
HERE is a video that does so much better than this blog ever did.
Let it be known: Max is out of the credits! The first two episodes are Max-free zones and I couldn't be happier.
Who else is happy? How about Dylan Tucker, the guy that plays Butch?
Dylan Tucker
Why is he so happy? The word on the street is that he was diagnosed with cancer in 1996. He's still around so I am guessing he beat it. He's getting back in the acting game and sets to appear in a movie called "Helicopter Mom" as a tough guy. Well, we all have to start from scratch from time to time.
In this episode, Butch is tasked with vying for the love of Molly between himself and Screech. Please take note, however, that Molly looks like a freaking troll:
I'm sure she's a sweet girl and all, but my "Shut up, Dustin Diamond" segment gets a little derailed this time around.
As to other guest stars (Molly doesn't get a credit?), let's look to the character of Louise, played by Lara Lyon.
Lara Lyon
Ms. Lyon has the unfortunate task of playing a nerd. Then again, like all nerds in the early episodes, she has a recurring role. And, like all nerds, this seems to be the only recurring role she has in her career. She one-ups those other nerds, however, by having served as a producer for a film called "Charlotte Sometimes." I have never heard of it but I am impressed that she tried a little something new.
As for Lieutenant Chet Adams, well, he just has the greatest name in television: Cylk Cozart.
Cylk Cozart
His appearance on Saved by the Bell happens early in his career (which started with modeling). He goes on to amass plenty of screen time, the best probably being "Slam Dunk Ernest." Probably not, but I was a pretty big Ernest fan and I didn't even know this existed. One thing of note: Cylk has the longest IMDB bio I have ever seen for a D-list actor. He may have written it himself, though I'm sure "anonymous" would never tell.
Finally:
Yes, boom mic, the Lieutenant totally sees you.
Feel free to share what stood out to you in the comments below.
It should be fairly obvious that this episode is incredibly out of order. This was supposed to be the first episode of "Saved by the Bell" ever. Yet here it lies, fifteen episodes into the first season. We get introduced to A.C. Slater... fifteen episodes in. We meet heartthrob Kelly... fifteen episodes in. We find out Jessie is Zack's best friend... even though fifteen episodes haven't really proven this yet. We also meet Mr. Dewey and Mrs. Simpson... again. But, you know what? Things happen and snafus like this are some of them. To get your mind off this chronal anomaly:
Boom!
In the course of this blog I have discovered that I need a segment devoted to the instances in which I can yell at Dustin Diamond to shut up about his experience on Saved by the Bell. Once again, he has a magical moment with a lady.
So, here it goes: "Hey, Dustin Diamond. Shut up!" That feels good.
Another segment could appropriately be called "Mr. Belding's Very Inappropriate Moments" because it seems he has one every episode. Here, he tells Zack "You haven't seen 'Dirty Dancing' until you've seen [Mrs. Belding and I] underwater." What?
And did you see this guy in the background try to keep a straight face? He fails.
Finally, some people get bent out of shape calling the double-straw in Kelly's Coke a production goof. Sure, Zack walks over with one straw in the cup but then there are conveniently two, allowing him to take a sip from Kelly's cup. I see this as further evidence of Max's stupid magic. He had already performed two or three stupid tricks before handing the cup to Zack. Why not a stupid trick straw that doubles for pretty ladies? It's plausible and perfectly in line with the character. I'll let it pass. Max is stupid.
Feel free to share what stood out to you in the comments below.
Delicious. A video of this blog can be consumed HERE.
What happened to the theme music on this one? I don't know if it is just the Netflix version or if each episode will have this song from here on out (I don't remember this terrible rendition) but it is so bad! I have noticed that some of the video used for each character has changed from time to time in the title sequence, but the song change is unbearable. I hope it doesn't last.
What else may not last: Our guest star's careers.
Mr. Tuttle is played by Jack Angeles.
This role would be his longest stint in Hollywood. It would also be his highest profile stint (unless you count "Mousehunt," in which he played a kennel worker). His star fizzled amazingly fast.
Mr. Angeles is not alone. Edgar Poindexter, the lovable nerd, is played by William Joseph Barker.
The character pops in from time to time in the show and Mr. Barker does an amazing job as a nerd. Sadly, this is really the only thing he would be known for, as his other acting credits go along the lines of Boy in Classroom for an episode of "Family Matters," Student #2 in "Growing Pains," and simply Actor in "California Dreams." Sad.
One of the aspects of this episode that I thought was weird was this locker room scene:
Uh, why is Mr. Belding pumping iron in front of a young student? And why is his shirt so tight around those biceps? It's kind of creepy from just this snapshot. But then you learn that it's actually Zack that is wooing Mr. Belding - with a Buddy Band. It's a funny, albeit odd, youth-and-elders scene.
And speaking of lockers -
how are you supposed to open that corner locker? As you can see by my marking, part of that corner locker is covered. Whomever has that locker is hosed, as they can't freaking open it! I know, I know. Who cares, right? Well, this is exactly why I am doing this blog - to find production curiosities. Case in point:
Incredibly obvious boom mic!
Feel free to share what stood out to you in the comments below.
I can't help but make the connection between Zack Morris and Jerry Lewis's "The Nutty Professor."
And, I can't help but think that terrible singer Keith stole his X-Factor clothes idea from Mr. A.C. Slater.
But now let's talk about a real nerd: Dr. Mertz. Well, at least he was an actor playing a nerd.
Avery Schreiber played the science teacher. Then again, what hasn't he done? This guy has been a little bit of everywhere. He shared a comedy stage with Jack Burns. He added vocals to cartoons. He acted in movies and television up to his death in 2002. Homeboy was in Second City. Not a bad resume. And that mustache is excellent.
Sharing co-guest duties is robot Kevin, a machine that pops in from time to time. Kevin is voiced by Mike Lavelle, who pretty much does nothing else of note in Hollywood life. But at least he will have a Slinky neck to his credit:
I would not sleep with this in my room.
Goofs: I'm not sure if you noticed, but when the girls are eating lunch at the Max and talking about Screech, the camera uncharacteristically pulls out while on Lisa. It is weird. It then wobbles a few seconds later, again when on Lisa. I don't know if this was an isolated incident dealing with the one angle or if the camera in question was just allergic to characters with one-dimensional characters.
Later, Kelly picks up a menu with new crush Screech despite clearly having already ordered food (as seen in her conversation with the girls). She really must be smitten.
Not only does she already have food but, before she can order with Screech, Max brings out another item Kelly had ordered - a freaking malt.
And I have said it before and I'll say it again:
Dustin Diamond was not mistreated on Saved by the Bell. He canoodles so many freaking ladies.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom?
Even President George H.W. Bush was impressed.
Feel free to share what stood out to you in the comments below.
