This was the only episode we ever did that was written as a mystery and the first set we filmed on that was not the Bayside school setting. Showing up on Monday and seeing a completely different set for the first time was, quite frankly, awesome. It was a much welcomed relief and breathed life into the usual monotony. Every Friday when the crew would remove the black tarps to reveal the SBTB set, the audience would oooOOOOOoo and cheer, but for us it was painfully boring. The “Mystery Weekend” set had couches and chairs we could lounge around on during breaks when we went over notes, rather than school chairs, The Max booths, Belding’s desk, or the stairs in the main hallway.
By the way, whenever you saw different classroom sets on SBTB, they were all the same set with interchangeable components swapped around and redecorated. For instance, if a door was written to be on the opposite side of a room, the crew would just switch the rollaway walls to give it the feel of a new space. The lockers in the main hallway remained the same as well. On Good Morning, Miss Bliss they were red, then they were painted orange, etc. Also, keep your eyes on the main stairway. In early episodes, sometimes it’s on the left, then inexplicably it appears on the right. Another inconsistency in that squished-together first season, which combined the totally different show and cast of Good Morning, Miss Bliss with the revamped SBTB, was that the school relocates from Indiana to Palisades, California, without a whiff of explanation. Apparently, the original high school was set in Indiana because that’s where Brandon Tartikoff grew up.
SCREECH’S SPAGHETTI SAUCE” (Air date: September 19, 1992)
Screech invents a recipe for a new spaghetti sauce. This wins him the attention of an uppity girl who just wants him for his money. In communications class, the gang makes a show for cable access. In a commercial for Screech’s sauce, Slater says, “We’re saved by the bell!”
“The sauce, you can have. But the secret, she’s-ah mine.” I’ve still got one of those beakers with the picture on it somewhere in my vast archives. Soleil Moon Frye’s epic rack makes an appearance in this episode. I can’t
recall for certain, but quite possibly those beauties were still pre-reduction.
“THE FIGHT” (Air date: September 12, 1992)
This is the episode where Zack and Slater have it out in a full-on hallway brawl. A beautiful new student, Joanna Peterson, transfers into Bayside from Idaho. Zack and Slater come to blows over her affections.
Guest starring: Shana Furlow as Joanna Peterson, Jon Clair as Darren Brooks, Vaughn Armstrong as Mr. Breskin, and Bel Sandre as Martha.
Here’s how the fight went down, blow-by-blow: A.C. Slater quickly descends the stairwell of Bayside’s main hallway. He approaches Zack as he stands at his open locker.
A.C.: Zack, last night at the movies, you went too far.
ZACK: Just helped a mother get together with her son. What’s so wrong about that?
A.C.: Wrecking my date with Joanna wasn’t funny.
ZACK: Oh? Like it was funny wrecking my study date the night before?
A.C.: Hey, you started it, man—making me look like a jerk at The Max.
ZACK: Well. That’s what you are.
AUDIENCE: WoooOOOOOOOoooooo.
A.C.: What did you just say?
ZACK: You heard me. Get outta my face.
A.C.: And what if I don’t? Punk.
ZACK: Then I’ll just have to make you. Punk.
Zack pushes Slater. Slater pushes back. Zack lands a devastating right cross to Slater’s left cheek, sending him crashing to the floor. Slater recovers, charges Zack. He wraps up Zack and throws him to the floor. Now straddling him, Slater lands a powerful right cross to Zack’s eye. Zack seizes two fistfuls of Slater’s lustrous hair as they wrestle back to their feet.
A crowd circles the action as a teacher steps forward, struggling to break them apart …
“THE BAYSIDE TRIANGLE” (Air date: September 26, 1992)
This is the lesser-known fight episode where Screech finally stands up to Zack when his heart is broken. Zack helps Lisa put on a fashion show in an attempt to impress an admissions emissary from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. When Zack and Lisa fall for each other, Screech lashes out.
Before ripping open Zack’s silken shirt in a fit of rage and despair, Screech says to Zack, “Why’d you have to steal my dream? I hate you.”
AUDIENCE: WoooOOOOOOOoooooo.
Dustin Diamond Page 24
