Don’t worry, “Saved by the Bell” fans; if you always felt that Jessie Spano’s caffeine-pill freakout in the classic episode “Jessie’s Song” came off as a touch melodramatic, you aren’t wrong.
In an excerpt from his new book “I Was Saved by the Bell: Stories of Life, Love and Dreams That Do Come True,” the Saturday-morning show’s executive producer Peter Engel reveals that Spano (Elizabeth Berkley) was initially supposed to be hooked on something stronger than caffeine, but that network censors put the kibosh on his original idea.
“Today, when I meet fans of the show, ‘Jessie’s Song’ is almost always the episode that comes up first. It made a big impression on them. But it’s sometimes laughed about now, as a lot of people look back and say, wait a minute, caffeine pills? Really?” Engel wrote in the excerpt, published by Vulture. “And to be sure, when you watch the scene where Zack discovers Jessie’s ‘addiction’ and intervenes, a lot of people today will say, as Dustin Diamond did years later, that Jessie was acting more like a heroin addict than someone on NoDoz.”
Engel went onto explain, “What fans don’t know is that, when I originally wrote the episode with Tom Tenowich, Jessie was hooked on speed, not caffeine pills. But Standards and Practices, the censorial department of NBC, vetoed it, saying speed was too serious for Saturday mornings. I insisted that we needed to start dealing with more important issues than we had in the past, and that speed was a vehicle not only for exploring drug use but also the pressure that kids put on themselves to achieve. But Standards and Practices wasn’t budging.”
Eventually, a compromise was reached on Spano’s pick-me-up of choice — but Engel and crew chose not to tone down the impact on Spano.
Engel added that he “wasn’t pleased” with the compromise.
“I wasn’t pleased about it — after all, the average caffeine pill was the equivalent of a cup of coffee, if that, so we might as well have had Jessie get addicted to earl grey, or breaking into the Max to snort coffee grounds. But hey, we had to start somewhere,” Engel wrote.
So … caffeine pills were a “very special episode” gateway topic?
Watch the pivotal freakout scene from “Jessie’s Song” in the video.
'Saved by the Bell': 9 Most Outrageous Screech Moments (Photos)
With "Saved by the Bell" set to return on Peacock with a new generation of Bayside High students, we look back at one of the breakout characters from the original: Dustin Diamond's nerdy character Screech, who gave audiences endless laughs from his robot companion to dating his best friend.
In Season 1's "Screech's Girl," the smitten nerd falls in love with Bambi, who is actually just Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) speaking in falsetto on the phone. At one point Screech handcuffs himself to the lockers in protest and won't let himself go until Bambi shows up. Fortunately she finally does, but in the form of Zack in drag.
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Consider this the most unconvincing Afro ever. In Season 1's "The Gift," a lightning strike gives Screech the ability to see into the future and a hairstyle that dominated the 1970s. Thankfully, his brownish curls return in no time.
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In the Season 2 episode "Dancing to the Max," Screech pairs some erratic dance moves with Lisa Turtle's (Lark Voorhies) performance at The Max. Radio host Casey Kasem guest stars and introduces the pair as they debut "The Sprain" for a cheering crowd.
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Before Lisa Turtle (Lark Voorhies) broke Screech's heart, there was Violet Bickerstaff played by Tori Spelling in Season 2's "The Glee Club." Screech comes to the rescue of his four-eyed love interest by saving her from stage fright during a performance.
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Kelly Kapowski's (Tiffani Thiessen) swimsuit and A.C. Slater's (Mario Lopez) drum solo were no match for Screech during the "Miss Bayside" beauty pageant in Season 2. The gender-neutral competition saw Screech win the top prize, despite a black eye thanks to his robot Kevin.
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Screech has his shot at becoming the big hero at Bayside High on the Season 3 episode "Check Your Mate," which sees him squaring off against the resident chess champion from Valley High.
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It's only fitting that a nerd like Screech would have an artificial intelligence sidekick, a robot named Kevin. Voiced by Mike Lavelle, Kevin made appearances throughout the series and in Season 4's "Screech's Birthday." In this episode, Kevin reminds Zack of his best friend's birthday. When fingered by Screech for helping, Kevin quickly rolls away noting he needs a bathroom break as his excuse.
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Screech rips Zack Morris' shirt, and that's the most physical damage done in Season 4's "The Bayside Triangle," when he stands up for himself after catching his best friend kiss his crush, Lisa Turtle. It's a serious moment for Screech who's been the source of comedic relief throughout the series. The friends patch things up, but not before Screech has Zack promise he won't break Lisa's heart.
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Slater asks Screech to watch his pet lizard Artie on the Season 4 episode "Slater's Friend." Unfortunately, Artie kicks the bucket leaving Screech and Zack to scramble for a reptilian replacement. This wreaks havoc on the boys' consciences, leading them to bad dreams with Slater dressed in a goofy lizard outfit.
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From dating his best friend to having a robot companion, Dustin Diamond’s nerdy character gave audiences endless laughs
With "Saved by the Bell" set to return on Peacock with a new generation of Bayside High students, we look back at one of the breakout characters from the original: Dustin Diamond's nerdy character Screech, who gave audiences endless laughs from his robot companion to dating his best friend.