The first look at Peacock’s “Saved by the Bell” revival has arrived and it includes a grown up A.C. Slater (Mario Lopez) lecturing Zack Morris’s (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) teenage son and reminiscing about the old days with his ex Jessie Spano (Elizabeth Berkley).
Yeah, get ready, preppies, ’cause this series, which is headed to NBCUniversal’s upcoming streaming service, is clearly going to be a huge nostalgia trip, mixing your favorite characters from the original show with a whole new crop of young Bayside High students.
The teaser, which you can view below, opens with a laid-back Slater saying to Jessie, “Remember how much fun high school used to be?” with her responding, “Can you believe that was like 30 years ago?”
The teaser goes on to show Slater working as a gym teacher at his alma mater, which leads to him giving a talking to to both Zack’s son, Mac Morris (Mitchell Hoog), and Jessie’s boy, Jamie Spano (Belmont Cameli) because the guys have gotten into some kind of brawl.
“When I was in high school, I constantly used to fight with my best friend over a hot girl. That was actually your dad, over your mom!” he says to Zack’s kid. “Then I just found another girl that I really liked and started hooking up with her instead. Oh wait, that was your mom!” he tells Jessie’s son.
In the revival, Zack Morris, now the governor of California, gets himself “into hot water for closing too many low-income high schools and proposes they send the affected students to the highest performing schools in the state, including Bayside High,” according to Peacock’s description.
Though the teaser doesn’t show him, Gosselaar is set to reprise his role for the revival, with Tiffani Thiessen expected to return as Kelly Kapowski, his high-school-sweetheart-turned-wife.
The show will follow a new generation of kids at Bayside High, including the “handsome, charming, privileged” Mac and “sensitive man-child” Jamie, as well as Lexi (Josie Totah), “the most popular girl at Bayside High who is both admired and feared by her fellow students”; Daisy (Haskiri Velazquez), “a smart, ambitious sophomore who is excited at the prospect of attending Bayside High after her local school gets shut down”; and Aisha (Alycia Pascual-Pena), “Daisy’s fun-loving, but ultra-competitive best friend. She grew up playing on boys’ sports teams and causes a stir when she tries to play football at Bayside.”
“Pitch Perfect” alum John Michael Higgins will play Principle Toddman, the successor to Bayside High School Principal Richard Belding, played by Dennis Haskins in the original series.
The reboot hails from Universal Television and will be written and executive produced by Tracey Wigfield. Peter Engel and Franco Bario, alums of the original “Saved by the Bell” and its spinoffs, will also serve as executive producers.
An early preview of NBCU’s Peacock became available to Comcast subscribers on Wednesday, ahead of the platform’s nationwide rollout, which is set for July 15 — though execs are “evaluating” an earlier debut amid the coronavirus pandemic.
When it does launch nationally, Peacock will have two separate tiers of service, both of which will be free to Comcast, as well as Cox, subscribers.
The free option, called Peacock Free, will include next-day access to current seasons of freshman broadcast series on NBC, as well as library content and curated daily news and sports programming. As for Peacock originals, this option only includes “select” episodes as well as access to what Peacock is calling “streaming genre channels” like “SNL Vault,” “Family Movie Night” and “Olympic Profiles.”
The second tier, called Peacock Premium, will available for no extra charge to Comcast and Cox subscribers. For everyone else, it will cost $4.99 a month for an ad-supported option, or $9.99 a month to have no ads. The Premium tier features everything on the Free option but includes all Peacock Originals, early access to late-night series like “Tonight Show” and “Late Night” and more sports including Premier League soccer.
Watch the teaser below.
Time out! Who's psyched to see the first #SavedByTheBell teaser!? Check out this flock of first looks from #PeacockTV originals streaming soon. Threaded for your viewing pleasure! pic.twitter.com/XdIZ7BN9tV
— Peacock (@peacock) April 16, 2020