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In other words, its a lot like the original Bayside.
teacher, hilarity ensues.
What was your relationship with the original series?
It was on after school, and I would watch it every day.
I was really into the original.
I remember watching it and being like, I love this.
And then seeing an episode of90210and being like, I dont love this.
It was really scary.
And onSaved By The Bell, none of that was happening.
They were making drug ads with Brandon Tartikoff.
Then I had lunch with Elizabeth and Mario and pitched the updated versions of their characters to them.
They were really game, Mario especially.
Little adjustments happen along the way, you add characters or slightly adjust characters.
Things just always worked out for them pretty easily.
Things where Slater would say, Shut up, mama, to Jessie all the time.
Specifically, through the lens of a person who is nothing like Zack Morris.
That existed before, certainly.
We met with some teachers when we were writing this.
Then he finally realized, Oh, they dont have computers.
It was just a huge blind spot that he hadnt even thought of.
It was always true but it feels more true now.
Right, its harder to ignore now.
The thing that always happens is the parents at the fancier school find a way to force them out.
Youre working with multiple people who were involved in the original series.
You do go all-in on the caffeine-pill thing.Every episode.
Saved by the Bellwas almost done with production when the pandemic began.
You said you all got tested every day?We were in different pods.
And then, other pods, I think, got tested a number of times a week.
Did that little break cause you to change anything in the last couple of episodes?
I did notice theres a coronavirus joke at the very end of the finale.We changed that, yes.
We reassembled our Zoom room for a couple weeks before we started up again.
Most of it was just stuff that we had to simplify or we couldnt shoot at the school anymore.
So we had to make some changes there.
Other than that, we didnt really change anything.
Im curious about that coronavirus joke.
Did you and the other writers debate whether to include it?We did, we did.
It wasnt my joke.
Certainly, thats a reason not to say it.
That felt appropriate.Exactly, yes.
Theres something kind of sad and sweet and like the original show in that way.
I think no matter what, you would have to deal with it in some way.
It also would feel a little bit like a missed opportunity not to at all.
It is such a clear example of the thing that this show is about.
And make that clear at the end with that joke.
