rebecca_beaker
I'm only born in 1994, so Saved By The Bell was a bit before my time, however I used to watch it on Nickelodeon as a kid and vaguely remember the college years from ages ago. Now I'm in uni I figured it would be interesting to revisit the whole Saved the Bell thing, so I've recently watched more or less every episode from start to finish, and I can see why you might say this is a bit stupid. For people that watched Saved By The Bell, its a nice continuation so you see how the characters grow up, and gives you a bit more of the same. And true, the issues raised are similar, and at times I'm like "why would he go through the same thing again!!!" but it didn't bother me too much. Overall I'd say its nice for people who watched the original series, but I doubt it would hold its own as a stand alone programme.
gothamite27
"Saved By The Bell" was a ridiculously wacky and zany affair, what with its occasional science-fiction oriented episodes (I recall one episode where Screech developed the ability to read minds!) and the acting was atrocious. The sets were horribly plastic and you could tell that you were watching a TV show. It never felt real."Saved By The Bell: The College Years" is quite a sophisticated situation comedy that doesn't always follow the same formula, as the original mostly did. Unlike the original, the characters develop throughout the series, and their strengths and weaknesses are drawn out more consistently. Also, the 'girlfriend of the week' plot tool is completely thrown out. Zach is never seen with a girlfriend who has been dumped by the following episode.My theory for the cancellation of this above-average show is that unlike the kiddy-oriented original, this series was far more sophisticated and probably had a hard time finding its audience, which led to its cancellation.The result was one final crack: a TV movie. Heinous at best, crap at worst.Nevertheless, this series is definitely worth watching.
kwakkles
This conversion from the hit high school series to the college years was a great idea! For one, there aren't very many tv shows exclusively for college dorm room settings. And for two, it also had a more grown up storyline than the high school series. The ppl who went to high school while they were in high school and are now in college with these characters as they are in college are growing up together. It demonstrates how these characters are evolving into educated young adults. Certainly the new theme took a toll on the comedy that the high school series was famous more. The College Years tried to have more adult situations (diverse situations in the after-high-school life college students may find themselves in, like who to date, for example), which are very difficult to make funny.. and are mostly that have those plots are more like dramas and soap operas. The maturing to adulthood theme was a nice (chronological) fit for fans of the show who followed the series.
liannesang
This spinoff of the 1989 series, "Saved By The Bell" actually was pretty good. It wasn't as cheesy as the original and had much more realistic storylines. Although it only lasted for 1 season, I think it would have lasted much longer if it stuck to it's Saturday Morning-Line Up rather than moving it to Primetime. I also think it was pretty stupid of the producers to have The College Years playing at the same time as The New Class. Leslie was a very strong character in the beginning but became useless towards the end of the season. And Alex was sometimes very funny or very irritating. Dean McMann was hilarious as the "Zack-hating" Dean and Mike was cool. The storyline that was definitely a stand out in the short-lived series was non other than the Zack/Kelly love story. It was nice to see them grow from their naive characters of Bayside to grown-up characters in the College Years. BOTTOM LINE: Really good series that should have lasted way longer than it did.
