With a new Saved By The Bell series ready to drop on NBC's Peacock streaming service, it's a great time to rewind the clock back to the early 90s when the original was busy turning itself into a cultural icon for teenage audiences. Saved By The Bell focused on a group of high school kids from Bayside High who, when not getting into mountains of trouble, enjoyed being teenagers and building up the bonds of friendship.
The original series ended its run after four seasons in 1993, but it's popped up now and again as a show that refuses to go quietly into the night. Fans both loved and hated many of the characters on the show, so it's time to break down which side of the aisle they stand.
Disliked: Tori Scott
Actress Leanna Creel had it rough when she showed up at the beginning of Season 4 while casting members Tiffani-Amber Thiessen and Elizabeth Berkley were absent. Her character Tori Scott was originally supposed to fill a void as Zack's love interest, but the plot died soon after racing out of the gate.
Tori was much more aggressive and independent than other female cast members on the show, but the chemistry between her and Zack was never truly there, and fans knew it. She dropped off the show without so much as a word near the end of the season, leaving her character little more than a passing note.
Liked: Max
Talented magician Ed Alonzo played the eccentric Max, owner of the gang's favorite diner who gave them some important life lessons usually accompanied by magic tricks. By today's standards, his presence is absolutely cheesy, but fans enjoyed the character due to how much of a kid at heart he really was.
The kids took to Max very quickly and widely regarded him as a friend (and vice versa), a relationship that seemed pretty obvious given their popularity at Bayside High, turning The Max into one of the coolest places for kids to hang out.
Disliked: Jessie Spano
Jessie was an integral character on Saved By The Bell, and she was written specifically as a neurotic do-gooder who chases straight A's in school and never gets out of line. That's partly why her character was so disliked by fans. The writers knew what they were doing, and used Jessie as a launchpad to talk about various subjects plaguing high school kids.
Jessie was known to be self-loathing, especially when she found out that her distant ancestors were slave owners. Her drive for perfection led to her taking caffeine pills to cope with pressure in a soft-take analogy about teenage drug use. While a sympathetic character at heart, Jessie was written to make audiences roll their eyes, even if they secretly loved her.
Liked: Miss Bliss
Long before Saved By The Bell became a pop culture phenomenon, it was a show centered around actress Hayley Mills who played the titular teacher in Good Morning, Miss Bliss. This precursor aired for one season before it was repackaged as Saved By The Bell, leaving Mills out of the mix altogether.
That's a shame, because Miss Bliss was the teacher every young student wished they had. She was wise, warm, compassionate and unafraid to teach her kids valuable lessons. She was also no pushover, either. Had the show continued with Miss Bliss, it might have added an extra layer of character drama to the show.
Disliked: Lisa Turtle
Fans tended to dislike Lisa Turtle because she epitomized everything that was (and still is) wrong with spoiled, entitled upper-class trust fund kids. Lisa was arrogant, selfish and vain - qualities that tend to turn off many high school kids who aren't considered part of the "in" club.
Lisa did have her moments, though. She learned to be kind, responsible and mature as the show progressed, but her character's progression didn't reach far enough for her to be considered a fan favorite. When The College Years debuted, she was one of several previous cast members to get the boot, only making an appearance near the end of the season.
Liked: A.C. Slater
Slater represented the high school jock stereotype from top to bottom. He was an expert athlete and a hit with the ladies, but his grades left something to be desired. Still, he was one of the power players at Bayside High which was sure to make him a hit with fans.
The character served as a replacement for Zack's original best friend Mikey Gonzalez from Good Morning, Miss Bliss. By introducing a heated competitive rivalry into the mix, audiences had another lead to root for other than Zack Morris.
Disliked: Mr. Belding
Mr. Belding represents the evils of high school in all their unholy terror. As the principal of Bayside High, he was never going to score any points for being cool, no matter how hard he tried! In fact, his attempts to show off his hip side proved abysmal and made him the butt of jokes around the school.
Naturally, this was done on purpose. Mr. Belding was never designed to fit in with the kids, but audiences recognized the authoritative weight and wisdom he brought to the story, even if they didn't like it. It would be hard to imagine Saved By The Bell without him.
Liked: Kelly Kapowski
Kelly represented the stereotypical "it" girl in every high school. Popular, beautiful and charming, she was the girl every high school guy wanted to be with, and every other girl wanted to be. In many ways this was due for effect, as the show's writers made clever use of student types to sell much of the comedy.
Another reason for her popularity is that despite her good looks and status, she came from a far less privileged background than other characters on the show. This made her accessible and flawed in a way that many kids growing up in a material world could relate to.
Disliked: Screech Powers
Screech will forever be loved and loathed by audiences for a variety of reasons. He represented the quintessential high school nerd who was weak, unfit and lacked any game when it came to the ladies. The character would grow more eccentric over the seasons in the same way that Steve Urkel did on Family Matters, which was not a good look.
Still, he remained popular enough with audiences to soar into The College Years as a series regular, partly because fans loved to hate him so much. In truth, the dislike wasn't personal or mean spirited. Screech was written to make audiences cringe every time he walked into a room, and on that note, he succeeded.
Liked: Zack Morris
As the central character of the show, Zack Morris epitomized the golden status as the most popular kid in high school, which was something everyone wanted to be during their teen years. He was funny, cool, sarcastic and way out of everyone's league despite his status as a deeply flawed and arrogant character.
To teenage fans, Zack would serve as the inspiration to aspire to greater popularity in high school. He also wasn't without his own merits. He loved his family, his friends and his school, and when faced with tough decisions, he usually made the right one.