Tonight I had the opportunity to hear Peter Engel, the man who created Zack Morris and Screech Powers, talk about how “Saved By the Bell” came about, the history of the show, some behind the scenes stuff, and discuss show business in general.
He was brought to our school as a speaker through our programs council as well as the Media Studies department of which I am a part. Now, I had nothing to do with it, but our liason Mike was able to get us some one-on-seven time with Peter Engel. But first, a little background.
Peter Engel, who had previously worked as a sports television producer after having graduated form NYU, was asked by NBC to come up with a show that could reacher the higher end (meaning the 11-13 year olds) of the Saturday morning viewing audience. Engel basically used the idea that they could take the crappy “Good Morning, Miss Bliss” show and move it to California, add in some new characters, and put it in the end of the Saturday morning lineup.
Of course, Engel had funny anecdotes about his reservations about starting the show. My favorite was the story about the show’s theme song. He wasn’t too fond of the title “Saved By the Bell” for starters, which was something one of his colleagues had come up with at a meeting. So he especially didn’t want to have the title included in the lyrics of the theme, nor a bell ringing. They had five people come up with songs, and the first four weren’t going to work. So, as the story goes, the fifth guy comes in and plays his song. Now, as we all know, the theme begins with a bell ringing and ends with the title being repeated a few times. But yet, it stuck, and we all love it.
Now, if you own the DVDs, you might have had the same “WTF is this??” moment upon hearing the theme song. They used a different version for the DVDs, which was totally lame. But, I learned how it happened (partially through my question to Engel and partially through some deduction). At some point during the first season, some of the producers wanted to bring in some sort of “hip” singer to re-record the song and give it a little more edge. So they got Michael Damien (who had a short lived career and was on The Young and the Restless) to record the new version. After a few episodes, they decided they hated it, and scrapped it. Yet, it made its way onto the DVD. My guess is that it was cheaper to secure the rights to the Damien version. Either way, it sucks hard.
Engel admitted that “The New Class” sucked, which we all know. But it was nice to hear the executive producer come out and say it. He also made fun of another one of his shows, “Hang Time,” because its cast changed a million times during its six season run. It amazes me that that show lasted for so long. He did like the idea of the College Years, however, because he said that the actors and actresses and staff had worked so hard for four years that they deserved a chance at a prime-time spot. Also, he apparently lives like 500 yards away from the beach resort where the six Malibu Beach Club episodes were filmed.
Anyway, Engel was a nice guy to sit and chat with the few of us after most of the audience left. We had some questions on some of the content of the show, like mine on role-modeling, and he also had some good advice for those of us who wanted to get into the business. I appreciated his frankness about what it takes to make it in Hollywood – it’s not impossible, but you just have to be willing to work for it. His advice? The three P’s: Professionalism, Passion, and Perseverance. Not bad, if you ask me.
Oh, and three interesting facts for you.
1) His favorite episode is “House Party,” in which Zack stays with Screech while his parents are out of town and some risky business ensues with an Elvis statue being broken, Tori Spelling being nerdy, and people kissing dogs.
2) He’s currently producing a third season of “Last Comic Standing”
3) He really likes “24” and says its one of the best shows on television. He also loves “Arrested Development.”
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