From 1989 to 1992 Save by the clock ran four seasons on NBC (and one Colleges season) and became a staple for Saturday mornings before it became a syndicate celebration of the wonderfully feverish and haunting adventures of the Bayside High League. Fast forward to 2020 and some of the band is back on Peacock with a new class of Bayside High students and new adventures.
Actors Elizabeth Berkley Lauren, John Michael Higgins, Haskiri Velazquez, Alycia Pascual-Pena, Belmont Cameli, Dexter Darden, Mitchell Hoog and Josie Totah joined executive producers Tracey Wigfield and Franco Bario on the virtual stage at CTAM to talk about the new reimagining of the series and how it differs but still pays homage to the original. For starters, the news series is a lot different when it comes to the students at Bayside.
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Totah, who plays the sharp-tongued popular girl Lexi on the series, came out as a trans in 2018 and has been seen on several TV shows, among others. Champions, Back in the game, No good Nick and appeared in Spider-Man: Coming Home. Her character is a reflection of the times and pushes the needle to the slow-yet-sure move to authentic representation in Hollywood.
“Getting a transgender role on screen is apparently very rare,” Totah said. “There is almost no representation of people in the trans community. Growing up as a young trans girl, I feel like I never see myself [on TV] has never really made me feel accepted by the world. She added that Lexi’s role is more than just being trans. “She’s in theater, evil and the most popular girl at school – she’s just transgender and I feel like that’s an incredible opportunity and I can not wait for people to see themselves that way on screen.”
Mario Lopez, who played Slater on the original series and in the new series, was the first time many of the Latinx community saw themselves representing themselves, and Velazquez and Pascual-Pena are looking to represent the show. of further strengthening the community.
“Mario was one of the first Latinos we saw on screen, and that’s one reason I love the show,” Pascual-Pena said. ‘Lisa was one of the first multidimensional Black women we saw on the show and I really have so much love and admiration for this show, due to the fact that we advance conversations that need to be talked about in a transparent form and the show handles the issues in such a wonderful way. ”
She went on to say, “Specifically my experience playing an Afro-Latina – it’s such a blessing. For most of my life, as an actress, there were never any roles written from my experience … I really have to give love to Tracey, Franco and the network for essentially rewriting this role and making her an Afro-Latina and the fact that I can represent little girls and women and a community that likes me and speaks my language as an immigrant is one of my favorite parts of being a part of this show. ”
Wigfield points out that the show will be a mix of old school Save by the clock episodic stories and season-long stories. “It’s not even a reboot – it’s more a reimagining,” she said. “While the original show was a Saturday morning show about high school, it was a one-camera, edger comedy that will be exciting for people who love the original, but if you’ve never seen the original, it’s just funny comedy about high school in 2020.
In essence, Bayside will live in a bubble and these characters will enter this strange world and that is where the old and new school mesh. This gives the show a chance to have fun with the original and mix it with bigger bows. That said, there will be Easter Eggs for hardcore fans throughout the series. For example, Velazquez’s Daisy, like Zack Morris, will be able to free up time and break that fourth wall. And then there’s the classic iconic episode where Jessie (Berkley Lauren) became addicted to caffeine pills. (Watch the teaser trailer above.)
“There’s a really great episode that pays homage to that moment where Jessie still has some interesting feelings about that time,” Berkley Lauren pleaded. “Obviously, one of the most beloved episodes is the ‘I’m so excited’ about cafe pill episode – and to this day, people still come to me and say those three words.”
In the new Save by the clock, California Governor Zack Morris (Gosselaar) gets in hot water for closing too many low-income high schools and suggests sending the affected students to the highest-performing schools in the state, including Bayside High. The influx of new students gives the overcrowded Bayside children a desperate dose of reality.
Watch the teaser above.
