The reboot of Saved By The Bell has been canceled after two seasons.
According to Deadline, the cast and crew of the reboot were told on Wednesday (May 3) that the show would not make it to a third season.
Saved By The Bell was first launched in 1989 and ran for four seasons and 86 episodes up until 1993. It followed a group of high school friends and their principal at the fictional Bayside High School in Los Angeles as they navigated lives, loves and an array of other teenage issues.
A big hit with viewers and syndicated around the world, the show was such a success it yielded two spin-offs; Saved by the Bell: The College Years and Saved by the Bell: The New Class, which ran for seven further seasons and over 140 episodes. As well as that, the series also spawned two TV movies; Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style and Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas.
Peacock rebooted the show in 2020 as part of its new service. The reboot followed a new group of Bayside High students, with almost all of the show’s original cast reprising their roles in adult lives.
The reboot’s second season debuted in November of 2021, with all 10 episodes dropping on the streamer on the same day. Peacock had been tight-lipped about the show’s future, but has now swung the axe.
A spokesman for Peacock said of the cancelation: “We are so proud to have been the home of the next iteration of Saved by the Bell for both new and OG fans. Saved by the Bell has been a cultural mainstay for more than 30 years and the new series, led by Tracey Wigfield’s superfan enthusiasm and signature witty humor, seamlessly continued the show’s legacy, all while allowing more audiences to feel seen. We’re grateful to Tracey, Franco Bario, our partners at UTV, the beloved cast, and the fans who have continued to champion one of the most iconic shows of all time,”
Is the last we’ll see of Saved By The Bell? It’ll certainly be that way for a while.
Analysis: Does nostalgia have its limits?
Peacock’s statement does not go into the grubby business of why they’ve canceled the show, but it’s unlikely to be complicated.
The vast majority of the reboot’s cast were young upcomers, and while stars of the original series who reprised their roles, Elizabeth Berkley Lauren, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Mario Lopez and Tiffani Thiessen, would have been able to charge a premium due, none of them are Hollywood A-listers.
As a single camera show largely set in the same location, the economics would not have been prohibitive, so you’d assume that this is down to viewing figures, pure and simple.
When the reboot was announced, at a time when Peacock was aggressively chasing subscribers, big nostalgic plays like this will have served to hook in viewers who’d loved the show in their youth. Peacock’s bet would then be that either the show could win a new, younger audience, or it would serve its purpose of hooking the show’s original fans, now adults, who would hopefully remain subscribers, but may not keep with the show. Peacock continues to grow with 13 million subscribers on its book now, but clearly not enough of them have carried on keeping up with the events at Bayside High.