he said: no joke, this episode rocked

daroff:
i’m getting a little tired of people who make themselves feel superior by ripping on those of us who actually, honestly, not ironically, liked saved by the bell. it may not have been the best written or best acted show, but damn it, i watched every single episode. i even watched the re-runs, sometimes five, six, seven times. there was even a period of time i would make sure i was home at 3:00 and 3:30 to make sure i watched it. so to all those people out there who think we’re waxing nosalgic about saved by the bell just to be funny, i say, watch yourself, cuz a.c. slater’s coming to pin your ass.

jenni:
look, lord knows i’ve had my fair share of television obsessions. take for instance my obsession with nickelodeon’s the tomorrow people. i have every single episode on vhs…as well as on dvd. i could probably quote the entire series word-for-word. but i could trace back my obsession to a single source: the actor christian tessier, who starred as megabyte in the series. i’m not bringing this up to once again touch on the fact that a large part of my enjoyment of anything stems back to a cute boy…okay, maybe i am a little. but my point is, what’s your “christian tessier” when it comes to saved by the bell? if it’s not to wax nostalgic, what is it? and don’t give me this, “it’s just good” bullshit. let’s deconstruct! would a.c. slater even know what that means?

daroff:
no, slater probably doesn’t know much of anything. jessie or screech would know, though. in retrospect, so would zack. he got 1502 on his SAT’s, he must know something. that’s the key to the show right there, the characters. these are six very different people from six very different backgrounds that come together and put their friendship above everything else. life is challenging, but watching saved by the bell is an escape from everything complicated or difficult. it’s just a simple concept, good friends, fun times. whatever hardships they faced, they faced together. that’s more than i could say about my high school experience. and i’d be lying if i said kelly wasn’t fun to look at.

jenni:
those are all really valid points. i just wonder about your need to have people validate that you could actually enjoy this show. why try to defend it? if you like it, you like it. though i do have to say, shakespeare is all about the characters too and you see people fighting their position about liking it or not just as often. i guess i find the whole thing a little off-putting. like whatcha like, but don’t try to shove why you like it down my throat or conversely, think less of someone for liking it. i’m not saying you are doing any of these things at the moment, but it seems to be where your opening thoughts stemmed from. do you need a hug? i’ll go see if kelly is available.

daroff:
see, the question we need to be asking ourselves is which is better, tiffany amber as innocent kelly, or tiffany amber in her post-sbtb slutty phase. you’re unfortunately, not the person to have that debate with. as far as the show, i’m the kind of person who gets equal enjoyment from shakespeare and poppy crap. shakespeare offers mental gymnastics as it challenges me and my perception of the world. sometimes, though, i need a break from that. it’s fun to just shut off my brain for a while and get caught up in these people’s shallow problems. i know, lots of shows are like that, but none of them nailed the genre like saved by the bell. it had a pureness, a wholesomeness to it. it was like full house, but with way hotter actresses. it managed to be non-threatening without being outright stupid. it was clean without pulling punches. and the nerd characters gave borderline geeks like myself hope. at least i wasn’t a pocket protector wearing skinny kid with bad posture. well, at least i didn’t wear a pocket protector. and it pisses me off that people feel the need to piss on this innocent, little show.

jenni:
i hear a lot of people use porn as their way to shutoff their brain after a long day. would you say sbtb is your porn?

daroff:
well no. porn is my porn. sbtb is more like fast food. it’s not going to enrich me any way, but we can’t eat steak every night.

jenni:
we can’t? crap, i’m going to have to change my diet then. “too much of a good thing” doesn’t exist in the world of jenni. and you watch porn. eew. he said/she said has reached a whole new level i never thought it would. and just to stay on topic: was there ever a sbtb episode about the dangers of porn?

daroff:
you mean other than the movie showgirls? ZING! but seriously folks… all i’m saying is you have to respect a show where the main character has the power to “time out” everything and stop the forward flow of time in order to talk to the camera. if 30 years from now, someone wanted to define the early nineties using only five things, saved by the bell would have to be one of the five. it’s a mirror on that time period in every imaginable way.

jenni:
what a shame, you were doing so well and now i’m gonna have to bust you…the “time out” power was used two years before zach morris in a little show called out of this world (and in a much cooler way, if i do say so myself…having an alien dad who you inherited the power to freeze time from is totally radical dude!). but hey, it’s a small victory for me…as i’m okay with all your other points. so huzzah to you adam daroff. *slow clap*

daroff:
whoa there, missy. keep that self-congratulations to yourself. i am very well aware of out of this world. before saved by the bell there were lots of alien tv characters with lots of cool powers. zack is just a normal guy who can freeze time. just for added measure, he didn’t have a dad in a candy dish. in your face, ho bag. HE HAS SPOKEN! CHITTY CHITTY BANG BOO YAH!

jenni:
and here i was trying to stay civil for once. silly me. but hey, if you consider the argument “some dude can just randomly stop time for no reason is a better use of time freezing than a source of alien dna” as “winning”, then by all means take your victory lap sir. i just like my time-freezing to have an explantion, that’s all. she has whispered…but her whisper is mighty.

daroff:
if you call passive-aggresive compliments civil, then yeah, go you. i’m gonna beat your ass worse than slater beat needik in the bayside/valley wrestling match.

jenni:
we’ll let america decide. that’s the sbtb way.