Parents' Guide to

Saved by the Bell

By Melissa Camacho, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 9+

Classic teen sitcom still entertains. Tweens OK.

TV TBS Comedy 1989
Saved by the Bell Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

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age 9+

Based on 8 parent reviews

John Willliams
John Willliams Parent of 10 and 11-year-old
July 7, 2022
age 9+
For kids in current times, this would be absolutely phenomenal. Positive messages and so much other stuff that is contained in this. Rewatched the series throughout the past couple weeks and it is great. Love it as a whole. Series contains some kissing and romantic relations, which some younger audiences wouldn’t really like. But overall the series is great, I really love the episodes where they’re just classic and solving things that children can understand. Hard to find that in modern cartoons and such. Anyway, the series is great. 1000% recommend it. Now the remake… yeah we’ll leave that alone LOL

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages
ray B.
ray B. Parent of 9-year-old
February 19, 2018
age 7+

The Show is awesome!

It’s awesome on episode is strange because Johnny does Drugs like Pot.

This title has:

Too much sex
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
See all 8 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Surviving a variety of incarnations, SAVED BY THE BELL is a positive series about school, friends, and lessons learned. The show offers a world that reflects the ultimate high school experience, as seen through the eyes of Zack. At Bayside High, Zack, Screech, and Lisa are joined by good-looking transfer student A.C. Slater (Mario Lopez), sweet Kelly Kapowski (Tiffani Thiessen), and intellectual over-achiever Jessie Spano (Elizabeth Berkley). The Bayside clique is a diverse but tight-knit social circle that most junior and senior high school students can only dream about. Plots range from the silly (Zack and Slater bet on who can kiss a girl the longest), to the romantic (Zack skips the prom when girlfriend Kelly can't afford to attend), all the way to the serious (underage drinking and driving, and pill addiction).

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (8 ):
Kids say (19 ):

It's all pretty cheesy, but it's also well-intentioned. At the end of each show, lessons are learned -- lessons that are often guided by Principal Belding or, when dealing with more major issues, a parent. The show's adults, while often presented more as caricatures than real people, are respected and are received as mentors by the kids. But as is the case with most average teens, sexual innuendos (albeit innocent ones) and mild profanity are an integral part of the Bayside teens' lingo. While the significance of these words clearly goes over the head of most young children, they're clear enough for preteens to understand. Saved by the Bell offers an opportunity for viewers to watch relatively good kids learn from their mistakes and grow from the process.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the value of friendship, as well as how to cope when friends are the source of peer pressure. Have your teen's friends ever landed them in a tricky situation? Because the series presents an idealized picture of high school, families can also discuss how difficult high school can be in real life. How is your teen's school different from Bayside? Boy/girl relationships, boundaries, and inappropriate behavior are also topics that families may want to talk about.

TV Details

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