History

Go Back

This Page Was Last Updated  //  August 10, 2005

Go Back

This Page Was Last Updated  //  December 10, 2004
The Show
On Set
TV taping is a popular and easy form of fund raising for clubs in high school. If you are able to get a group of 30 or more students you can receive approximately $500 just for sitting in the audience. In 1995, Cindy H. of The Saved by the Bell: Now Forum, was one of those lucky fundraising students. The following is her first-hand account of experiencing what few of us have. A live taping of Saved by the Bell: The College Years.

When you first enter the set you are seated in stadium like seating for 100 or more people. Even though we were not allowed to be on the set where the cast was, the seats are really close to the stars. For the duration of filming, you are pretty much quarantined to your seat. 

When I attended there was a host who entertained the crowd and gave away freebies like autographed photos, t-shirts, posters and so on.

Taping of SBTB: CY starts at 5pm and ends around 9pm. It sounds like a long time for a 30 minute show, but for every scene,   they shoot it at least two times and picks the better take. If a star makes a mistake, they may film 3,4 even 5 or more times.

There are 4 to 6 cameras rolling at the same time and there are around 6 tv`s for the audience. This way we can see what the camera sees.  It was really awesome  for the audience to have a set of tv`s That way you can see before hand what it will look like on tv.

Even though we are not able to see the whole edited version you can get a good idea of what the storyline and outcome will be based on the scenes that are filmed, since they were filmed in sequential order.

I think the coolest part of being in the audience is participating in the clapping, laughing, oohing, aahing and so on. You would never know sitting at home but there is a laughing meter which comes on and off and tells you when to clap.

On tv the set looks very realistic but in reality they are very flimsy and fake. When the cast or crew would close doors and the set would rattle and shake. The outer border of each set has x`s taped to the floor. This provided a way for the camera man to pick up consistent angles during filming.

There are five rooms in which the audience can see. Four of the five are the regular sets that we see week after week.  The boy’s dorm room is one set and it connects to the common living room and that connects to the girl’s room. The girl’s room connects to the cafeteria. The fifth set is called a floating room. It is changed weekly and is used for special episodes such as the scene where Zack and Kelly are on the cruise ship or Professor Lasky`s office. Scenes in which are not necessary for every weeks’ episode. Every room has only three walls. What you see is what the set contains.

The cast looks even better in person than they do on film. Their makeup and hair artists are always by their side, off screen, ready to primp and pamper whatever is needed for them to look their best.

Between takes the cast would talk to the director, read their scripts, have a drink of water, etc. I never noticed anyone hanging out and so on.

In some other TV tapings I have been to, usually after filming is completed, the cast will come and thank the audience for their time and have small chit-chats here and there; but on the set of the College Years the cast stayed to themselves. At the end of the show however they did come together to take a bow and wave to the crowd.

And that would be my adventure of being a audience member on the set of Saved by the Bell: The College Years. Even though I wasn’t able to attend the original set of Bell or The New Class, I can only imagine how exciting and similar it might have been to my own experience.