Peter Engel, a writer andproducer of televisionshows, has been involvedin television for over 30 years. Engel's latest offering was "Last Comic Standing," a show which was nominated for an Emmy. However, Engel's most famous achievement is in producing a show called "Saved by the Bell."
To the average outsider looking in with awe at the obscure intricacies of show business, the title "producer" has always evoked a powerful yet rather mysterious position in the film and television production food chain. What do these producers do, exactly? Produce "what"? However, as I have now been told by those "in the know," the producer is one of the main creative catalysts within the realms of television.
I take this to mean that if you are a young man or woman with dreams of world media domination, television production might truly be the way to go. From what I can tell, when you are a producer, the show is your baby, and you shape it. Sure, I could do that.
If you never saw "Saved by the Bell" the first time around, or at the very least by way of a rerun (which through the logic of statistical probability seems highly unlikely), you may have seen one of Engel's other NBC shows: "Hang Time," "One World," "City Guys," "California Dreams," "All About Us," and "USA High." If you saw all those shows, well, to be honest, you probably spent the entirety of the 90s cooped up in a concrete compound in Colorado with nothing but a television, anyway.
But truth be told, you probably did see "Saved by the Bell." If you had any sort of access to a television and free afternoons during the early or mid-90s, "Saved by the Bell" was there wherever you were.
The creation of Engel's most successful product -- in this case a niche television show about a bunch of kids going through a little Southern Californian utopia called Bayside High School -- has meant many things. The success of "Saved by the Bell" has meant syndication in 85 countries. It has inspired the release of a series of DVDs cataloguing each season of the show's run. The cult nature of the show means that at this very school, on a little network that a couple of kids use called "Facebook," there is a group called "That Episode Where Jessie Gets Addicted to Caffeine Pills."
The success has meant that as a teenager growing up on the other side of the world, I once saw someone wearing a "W W Z M D" bracelet. What does "W W Z M D" mean, you might ask? I was told by this young bracelet wearer that "W W Z M D" means something quite obvious: What Would Zack Morris Do?
Engel described the success of "Saved by the Bell" across the globe as "totally a surprise." Engel said with "Saved by the Bell" he and his team were "selling California," and when they were thinking of potential markets, it was not Barcelona or London but Minnesota where they expected to find an audience.
"We didn't grasp it," Engel said of the international market, "because we were selling California. We cut the city down ... We [made it seem] that the Hollywood sign was across the street from the beach."
As Engel himself admits, the physical location of "Saved by the Bell" was inspired by his own background.
"I grew up in New York City," Engel said. "The school environment of Bayside is probably what I fantasized about growing up."
For anyone who has seen the show, we know it is the characters that make it tick. Zack (the prepster), Slater (the cool athlete), Screech (the endearing nerd), Lisa (the gossipy type), Kelly (the hot cheerleader) and Jessie (the smart one). I asked Engel if he ever thought about tossing another character type in -- a more troubled teen? A crackhead, perhaps?
"Not as a regular character," Engel said. "You have to remember, our target audience was the 12- to 17-year-old age group," Engel said. "We invented the word "tween" [not -yet-teenage group]. Parents trusted us with their children and we didn't want to betray that trust."
I do not know if I was gaining confidence from talking to Engel, or because I really thought I too could have success in producing television shows for the youth market, but as I was talking I started to think up my own grand schemes. I mean this; I have some absolutely fantastic ideas for shows. For example, how about designing a Big Brother meets The Real World "reality show" ... Before I could float this idea, I thought I would test the water with Engel. Do you take submissions?
"I don't take submissions," Engel politely replied. "Even from people within the business."
Ah, fair enough, I thought. I'm sure there are some ridiculous ideas drifting about out there.
Peter Engel, producer of "Saved by the Bell" spoke at Newcomb Theater Tuesday.
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