It's unfortunate that this show never found an audience. It was far and away the best Saved by the Bell incarnation to have existed. Much better than the original and The New Class. Provided, I was a little kid when the original SBTB was on the air. And I watched it. And I still occasionally do when it's on. But that's mostly nostalgia. It was truly a BAD show, and I never would have gotten in to it had it been after my time.The College Years was a much better show in terms of both writing and acting. There's a lot of reasons for this. The returning actors had four years to grow in to their characters on the original show. So not only had they become better actors, they knew their roles well by this point. This show was meant to appeal to fans of the original, who grew up with the show. So these fans themselves were a little older. The comedy is a bit "older". Not in the sense of more adult or risqué. But that it was meant for mid-late teenagers, as opposed to the early-mid teenagers and younger that they were during the original. I'll delve in to that in the next paragraph.Another factor was the different writing staff. I'm hard pressed to believe that this show employed the same writers. But even if it had, they definitely changed the writing style. With an older audience and a prime time slot, this show had to vary from the Saturday morning children's show writing style of the original. This show was MUCH funnier than the original. Much more believable, and with much less cringe-worthy moments. You know, those moments when you feel EMBARRASSED for the actors due to their dialog or the plot. It's just that bad, and you know it.All in all, I thought this was a solid, funny, pretty well done family show. Was it hilarious? Was it one of the best family shows out there? Not really. But I thought it had it's moments. Many more moments than the original, that's for sure. Had it actually stuck around, I think it would have developed in to a much more likable show. I would give it a 7, which is maybe a little too generous. It was definitely better than the other two incarnations. It's just a shame that unlike them, it never found an audience.

It whips you around a lot, otherwise great. In the end of the series Zack and Kelly get married, which you don't expect to happen that much, but it does, and throws you off track to the whole show. All those times they fought, Zack cheated on her, you'd think she'd remember that... Lisa and Jessie come for the wedding, which is the nicest part. I missed them from JH and high school.:)An introduction to new characters Leslie and Alex happens, for these two characters are the new college dorm mates to Kelly. They're a nice addition but will NEVER replace Lisa and Jessie, which is what the show must have tried to do. Actually, in the beginning another girl is in Kelly's spot, whom Zack meets first. She's in for the first TCYs episode then is never seen again. In a way she resembles Lisa, and I don't think they even mentioned her name:/Kelly comes in on the second episode, her appearance was kind of predictable. You knew how upset they were to leave each other for college, so she "had" to come. I'm surprised that Zack didn't end up with Leslie who would have been a pretty good match for him in the end.A.C. Slater comes along to the same college as Zack, along with Screech. A.C. begins dating Alex, while Leslie is left alone in the dark. I don't think Jessie was nice to Slater AT ALL. She always called him a sexist pig, or something else in every HS episode...and Alex is exactly the same way. In one episode she demands Slater to be Peter Pan when she is Tinkerbell and everything goes wrong, and she can't even forgive him for switching costumes when he didn't know she had... it's rude how she treats him all the time, what with her ordering around.A.C. loses his first wrestling match in college so easily he promises to SCREECH to keep THE SECRET-there IS NO SECRET about that! It's gonna get out so don't tell the person who leaked so many lies not to tell anyone! And he's always been the toughie but his reputation is fresh in college, the only people who know about it are Kelly, Zack, and Screech, 3 out of probably 3000 people at the college. If those three were real friends they would not tell anyone anything.Zack's mean pranks, such as when he has to collect some quiz for doing a prank, is just rude(he promises a fake trip to Hawaii for the picked winner). Michael tries his best to set this guy straight, but HELLO. You are dealing with ZACK MORRIS! Plus Michael isn't such a gem either, asking Screech for everything, and complaining about all of his troubles to the college students. At one time Zack tries to have a rave for making up for one of his pranks and paints Michael's dorm BLACK. He takes advantage of everyone and isn't even that handsome.Well, I've said enough, this show can be funny at points but look deep down and see kids just scheming their way out of trouble and taking advantage of everyone and everything to get what they want.

I was not a fan of the College Years, even though I religiously watched Saved By the Bell. Here, Zach, Slater, and Screech (and soon, Kelly) joined forces in a fictitious California college. Initially, the guys shared a dorm section with three girls: a drama major, a stuffy brain (the Jessie replacement, I suppose), and Kelly. While Zach and Slater appeared to be slightly more arrogant and altogether, too hung up on the "what a college student is supposed to look like and act like" conventions, and Screech became even more hopelessly doofus than he was in high school (and so willingly so), I did like the brawny fellow, Mike, who was the floor monitor. He was a genuinely amusing character in a show that often tried too hard to be funny (although the drama major girl was often pretty funny because she was so neurotic).For your Saved By the Bell viewing pleasure, skip all the post show remnants, and stick with the original series (even the Good Morning Ms. Bliss series).

This conversion from the hit high school series to the college years was a great idea! For one, there aren't very many tv shows exclusively for college dorm room settings. And for two, it also had a more grown up storyline than the high school series. The ppl who went to high school while they were in high school and are now in college with these characters as they are in college are growing up together. It demonstrates how these characters are evolving into educated young adults. Certainly the new theme took a toll on the comedy that the high school series was famous more. The College Years tried to have more adult situations (diverse situations in the after-high-school life college students may find themselves in, like who to date, for example), which are very difficult to make funny.. and are mostly that have those plots are more like dramas and soap operas. The maturing to adulthood theme was a nice (chronological) fit for fans of the show who followed the series.