Saved by the Bell: The New Class

The series was created as a spinoff of Saved by the Bell, keeping the same concept and Bayside High School setting but introducing an entirely new group of students, with Mr. Belding as the only original character to remain from the start.

During a 1993 repeat airing of the TV film Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style, NBC aired special 'passing of the torch' segments in which the original cast met the new season 1 cast at Bayside High and The Max, including a scene where Zack Morris hands Scott a fake list meant to trick Mr. Belding before giving him 'the real list' afterward.

After criticism that season 1 was just a poor copy of the original show, producers fired three of the original leads—Robert Sutherland Telfer, Isaac Lidsky, and Bonnie Russavage—and introduced three new characters for season 2.

Sarah Lancaster, who would become a main cast member from season 2 to 4 as Rachel Meyers, had actually first appeared as the same character in a single guest episode during season 1.

Dustin Diamond was invited back to reprise his original Saved by the Bell role as Screech starting in season 2 after Saved by the Bell: The College Years was cancelled, and he ended up staying for the rest of the series' run as Mr. Belding's assistant, with his continued enrollment at California University barely mentioned again.

For season 2, the show's sets were redesigned to change the appearance of Bayside High from that seen in the original series, and Mr. Belding was given a new office.

The gang's hangout, The Max, was rebuilt and given a new look for season 5 after the original set was destroyed in a fire during the season 4 finale.

Season 6 was widely reported to be the series' final season, but NBC decided to extend the show by splitting a large batch of already-filmed episodes into an additional seventh season with the same cast.

Ten novelizations of the series, all written by Beth Cruise, were published by Boxtree Ltd and Aladdin Paperbacks, with the first five books following the season 1 cast and the last five following the season 2 cast.