Good Morning, Miss Bliss

Good Morning, Miss Bliss is an American teen sitcom that aired from 1988 to 1989 (and later in syndication as part of the Saved by the Bell rerun package), starring Hayley Mills as a teacher at John F. Kennedy Junior High School in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The show was originally a pilot for NBC, which was inspired by NBC president Brandon Tartikoff's idea for a show about an "inspiring" teacher. NBC decided not to pick up the pilot, but Disney Channel did, premiering the show on November 30, 1988, and airing it for one season. The show was later retooled as Saved by the Bell, with much of the same cast but without Mills, and with a different setting. The latter show focused on the students rather than the teacher, and had a much more successful run.

Plot

The series focused on the life of junior high school teacher Miss Carrie Bliss (Hayley Mills). She was often put into morally difficult situations by her work, and often served as the only person her students could turn to. Her eighth grade students included Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), a charming, manipulative scamp; Lisa Turtle (Lark Voorhies), a rich shopaholic; Samuel "Screech" Powers (Dustin Diamond), an awkward "nerd" with a crush on Lisa; Mikey Gonzalez (Max Battimo), Zack's best friend, who, while not as awkward as Screech, would become quite shy around girls; and Nikki Coleman (Heather Hopper) who was outspoken and often advocated the moral course of action when the others decided to do something mischievous. The show also featured Mylo Williams (T.K. Carter), a maintenance supervisor, and Miss Tina Paladrino (Joan Ryan), a quirky teacher and friend of Miss Bliss, with whom she would often discuss her personal life, with Miss Paladrino acting as sounding board. Dennis Haskins played the principal of John F. Kennedy Junior High, Mr. Richard Belding.

The show was cancelled after 13 episodes, and the rights were acquired by NBC, who reformatted Good Morning, Miss Bliss into Saved by the Bell. The series was integrated into the Saved by the Bell syndicated rerun package; episodes from this series were later introduced with a cold open by Mark-Paul Gosselaar explaining that these were from an earlier time frame than the rest of the series (despite the fact that the previous series was, for all intents and purposes, a different continuity), along with a retrofitted version of the regular Saved by the Bell opening theme.

Cast

• Hayley Mills as Miss Bliss
• Dennis Haskins as Mr. Richard Belding
• Joan Ryan as Miss Tina Paladrino
• Max Battimo as Mikey Gonzalez
• Dustin Diamond as Samuel "Screech" Powers
• Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Zachary "Zack" Morris
• Heather Hopper as Nicole "Nikki" Coleman
• Lark Voorhies as Lisa Turtle
• T.K. Carter as Mylo Williams

Episodes

#	Airdate	Title	Overview
1	November 30, 1988	Summer Love	Zack finds out the girl he had told he was in ninth grade at summer camp, Karen (Carla Gugino), has transferred to JFK, and he tries to keep up the charade.
2	December 7, 1988	Love Letters	Screech asks Zack to write a love letter from him to Lisa.
3	December 14, 1988	Wall Street	While doing a class project on stocks, Zack invests the class's money on risky stocks.
4	December 21, 1988	Leaping to Conclusions	Nikki refuses to do the science class's frog dissection.
5	December 28, 1988	Parents and Teachers	Zack's dad Peter (Robert Pine) meets Miss Bliss at a parent/teacher conference and they find they are attracted to one another.
6	January 4, 1989	Showdown	Screech's friends encourage him to stand up to bully Deke Simmons (Andras Jones).
7	January 25, 1989	Save the Last Dance for Me	Zack and Mikey fight over Shana (Alexondra Lee) whom Mikey likes, but who asks Zack to a dance instead.
8	February 11, 1989	The Boy Who Cried Rat	Miss Bliss is a candidate for Teacher of the Year; Zack let's Screech's pet rat out into the school to avoid a midterm.
9	February 18, 1989	Let's Get Together	Zack and Nikki are arguing and then are partnered for a class project; Tina moves in with Miss Bliss after her boyfriend dumps her and subsequently drives her crazy.
10	February 25, 1989	Practical Jokes	A mock trial is held after a series of practical jokes ends in one that breaks Miss Bliss's "unfooled" streak.
11	March 4, 1989	Stevie	Zack bets Nikki he can kiss pop singer Stevie (Suzanne Tara).
12	March 11, 1989	Clubs and Cliques	Zack is embarrassed by some older students who invite him into a "cool" club.
13	March 18, 1989	The Mentor	Miss Bliss's former teacher Mr. James Lyman (Robert Donner) returns and causes controversy with his teaching methods.

*As of October 2007, all 13 episodes can be viewed by Netflix members through their "Watch Instantly" feature.

Original pilot

The original pilot for Good Morning, Miss Bliss aired on July 11, 1987, on NBC (in The Facts of Life's timeslot). It featured up-and-comers Brian Austin Green (who later got his big break on Beverly Hills 90210) as Adam Montcrief, Jaleel White as Bobby Wilson, and Jonathan Brandis as Michael Thompson. Brian Austin Green was, in essence, the "lead" student in the pilot, as Adam Montcrief, a particularly serious student, who wore business suits. Several other characters from the series existed in the pilot but were played by different actors; Mr. Gerald Belding was played by Oliver Clark, and Miss Tina Paladrino was played by Maria O'Brien. Although Hayley Mills was the only actor to survive beyond the pilot, her character in the pilot was named Mrs. Davis. Other characters include Gabriel Damon as Bradley; Samantha Mills as Wendy; Julie Ronnie as Lonnie Maple; Matt Shakman as Georgie Winslow; Charles Siebert as Charlie Davis; Britton Elliott as Janet Hillhurst; Josh Goddard as Steven; and Andrea Messersmith as Laurie.

References

• "Good Morning, Miss Bliss": The Episode Guide