fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3437 ]

[ SECRET POST #3437 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3437 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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How about examples of tv shows that tried to give a good message, but the execution ruined the point they were trying to make.

The Saved by the Bell episode with Jessie taking caffeine pills. It's become a joke among my generation.

I remember that episode.

Which is unfortunate, because that episode was like 20 years ahead of its time.

Today, you can buy pure caffeine powder on Amazon, and that shit will totally fucking kill you if you OD on it: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-teen-died-from-caffeine-powder-overdose/

It's sad that it's such a joke, because I think that episode was a lot better executed than most Very Special Episodes, for a few reasons:

1) Most VSEs are centered around illegal drugs. Saved By the Bell's take broke from the norm first and foremost by using a drug that is perfectly legal even for teenagers to obtain, but also really fucking dangerous. Caffeine is so ubiquitous that we tend to forget it's a drug. When present in food, it poses no real risk to a healthy person. But in pill form (or worse, powder), it can be just as lethal and damaging as the hard stuff.

2) Most VSEs focus on resisting peer pressure. Once again, Saved By the Bell broke the mold, by having Jessie initially start taking the caffeine pills for a legitimate purpose: she had too much on her plate between school and the pop group, and not enough time to sleep. And rather than let one of her endeavors suffer, Jessie shows her true chronic overachiever tendency by trying to do it all (because being a Hispanic girl, she feels everybody judges her entire gender and race when she fails at something).

This is important because it's not just illegal drugs that people get addicted to. Addiction to prescription drugs starts exactly this way; the pain stops, but the pills don't.

3) The real moral of the episode wasn't "Drugs Are Bad." It was "you're human, it's okay to admit you can't do everything and holy shit, no grade or hobby is worth your health." For real high school kids watching who are just like Jessie and feel pressured to excel at everything, this was important.

Edited 2016-06-02 02:18 (UTC)

I agree, but I think part of the message has gotten lost over time. It's definitely an episode that stands out as something different from the typical VSE, but her breakdown scene has become all that the episode is known for and cycles as a meme.

I applaud you on your in depth analysis of the episode because I think people watching it now miss all of what you said because the VSE is so common and see this one as just "drugs are bad" which isn't what it is.

Yeah. Elizabeth Berkley's chewing the scenery has really overshadowed a lot of the good things that episode tried to do. Which is a shame because when you step back and look past the cheesy teen sitcom acting, there was some really serious thought put into it.

What really grabs me about it every time I catch it on a rerun is when Zack comforts her while she's freaking out. For the entire show up to that point, his Zany Schemes bordered on Comedic Sociopathy; this is really the first instance we have of him genuinely giving a shit about the consequences. Not because he's getting in trouble, but because somebody else is getting hurt. That was kind of a turning point where he became a lot less of an asshole.

I agree, prior to this, his schemes are all about him and manipulating other people to benefit him, but he you see his friendship with Jessie and how they're so close. (I know Saved by the Bell sort of retconned a lot of history between the seasons, but I believe here it's Zack and Jessie that have been friends the longest)

Oh yes. The later episodes were almost as bad as Golden Girls in throwing previous character history out the window (not that it mattered, because both shows were hilarious and that's what's important). But you're right, in that episode they'd been friends since they were little kids. If memory serves, he reminded her of the time they had to ride their bikes home in the dark and how scary it was, but they got through it, just like she's going to get through this. Which despite the cheesiness, that was genuinely heartwarming.

Well there was that whole first season "Good Morning Miss Bliss" that randomly gets thrown in with the reruns and then there's that last season where Jessie and Kelly weren't there, but then we're going to have the college years and the random wedding movies?

I was too young when it first aired, mostly, and ended up watching most of it in reruns.

I was thinking of that Next Generation episode that deals with the race that doesn't have gender. I think the idea of the episode was good, but it should have been filmed as originally intended. By not having the character who starts to express herself as female be played by a man, every potentially good message got muddled and the episode ended up just feeling very conventional and conservative.

I'm not sure how you can say the ending felt conservative when the ending, given Riker's reaction, was presented as a bad thing done by misguided people.

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[ SECRET POST #3437 ]

Good Message, Bad Execution

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