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Ode to Peter Engel

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Ranked #92,075 in Entertainment, #1,137,186 overall

Who's Peter Engel?

If I say Peter Engel, you'll probably say, who?

But if I say Saved by the Bell, California Dreams, City Guys, you'll probably say... what?

Peter Engel is a TV producer who produced several shows aimed at teens, which tackled many social problems, such as drugs, alcohol, dealing with divorce, dating, learning difficulties, just to name a few.

Here is a list of all the teenage shows Peter Engel produced

Good Morning Miss Bliss
Saved by the Bell (also The College Years & The New Class)
California Dreams
Hang Time
USA High
City Guys
One World
Malibu CA
All About Us

Which show was your favourite?

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Surf dudes, with attitude

Kinda groovy...

Although Saved by the Bell was the original and best (I adored Zack), California Dreams will always be my absolute favourite show by Peter Engel. It had everything the other shows had, but it also had one thing they didn't - music.

OK, so the songs were pretty cheesy, and they weren't really playing those instruments. But there were really singing, and I happen to like cheese. I just wish they'd released more of their songs. Oh sure, I have the CD they released, with the original line-up. But the band only got good when Jake stepped on the scene. With his leather jacket, motorcycle, and shiny black hair, he was our generation's Arthur Fonzarelli.

I did eventually find somewhere to download the other songs online, man that was a good day. You'll find a link to the site I used further down the page.

Am I the only one who noticed...?

In California Dreams, Tiffany was played by Kelly Packard. In Saved by the Bell, Kelly was played by Tiffani-Amber Theissen. Tiffany, Kelly, Kelly, Tiffani. Weird!

Recurring Themes

Now where have I seen that before...?

One thing I noticed early on, is that Mr Engel was very environmentally conscious, cuz he sure liked to recycle his scripts!

Just kidding Pete.

But seriously, if, like me, you religiously watched each and every show, it wouldn't take you very long to notice that there were certain episodes that mirrored past shows.

Classic example: California Dreams. In episode #4.5 "Fallen Idol", Jake meets his idol, Zane Walker, who he hopes will help get the Dream discovered but who instead steals one of Jake's songs.

Now, USA High. In episode #5.2 "Jackson's Idol" (sound familiar?), Jackson gets to meet his idol, "Bird Dog" Hampton, who steals one of his songs.

Next, City Guys. In episode #3.4 "Face the Music", El-Train's hero Slick Willy Bill comes to town and steals one of his songs.

Most of the shows also featured an episode which tackled smoking, drinking, drugs (including steroids and caffeine pills), cheating, and many other topical teenage issues. These I get, but I don't know a lot of teenagers who run the risk of having their songs stolen from their musical idols, do you? Maybe it was a 90s thing...