The series focuses on the life of junior high school teacher Miss Carrie Bliss at John F. Kennedy Junior High in Indianapolis. 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, a charming, manipulative scamp; lazy and not a good student and always looking for the easy way out. However, in the episode "Parents and Teachers", Miss Bliss said that Zack had the most potential of all her students. Lisa Turtle, a rich shopaholic; and best friend of Nikki. Lisa is the crush of many guys in the school and in Miss Bliss's class, especially Screech. Samuel "Screech" Powers, an awkward nerd with a crush on Lisa, but an excellent student and very honest. Mikey Gonzalez, Zack's best friend, who, although not generally as awkward as Screech, became quite shy around girls; a good student, especially in math and history but sometimes gets into conflict with Zack. Nikki Coleman, 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, a maintenance supervisor, and Miss Tina Paladrino, 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 school principal, Mr. Richard Belding. The show was cancelled after 13 episodes, and NBC reclaimed the rights to the show, reformatting Good Morning, Miss Bliss into Saved by the Bell; the characters of Zack, Lisa, Screech and Mr. Belding made the transition to Saved by the Bell, which saw the four moving to the fictional California suburb of Bayside. The series was then integrated into the Saved by the Bellsyndicated rerun package, with Miss Bliss episodes being introduced with a cold open by Mark-Paul Gosselaar explaining that they were from an earlier time frame than the rest of the series, followed by a retrofitted version of the regular Saved by the Bell opening sequence.
The original pilot for Good Morning, Miss Bliss aired on July 11, 1987, on NBC. Hayley Mills would be the only actress to carry over from the pilot to the series. Brian Austin Green as Adam Montcrief, Jaleel White as Bobby Wilson, and Jonathan Brandis as Michael Thompson were among some of the actors to appear in the pilot. Green was, in essence, the "lead" student in the pilot, 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. 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.
Syndication
After the huge success of Saved by the Bell, episodes of this series were added to the syndication package. Intros by Mark-Paul Gosselaar, in character as Zack Morris, were added to the beginning of each episode, and the title sequence was remade in the style of Saved by the Bell. The series reran on TBS, along with its spin-off. Good Morning Miss Bliss and Saved by the Bell were previously aired on The N from late 2008 to July 2009. As of February 2015, Netflix syndication of Saved by the Bell also reflects this change. Although the Saved By the Bell intro was modified to accommodate the Miss Bliss cast, it was incompletely customized for those episodes. The reflection in the animated sunglasses shows images of Bayside High and The Max, locations that were not present in the Indiana-set Good Morning, Miss Bliss.
International
The series was broadcast in United Kingdom on ITV from July 15, until July 31, 1991. In 1995, the series was broadcast again on Disney Channel UK from August 31, 1996 to March 29, 1997. In France the series was renamed "Bonjour, Miss Bliss", while the series was also shown in Italy, Sweden and Germany.
Home media
The complete series of Good Morning, Miss Bliss was released by Shout Factory with the Saved By The Bell: The Complete Collection DVD set on October 2, 2018.
