The Saved by the Bell revival is the top original show on the Peacock streaming service, said NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell in a holiday memo to the staff.
Shell's business update did not give specific viewership numbers but stated that three of every 10 new subscribers watch Saved by the Bell before anything else, according to a report by Deadline.
Peacock, which launched in July, has 26 million subscribers who can watch NBC's broadcast shows on the platform the day after they debut on the network and can then seek older episodes from past seasons. The next-day viewership of NBC's shows and NBCU cable rank the highest on the Peacock Premium tier, Shell said.
Shell also noted that viewership of the 2009-2015 sitcom Parks and Recreation has gone up four-fold after being made available only on Peacock, an indicator that exclusive access might boost The Office when all nine seasons are offered in January.
The new Saved by the Bell updates the Bayside High School setting, with some characters from the original 1989-1993 Saturday morning sitcom now on the faculty helping a new generation of students. This includes an influx of teens transferred into the school because Bayside's most famous graduate, Zack Morris, is now governor of California and made ill-considered budget cuts that closed their schools.
Peacock's Saved by the Bell stars Elizabeth Berkley Lauren, Mario Lopez, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Tiffani Thiessen and John Michael Higgins, as well as newcomers Belmont Cameli, Dexter Darden, Mitchell Hoog, Alycia Pascual-Peña, Josie Totah and Haskiri Velazquez. The series is now available on Peacock.
Source: Deadline