TV producer Peter Engel, 88, died on March 4. He began his TV career producing such middling TV-movies and series as The Ice Palace, How to Survive a Marriage, and Sirota’s Court, till he hit upon his career-making idea: teen shows. He produced Saved by the Bell (and its spin-offs), California Dreams, USA High, Malibu CA, Hang Time. Then Engel embarked on a series of reality shows, a genre still plaguing us today: Last Comic Standing, Chasing The Saturdays, and Naked but Funny (“People play random naked jokes on pedestrians”). In 2016, Engel told interviewer Ron Sklar of his biggest hit, Saved by the Bell, “I never thought anyone would see our show. We did premiere in prime time in the summer of 1989. The critics brutalized us in New York, San Francisco and L.A. But the tapings were like a Beatles’ concert. It was wonderful. The cast was magical. They never, ever missed, ever.” He added that “Movies are a directors’ medium. Television is a writer’s and executive director’s medium. I tell people, the best way in is to write. No one cares who you are. If it’s on the page, it can be on the stage.”
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