Currently, there are over 3,600 Northeastern University groups on TheFacebook.com, ranging from the education-oriented to the truly bizarre. Follow as the News takes a bi-weekly look at some of the most creative.
Jessie Spano’s Official “There’s Never Any Time,” So Let’s Get Addicted to Caffeine Pills Club:
The date was Nov. 1, 1990 when NBC’s hit teen sitcom “Saved by the Bell” tackled the controversial subject of drug abuse. Though the caffeine pills targeted pale in comparison to today’s alarming Aderol abuse, the episode “Jessie’s Song” is still resonating with students nearly fifteen years later.
“I know a bunch of kids [who use caffeine pills], but I always tell them to remember that ‘Saved by the Bell’ episode,” said Joe Falinski, a sophomore pharmacy major and founder of “Jessie Spano’s Official ‘There’s Never Any Time,’ So Let’s Get Addicted to Caffeine Pills Club” on TheFacebook.com.
The group, which has accumulated 344 members since its inception about four months ago, was created by Falinski as the Northeastern chapter of a similar group at The College of New Jersey.
However, since posting it, Falinski said he hasn’t had to work too hard to attract new members.
Chelsey Goff, a middler international affairs major, said she was so excited when her roommate exposed her to the group, she “shed a tear of joy.”
But humor and nostalgia values aside, this episode in particular also taught a very important lesson.
During the episode, Jessie Spano (Elizabeth Berkley) turns to caffeine pills to help her cope with the stress of being in an up-and-coming pop act and passing geometry. Filled with classic “Saved by the Bell” moments, including the aerobics-themed music video by Spano and her bandmates, the episode already had the potential to become a classic.
Culminating with Spano collapsing in the arms of Bayside High’s dreamboat Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), viewers were able to watch as the caffeine pills finally broke her down as she trailed off “I’m so excited, I’m so excited, I’m so …so …scared.”
“It really made me aware of the hazards of caffeine pills,” Goff said. “[If I did them] I wouldn’t be able to be in aerobic workout videos, which has been a goal of mine for quite some time.”
“Saved by the Bell” went on through several other incarnations, including “The College Years” and “The New Class,” but Falinski said he thinks most fondly of the classic episodes, like “Jessie’s Song,” from the original series.
“No one was a fan of ‘The College Years’ and ‘The New Class,'” he said. “We were just holding on to see if there was something there, but there wasn’t.”
Though both Falinski and Goff are members of a group sporting Spano’s name, they said she was not their favorite character, with Falinski opting for Morris and Goff choosing Kelly Kapowski because “she had pretty excellent puffy bangs.”
Neither Falinski nor Goff admitted to seeing Berkley in “Showgirls,” either.
Despite some of the faulty follow-ups and career choices for the actors that portrayed Bayside High’s finest, Goff said she isn’t surprised at the group’s rapid growth and predicts nothing but higher numbers in the future.
“I’m surprised there aren’t more people [in the group]. I think [344] is the minimum number of people who should be in a Jessie Spano group,” she said. “It’s taking over the school, it’s just taking off.”
