Season 4

September 14, 1996

A radio station is holding a dance contest at the mall with a prize of a pair of backstage passes to the MTV Music Awards. Ryan asks Rachel to be his partner but she's teaming up with Maria. Nicky asks Katie the same thing, but she says she wants to win and is pairing up with Eric. Meanwhile Screech is smitten with a pretty customer at the yogurt shop named Linda. Maria and Rachel show off their moves at the mall's dance club and they look great. Nicky, on the other hand, looks foolish, but while cleaning up at the theatre he comes up with a routine, the ""Crunch."" At the contest, Rachel and Maria back out after two other girls do their exact same dance steps. Eric and Katie do a hip-hop number, but Katie gets tangled up. Ryan messes up his back flip and Screech does a dork dance. Nicky's ""Crunch"" wins the contest and the passes. After the contest, Linda says she's proud of Screech's effort. Nicky meanwhile is buttered up by everyone in hopes of getting one of his backstage passes. He g

September 14, 1996

For a health class project, Mr. Belding pairs up the boys and girls and gives each one a computer chip-controlled baby to take care of for a week. Ryan is happy to be paired with Rachel. He wants to tell her how much he likes her, but the crying baby keeps ruining his attempts. Nicky and Maria are totally negligent as ""parents."" Nicky wants to hold a New York coffeehouse night at the Max and Maria wants to sing there. Both of them want to pursue their interests while neither wants to bother with the baby. Katie and Eric are parents together. Eric is a good father, having helped raise so many siblings, but when the baby runs a fever while in Katie's care, he thinks she can't take good care of the child. At the ""coffeehouse"" night at the Max, all three couples get in big fights and all the yelling and crying babies ruin Maria's song and they drive away the audience. Mr. Belding tells them if they don't improve as parents in the next three days they will all fail the assignment. Everyone

September 21, 1996

It's time for the girls to ask the boys out to the Sadie Hawkins Dance. Rachel is nervous about it, but Maria goads her into asking out Ryan, who accepts. Eric wants cute and popular Jennifer Wagner to ask him out, but she's not even sure what his name is. Nicky arrogantly acts like he expects Katie to ask him to the dance, but she hasn't done it yet. Maria goes into the business of selling dating advice. Eric makes a play for Jennifer, but it's not working. To make Katie jealous, Nicky says he's got another date; Katie tells him that's good, go with her. Rachel and Ryan have their picture taken by Screech for the paper. Rachel's head is cut off in the picture. Both of them say they are cool with their height difference but in truth it seems to bother them. Screech tries helps Ryan with a pair of platform shoes and a pompadour wig, but he just ends up looking foolish on a date with Rachel. The two decide to back out of their date to the dance, but they both seem reluctant. Maria advise

September 21, 1996

For a communications class project, the students are assigned to make a video about someone they consider a hero. Eric tries to impress Heather the cheerleader but she' not interested because he's a benchwarmer on the football team. Katie is excited that her old boyfriend will be in town next week, but Nicky is worried about it. At the game that weekend, Mr. Belding accidentally injures himself, a player and a cheerleader on the sidelines. From the locker room Screech watches as Eric is put in the game and scores a last-minute game-winning touchdown. At school Eric is now a hero, and Heather is suddenly interested in him. Maria and Rachel ask Eric to be the subject of their documentary. He agrees, but he blows them off to go out with Heather. Ryan begins to sell T-shirts autographed by Eric. With tryouts for a new cheerleader, Katie is too busy to spend time with Nicky.

September 28, 1996

Mr. Belding and Screech are promoting the ""Rainy Day Indoor Sports Festival,"" with the winning team getting a trip to Catalina Island. Eric is plagued by a tough guy, Bull Grabowski. Maria likes Scott Miller, but he already has a girlfriend, Natalie. Screech gives citations to Eric, Maria and Ryan for minor offenses and makes them appear before the Student Court. When the kids protest their sentences, Screech cancels the punishment but makes them into the new judges for the Court. The kids all abuse their positions on the court to help them win the Festival competition: Eric gives Bull a stiff sentence for chewing gum, Maria manipulates a breakup between Scott and Natalie so she can be Scott's partner, and Ryan ""sentences"" Nicky and Katie to detention in the gym so they can practice pool. Katie's a great pool player and Ryan makes a bet with some other guys in a game with her. When Belding catches them, he sends them to Ryan for punishment, and he makes it clear he expects Ryan to do t

September 28, 1996

Katie is happy when Nicky asks her to the upcoming Fall Formal dance. Maria's date's father will be a chaperone. He's Paul Wilson, a big record producer, and Ryan has a plan to get him to hear Eric and his brothers sing at the Formal. Maria and Rachel are super-excited about the new dresses they've bought for the dance, but Katie is beginning to feel ashamed because her parents can't afford a new dress for her this year. Mrs. Peterson alters a dress of Katie's sister's, though, which Katie plans to wear. Ryan engineers a breakup of the Bayside Barbershop Quartet (who were supposed to be the Formal's only entertainment!), then has Mr. Belding listen to Eric and his brothers. Belding gives them the job on the spot. Katie is afraid she will embarrass Nicky in an old dress. To raise money, she tells Screech she can fix the broken air conditioner that has been plaguing Mr. Belding. Screech gives her the job. She and Nicky manage to fix it, but it soon blows up. Katie confesses to Screech th

October 5, 1996

Ryan tries to lose weight rapidly to make the wrestling team, only to find out he has to wrestle Nicky for the coveted spot.

October 5, 1996

The kids are in the middle of tough mid-term exams. Screech convinces Mr. B. to throw a post-mid-term party for the students but actually it will be a surprise 10th anniversary celebration for him. Ryan, Nicky and Eric get a rude awakening in home economics class--they have to bake a lemon meringue pie for their mid-term grade. The boys buy a pie at the Max and turn it in. They get an ""A"" on it. Screech tastes it and gives them the job of baking a cake, Belding's favorite food, for the big party. Meanwhile Maria blows off studying with Katie and Rachel when Sean Pierce asks her out. Sean asks Maria to help him with his take-home Spanish mid-term. She agrees, despite her study schedule with the other girls. When Maria does study with them, her mind is still on Sean, who calls her up. She leaves to go out with him again. Rachel and Katie think he's using her. The boys plan to raise $150 for a cake, saying it's a gift for Mr. Belding. The girls contribute money, but they want to buy Mr.

October 12, 1996

Mr. Belding and Screech, dressed as a king and his joker, announce that Bayside will hold a Renaissance Faire as a fundraiser. But Ryan gets jealous as Rachel prepares for the Faire by rehearsing with a guy named Tim, who will play Romeo to her Juliet. Before the play can be presented, Ryan locks Tim in a janitor's closet and dresses as Romeo himself. Maria and Katie are running a Punch and Judy puppet show, but end up fighting among themselves. Nicky and Eric dress in period costumes and present themselves as the Men Who Sing Dreadful. Mr. Belding tries on a suit of armor in his office, then can't get it off. The play is scheduled to begin, and Rachel waits for Tim, her Romeo. Ryan shows up instead. There's no time to lose, so Ryan and Rachel play the scene themselves. But just when things seem to be going right, the singing duo of Nicky and Eric arrive onstage to announce Tim has been freed from the closet! Rachel is disgusted with Ryan and stalks off. Elsewhere nothing else is going

October 12, 1996

Katie and Nicky try to help out Maria's radio show by having them host with her. Unexpectedly, Nicky and Maria develop feelings for each other, which angers his girlfriend, Katie, and results in her breakup with Nicky.

October 19, 1996

Eric befriends an old comedian at the hospital. The comedian dies the night before Eric is set to sing for the hospital's patients.

October 19, 1996

The gang intern at a local hospital. Eric pretends to be a patient to gain the attention of a female intern. Mr. Belding signs on for a sleep program and Screech constantly prevents him from gaining any sleep.

October 26, 1996

A reality show is doing a project on the gang to show their responsibilty. They are excited to be on TV until they see their show which portrays them as selfish and irresponsible people.

October 26, 1996

The girls sign up for karate classes at the school. While defending Nicky while on their date, Maria protects him from a bully, jeopardizing his manhood.

November 2, 1996

Screech organizes a ""Get Out the Vote' drive at the mall and Ryan has to tell Rachel that she can't sing to save his band.

November 2, 1996

Rachel needs some extra-curricular credits on her record, so she decides to run for student council president. The Drama Club is rehearsing a production of Bye Bye Birdie, but Mr. Belding informs them it must be cancelled since the budget committee has cut the club's funding. Eric nominates Katie to run for student council president to fight for the Drama Club. Katie's serious campaign is being outdone by Rachel's flashy but trivial campaign, so Nicky and Eric help Katie to liven things up. But when Katie tries to talk about the Drama Club issue, Nicky cuts her off. Screech's poll has the candidates neck-and-neck. Maria has the candidates on her Bayside TV show. They take questions from the audience, during which Rachel's campaign manager Ryan manages to turn the other clubs in school against the Drama Club. Katie loses the Drama Club support when it isn't mentioned in her campaign video. Afterward, Katie thanks Nicky for handling her campaign--then immediately fires him. She goes back

November 9, 1996

The Bayside gang goes to Space Camp for two weeks and fighting ensues over who will be named team leader.

November 9, 1996

The annual Bayside Science Fair is coming up and Screech desperately wants to win. Eric may be the school's only hope for winning with his robot duster invention, but Screech insists on enhancing his creation which could get Eric disqualified from the competition.

November 16, 1996

Katie is the odd person out as everyone pairs up during Space Camp.

November 16, 1996

As the Space Camp program comes to a close, the gang encounter students from Deering High School. Ryan accidently kisses Mary Beth and has to find a way to explain it to Rachel.

November 23, 1996

Maria gets a promotion at the Teen Machine, but along with writing a term paper and cheerleader practice, it leaves her little time for her friends. Meanwhile Ryan and Eric plan a surprise party for Mr. Belding. Screech finds out about it and mistakenly thinks the party is for him.

November 23, 1996

Screech must decide whether he can leave break his attachment to Bayside with all its memories and people he loves for a better paying job offered to him by Valley High's Mr. Huffington.

December 14, 1996

Ryan accidentally burns down the Max after forgetting to turn off the Christmas tree lights.

December 14, 1996

Former Bayside High pupil A.C. Slater visits the gang at what's left of the Max after the fire and they all share fond memories of how the Max has been a special part of their lives.