 According to producer Peter Engel (I) (qv), at a meeting before  the show had been created, NBC President Brandon Tartikoff (qv)  suggested the show be given a name that used the word bell (such as  "When the Bell Rings"). One of Engels colleagues then suggested the  name "Saved by the Bell", which Tartikoff liked. Engel disliked the  name but, believing that someone else probably owned the rights to  the phrase "saved by the bell", went along with it. As luck would  have it, NBCs legal department discovered that in fact nobody owned  the rights to the phrase, and by the next day Engels office was  covered in large banners that said "Saved by the Bell".