Posted in: NBC, Peacock, streaming, TV | Tagged: Mark-Paul Gosselaar, nbc, peacock, Pod Meets World, Saved by the Bell

Saved by the Bell: "There Were a Few" Insensitive Episodes: Gosselaar

Saved by the Bell star Mark-Paul Gosselaar admits some NBC episodes "you just would not film these days" given how insensitive they are now.

Pop culture is a dramatically different environment 30 years ago compared to today, and it's something Saved by the Bell star Mark-Paul Gosselaar is all too familiar with as resident troublemaker and schemer Zack Morris in the original NBC incarnation and the Peacock legacy sequel series. While the latter lasted only two seasons, the actor was made painfully aware of how certain episodes of the NBC Saturday morning series haven't aged well thanks to his Zack to the Future podcast co-host Dashiell Driscoll, who became a writer on the Peacock series. Prior to the podcast, he hosted a series of shorts on the comedy site Funny or Die called Zack Morris Is Trash to remind fans how SBTB celebrated and enabled Morris and his sociopathic ways in a satirical way from how he treated his rival Principal Richard Belding (Dennis Haskins) to his rotating peers from Good Morning Miss Bliss to what became the primary core cast of SBTB. Gosselaar appeared on Pod Meets World and spoke with the Boy Meets World stars and hosts Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong, and Will Friedle.

"In terms of storylines, there were a few. There was one where I was basically whoring out Lisa Turtle. I charged people to kiss her without her consent, that was a tough one," Gosselaar said, describing the season one episode "The Lisa Card." "We had to preface the [podcast] episode by saying, 'We do not condone this, we're just here to discuss it.'" Another episode was the infamous season two episode "Running Zack."

"The other one was where Zack Morris claimed that he was Native American," Gosselaar said. "Seeing Zack Morris in a full headdress… That was one we had to be a little sensitive on, there are things that you just would not film these days." If confronted with a similar issue today, the actor would do more to explore. "This would be one of those times where I would have a dialogue with a writer or producer and have a discussion and say: 'I think we should look at this a little deeper, is this going to reflect well for me, for the character, for the future of the show?'" he added.

While Zack did have a happy ending marrying his high school sweetheart Kelly Kapowski (Tiffani Thiessen), the two would appear again in the Peacock series, helping a new generation of Bayside High students. Zack became the governor of California, and the two had a child together in Mac Morris (Mitchell Hoog), who got into similar antics but struggled under his father's shadow. Other original cast members who returned include Mario Lopez (AC Slater), Elizabeth Berkley Lauren (Jesse Spano), and Lark Voories (Lisa Turtle). The five surviving cast members appeared in both seasons, and the season two premiere episode paid tribute to the late Dustin Diamond, who played Screech in the original NBC series. You can check out the show below.

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