Why Mark-Paul Gosselaar Regrets This ‘Saved by the Bell’ Storyline With Lisa
Actor Mark-Paul Gosselaar was a teen heartthrob on the NBC sitcom Saved by the Bell. While it’s been more than a few years since Gosselaar’s day on the show, the character still follows him around today. In recent years, Gosselaar has spoken out about some of the regrets he still harbors regarding some of the show’s more questionable scenes.
Despite his reservations, Gosselaar should show himself a little grace, as should his fans, given that he was just 15 years old when the first episode of Saved by the Bell aired. Here’s a look at the ’90s teen sitcom and Gosselaar’s love-hate relationship with some of the show’s storylines.
‘Saved By the Bell’ isn’t the first ’90s sitcom with questionable storylines.
The teen sitcom Saved by the Bell first premiered on NBC primetime on August 20, 1989. The show was an instant hit, running for four seasons, with its final episode premiering on May 22, 1993. With the large following that Saved by the Bell had attracted, the network even went forward with two spinoff series and two TV movies.
The premise of the original series centered around a group of high school friends under the watchful eye of their principal in the fictional high school of Bayside High in LA, California. According to Fandom, the main cast of characters on Saved by the Bell included:
- Zack Morris, played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar
- A.C. Slater, played by Mario Lopez
- Screech Powers, played by Dustin Diamond
- Lisa Turtle, played by Lark Voorhies
- Jessie Spano, played by Elizabeth Berkley
- Kelly Kapowski, played by Tiffani Thiessen
- Principal Richard Belding, played by Dennis Haskins
While the teen sitcom was a smash hit in the 90s, some of the show’s storylines become questionable when examining them through a 2023 lens.
Mark-Paul Gosselaar has some regrets from his days as Zack Morris
While the teen sitcom Saved by the Bell is where Gosselaar got his start, he didn’t make it to his last stop in Hollywood as many child actors do. With his 50th birthday quickly approaching, this milestone also marks over three decades on the Hollywood scene for Gosselaar.
According to IMDb, since his days on Saved by the Bell, Gosselaar has landed several main roles on scripted TV shows. Gosselaar portrayed Dennis Sweeney on Hyperion Bay for 17 episodes, Detective John Clark Jr. on NYPD Blue for 87 episodes, Mike Lawson on Pitch for 13 episodes, and Paul Johnson on Mixed-ish for 23 episodes, among other roles.
From 2020 to 2021, Gosselaar reprised his role of Zack Morris on the Saved by the Bell reboot, which aired on Peacock for two seasons. Gosselaar also served as a producer on the show. In his latest role, Gosselaar portrays Paul Campano in the ABC crime drama Will Trent.
The one scene that Mark-Paul Gosselaar regrets the most
While guesting on the Pod Meets World podcast, hosted by the former cast members of Boy Meets World, Gosselaar discussed one scene from Saved by the Bell that he still loses sleep over.
In the episode “The Lisa Card,” Lisa finds herself in a panic after she maxes out her dad’s credit card. In this storyline, Zack comes to Lisa’s “rescue” by proposing the idea that they charge the boys in their class $1 each to kiss her. However, Lisa never gives consent to any of these kisses.
On the podcast, Gosselaar tells Rider Strong, Danielle Fishel, and Will Friedle, “I was basically whoring out Lisa Turtle. I charged people to kiss her without her consent. That was a tough one.”
On his own rewatch podcast, Zack to the Future, Gosselaar noted he felt conflicted about the Lisa episode. Gosselaar remarked on the podcast, “It wasn’t as carefree and innocent as the last episode. But maybe it’s because I’m watching it through these eyes and not the eyes of a 13-year-old or the audience that watched it back in the 90s.”
