Blonde Episodes

Love, Life, and Blessings

Teenage Memories: Saved By The Bell

I was skimming Yahoo articles today and came across one about Lark Voorhies (Lisa) from the hit TV show, “Saved By The Bell.”  Did y’all watch that show?  Admit it, you did.  I loved it and wanted to be just like Kelly Kapowski. Check out the fun trivia I found on the show.
—Elizabeth Berkley originally auditioned for the role of Kelly Kapowski and was turned down in favor of Tiffani Thiessen, but the producers liked Elizabeth so much that they created the Jessie Spano character especially for her to play.

—Jennie Garth, Jaleel White, Jonathan Brandis, and Brian Austin Green are among those who auditioned for the show.



—Dustin Diamond was three years younger than the rest of the cast. 

—One of the degrees in Mr. Belding’s office is for Kung Fu. It is above the filing cabinet next to his desk. 

—Lisa Turtle was originally written as a white Jewish princess from Long Island who moves to California, but the producers liked Lark Voorhies, and gave her the part.

—The final “Graduation” episode had already been shot when the network ordered additional episodes. Tiffani Thiessen and Elizabeth Berkley were attached to other projects by that time, necessitating the creation of a replacement character Tori, played by Leanna Creel. The Tori episodes aired in the middle of the other final season episodes to sidestep continuity problems; the “Tori Paradox” was based on the idea that Tori, Kelly and Jessie were all at Bayside at the same time, and simply had different classes and different social interactions with Zach, Slater, Screech and Lisa that never overlapped. 

—Casper Van Dien made several uncredited appearances throughout the show’s final year. He had one line in one show, and was often seen just as a simple background extra, mostly in the hallway scenes by the lockers. 



—Mark-Paul Gosselaar had to dye his hair blonde every two weeks while shooting the show.

—Scott Wolf and Denise Richards made cameo appearances before making it to stardom.Tori Spelling (Beverly Hills, 90210) also made an appearance as a recurring character named Violet Bickerstaff – who was Screech’s love interest. 

—Lisa’s last name is Turtle, Jessie’s middle name is Myrtle, and Zack’s pet turtle’s name is Myrtle. 


—In every show the same classroom was used just rearranged for the subject being taught.

—Originally, Zack and Slater were written as bitter rivals for Kelly’s romantic affections. Off screen however, Mario Lopez and Mark-Paul Gosselaar were (and continue to be) very close friends. The writers, sensing the obvious chemistry between the two actors, had the characters re-written as best friends, and they remained that way for the rest of the show. 

—Though Kelly was scripted as Zack’s girlfriend for the show, the actress who played the role of Lisa, Lark Voorhies, was Mark-Paul Gosselaar‘s real-life girlfriend up to and during the Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style movie for three years, according to several interviews given by Gosselaar. 


—In the early 1990s, reruns of the show were being watched by an average of over 4 million viewers on the TBS cable station; this was equivalent to around 40 million viewers for programs airing in prime time on major networks. 

All trivia courtesy of IMDB, images courtesy of Google Images
By the way, have you visited my gorgeous sponsor Veronika and her fabulous blog?  Check her out and tell her I sent you!

Reader Interactions

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *