Saved by the Bell/Trivia

The following are Trivial facts relating to Saved by the Bell.

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• Ability Over Appearance: Lisa was written as a Jewish princess with the auditions calling for white females only. Lark Voorhees (African-American) got the part based on the strength of her audition.
• Actor Allusion:
  • Slater's dancing and drums skills. Prior to SBTB, Mario Lopez was a dancer and "drummer" during the first three seasons of Kids Incorporated, something Jimmy Kimmel had a little fun with during Lopez' Dancing With the Stars appearance.
  • The first episode of Good Morning, Miss Bliss has a character ask if she's speaking with Miss Bliss, or her evil twin. This is a reference to Hayley Mills' appearance in The Parent Trap.
• Dawson Casting: Averted. The actors playing the main characters match their ages, though Screech may have skipped a grade or two somewhere. It's most noticeable in the Miss Bliss episodes when he's a full head shorter than everyone else in the grade.
  • Elizabeth Berkley ("Jessie") was somewhat of a borderline case, as she was 17 when her character was introduced, pushing her to around 20-21 by the time the series wrapped (playing a high-school senior).
  • This was also averted in the spin-off. All the teen characters were played by actual teens although a couple did push into the twenties towards the end and only Lindsey McKeon graduated the same year as her character.
• Executive Meddling
• Fake Mixed Race: Zack's out of nowhere Indian heritage is the focal point of one episode...and never brought up again.
• Hey, It's That Guy!:
  • The No Hope with Dope episode at the end featured outgoing NBC programming genius Brandon Tartikoff as himself.
  • Donna Martin transferred over from West Beverly for a few episodes.
  • Carrie Heffernan was Zach's boss/love interest when he was working at the beach during the summer.
• I Am Not Spock: All of the actors have gone through this at some point. Dustin Diamond, Lark Voorhies, and Dennis Haskins in particular never escaped their most famous role. Of the three, the former is the only one who hasn't embraced this. Showgirls tainted Elizabeth Berkley's career and has been Spocked as Nomi Malone instead. Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Mario Lopez, and Tiffani Thiessen, on the other hands, found success after the show ended.
• Nice Character, Mean Actor: Kind-hearted (albeit annoying) Screech Powers played by all-around pathological Jerkass Dustin Diamond. He's managed to completely alienate all the other former cast members, who went ahead and did a reunion photo without him. Ironically, Lisa's actress, Lark Voorhies, seems to be the one member of the cast who seems to feel more pity for Dustin than anything else.
• The Other Darrin: Zack's Dad was re-cast in the retooled series.
• Recycled Set: The hallway/locker area set, originally built for the show's first incarnation as Good Morning, Miss Bliss, never got destroyed, and has been reused in many high school based shows. It was last used as the school set for iCarly and Victorious after That's So Raven used it before.
• Technology Marches On: Zack's Cell Phone. Funny then because a teenager even having one was taking High School Hustlerdom to Beyond the Impossible levels. Funny now because of how freakin' huge it is. The large "brick" cell phones from that era are actually popularly known as "Zack Morris Cell Phones" as a retronym.
• Unintentional Period Piece: As it started in 1989 and ended in 1993, it is chronologically the latest example of an identifiably '80s program.
• What Could Have Been: Susan was a very fun character, but alas, she joined the recurring cast of The College Years very late into its run, as the show was nearing cancellation. If the show had lasted more than one season, she would have surely continued to play a larger role.