Z is for Zack Morris

That’s right: Saved by the Bell’s Zack Morris, for those of you who remember the Saturday morning TV show. I know, it’s his first name, which is hopefully not a cop-out. But deciding on a topic for Z was hard!

From TV.com:

“Saved by the Bell focused on Zack Morris and his friends: Samuel “Screech” Powers, Kelly Kapowski, Jessie Spano, A.C. Slater and Lisa Turtle. They had adventures and funny moments at Bayside High School in Palisades, California.”

Actor Mark-Paul Gosselaar played the character of Zack during the show’s 1989-1993 run, which happened to coincide almost exactly with our own high school career, but that was where any similarity ended. The show was a nice escape, and it definitely seemed sugar coated, but it touched on some serious social issues like drug abuse, AKA Jessie’s addiction to caffeine pills!

What about Zack the heartthrob? Some TV reviewers described him as a con artist, but I think he was a typical (if two-dimensional) high school student who had a good heart and wanted to do right by his friends. Gosselaar was compared to Kirk Cameron and Corey Haim in a 1990 interview, but he never reached their status (to me, anyway). I watched a few episodes on Saturday mornings, but it didn’t generate nearly the same excitement as primetime shows like Growing Pains or The Wonder Years.

Other well-known actors on Saved by the Bell included Mario Lopez, Tiffani Thiessen, Elizabeth Berkley, Lark Voorhies, and Dustin Diamond.

Click Here for more on the cast: Where are they now?

P.S. To any of my high school basketball teammates who happen to stumble on this post (you know who you are): I know you still remember all the words to the Saved by the Bell theme song! Just start singing it the next time you’re in the shower and it’ll come back to you.

P.P.S. Thanks to everyone who followed along during the A to Z Challenge. It’s been great to see familiar faces and to get to know some new ones!