Last night, we all gathered around the TV screen to get the messy, inside scoop on the hit teen show Saved By The Bell. Based off of his book ‘Unauthorized,’ Dustin ‘Screech’ Diamond spills all the tea on what happened when the cameras were off. In true Lifetime form, we learn who was dating who, who hated who and more!
Here are 11 things we learned from watching Unauthorized: Saved By The Bell!
1.) Jennie Garth was up for the role of Kelly Kapowski
Elizabeth Berkley, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen and Jennie Garth were all up for the role of Kelly Kapowski. However casting directors felt Garth didn’t have enough experience so they axed her, leaving the role up for grabs between Elizabeth and Tiffani. The casting directors felt Tiffani was a more believable Kelly, but they really liked Elizabeth and wanted her to be apart of the show somehow. Thus, Jessie Spano was born.
2.) Dustin’s first kiss was with Tori Spelling
Everyone else on the show was getting lip action except poor Dustin! But finally… he got his moment by the one and only Tori Spelling! Tori was first kiss on and off camera! Then after shooting he told her that he liked him and she blew him off by asking to meet Mark. Poor Dustin!
3.) The show was cancelled 3 times.. and then BOOM! It became a hit!
Before there was a Saved By the Bell, there was a ‘Good Morning Miss. Bliss’. Good Morning Miss. Bliss was intended for NBC, but was never picked up so the Disney Channel picked it up for a season run. After its 13 episode run, Disney decided not to run and NBC acquired the rights, and decided to revamp the show which became Saved By The Bell. Due to low ratings, NBC was about to axe the show once again. However, when they noticed that it was doing good commercially, they moved it to the Saturday morning slot which increased ratings making the show the most successful of the Saturday morning line up.
4.) The cast [spearheaded by Elizabeth and Tiffani-Amber] tricked writers into penning a more grown up script.
The show was always meant to be a comedy, but after a shopping trip and a mini conversation with a few fans, the girls realized they had the power to relate to their audience on a more realer and broader scale. So the girls went to the boys to convince them to join forces and talk to the writers about making the show tackle real issues that teenagers experience. At first, the network wasn’t having it, but they finally gave in making Saved By The Bell an even bigger hit.
5.) Mark and Lark were actually a thing.
At the start of the show, the cast was fairly young. But when puberty hit, things changed and so did the couples. Mark and Lark were a thing but had to keep their relationship on the low-low due to contractual situations and network orders. Lark wanted them to be more public but Mark wasn’t having it… or at least he was too scared!
6.) And then Mark and Tiffani-Amber became a thing.
Mark and Tiffani-Amber were always flirting but he was still doing his thing with Lark. The more Mark and Tiffani started ‘hanging’, the more jealous Lark got. At one point during a photo shoot, Lark was ready to put them paws on Tiffani, but Elizabeth stopped it. Finally, Lark cut it off with Mark after pics of Mark and Tiffani leaving the movies ended up on the cover of a magazine.
7.) Everyone loved Screech! Dustin Diamond…not so much!
Dustin tried so hard to make a friend but it just didn’t work. Through the course of the show, Screech eventually became fan favorite, but Dustin always failed to hit the mark. The more he drank and smoked, the more distant he became with the cast, including his unofficial bestie Mark.
8.) The episode where Jessie does pills was the beginning of Dustin’s downward spiral.
The cast wanted more dramatic scenes and more relate-able story lines and that’s what they got. The first episode was when Elizabeth started pill popping and Zach was trying to help her. During the rehearsal for the scene, Dustin started laughing and making a joke of it which in turn caused his cast mates to call him out on it. Dustin walked out of rehearsal and met a new buddy who introduced him to alcohol which was the start of his downward spiral.
9.) Dustin was treated like Cinderella…without the fairy God mother and perfect ending.
It’s no secret that Dustin wasn’t really liked among his cast mates, but it was a similar situation for the network. Dustin always got the short end of the stick. In a haste to make the cast renew their contracts, the network decided to do promo tours. Mark and Tiffani-Amber were sent to Paris, Mario was sent to Miami, Lark and Elizabeth were sent to New York, and poor Dustin was sent to…South Carolina. Shame.
10.) Mark’s parents pulled a Pebbles from TLC on him
The bigger ‘Saved By the Bell’ got, so did Mark’s checks, but his parent’s kept him and his funds on a tight leash! Mark was making several thousand dollars an episode, but was only seeing about $100 a month!
11.) Mario Lopez and Dustin Diamond didn’t like each other in real life.
Dustin wasn’t here for Mario from day one! When Mario joined the cast, he took an instant liking to Mark which left Dustin without a friend! In the film, Lopez and Diamond were always getting into petty arguments and had a off-screen mini rivalry.
12.) Everyone didn’t have a happy ending!
At the end of the movie, Dustin told us that everyone on the cast had a happy ending! Guess he forgot about the porno’s, shady tell all books, Elizabeth’s ‘Showgirls’ fallout, and Lark.
