Tag: Saved by the Bell

One of California’s greatest quarterbacks and wrestling champs is now the Bayside High School athletic director and football coach … and he’s still sitting backwards in chairs.

That’s right, A.C. Slater — played once again by Mario Lopez — returns to television in the re-imagined Saved by the Bell, which starts streaming on Peacock on Wednesday, November 25.

So we got to sit down with Lopez and ask him all things about the new series and how it connects with a show that fans have been wanted to see brought back since it premiered in 1989. Here’s what he had to say about revisiting Slater and Bayside.

Important question: is Zack Morris trash?

That’s what I read. I never saw that! What are they claiming?

One of the writers on the staff of the reimagined series, Dashiell Driscoll, wrote it, so his claim is all the things Zack did in high school were really trashy.

Probably, if you break it down, they were.

On that point, though, you’re working with writers who know the original show. Does that help with what you’re doing with the new Saved by the Bell?

I think the writers, our show-runner Tracey Wigfield, they were fans. Having someone as talented as her who worked on 30 Rock and The Mindy Project, to be behind it was a great blessing and they struck a great balance with nostalgia and updating it. I was happy how it turned out in capturing the tone and spirit of the re-imagining, as they’re calling it. So hopefully people will check it out and dig it.

Fans have been talking about a reunion seemingly for decades. So why now?

When we did the reunion on The Tonight Show [in 2015], it sparked a lot of interest and then reboots started becoming a thing. When I saw Cobra Kai and I thought they did such an excellent job and it was so clever, I’m like, well maybe we can approach it and do it in a clever way like that, it would be kind of fun. I was more concerned if I could pull it off schedule-wise, so that was the biggest challenge to be honest. Being that it was in the NBC family — I’m doing Access Hollywood, All Access, Access Daily, my radio show — they were pretty accommodating with the schedule.

When we finished it, I was really happy with the way it turned out.

Is there any trepidation with revisiting something SO beloved and revered by its fans?

It first trips me out that people even care so many years later. Yeah, you didn’t want to go into it, because there were other versions pitched, I wasn’t necessarily a fan. Once I heard Tracey’s vision, I felt very comfortable taking a shot.

Was it emotional at all for you to revisit a character you played as a teenager and slightly beyond?

Emotional? No. I thought it was funny they wanted to revisit it. I don’t get emotionally attached to jobs, per se. But it was a lot fun to go down this road again in this vein where I’m the authoritative figure now, the older guy, the mentor. It was fun to revisit it like that.

Different question, then: was it hard or easy to tap into where your acting head was at playing the character as a teenager?

Not really because that character was really a lot like me. He wasn’t supposed to be an athlete, he didn’t wrestle, dance or play drums. That was something I did that they incorporated. He was supposed to be Vinnie Barbarino from Welcome Back, Kotter. It was easy to be me. That was easy, and even the mentor-type role is easy because I’m a dad now with three kids, I’ve got nieces and nephews, and so that was sort of easy too. It’s revisiting it with a new hat on.

Was it fun to send up the original Saved by the Bell? You’ve spoken about “Easter eggs” winking to the original, we’ve seen a joke in the trailer where you sit backwards in a chair … is that fun and is that part of Tracy’s vision?

I love doing that. I love poking fun at myself and the past. The more I get picked on or made fun of like that is great. It makes it fun to play and hopefully people find it fun to watch.

Sports was really important to the series the first time around. You play the greatest athlete in Bayside history. Is sports a big part of this series?

It’s still prominently featured. I’m the athletic director and also the football coach. We’re very progressive! We have a girl on the team. So I’d say it still has a presence.

Regarding those “Easter eggs,” are there any you can hint at?

Other than a lot of familiar faces from the past, you might see some dancing from the past, you might see some outfits from the past and some throwback lines.

Do you have any theory as to why this show is so beloved so many years later?

The only thing I can think of is it was a Saturday morning show. It was very schmaltzy and there was an innocence, which was nice. We were actual teenagers playing teenagers which wasn’t the case [with other shows and movies]. There was Grease or even Beverly Hills: 90210, they were a lot older. We had a very diverse cast, that made it appealing, people can relate to someone there. That innocence brought you back to a simpler, happier time, and maybe people are drawn to that.

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