‘Saved By The Bell’ Star Mark-Paul Gosselaar Looks Back On The Show’s Most Problematic Storylines: “There’s Things That You Just Would Not Film These Days”

According to Mark-Paul Gosselaar, not all Saved by the Bell episodes can stand the test of time.

The teen star recently revealed which Saved by the Bell episodes have been the most difficult to watch again as the host of the rewatch podcast, Zack to the Future, which he co-hosts with series writer Dashiell Driscoll.

According to Gosselaar, there are two in particular that were “tough” to talk about on the podcast.

“In terms of storylines, there was a few,” he admitted during a recent appearance on Pod Meets World, a rewatch podcast hosted by Boy Meets World stars Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong, and Will Friedle. “There was one where I was basically whoring out Lisa Turtle. I charged people to kiss her without her consent, that was a tough one.”

He added, “We had to preface the [podcast] episode by saying, ‘We do not condone this, we’re just here to discuss it.'”

Another difficult episode to discuss on the podcast was “Running Zack,” which showed his character wearing traditional Native American clothing and a headdress for a school presentation.

“The other one was where Zack Morris claimed that he was Native American,” he said on Pod Meets World. “Seeing Zack Morris in a full headdress… That was one we had to be a little sensitive on, there’s things that you just would not film these days.”

When discussing “The Lisa Card” on his podcast, Driscoll and Gosselaar stated that they certainly “see some of the morally abhorrent or dated situations and responses to certain things,” per Buzzfeed News.

In this episode, Zack hatches a harebrained scheme to help Lisa earn some extra money to pay off the massive credit card bill she wracked up on her father’s credit card. He charges their classmates $1 each to kiss Lisa without her knowledge.

“This is one of those things now, being the actor that I am, I would protect myself as well as my character,” he said at the time. “This would be one of those times where I would have a dialogue with a writer, producer and have a discussion and say: ‘I think we should look at this a little deeper, is this going to reflect well for me, for the character, for the future of the show?'”

Gosselaar and actress Lark Voorhies have since reconnected when they both appeared on Peacock’s Saved by the Bell reboot.

He had similar thoughts about “Running Zack,” saying he “cringed” seeing “this all-American blond-haired white dude, in a Native American headdress.”

“This episode would never get made in current times and rightly so,” he later said in the podcast.