Zack To The Future
Highlights of Podcast Episodes 3&4
The third episode of Saved by the Bell to air was called “The Gift.” It aired on a Friday night apparently. The first thing that popped to Gosselaar’s mind was the long and boring process of having his naturally brown hair dyed blond for the show.
Driscoll noted how much gambling went on at Bayside. It seemed like a bit much or overly dramatic for teenagers. How did they not get caught? Gosselaar mentioned that is was ironic how much Zack loved to gamble, because in real life, he doesn’t like to gamble. He admitted he has gambled away a thousand or so dollars over his adult life, but never saw the thrill in it. He’d rather keep his money and spend it on something else. He does or did play Texas Hold Em Poker with friend or whatever sometimes, but it was always for really low stakes.
Gosselaar noted that Lopez didn’t hit his mark and overshadowed him in one particular shot. He also noticed several instances where Dustin Diamond almost broke character. As an adult, these technical aspects jump out at him the most. Gosselaar felt like the writers were taking inspiration from Ferris Bueller Day’s Off, particularly with the cell phone call in the bathroom to Belding and the teacher Mr. Testaverde.
The most memorable thing about the episode, however, was the teacher Mr. Testaverde He was played John Moschitta Jr. Moschitta is known as the world’s fastest talker and has over 100 micromachines commercials under his belt. He also did some voice acting in the Transformer cartoons.
Driscoll notes how the writers seemed to be obsessed with both Elvis and Germany. No idea why though. In any case, there were references to both in this episode. The trivia bit for the episode wast that the janitor or electrician in the episode was played by Roger Reinhart. Reinhart went on to become a well known casting director for Divesek Casting.
The fourth episode was entitled, “Fatal Distraction.” It was a reference to the very adult film Fatal Attraction. Zack comes in disguised as a Sheikh. Gosselaar said he didn’t have much of a frame of reference other than Hulk Hogan’s Iron Shield character.
Much of the conversation was joking around between Mark-Paul Gosselaar and his Franklin and Bash co-star Breckin Meyer. There was a discussion at the end about Rhonda Robustelli who was played by Kristen Kemp. They got Kemp on the phone at the end of the podcast. Although Gosselaar has no memory of this episode, Kemp remembers her time on the show fondly. Other than being tall, she was not like her character at all. She is currently working in Real Estate.
carilynn27 