Saved By The Bell star Mark-Paul Gosselaar confesses rewatching episodes can feel a ‘bit torturous’

Mark-Paul Gosselaar will always be beloved for playing Zack Morris on the hit sitcom Saved By The Bell (1989-1993) as a young teenager.

But for the actor himself, those classic old episodes can be hard to watch on his new podcast Zack To The Future, where he and co-host Dashiell Driscoll critique each show of the original series one-by-one.

‘I feel like it’s a little bit torturous every week for me to go through this process because I am watching my work — and it doesn’t matter that it’s 30 years old, it’s still something that I feel like I can improve,’ Gosselaar confessed in an interview with Variety.    

The revisiting of his days at Bayside High marks the first time Gosselaar, now 46, is watching the original show in its entirety. Currently his process consists of watching an episode on a Saturday as he takes notes, then go over bullet points with his co-host before rewatching it on Sunday right before taping.

Each particular episode is then shown in the background as the two discuss the storyline and performances, as well as any other memory that may pop up during the conversation.  

‘There are moments where I’m talking with Dashiell[co-host] and I say, “My timing is off there; if I had just done it this way I bet I would have gotten a bigger laugh,”‘ he added. 

‘But that’s just the perfectionist in me, which is why I don’t like to watch my work: I feel like I should leave it on the set.’

The podcast, which has been covering one episode per week, has only just got off the ground in early August, so the duo are only in the beginning stages of the sitcom that also starred Mario Lopez, Dustin Diamond, Lark Voorhies, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Dennis Haskins, Elizabeth Berkley, Leanna Creel and Ed Alonzo. 

It followed the group of high school friends and their principal while primarily focusing on lighthearted comedic situations, although it occasionally touched on serious social issues including drug abuse, driving under the influence, homelessness, death, remarriage, environmental issues and women’s rights. 

‘I learned so much from being on that show. It was a classroom on the set for me of how to conduct myself as an actor. Looking back, I bring up things like character protection. But I think that was one of the things that attracted so many people to the show: It was just the innocence of these characters, as well as the actors portraying them,’ Gosselaar said.

‘A lot of people forget that we were the same age as the characters, so we were going through the same experiences as them. And there was no ego on the set — there was no negative energy — and when you watch the show you see that bleeding through,’ the father of four added.

‘So not getting another take now, as an actor I would put my foot down and say I need another one. But I don’t know that people were looking that carefully at this show, it was a Saturday morning show.’ 

Gosselaar will also be revisiting the role of Zack Morris in the upcoming Saved By The Bell reboot on Peacock, where he plays the new governor of California, alongside original castmates like Lopez and Berkley.

‘I think that Tracey [Wigfield, showrunner] and the writers have done a very good job of staying true to the characters that we portrayed in the past while also moving them into the future and also coming up with a guideline or a blueprint that still works,’ he said of the reboot before adding that the adult Zack is a heightened and fun version of what he was like as a teenager.