TCTTS said:

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"Reboot" isn't the exact right word, as some of the original cast are back - this is more of a "legacy sequel," to borrow a cinematic term - but man, this looks... odd. And so very, very bad. I wasn't expecting much, and was probably never going to watch this regardless, I'm merely posting for the nostalgia/potential-train-wreck value...

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1990s spurs colors

It pisses me off that they've never done a fiesta colors jersey, or even a throwback "San Antonio" jersey.

Seven Costanza said:

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bonfarr said:

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Jesse Spano did not age well.

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She's 47. She looks okay.

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I've seen her three times in person over the last few years, twice just down street, at two different Italian places less than a block away from each other. She must live around here. For her age, she looks great in person. And seems super nice, for what it's worth.

(That's not my story, though. Finishing that up here in a bit.)

So, one of my cousins, who's a few years younger than me, has a group of friends from our home town who made a short little mockumentary over a decade ago about how they were not only obsessed with Rod Belding - Mr. Belding's infamous brother - but believed he was a real person, and that Saved by the Bell itself was a documentary, not a scripted show. Odd concept, yes, but it's actually somewhat funny and charming for a homemade project they threw together and put online for the heck of it. It's a little over nine minutes and you can watch it here...

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2mvags

I forgot that it wasn't on YouTube initially because they made it in the late '00s, before YouTube allowed videos over 10 minutes, but it actually ended up gaining some traction online (there was originally another Daily Motion link with a ton of views), to the point where Rod Bolding himself - actor Ed Blatchford - saw it and somehow reached out to the guys (either that, or they somehow heard he had seen it and reached out to him via someone they met through all of this, I can't remember which). Regardless, they started talking about shooting a follow-up, with Ed himself, in which the guys would actually travel to LA and meet Ed on camera, and he was totally game. Ed lives just outside of LA, so the plan was to come out here to shoot, once they had a script they all liked.

That's when they reached out to me, via my cousin, knowing I lived out here and worked in the industry. I had known *of* these guys through my cousin, and had of course seen their doc, but when they had a script for the follow-up, they asked if I would take a look at it. I read it, gave what what notes I could, but we all agreed it didn't quite have a solid ending yet. So, off-handedly, in an email, I jokingly threw out the idea, in so many words, "You know, what would really be awesome is if Dennis Haskins himself showed up at the end and did [X]." I can't remember the exact scenario I suggested, but a couple weeks later they emailed me back and were basically like, "We're doing it! We got Mr. Belding!"

I was shocked.

They had suggested the Dennis-shows-up-at-the-end idea to Ed, Ed still had Dennis' contact info (they kept in touch), reached out to him, and sure enough, Dennis was game.

I was OBSESSED with Saved by the Bell as a kid, and now Mr. Belding himself had somehow agreed to appear in a homemade mockumentary I was tangentially involved with.

Fast forward a couple months, when everyone's schedules aligned, and the guys flew out here for a quick, two-day shoot. On day one, I met them all at Ed's house, met Ed, who was super cool, and basically just hung out, watched them do their thing, and helped out in whatever way I could. It was already bizarre, just chilling at Rod Belding's house with his family, but that night we shot with Dennis outside a restaurant near Ed's house, and that was truly surreal. We didn't have a ton of time with Dennis, as he had a flight to catch later that night (he was making a paid appearance at a couple's wedding, which, admittedly, was kind of depressing), but he too was incredibly nice and super professional. The most surreal moment of the night for me came when I had to read lines back to Dennis and Ed as they shot their big scene in the parking lot. There was hardly a crew or anything, as most of the guys in video were also the ones doing the actual filmmaking as well. So they needed someone to read lines as Dennis and Ed rehearsed/shot, and since I didn't have anything else to do, I took on that role, and cannot explain what an out-of-body experience it was, twenty years later, to be reading lines to the two reunited stars of one of the most infamous episodes of my favorite childhood show. It was a such a strange, fun night.

Anyway, they weren't able to pull off the exact ending I suggested - the real one's a little random, for various reasons - but the final product turned out funny enough, for something a group of friends from Texas threw together with no money and no crew, and only a short window to shoot. The bad news is that I can't find the final product anywhere online anymore. I'm assuming it was taken down due to certain TV and music rights, as they used additional clips from the show and some otherwise pretty expensive/popular music, but if you Google "Saved by the Belding," it got a TON of online coverage, from some big-name sites, back in 2010 when it debuted. Soon after, it played at an LA short film/comedy festival I attended with the guys, and it got a big response there from a sold out crowd, which was awesome. Doing my search just now, there's even a reddit thread from a couple years back of people trying to track it down, which is hilarious.

That said, I've uploaded my personal copy for download below. It'll expire in a week, so if you're interested, get it before it goes away. Again, it's pretty lo-fi, was shot on a non-existant budget a decade ago, and I had hardly anything to do with it creatively or otherwise, but it's good for a few laughs, and definitely worth the watch if you're a Saved by the Bell fan...

https://wetransfer.com/downloads/cdf310226c326e1e9a69ae1fec786e9220200416220507/1becebbd6e41509b118f2af84bd466c120200416220524/6c20ac

I forgot about this, for context...

A good friend of mine used to a have a nice, three-story condo in Marina del Rey (next to Venice in LA). His wife's dad was a big real estate guy in Aspen, so she/they had money, and I know they paid around a million for that condo in 2009 or so. However, it was one half of a duplex, with an identical three-story condo next door, which they shared a wall and a big patio area with. Really nice, but not incredibly expensive by LA standards. We used to have BBQs and parties there all the time, though, and it was amazing for a bunch of us in our late 20s. But then my friend and his wife had a kid, the parties died down for the most part, and guess who moved into the unit next door?

Mark-Paul Gosselaar.

That was circa 2011 or so, and he was never there when I came over, but my friend became good surfing buddies with him, since they were about a block from the beach, and even attended Gosselaar's wedding.

The point of all of this is to say, even with his Saved by the Bell money and whatever his Franklin & Bash salary was at the time, Gosselaar could "only" afford about a million-dollar condo that was part of a duplex. Which, again, by LA standards, is somewhat "average." So take away that Franklin & Bash money, and whatever else he's done since SBTB, and that's likely where Haskins & Berkley are sitting financially, since neither have hardly done anything since. Though, Berkley is married with a kid, so her I imagine that her husband likely mostly supports them now.

That is sad. As an E-list actor from a show thirty years ago, it would feel like you were kind of the butt of a joke, or a clown of sorts, getting paid to show up at a wedding.

TCTTS said:

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I forgot about this, for context...

A good friend of mine used to a have a nice, three-story condo in Marina del Rey (next to Venice in LA). His wife's dad was a big real estate guy in Aspen, so she/they had money, and I know they paid around a million for that condo in 2009 or so. However, it was one half of a duplex, with an identical three-story condo next door, which they shared a wall and a big patio area with. Really nice, but not incredibly expensive by LA standards. We used to have BBQs and parties there all the time, though, and it was amazing for a bunch of us in our late 20s. But then my friend and his wife had a kid, the parties died down for the most part, and guess who moved into the unit next door?

Mark-Paul Gosselaar.

That was circa 2011 or so, and he was never there when I came over, but my friend became good surfing buddies with him, since they were about a block from the beach, and even attended Gosselaar's wedding.

The point of all of this is to say, even with his Saved by the Bell money and whatever his Franklin & Bash salary was at the time, Gosselaar could "only" afford about a million-dollar condo that was part of a duplex. Which, again, by LA standards, is somewhat "average." So take away that Franklin & Bash money, and whatever else he's done since SBTB, and that's likely where Haskins & Berkley are sitting financially, since neither have hardly done anything since. Though, Berkley is married with a kid, so her I imagine that her husband likely mostly supports them now.

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Mark also did a season or two of NYPD Blue, that probably paid big

Holy **** Saved By The Belding was awesome.

That was heartbreaking to watch. It really started to look like Rod had changed for the better when he offered to take those boys out to dinner. But of course, he fell right back into his old ways.

Just glad Mr. Br showed up to save the day. Poor guys did not deserve that, but I'm glad there are people like Mr. B in the world.

JCA1 said:

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I'm high school class of '93. I believe Saved by the Bell and 90210 were both class of '93 as well. Best graduating class in TV history? Is there even a close second?

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1974 - Wonder Years