What ‘Saved by the Bell’ Cast Said About Their Kids Watching Show

Saved by the Bell has super-fans of all ages but the children of some of its cast members may not be among them.

The classic sitcom shaped what many 1990s kids wanted from their high school experience, so there were surely some rude awakenings when freshmen discovered their school didn’t have its own burger joint run by an amateur magician. The majority probably didn’t have the ability to freeze time during moments of teenage awkwardness either. Nevertheless, Saved by the Bell has entertained kids … and their parents … and maybe now their grandparents … for more than 35 years with its Bayside High School love triangles, goofy one-liners and, yes, of course, the “very special episodes.”

Keep scrolling to find out how the children of Saved by the Bell‘s cast reacted to their parents’ teen superstardom:

Mark-Paul Gosselaar

Gosselaar, who played heartthrob Zack Morris, has admitted a few times that his two older children with first wife, Lisa Ann Russell, son Michael and daughter Ava, have never been interested in Saved by the Bell.

Saved by the Bell’s Mark-Paul Gosselaar Reacts to ‘Quiet on Set’ Allegations

“The older ones watched it, [and] you know, they were not impressed,” Gosselaar revealed during an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show in February 2025.

As for his two younger children with wife Catriona McGinn, 11-year-old son Dekker and 10-year-old Lachlyn seem to prefer cartoons to their dad’s Bayside hijinks.

“My younger ones, I think they watched a little bit and then they were like, ‘What else is out there?’ And so they are watching all the other Nickelodeon shows or the new stuff that’s out there,” he explained to host Kelly Clarkson. “There are new shows that are more like what they’re going through.”

In 2019, Gosselaar admitted that part of his children’s ambivalence to Saved by the Bell is because it’s not bite-sized content like they are used to.

“Honestly, my kids are ‘screenagers’ — if it isn’t something they can watch in five minutes, they don’t,” he told People.

Tiffani Thiessen

Thiessen played the quintessential high school cheerleader Kelly Kapowski for four years (though she was mysteriously missing during those episodes with biker Tori Scott). In real life, she’s now a parent to daughter Harper Renn and son Holt with husband Brady Smith.

During a reunion with costar Mario Lopez on Access Daily in 2022, Thiessen confirmed that Harper had binge-watched every episode of Saved by the Bell.

“She loved it. She goes, ‘It’s not as good as the shows now, mom.’ I was like, ‘You’re right! The program is a little different’,” she recalled. “But she got through it, and she wanted to watch the entire thing. She watched every season, the Hawaiian movie [Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style], the wedding [Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas], all of it!”

Who Were Your ’90s Heartthrobs Crushing on Back in the Day? Us Found Out 

Thiessen was less enthusiastic for her teenager to rewatch Beverly Hills, 90210, in which she raised hell as temptress Valerie Malone.

“Not yet,” Thiessen declared. “She’s only 12. A little bit later!”

Mario Lopez

The A.C. Slater actor admitted in his Access Daily chat with former costar Thiessen that he had trouble getting his children – daughter Gia, and sons Dominic and Santino– to watch any of Saved by the Bell.

In a 2018 interview with Us Weekly, Lopez confessed that his children “weren’t tripping on” Saved by the Bell when they all sat down to watch an episode.

“I don’t think they’re into it,” he lamented.

Lopez reunited with Elizabeth Berkley Lauren, Gosselaar and Thiessen for a Saved by the Bell sequel show for Peacock in 2020, which was apparently more appealing for his kids because it also featured a cast of younger characters.

“They’re definitely going to check it out,” he told E! Online in 2020. “They don’t really watch the old version but my daughter said they’re going to give this one a chance, so we’ll see.”

Elizabeth Berkley Lauren

Berkley Lauren, who played academic overachiever Jessie Spano, was so excited for the chance to take her then-8-year-old son Sky to the set of Peacock’s Saved by the Bell sequel show.

“Sky came to set and he got to have a clapboard and say action,” Berkley Lauren told People at the time. “For him to get to really witness what I’ve worked for, and what I do, has brought a lot of joy.”

The Showgirls star acknowledged how special it was to share her Saved by the Bell experience with Sky since she’d previously stepped away from acting to raise him.

TV Show Heartthrobs We Loved — Until We Realized They’re Kind of Awful

“When he was born, I didn’t feel that pull to work,” she remembered. “I felt pulled to him. This is the first thing I’ve said yes to and it was the perfect time in our family.”

The classic Saved by the Bell is available to stream now on Prime Video and Apple TV+, while the 2020 version is available on Peacock.