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Paul, I just looked at my watch and it's almost dinnertime over where I am, and, you know, that means hello fresh. That means hello fresh. Now, you might be asking yourself what is hello fresh. And I'm so happy to tell you hello. Fresh offers convenient right to your door delivery of everything you need to cook a meal for your family.

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I mean, it's just get fresh. You get pretty measured ingredients and mouthwatering seasonal recipes delivered right to our door with Hello Fresh America's number one meal kit, by the way. And Hello, Fresh. Let's you skip those trips to the grocery store, which we all know we hate at this moment. Actually, I hated it before this moment. I hated it before I realized how much I hated it until they just started showing up. And you just make home cooking easy, fun and affordable.

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Yeah. And you had to try new things. You wouldn't try and expand your abilities in the kitchen. It's really a tremendous service. I love it. I make meals for hello fresh almost every single night of the week. You should have this in your life. I know, Mark. Paul, you're you're a fan too. What was the last thing you cook from? Hello Fresh.

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It was this beautiful pork dish, ground pork teriyaki over some rice and fresh vegetables. It was like we had a personal chef in the in the kitchen.

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Yeah. I made like a parmesan and panko crusted chicken with a couscous and it was delicious. Absolutely incredible. I had that as well. It was amazing. It's so good.

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So here's what you need to do to get healthy fresh. Go to hell. Oh fresh dotcom Zach m80 and use code Zach m80 to get a total of eighty dollars off across five boxes including free shipping on your first box. That's hello. Fresh dotcom slash Zach m80. Welcome to Back to the Future, I'm your co-host, Daniel Driscol, joined by Mark Goslar, because Mark Paul is always here every single time. Hello, Mark. How was that intro?

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Yeah, I've heard better. You've done better, but I'm going to say regardless. Hello, Daniel.

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OK, well, that was a what a what an equally good welcome to my intro. And we're also joined by a very special guest today, none other than the man who wrote the episode. We will be discussing Bennett Tramer. Hello, Bennett. Hi, guys.

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Very, very happy to be here. Like the show I am. I'm so excited to have Bennett on the show today. I feel like he possesses the key to the many questions that we have been. And I started following you on Instagram and I noticed that you were you were commenting on us, commenting on jokes you specifically had written, which was so fascinating to me as a as a resource, because we kind of speak anecdotally about things we think are funny or what works or what was a little odd.

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So so thank you. This is really cool for you to be joining us like a family reunion thing.

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Mark, again, I don't think I've seen them since the 90s. He did a guest spot on the new class I followed. His career is much more than Zach Morris, as we all know, NYPD Blue and Franklin and Bash and pick up. I think I think your agent here, Michael, just picked up on makes this so, you know, he's got a lot of stuff.

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But this is for me.

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He's like, yeah, we haven't seen each other in thirty plus years. I have. This is the first time that you and I are seeing each other. That's true. How do we look.

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Older answer. Please don't answer those questions. Thank God it's audio.

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Do you guys both look great. And it should also be noted that Bennett, you were a writer producer on over one hundred and forty episodes of the new class as well.

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I've been to more proms and taken more midterms than anybody in history, I think.

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Well, we have a real say by the Bell expert with us today. And thank you again. And just in case you didn't do your homework, here is a very brief summary of the friendship business. The eleventh episode as aired of the original Saved by the Bell. The students have to start a business for class. Zach comes up with the idea for the gang to sell friendship bracelets. They fight over who gets to be in charge. Kelly, Jesse and Slaters split off to sell a competing product buddy bands.

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Zach creates a toxic work environment and Lisa and Screech join teen buddy bands, a business Zach sabotages by giving one to building so they're no longer cool. The gang makes up and combines their two failed businesses into a successful product called Lovecraft's The End. That's the friendship business. So Bennet, this was this was episode eleven in the first season of Saved by the Bell. We're not we're not saying that Miss Bliss is the first season. We'll go back into Miss Bliss.

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We'll cover some of it. But for the meantime, we're talking about, you know, the first real season of Saved by the Bell with the new cast was this wasn't the first episode that you wrote for the show? No, the first one I wrote, you guys were very nice about the gift. I'd never written a sitcom episode before that was I'd written for comedians and TV movies. This is my first sitcom episode. And the gift I thought of that was that was my proving I could do it.

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And top ten of which is a real head head writer, said after that, I want to hear from you and a story that was my forte. His story. Did you have a relationship with Peter Engle before you got the job? Yeah, Peter, I'd like to the TV movie that I wrote for NBC called Poison Ivy about summer camp with Michael J. Fox and some of the same themes as the friendship business. A competition can tear friendships apart.

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And I've written a pilot for NBC, for the Warner Brothers, you know, Joey, who was in Blossom and Matt was I guess they were both in Monmouth Nakata. What was the name of the one? Elkader Eugenia's guys. You know, almost everything, do you want me to? Oh, well, thank you. Yeah, well, you also brought me here. What was the knock knock today with the Lawrence Brothers show? Give me a break.

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Me a break, I think was the one to Brandon Tartikoff who had like my TV movie set. Right for these guys. And the writers strike happened and the writer's strike was very important for saved by the bell, I think because of this huge writers' strike for six months.

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And we came off at. All looking for jobs and saved by the bell is the first thing that came along for a lot of us and in all honesty, you know, I wanted to write primetime stuff, TV, movies, more stuff for comedians. And a friend of mine who is head of Warner Brothers TV saw me and said, what are you up to? And I said, I'm writing a sitcom for NBC. It's a great one is on.

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And I said Saturday at 10:00.

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And he like, oh, interesting, interesting. Because it's usually too late for comedy, but it's a good idea. NBC's smart. It's a good lead on for Saturday Night Live to have a comedy show at 10:00. And I said, well, actually it's 10 o'clock in the morning. And he just looked at me and patted me on the shoulder and walked away. So that was that was the feeling that you were going to get to the minor leagues like you wanted to play for the Dodgers and you run the Sacramento Bee's, who knew?

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I mean, do you think all this is going to be something that would become this iconic show? Now, we've discussed this in the past, that every every season I thought it was canceled. We never knew it was almost like a last minute decision by the network to bring us back.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was like I got to close the garage door. Oh, yeah, we do. Saved by the bell was like this last second thought also. Mark, when you're writing kids shows, you have the it's hard enough being a teenager, which I think we got across in this show that you and the other were like, you know, 14 or 15. And our livelihood depended on how good you guys were. I mean, it's like if you're shitty, we're out of work.

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You have to look for another job. Did you ever feel that, like all these parents on the cast, Dennis Haskins and the writers and people on the crew were dependent on you being good? Did it ever occur to you or. No, it never occurred to me.

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I mean, I'm in that position now where I understand it very immensely, you know, ratings and how good we're doing. But again, we we operated in this vacuum, which I think lends itself to the innocence of us on screen and the joy that you see exuding from us. You know, even specifically in this episode, we we took it very seriously.

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We we had a lot of fun. And what you see on screen is very genuine because we weren't business persons. You know, we we were doing it because we enjoyed the work. We enjoyed the people around us. And and that comes off on screen. I think that's why we're still talking about 30, 30 years later.

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Because because it was it was it was good and it was fun and genuine. Yeah.

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And it's its own stylized, sometimes absurdly stylized way. There was a reality to it. And I think part of it, when I was listening to the to the zit cream one cream for a day that actually Scott Gordon wrote and wrote a great job. But the idea was mine. Peter said to me one day we met and he said, Ah, you got to come up with ideas. What do you care about the most in high school? And I said to be out of zits, pimples.

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It was just the Cuban missile crisis going on all that. But that's where the things that really worried us the most. Everybody was concerned about it. And then when I listen to your show, which is back to the future on it, you said you had debts and were worried about it. So just something is as small as that is something teenagers can really relate to. And I think the fact that you guys were going through the same things at the same age as the characters you were playing, which isn't always true ahead of the class, it was, you know, we'll take our midterms and then we'll file for Social Security.

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I mean, so all the twenty eight point seventeen. But you guys were the ages that I think that that brings the reality to it. They were going through the same things the characters were going through. That's one of the hardest things for me as well, because I'm watching myself grow on screen for millions to follow along with. And that was hard for me. I was aware of it then, which is one of the reasons I never watched the show until now.

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So this particular episode, this is really the first time I've seen it was about a few hours ago making notes, you know, prior to the show.

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You know, I've noticed in other episodes you said you have trouble watching them and you really think you suck. Yeah. And I 100 percent agree. No, no, I, I, I compare you to Laurence Olivier in that because I read this interview with Olivier once and he said when he comes off stage every night, he thinks. This is one that I'm going to be that's why they found me out. I'm not really this great actor and I think it's just.

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Part of being being a creative person, that you look at stuff you did and you see all the mistakes. I mean, Billy Wilder, this great director of the two movies that probably influenced me the most when I was a kid, to be a comedy writer is some like it hot in my apartment, these great movies. And I read the same thing. I don't think he was trying to sound cool or humble or anything. I really have trouble watching my own movies because I see things that I could have done so much better.

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I think that's just the nature of the craft of the show we're going to talk about. You know, it has its highs, but it has its lows, too. I just think you never get it exactly right and you kind of have to accept you're going to be displeased with some of the things you see.

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I'm so glad there's not a video component to our podcast as I'm watching these episodes because I cringe when I come on screen is just something I do. If I say a line and or my body language, I will I will physically cringe while watching myself. But it's been a learning process. I mean, I've had to let things go and know that I'm not in control of it anymore and and move on. And it's you know, that's not what this podcast is about.

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I know that sometimes we it seems like it becomes a therapy session, but for for the most part, we try to keep it fun and light and, you know, understand that the audience doesn't pick up on those things and and neither should we at times.

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But yeah. And, you know, there probably are scenes where you could have done better that well, anybody I selected Cary Grant this, but don't let that obscure your viewing the scenes where you really nail it, because there's a scene in the one coming up with you in Belding that I think is just absolutely great and you're great in it.

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Well, you bring that up and we'll get to that scene later, but you bring that up. And that, for me, was a scene that was more rooted in the emotions that I felt I was better at playing great at those scenes. I didn't I never considered myself to be a comedic actor. I still don't. A few years back, I went on as a favor from my buddy Breckin Meyer. Mushroomhead Not too many people do, most of the wicked stepmother now.

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Not too many people know who Breckin is. I'm glad you do it. I love you.

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Breckon is famous for being on. No, no, he's now he's he's a good guy, you guys. Well, how many seasons is frankly best for these four seasons?

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Yeah. And I carry I carry that fucker the whole time. I mean I literally carried him. He's so small. I carried him like Chewbacca stuff. Yeah. But no, I did it as a favor to Breckon. He, he's, he's a super talented writer and he was a showrunner for Men at Work, which was on TBS, and I believe it got three seasons. And he asked me to be a part of that. And that was a straight sitcom with an audience just like Saved by the Bell.

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And I what I took from that evening of being on that show was one, I never want to do a sitcom ever again. And two people who do sitcoms like Danny Masterson, who was on that show, it is a tool. It is a muscle that they're so good at and it's so refined. But the timing and the comedy is is something that I don't feel I possess. I'm not sure if I had it then. I mean, I look at it, I go, OK, we got through these shows, but I don't know that I'm necessarily a comedic sitcom actor.

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So when you see this goes back to the scene with Belding in the locker room, is that where I came from? I came from more dramatic roles. And right before this, I had done a movie with Alan Arkin called Necessary Parties where, you know, very dramatic role. And I felt much more comfortable doing those types of roles. So it kind of goes back to what I'm doing now on mixed ish comedy. My previous show, The Passage, and before that was pitch, I could do pitch and passage all day long.

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I struggle with shows like Next Ish. I have to put a lot more work into that than I do on some of my other projects, because this had some very serious moments too, though it's just not all laughs and which is good.

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I think it's comedy, but the real dramatic moments too, which is why I ended up, you know, when that script was on the table, I said, you know this I see legs with this. I see a future. And I was attracted to it because of the sort of serious tones mixed in with with comedic light. But I it wasn't. Yeah, you're right. It wasn't like a straight comedy. My last straight comedy was a was a sitcom for NBC in twenty fifteen called Truth Be Told, written by Jay and that I felt I bombed on.

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But you know, again, I think I'm subscripts in my drawer.

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I could show you that might be the same level. Yeah. Yeah.

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So but anyway let's get back to this episode because that's what Buttrose is saved by the bell. That's right. That's right.

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Saved by the bell. The friendship business. So just so you guys know, I'm watching this on Hulu. And I thought because I heard an ad for Peacocke that it's free. I decided to download the Peacocke app as well, because later on in the season, saved by the Bell, the reboot is coming on Peacocke.

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So I watched it first on Hulu and then I decided to watch it on on. And I found that on Peacocke, it is the original opening titles with us, what appears to be from the very first season. So I'm going to give you two questions here, Bennett. One is there's a different theme song. Well, it's the same theme song, but it's sung by a different singer on the piano version. And then two, if you could please answer, because we've had this question for this entire season so far in our podcast.

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But are we seeing the episodes aired in a linear fashion or are they just all taken from different times and have having worked and saved by the bell, the term linear fashion has no meaning for me?

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Well, from the beginning, as you know, the first show we shot and saved by the bell was King of the Hill. You wake up Kelly Karpovsky is your goal. Slaters is his first day in school, and that should be the first show that was aired. But because we had a crew, the crew became great. The crew for that night was a game show crew and they had no idea how to shoot a sitcom. So it was very poorly shot.

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Peter didn't think that should be the first show that we ever so and that sort of set a tone where. You know, the kids will wind up trick or treating on Thanksgiving, just like these things just didn't follow and edits, and then we have the adventure shows or in the morning, the first half hour would be like the first day of school and the second half hour would be them working at a beach club because it's summer vacation. And I think I think you've commented on this is just.

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The shows were shot at a logical order. They were aired in an illogical order and then syndication. I like four cards up in the air and see how it goes. But there is a real structure to the shows in the way they were shot. But it doesn't really seem to happen that way. When they're aired in nineteen ninety and in twenty twenty, so they tend to run the six together, they'll run the six Beach Club shows together in syndication and things like that.

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But there's a real I know you commented on this how things should start. It's its own logic, it's like one equals thirty seven, by my math, it seems like a healthy balance of sort of the network meddling with good intentions, I would imagine, if there was a thought to well, people don't want to watch all Beach Club episodes or you got to start with some. I mean, to hear that it was a game show crew film.

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People believe that. Yeah, I, I actually can. But also I think it's one of those things where they didn't. Again, just no one really thought this conversation would still be being had all this time later. So I'm sure the decisions were made with a lot less, a lot less weight.

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Yeah. You know, one thing they did hope for, like also they didn't quite know what to do with it. But Brandon Tartikoff, I knew because he's like that TV movie that I wrote, the summer camp movie, he did have a notion of this really takes off on Saturday morning. Then we could run it in syndication. It's a very different world now. Syndication is where all the real money was a smart policy, some real money, because we were a Saturday morning show.

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But the residuals reflect that. But you wanted to have a show that would run Four Seasons that you could syndicate and especially with this show for kids. Brandon said, if we're really lucky, we can syndicate this script in three thirty when kids come home from school and want to avoid their homework, the.

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Challenge for the writers and the artists writing a Saturday morning show for tweens, which was our audience, eight to 12. If you know, the goal is to have high school kids also like it coming home watching at four o'clock, then you've got to write a joke that is not over the heads of a fourth grader, but not too infantile or juvenile for a 12th grade. And that's very hard kind of writing to you think what your humor was that you're eight years old versus 18 and our stories and our situations and the jokes we were conscious had to appeal to that.

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Writing for adults for 30 or 30 year old gets the joke of 40 year old or 50 year old, a 60 year old, as long as you don't have specific cultural references to one generation. But writing for kids, that gap is harder than some might realize. Are there any stories behind that theme song? Bennett with with the I mean, like I said on this Peacocke so that only I think this particular episode, there's a different singer. Yeah.

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And it sounds like like it's a fan singing along with the original singer and they cut out the master track because I think I don't want to insult it. Michael Damián by name, but I think that's I think he sang it for some reason.

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He was a soap opera star and so on NBC. So I guess the hype, the soap opera and. Why they fired eight year old kids would be more impressed by having the star of a soap opera sing the theme song, but for a little while they're the same song when sung by a guy called He's a good singer. It's just so different from the same song you're used to hearing. So some of those episodes earlier on the theme and struck me the first thing, what I started watching, too, that's a different weight.

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That's not the usual voices. Things such as Michael Damián for maybe a season. I don't know the name of the original singer, but he's very rich, whoever it is, because that every time you have this show that that plays in the world, Scott Gale, who wrote I co-wrote theme song but not who sang.

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No, no, I don't know, the original become this iconic song. I mean, he did a good job wherever it was, right?

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Yeah. The the story as it goes, was Peter Àngel had one instruction for the theme song when he tast multiple composers. And he said, I just don't want the title of the show in the song. And that was the only that was the only real note he gave. And only one guy did not adhere to the note. And his name was Scott Gale. And he is more successful in life for it. Yeah, because Peter Àngel heard the song and said, oh, this is it.

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I was I don't know if he said I was wrong, but it gave the job. This would if he saw something was better than what he thought, he would acknowledge it. I mean, he's such an interesting guy. Peter had a very short kind of attention span and I think he was smart as can be and still is. But I think that helped this show. I'd sit with him in editing and he'd be like crossing his arms. This is boring.

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Cut, cut, cut, cut that line. I'd say, Peter, that line is really important to the story. And if they cut it, lose it, we can always put it back. Are this slides deliberately slow lose it with this. This is sets up and not always. But I see at least half the time he was right. It's amazing what you could lose. And Peter used to say to us, no baby steps. I don't want to have sex.

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I got an idea and explain the idea. Zach has. I got an idea cut to them doing it.

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He just really wanted to keep this stuff moving and, you know, deserves the credit for that. You know, my people getting in shape doesn't have to be about losing a specific amount of weight or some kind of magic number on a scale, it's about building healthier habits and feeling better about yourself.

[00:23:18]

And if fitting in to that favorite pair of jeans is your gold. Well, that's great. But there are many reasons you might want to practice self care.

[00:23:26]

And every person is different and Neum can help with that. Neum is not a diet. It's a healthy and easy to stick to way of life. No food is good, bad or off limits. Neum teaches moderation and can be used in conjunction with many pre-existing popular diets if you want, because everyone is different, right?

[00:23:42]

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If you go off track, there's no shaming. Just tips to help you get back on track today. Tell them what they need to do. You don't have to change it all. In one day. More small steps make big progress. Sign up for your trial at Noom a.m. dotcom. Okay. What do you have to lose? Visit Noom Dotcom exact to start your trial today. That's A.M. Dotcom Zach. We are in the class at Bayside to kick things off and everyone gets the news that they have to start a business for their class project and they were up all night but but made no headway.

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So I'm going to start right away with asking you, what's the story with Zach's hair? Do you do you have any idea?

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Oh, I was losing my balance. Obviously, the hair lady. I forget I wasn't involved with that too much. Your hair would change thickness and color. And sometimes it's very soft. Other times could double for a basketball court, which is very I had no say in the did did you know that I had to get my hair dyed every two weeks? Yeah, I knew that you were a dark haired guy. I was the feeling that people thought blond guys are more teen idols because the actual teen idol is their Elvis Presley and, you know, dark haired people, usually Paul McCartney, if you think about it, I don't know.

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I think because I used to be blonde and when I auditioned for Miss Bliss, my hair was very short and all the natural blonde highlights that I had were cut off. And my mom decided to put highlights in my hair when I auditioned for Miss Bliss. And I was cast for that. And we kept that going through the run of the show. But in this particular episode, my hair is a little darker. So I think I'm at the end of my day job.

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If, again, we were showing this in a logical fashion the next episode, my hair would probably be lighter. But because, like you said, we we show it in an illogical fashion.

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Who knows what's going to be next episode as Paul Apollos still around, I hope, right? Yeah, my mom, Paula, is still around.

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She hasn't come to my best because the parents for the parents, you're doing a kid's show. There's so many things that aren't necessarily. True, about an adult show, you really had to have good parents on this show because, you know, the kids are not brought up in a way where they don't give a shit and they don't. Do you ask them to do it? It really creates trouble. I thought we're very fortunate with the parents. Maybe that's Peter O'Toole casting the parents as much as the kids.

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The parents were very cooperative. Never, never really a problem at all, but nice people.

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I'm not a very funny comment, but I think that's a huge reason why I turned out the way I did as well as my my classmates, because our parents, our parents kept us on the straight and narrow and there was no paradigm to work off of. You know, it's like my my parents had no idea what we were doing. They just knew that I had to be professional, show up on time, know my lines and perform. But the whole aspect of fame and fortune and all that, I never did it for that reason.

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They didn't really have a sense that that could actually be something you do it for. But now I see so many people getting into the business because of.

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Because of for those reasons.

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Sometimes you do you see these parents that are a little more savvy than they should be. And it reflects on the children.

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And the kids are not always nice. There is one one movie I wrote where the lead kid was like 14 and I get there on location and he said, hey, let me show you my trailer, I want to show you my trailer. And I thought, oh, it's really the first time he's allowed the movement to show me his trailer. We go into his trailer and he said, I'm a star of this movie. Look at this piece of shit they gave me.

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That's like 14 and I. So I want to mention any names here, but, you know, that's you can be very cocky and arrogant. I'm 14, I'm starring in a TV show, and our kids weren't like that. They said it wasn't all about getting famous and showing off. It was you got a job to do. Let's do it. And the writers really appreciated that. I had no idea that I was the star of the show until probably syndication until ninety six when we were syndicated.

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I saw this as a collaboration between the cast crew and but even at a young age. And I think I just saw it as we all here to create this product on each of us is equally important. I treated everyone that way and I'm not sure if that came from the top down or what, but that's how I saw it for the for my tenure on that show. That's great. And speaking of tenure on this show, that brings us right to the teacher of this class, Mr.

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Tuttle. Yeah. Played by Jack Anjali's Angeles was according to the Internet. So it's probably true. Right. He was an accomplished debater and took his high school debate team to win first place in New York State in nineteen sixty six.

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Well, I thought Mr. Tuttle was a good character. I think I think is this episode sometimes flags a little. I think at Tuval has good energy and keeps it going. And people really liked the script, Mr. Tully. So he got a great guy to play this part. I said good. And then he said, All right, Jack Daniels is going to be here. That's what the sign our checks because Jack Angelas was a business, remember, his name probably was a business affairs guy.

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I didn't know that. Sign their checks. Yeah, I think I. Laughing He said, what? Are you laughing about it? Well, Jack, the guy at the NBC breakfast with a cookie kind of voice, he said, yeah, it's very funny. And I had no idea that he was an actor and he's really good. And at the table read he was like a Stepford wife because it's like, no, I'm an actor. And it's sometimes that lively, talkative, funny voice he dropped.

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It was like, OK, class. It was I was worried about him. And Bernard said, don't worry, I'll work with them. And then he was really good in the rehearsals. And Don was such a jerk. Just be like you are when I see you in the hall is just talkative, lively. So he went back to playing himself instead of acting. But it was a shock the Jack was doing it.

[00:30:44]

Yeah, that that's really interesting because I wanted to ask specifically if when you wrote these teachers, if you had specific actors in mind for some of these roles or it sounds like you just wrote Mr. Tuttle and then Peter stepped in and Peter stepped in.

[00:30:59]

No, I wish I would have had Carol Lawrence. I mean, I couldn't I was shocked at the star of West Side Story to do it. Peter, Peter. No, no, no. I certainly didn't have Jack Angelas. I just thought wrote my check comes in. I don't know him. Yeah, but he's I think I.

[00:31:15]

What do you guys think? I think he's really funny on this show. I really like his rapid fire delivery.

[00:31:20]

He's one of the ones as a viewer who I was one of those people who came home and at three thirty put off homework by watching by the bell. So in syndication, he was one of the teachers who I remember he's certainly one of the the standout Bayside teachers. And I was surprised to check his IMDB and see he was, I think in six episodes or maybe five.

[00:31:40]

I know the Glee Club is there and I think he did a new class episode. Then he and Belvin got into it. You on my turf? Yeah, I know. Jack was great. It was a real surprise. My standouts in this scene are the surfer dudes with the cardboard cardboard surfboard.

[00:31:59]

That thing's a good idea. I mean, you can't do it with cardboard. But I looked at them. I thought if you could find a wooden board that folds in thirds, you could put it on top of a Mini Cooper and go surfing. It's. It's a good idea, it's not a bad product, and then what, Jeff Buckley, be an inspiration for the surfer dudes? Yeah, just because he does people you meet in California, but SNL did that like in 2010, like it was some new idea, the Californians to have that long drawn out bowels.

[00:32:28]

Dude, that's when I did this. I thought it might be too much of a cliche already. Actually, probably that's been done before. But the idea was good. The nerds are broad, as always. But I like the. But your pocket protector, protector, I think this sounds funny out of probably a stupid idea, but it's a funny word in the phrase When I was watching this episode, the surfer dudes reminded me that guy's voice reminded me of a voice I had heard recently and I had to Google it.

[00:32:59]

But it's the party brose. Chad Kroeger and J.T. Parr.

[00:33:03]

I don't know if you are familiar with these guys, but I've heard it. But I'm not familiar with the name rings. The bell rings a bell.

[00:33:10]

They've they got started out going to like city council meetings, which are recorded in Televis, a very shrewd on their part. And they would do things like requests to build a commemorative statue of Paul Walker or create a essentially a halfway home for when one of your burrows kind of sucks in the group and you kick them out. They kind of took like the the surfer quasi stoner talk to another level and presented people in public service with it. It's a really and now they have a great podcast out there.

[00:33:36]

They're phenomenal.

[00:33:36]

And I'm wondering if this was an inspiration for them, huh? You never know. You never know. And the class of course, Zachares pulls out that plan at the last second and everyone gets one hundred dollar bill in an envelope, which I thought was just lovely. Never happened where I went to school. I'm not familiar with places where that did, but I thought that was a lot of fun.

[00:33:58]

Yeah, it's a lot of dough in 1989. Does it bother anybody just looking this is a writer. I mean, I think the the other kids who are in our leads are funny, but it's that for me it might be a little bit too much opening with people who are in our regulars. I mean, even though they're funny, the nerds and the surfers, it's just just the thought for future writers. Be careful you don't throw too much stuff to the people who aren't your regular guest.

[00:34:24]

So we have a question about that, though, Bennett. I mean, what did you would you write in your script?

[00:34:31]

Would you say student one, student two and then reach out? Or would the the ads then give it to one of the background artists? Or would you have a background artist specifically in mind while at times with the kid says. When do we eat that that character's name was Allen. I think I had him in mind. There is a nerd called Sylvester. I had in mind sometimes you'd right there is a black kid who is really funny, who had a real deep voice.

[00:35:00]

I'd write lines for him. So it's collaborative. It's like it wasn't the only writer. You're always working with other writers. But in my case, there were a few specific nerds. I think this would be really funny for him or her big girl nerd who is really funny with glasses because Allen is the slightly heavier upset nerd. So him asking, when do we eat? That's you know, that's just good comedy. And yeah, it's so interesting.

[00:35:23]

So in a group of nerds, you'd kind of know who you'd want to give the line to often.

[00:35:28]

Anyway, in my case, I always speak the other writers, but yeah, I would. I even write Sylvester in the script, you know, and just to give credit to this actor who played Edgar Poindexter, his name was William Joseph Barker and he will be in four other episodes, is saved by the bell. So keep an eye out for him. He was the taller nerd with the idea, the ringleader, the ringleader. So now we're in Zach's room.

[00:35:54]

Zach has a plan and then he's going to get filthy rich selling bracelets. And it brings us into a fuzzy pink fantasy and Belding's office, whereas in Zach's wildest fantasy, he is still confined to Bayside, kind of like the Shining or something. He just can't leave the halls.

[00:36:11]

So I got to point this out. We go into this fuzzy pink fantasy and on on the wall behind Zach, are these framed, what, magic magazines or articles that say National Celebrity Business Wash? Watch us, Examiner I while watching this, I had to call my wife into the room and say, Hey babe, we have these. Right, I've seen these before. And she goes, yeah, they're they're actually in our storage unit. I had these and I had no idea.

[00:36:45]

No idea. No contact why I had these. I thought they were sent to me by a fan, but I actually have these originals in my storage unit. Watch out for break ins.

[00:36:57]

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So Bennett did were fantasy scenes where they fun to write.

[00:37:02]

They were fun to write. And I always thought like like in this fantasy, I don't endorse what's going on in this fantasy. I mean, this is Zach's egomania taking over in this case. It's like. The fantasy, what if he actually acted on these fires and it just almost turns the whole gang apart? So this is just because you show something doesn't mean you're proving it. Lezak is really pretty. Well, I want to say trash. I could plug that.

[00:37:34]

He's not a very good guy in this fantasy. And fortunately, he he tries to act it out and everything. It creates a lot of trouble. I mean, it's funny, but what he's doing is I don't know that to be moralistic wrong. And I tried to have shortly after this what he wants people to be like in the fantasy. They become the opposite, like Jesse is sort of subservient assistant here. But when you go to the bedroom, she says, I've had it, Bob.

[00:38:02]

I'm walking off the same thing with Slater. So, yeah, the fantasies are often just like the girls that he's like 16 year old girls. Imagine getting married to a 30 year old teacher. It's, you know, watch out for that.

[00:38:16]

But it's wrong, you know? And so it's it's this is like this because your mind goes to someplace, you shouldn't necessarily act it out also. That's an unfortunate reference to Bill Cosby, which I wish wasn't there. That's what can you do? He was it was the richest guy that I thought was a famous person that kids will relate to. But I'd make it Bill Gates if I were writing it today. But put it that way, you'd keep it a bill joke.

[00:38:43]

You don't want to sacrifice the structure of the joke, but you want it, right.

[00:38:47]

There was a show on called Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, which just celebrated, you know, having as much money and as much property as possible. So it's kind of a parody on that. Like you say, it is tiny room where the whole world takes place. And Dustin does a very good Robin Leach here. He does a great Robin Leach. It's in my notes, Herrity. So it was well, that's always the danger. You hope that even of kids who are watching and I've never seen Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, it works on its own.

[00:39:16]

That's the funny character. But at the time, it would have been even funnier because it's a parody of a show that these kids might have watched with their parents or something. Yeah, that show ran from nineteen eighty four to nineteen ninety five. Robin Leach, he's now playing Robin Screech. Yeah, yeah. It's a very well done. Just fell right in there. It really did. Yeah. It's a very fun little bit and yeah it does kind of like showcase almost like the Gordon Gekko level opulence of the late eighties of this like extreme wealth glorification, you know, dollar signs on the shoes and all that.

[00:39:50]

I'm glad you noticed that because I was trying, you know, you're in some way and it doesn't always succeed. Echoed some of the things that are wrong with the world. You know, I think kids also I'm sure a lot of business from me if I become a business man, but that's the hope that gets in there a little bit. So I was trying to show shady business ethics or no ethics. And so, Bennett, this is the second episode that I've noticed that we have political figures and we talk about the Bushes.

[00:40:18]

There's a joke about Dan Quayle. Very well done with that one. Yeah, but question, you know, most of it is mine, but I can guarantee that joke with mine.

[00:40:28]

It might have been one of the other writers in the rewrite, just to be fair here. I mean, you can tell who wrote what episode. Usually they have certain touches, but at the same time, it's the collaborative medium. Well, did it brings me to this question. Did did personal politics ever enter the writers room? It's saved by the bell in terms of promoting certain political points of view. Well, it's interesting because the run that I got through this entire episode was Zack.

[00:40:53]

The way he's conducting business is is sort of a Republican value. And he even points out that if Jesse were to run it, it'd be a very sort of Democratic, liberal way of running things, you know?

[00:41:06]

Well, I didn't realize how topical we were, but yeah. So I guess it is taking a sort of political stance and to watch out for business, I mean, corrupt big businesses is a real issue.

[00:41:18]

Well, it's interesting because back in 1990, you use terms like in successes in the next and the next scene. But he says things like, you know, to run a business, you have to be ruthless, cunning and tough to be the president. And he says to Jesse, he goes he basically calls her a liberal snowflake because he says, Jesse, you're just a sensitive marshmallow. Yeah, I think it's so interesting because these are the terms we hear nowadays.

[00:41:41]

It is trashy. Yeah, but again, I'm not endorsing that. But that's that's what he's like there, you know, and also, you could argue in defense maybe of your character, that's your wildest fantasy. You do try to act it out somewhat. But this is Zack's brain really run amok, a sort of smaller version of it. But, you know, you sort of learn and as DeShields pointed out the next week, you're up to something else.

[00:42:07]

But that's sort of, I guess you could say, documentary accuracy, because the kids in my high school, there were certain kids who were kind of trying to see what they could get away with and they get caught and they'd serve their time in detention. And the next week they'd be up to something else. So maybe that's just just what kids are like.

[00:42:23]

Because of Zack Zack ever reformed, we'd all be out of work. You know, is this this is who he is. This is I guess because it is true to teenagers, they test limits, you know. How old are your kids? My mom I have four. I have a 16 year old and a 14 year old. What are you seeing already?

[00:42:40]

Teenagers like to push limits and see what they can get away with. Absolutely. Because in some ways, the ultimate teenager there, fortunately, he always gets caught, but not enough to not start next week and do something else, but that the troublemakers in my high school, the kids who got in trouble in tenth grade, were the same kids. I'm talking about terrible stuff, but just skipping school or things like that, they they would reform and do it again next week.

[00:43:04]

It's just I guess people are interested in seeing a show where the storyline is that answers all the questions at the end of the chapter for extra credit. I just can't see it as Zach does everything his parents want him to tell me because I'm a good citizenship award. It just wouldn't wouldn't play when we started this series, Mario. He talks about us having to fill out a questionnaire about our strengths and things that we were into. Is that something that you were aware of?

[00:43:38]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Especially if Mario, because it seemed like I remember I said, I don't know Robin Lipping or the casting director that a multitalented these guys. So I said to Mario one of the first times I met him. So you were state wrestling champion.

[00:43:56]

And he said, well, actually, state was like three states like Arizona, New Mexico and Southern California. So we had a lot of wrestling stuff with him. He had played the Drums and Kids Incorporated because usually actors, whatever it is they'll say, like horse rodeo. I did that Shot-put. I was a little bit and a lot of times it's complete bullshit. But Mario actually had a lot of those qualities. What were you what were your Ismar Paul, what were your, like things we could use that you excelled at?

[00:44:27]

While I could tell you I did not excel at dancing and thankfully that we use that to our advantage.

[00:44:33]

Again, kids can relate to that. Guys especially are worried about I can dance as well as the girls. So I thought that was very real.

[00:44:39]

So did you think anything we could do? Thanks a lot. Anything listed the bike paths good at this? Was there one thing maybe like wrestling? No, I was good at motocross. I had race motocross since the age of five. And if you ever use that in this show, it yeah, there was a me on a motocross bike and one of the episodes. What episode was that, Daniel. That was in pin to the mat. So pinned to the mat.

[00:45:07]

Mark Paul is gambling for a dirt bike and there's kind of a scene where he stands, Zach stands with his dirt bike and dirt bike tire. And that felt kind of if you guys had filled out a form of your interest, that would that would make sense.

[00:45:21]

I remember I called you before I saw you. They is an inherently likable. People who work with you and I think that helps a, it does this some pretty awful things, but you like there's something likable about the character. I mean, I remember that was the story. I guess it is more important than his skill, but he's an artist. It's just like a body is like this. There you go.

[00:45:44]

Did you have focus groups for Saved by the Bell? We did have one focus group who didn't like it. And Peter, unfortunately, just. Didn't didn't go with it. Yeah, we did have a focus group again. I worked my way up time today, which deserves a lot of credit for those earlier shows because he was the original head writer. I kind of worked my way up and learned a lot from Tom, but yeah, I wasn't invited.

[00:46:09]

But I think probably Peter and Tom were there. But the focus groups probably still do this. They'll say, like, what character didn't you like? And no one will say anything, they'll say, well, if you had to pick a character or what character did you like the least? And then finally they'll say something and a focus group will turn it. They hated whoever it is, screech, and they beg this negative shit out of you.

[00:46:34]

And Peter said Fred Silverman, who is president of NBC and ABC and the Roots. David Petraeus is, as they said, if you were running a network again, what's the first thing you would do? And he said, abolish the research departments. Because it's not a real natural situation, I would just show it to an audience and see if they laugh or not and. Do not try to beg negative stuff out of them. Well, real advocate for our show was always was always Brandon Tartikoff, correct?

[00:47:08]

Yeah. You know, that's why I don't knock all studio executives in general and network executives, because Brandon really was and I miss him. He's a good guy and he really cared. He really supported the show. And Warren Littlefield, who came in as one of those lucky combinations that NBC we had network support, Linda Mancuso, Robin Schwartz, all these these names are going to be my comments. But the president of the network is behind you.

[00:47:34]

One hundred percent. That makes such a difference. Who would come to the tapings? As busy as he was. And we had D-R in L.A. Law and friends and all these other shows you, you know, come to the table, he'd leave partway through, but he should be a thumbs up. And, you know, it's just that the people in power, if they're behind you, because Miss Bliss was Brandon's idea, he also got in a thing with with Katzenberg because originally this was going to be on the Disney Channel because it was the Disney Channel, really wasn't.

[00:48:05]

That's correct. And that was Katzenberg, Katzenberg and Brand and NBC Disney thing. And then Katzenberg lost faith in it. And Peter said, you know, the kids are so funny, we should just do an overt comedy, keep filming, but lose Haley and a lot of Brandenburg's. We're going to we're going to show Katzenberg we can do it our own way and be successful. So he had a lot of vested interest in that. He also said no.

[00:48:28]

See, in over three pages, Brandon, which is a really important. Said you're up against cartoons and he's great. Warner Brothers cartoons just zip along and we want to keep it moving every three pages.

[00:48:40]

I just wanted to touch touch back on right after that, that fuzzy pink fantasy where in Zach's room and they're having the meeting where there is a there's a power grab, an exact grabs power and the gang splits up. But then I just wanted to point out, Slater brings up the the title of Friends Forever for this business. And that actually goes on to become like a core theme of, say, by the bell, the idea of everlasting enduring friendship.

[00:49:06]

And it's birthed right here in the Buddy Bands episode.

[00:49:10]

I think you're right. I think thank you. I think I think that's the single biggest appeal of Saved by the Bell is probably friends that start theme. And this this episode threatens to tear the gang apart again.

[00:49:24]

And on the note of tearing the gang apart, I also thought it was interesting. This is the first episode where you kind of shuffle the deck here. So it's a mix of the guys and the girls being opposed to each other. And I was just wondering if there was kind of a meeting or a thought with the writers to say, hey, we can't always have Zack versus Slater, we can't always have boys versus girls. At some point we need to kind of mix it up a little bit.

[00:49:47]

And this feels to me like the first time I think we're we're seeing that in series.

[00:49:51]

But, you know, I think that's a good point. I don't remember if we specifically talked about it, but I think that's one of the appeals of this episode is it's not the usual Zack versus later fighting over Kelly. It's the different breakup. I agree with you. Right. All right.

[00:50:04]

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That's a function of beauty, dotcom. And it's Act two, and we find out that Zach is selling his bracelets in class and we get the competing buddy bans commercial, which I just loved.

[00:53:06]

I'm a I'm a big fan of the fictional Buddy Bans commercial real heavily, probably choreographed that who is our associate director, assistant director. But she was a dancer on the TV show shindig in the 60s. So she performed with all the The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, all these people would appear and she'd be dancing in the background and she would be our choreographer and the lighting and done. Morgan probably was the lighting director and that who ended up winning 10 primetime Emmys.

[00:53:36]

Well, I just want to thank you, Bennett, for not putting me in that in that commercial to dance because you highlight the three best dancers on our show. I, I would have brought that whole thing down. And while watching this, that's the first thing I said. Thank God I wasn't in that. Yeah.

[00:53:57]

Are you aware that the L.A. Times noted Mark Palls dancing specifically is being bad after the premiere episode?

[00:54:04]

I remember the L.A. Times was really nasty. Well, they were nasty in particular, about two sets of feet or one set of feet, ten toes. Marcal and they say they took note that his dancing was bad. So it maybe you were doing some some Zack protecting here.

[00:54:18]

I guess the other way to look at that is whoever the reviewer was in nineteen eighty nine is anyone sitting around looking at reviews in twenty twenty six just. Yeah. Yeah. But for good reason. A lot of people sitting around looking at the Mark Pauls dancing so yeah it's time. Time, time will tell.

[00:54:38]

Also it is the three best dancers but like Tiffany almost looks bad compared to Mario and Elizabeth. They are so doing very intricate choreography. Yeah.

[00:54:47]

Elizabeth has studied dance. I think the background of the dance. That was her background. That was her. That was her love. It was it was what she came from. Yeah.

[00:54:57]

I think it was described Martelle in one of the in the first episode you talk to her as her er I believe you describe dancing to her as like what she breathes. It is like part of her existence. Did I say that. I can't remember that far.

[00:55:07]

I think I want to say you said it but maybe I'm, maybe I'm just wrong. In which case you know where to find me on Twitter and I'm there every week.

[00:55:14]

Folks, that's a very poetic line. I hope you did. Said. I think you did. And we're at the max. And so I had a question about Ed Alonzo Bennett, and I kind of wanted to know. It seems like he has a lot of sage advice, delivers delivered through magic tricks. And I was wondering if if Ed would show you the magic he could do and you would kind of write his helpful anecdote around it or what was a creative process like to incorporate?

[00:55:39]

It was both. It was both. Sometimes he had a bit we think we can use that. Other times that was. Ed, can you do something that will illustrate this point? So it was both him coming up with a lot of magic tricks in his audition. That we ended up using on this show is a very nice guy and it's very happy, but he only did like 15 episodes. And when they say by the Mex restaurant became this big deal in Chicago and Los Angeles, it sort of brought here.

[00:56:06]

He works all the time as a magician, but he was a real celebrity there. He'd show up and everybody would mob him and everything. So I was very happy for him with the with the restaurant. The diner.

[00:56:16]

Yeah, no, that was also his second trick of the in 11 episodes. That involves bringing out a live bird at a restaurant, which I thought has just just could not be more of a health code violation.

[00:56:26]

That's true. It's true by from out in real life. His advice is to charge a premium. And that's exactly what Zach does. He charges a premium and the premium being screech, being a friend for an hour. Yeah, it's exploitation that way around that. But again, it's wrong. I mean, Screech gives up after a while. So, Bennett, speaking of dancing, did the writers have a thing for writing a tall woman slinging a boy around a dance floor?

[00:56:55]

It sure seems like it did run to robustly throw you around in one episode. That's right. So I thought like it was Rondo robustly unavailable for this because I actually thought that was Rondo when I was watching it. I don't know.

[00:57:06]

We did do that a lot. But what bothers me looking at this, and this is something I don't have a generally well known Saturday morning show is. There are less commercials. And pump up kids with breakfast, with breakfast cereals, bad for them. There is a limit to how much you can do that. Well, in syndication it was there more commercials in syndication and three 30 in for. So Franka Bario is working with you guys on the reboot, who is the line producer with us.

[00:57:34]

Had to cut a minute and a half out of every Saturday morning episode. So what you're seeing in syndication and unfortunately, even in the complete saved by the bell, there's a minute and a half missing from what aired on Saturday morning. That screech is being sold as a friend. There are three things there, I think this was I don't even know if this is the last I mean, it worked in three years. You see this funny thing with a tall girl.

[00:57:59]

And there was another thing. I don't remember what it was, but another thing and that's gone. I don't even know if it exists anywhere. So unfortunately, as popular as this show has been in syndication, I've I really benefited from it. It's you're seeing like ninety ninety five percent of the show, not the whole show. And that particular thing bothered me looking at it. I remember at the time when I first saw it in syndication way, there were two other things of screech, you know, being stuck, doing something as a friend, as a as a writer.

[00:58:27]

It does feel a little incomplete to the. Yeah. Yeah. See, before he's exhausted. Yeah, totally.

[00:58:33]

Yeah. It's nothing I can do about it really. Except complain to you that. Hey so. Yeah. So we're here for three or four. So Zach has created a problematic work environment. Lisa takes screech and they quit. Yeah. Were there any situations in the writers room or on production that you remember being problematic with whether it was their a problematic work environment on set by the bell at any point during your tenure?

[00:58:57]

I guess sometimes disagreements, they never got too hostile. There are often little complaints because you guys were so young writers, senior, all six of them are in the max and that's that they all had something to do. And Franco had come in and say, you know, that scene with the six of them in the max, we can't do because Dustin and Large aren't can have enough school if they're rehearsing that. So you got to pull them out of the scene.

[00:59:22]

And, you know, he wasn't doing anything wrong. That was his job. But that happened a lot. We'd have to rewrite a scene and pull out characters because social workers, you know, they'd say, no, no, you're you're working the kids too much. So there's a lot of writing with your hands tied workshop that happened a lot. That happened probably every week.

[00:59:43]

There'd be some scene where can you pull him out or can you put her in this scene? And all had to do with scheduling. Also something that relates to that when you're working with kids. Like a primetime show. They said come before a live audience, let's say they're over like we were Friday at six o'clock. If there are lines that didn't work, I'll just have the actors hang around and come back later and do the lines over again. We couldn't do that because that's child labor laws.

[01:00:11]

You're working kids too many hours. So as we're taping and it gets to be like everything we're doing, we couldn't retake anything. So it had to be right. And we had to stop exactly at six o'clock and no one was coming back. So the amount of time we had to get things right is less than a prime time show or show with adult actors anyway. So there are a lot of. You can tell me their problems or challenges, and that brings us to Act three after after Zak is left all alone with his business that goes under and he's forced to go out of business and he gives a he sort of gives a smile just to the camera as he's walking away from the bloody band's booth.

[01:00:55]

And I thought that was nice work by Mark Paul, but also great work by Don Don Barnhart, who directed almost all of these. And we've talked about Don Barnhart here and there because he's such a shaping figure of the show. But I was just kind of curious, like what what kind of character was Don? Because I really don't have any sense or idea in my head that Don is a very warm, nice guy.

[01:01:19]

And he had a great background because he was a technical director. So he knew all camera movements and cutting and everything. But he also just had a real I think Mark Paul would agree. Really liked people and like kids. You know, he had a son himself who was a little older than the kids in the show. And he was very good with kids and he was very respectful of the writers if something was. Hard to do, you just come in and say, you know, I can try to make this work often it wasn't even the quality of the writing, it was just it was hard to stay true.

[01:01:54]

He'd come and come to the writer's room and just say, you know, I can try to make this work, but I've never been shot. On Friday would have the table read Monday, the big rewrite of rehearsal, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. We don't want to change too much because you have to learn new lines the day you're shooting the show. And Don may come on Tuesday night or Wednesday and say, I've tried this for two rehearsals in a row and I can keep trying, but I'm having a little trouble with it.

[01:02:19]

Is there any way you could change it and adjust it? So he was very respectful of the writers. Very nice. I don't think I ever saw him lose his temper. I mean, maybe which is why I did.

[01:02:31]

It's OK to do it. Yeah, you did. I said he was just a very, very nice person and he had been a rock and roll deejay in Seattle, I believe. So session with rock and roll. We talk about music all the time, but very nice. I thought he was very patient with the kids. Is that true, Michael? No, he was very patient with us. But, you know, again, it's at a certain point we're going to push his buttons to the point where he is going to yell at us like that in real life, which is the authority figure.

[01:02:59]

I mean, comedy is usually the individual against the institution and, well, it's saved by the bell. The kid, the institution is your parents in school and the principal and dances the authority figures here. Just as a kid, you're going to fight back a little bit. So in the next scene, we open up in the locker room with one of my favorite characters as I've begun this journey, Mr. Belding working out in the locker room, which is odd on its own.

[01:03:30]

And then to have this conversation that we're going to have to work out the gym to work out the locker room.

[01:03:35]

I'm going to yeah, I'm going to work out where the other other guys change. Just it seems peculiar to me. And he also he starts talking about like budgeting is obviously as a budget constraint, but he starts talking about how many cat calls he gets and something that I never noticed as a younger viewer. And even watching it more recently, it's only really crystallized on this particular leg of the journey. Is he building? Seems to talk a lot about his like previous romantic and sexual conquests are like is his status in his own mind as kind of this like Adonis, which is very funny.

[01:04:12]

And I'm wondering if how the building character evolved and how much of that was Dennis and how much of that was the writer shaping it and kind of how that worked?

[01:04:21]

You know, a lot of that was Dennis, who is was a terrific professional, experienced actor, you know, and I think the kids really benefited from it. We had that relationship and building and Zach were in Miss Bliss, which I wasn't involved with. But I think the relationship changed a lot and saved by the bell. And my model and I think was when we talked about was this show, Sergeant Bilko with Phil Silvers, he's always butter up.

[01:04:47]

Colonel Hall, played by Paul for and that's sort of and then talking about his wife, like Bilko would see the colonel and his wife and say, Colonel, who is this lovely woman? Is this your niece? Is oh, Bilko was the wife is putting her up and a con man like Jack was. So a lot of this flattery of Belding to get what you want came from that. Sergeant Bilko. Phil Silvers. And they liked each other in a way I always thought that Zack and Belding, it's like an adversary and this is sort of weird respect that.

[01:05:25]

Building is going to eventually get Zach to toe, the line is watching out for him and it's kind of how well he does his job is how much he catches Zach. Zach is on to him and knows that Belding's Achilles heel is his vanity. Like he said, like, look at my arms. I'm such a ladies man. And Zach would play to that Achilles heel his way. And if I could just out I can get away with something.

[01:05:47]

I'll tell you about it. There's a there's a line in here that's one of my favorites. It's probably because Dennis is saying this and I can't tell if it's Dennis actually saying this or something that you wrote for him. And specifically, it's a word. And the line is we're having a moment here, brother, and it's that word brother. Now, do you think that that was Dennis or did you actually write that as as I recall? I knew if I did write it, Dennis made it that much better, by the way he said it.

[01:06:16]

So, you know, sometimes I remember really well, but that one that one I don't remember if I wrote it or not, but it's but I know I really enjoyed writing the Mark Paul and Belding and Dennis Paasschen scenes and Dustin Diamond and the guys like in the gift that I wrote with with the predicting the future. Yeah. Those combinations with Belding's screeching building and Zach and building just really worked.

[01:06:43]

Yeah, I, I thought they're great. And just, just as long as we're talking about your writing and this scene in particular, the phrase buddy bandwagon, what a fun, what a fun little combo of, of words. I just thought that was a that was just a fun one for me.

[01:06:57]

If they gave me for alliteration I would have won that year.

[01:07:01]

So I really check this is like a triplet alliteration and then something buddy bandwagon and then I just say badly, I forget what that was.

[01:07:10]

It's the kind of rhythm sticks in kids years, I guess. I suppose the words. And just at the end when Zack said to the camera and say it works right.

[01:07:19]

And it because Belding, because of his overwhelming male bonding, which is also canon in that building, will later lead the boys on like a male bonding session. Many, I think, in season three or four. But it is.

[01:07:33]

Yeah, that he he does like he's shocked at how quickly the buddy band took over and made building one of these guys like that, because instead of saying the obvious thing would be, I fooled him or something, I give a thumbs up to the camera instead. It's a little unusual that his reaction is, wow, Belding really does like we really are buddies. It's just a little bit unexpected. I think a good, good end to that scene.

[01:07:56]

And and back in the hall building is rock and building. Looks cool, by the way. I think building looks cool.

[01:08:01]

Well, it goes buddy back it goes back to the 60s like we envisioned building, you know. And that's why using that word, brother, just bring it. I just have this I have a full picture of who Belding was. Well, he wants to be one of the guys in a way, but he's the principal. And it's so dynamic going on. The contradiction, contradictions implies negative complexity, the building and its relationship with the kids.

[01:08:22]

He is an onion. Absolutely. So by building wearing these buddy bands, he's basically ruining it for for all the teens. Bennett, are you aware that it's Uri Henley who basically starts the revolution? Where did you write this for Uri or was this given to him?

[01:08:39]

You know that I don't remember either, but he had a lot of lines that his mom was the assistant director and our choreographer. Yeah, it is. You know, I thought patting myself on the back, but. The other successful product, how can you sabotage it? I just thought it was a good idea to have the building. Where is it? No, it'll work. Just some of. I think I got to talking with Peter, actually, like like just how are we going to do this?

[01:09:06]

We came up with that because it's one of these writer's dilemmas. How do you instantly get this popular thing, good building to where that there really is a rush there. Like the second they realized buildings were just like 50 people like Desh under the table to return.

[01:09:22]

It is a fun thing in the halls of Bayside how when something happens and it just the floodgates opened and the students come from all directions. Yeah. And it's worth noting here that Mario comes in with 500 buddy bands that boy oh boy, are they going to do some business today. But those boxes he's holding, they are in our podcast Art. So we put a couple of Easter eggs in the podcast art, and one of them is a couple of boxes of buddy bands flying around.

[01:09:48]

Wow. Just a little fun little detail like that. And back at the max, you know, the gang's broken up, but surprise, surprise, they reconcile in about thirty five seconds because of Kelly's heart of gold. You know, she she cannot stand to look over and see a forlorn Zack. So they're they're back together and they merge their businesses.

[01:10:12]

And Ben and I want to add I wanted to ask you specifically about their their new venture called Love Cuffs, which just sounds like bondage gear. That sounds like a item you would buy in a sex shop, perhaps in Studio City or your San Fernando Valley, a place of choice. But Lovecraft's felt like a choice. Well, it was I don't know, on a conscious level, but, you know, it was tricky friendship bracelets. So I had to think of something else.

[01:10:44]

What can we call him? I got buddy bands and then love cops to just thinking of three variations of friendship bracelets. I guess it does if what do they say? If you want to see it, it's there. I suppose so. I mean I think if you. Yeah, I think if you typed in Lovecraft's and do any sort of online search engine, I bet that's what you'd find. And I also noted that Screech last week had a jacket that said fetish on the back of it peculiarly enough.

[01:11:13]

So there's something something's brewing here at beside. It must have been. So while you may not think you were in a problematic work environment, you may have actually been after the fact. You have to stop the Anzac's hair. Martha, would you like to bring us home on? We had a real nice clear shot of the back of Zack's head in this final final scene.

[01:11:33]

You know, besides the fact that I need to get my roots done, I'm actually pretty happy with the shape of the hair. It's not as cotton candy up front, it's a little more tame. So I'm actually happy with my hair this episode. Thank you very much, Dazzle. But look, we end the episode with the iconic high five with the gang. Is this the first time we've seen the freeze-Frame High Five? I believe I believe in series, and again, I might be wrong, in which case we'll see and I'm so sorry, but I think this is the first in series, All Hands on deck, high five freeze-Frame, which which is iconic and iconic, I've say by the bell and of certainly Niños 80 genre television.

[01:12:20]

I think when you want to parody that era, you, you do this, you get everyone high fives and freeze frames and it's, it's cool. This is how this episode ends their friends again. And what better way to see that.

[01:12:31]

Yeah, well, the friendship has been threatened by Zach's egomania. And also it's weird the Jesse partway through gets into it to sort of violates her principles and gets greedy. If they learn their lesson.

[01:12:44]

She can't help herself. Big business is just too alluring. Yellow. That's the danger of cutthroat competition. Well, thank you, Bennett.

[01:12:52]

You've certainly taught us some things today, but it looks like you were teaching kids some things a long, long time ago with the friendship business and my Instagram.

[01:13:01]

I do as you discover, I do a lot of saved by the Bell stuff on my Instagram. So people want to hear more from me, please. You can find me. Look, I wish you really good luck on the reboot. It's very exciting to me that it's coming back to life. The trailer I thought was really good with the caffeine pills, so. May it may be ahead. Well, Bennett, I hope this is not a one and done, we'd love to have you on the on the podcast in the future.

[01:13:23]

I feel like we just have scratched the surface of things to talk about. So I know that I could have talked to you for another hour. Please plug your Instagram, by the way, while working folks follow you on Instagram.

[01:13:33]

It's my name, Benet Tramer at a little thing at Bennett Tramer. And that is a pretty heavy one, actually, but usually it's about half the time. It's about saved by the bell. And I have a lot of millennial followers who ask me questions and I try to answer.

[01:13:48]

And so, yeah, I was with you when you got your haircut in quarantine. I've been following it and it's a good job. Yeah, she did great.

[01:13:54]

So I'm I'm a seasoned Bennett Tramer and all of these guys to on their Instagram.

[01:14:02]

But please do and have been great. Great having you. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Seriously, Mark Gregory, you give my regards to your family, you two better. And I, I'm sure we're going to have you on very shortly. All right.

[01:14:16]

Thank you so much, Paul. Thank you, Bennett. Thank you. Oh, wait. There is homework I almost forgot before we got on out of here. It's The Mamas and the Papas. So watch it. That's that iPod. Do you have any guesses what the Mamas and the Papas might be about?

[01:14:30]

I know. You know, I feel like I cheated a bit bashful because the worst lies are the ones we tell ourselves.

[01:14:39]

So at least you're honest. Yeah. You know, while I was trying to figure out why the theme song was different, I skipped ahead to the Mamas and Papas and I saw that Screech was with Lisa. And yes, it's something to do with like, you know, not home economics. I'll put it this way, Mark Ball.

[01:14:59]

It is yet another class project that exists at Bayside that I've never even heard of anything remotely similar happening at any other school on the planet.

[01:15:08]

So you can look forward to that, OK? And with that, we'll see you next week. Zach to the Future is a production of Caden's 13. It's executive produced by Mark Goslar, myself and Chris Kaufman Production and direction led by Terrence Mangan, editing and mastering by Andy Jenniskens. Engineering and Production Coordination by Sean Cherry. Artwork by Kurt Cortini with illustrations by Jeff MacCarthy. Marketing is led by Josephine Francis with PR by Hilary Suf. Thanks to the whole team at age 13 and to you for listening.