Best Movie And TV Roles From The Original Saved By The Bell Cast

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"Saved by the Bell" is an iconic show that has earned its place in the cultural lexicon, and one that has remained relevant for more than 30 years. The show made its debut in 1989, when NBC retooled the sitcom "Good Morning, Miss Bliss," cutting half the cast and moving the setting from Indianapolis to Southern California. Miss Bliss (Hayley Mills) was nowhere to be found in "Saved by the Bell," which focused on a group of six teenagers (seven, if you count the Tori years). The show aired for four seasons, though it seems like longer considering how many years it was in heavy rerun rotation.

Over the years, "Saved by the Bell" spawned multiple spinoffs including "Saved by the Bell: The College Years" and "Saved by the Bell: The New Class." The franchise was recently resurrected with a newer, fresher, totally absurd version on Peacock. With the exception of the late Dustin Diamond, the original "Saved by the Bell" cast members all reprised their roles on season one of the reboot. In preparation for season two (which premieres on Peacock November 24), we are taking a look at some of the originals' career highlights. Here are the best movie and TV roles from the original "Saved by the Bell" cast.

"NYPD Blue" was not Mark-Paul Gosselaar's only partnership with Steven Bochco; the actor also starred on the prolific producer's "Raising the Bar," which ran on TNT for two seasons. While Gosselaar had some other roles between the two gigs — most notably on the television shows "Commander in Chief" and "John in Cincinnati" — "Raising the Bar" was his next big thing after "NYPD Blue." "[Bochco] had me in mind for 'Raising the Bar.' I'm completely flattered. I still feel like I'm indebted to him for 'NYPD Blue' — and now I'm indebted to him for this," Gosselaar told the Boston Herald. "As an actor, you look to work with iconic producers, and to work with him twice, there are no words to describe what a wonderful opportunity this is."

"Raising the Bar" began airing in 2008, and Gosselaar appeared as principled, dedicated public defender Jerry Kellerman. While he admitted to being initially reluctant to play a public defender, Gosselaar said that he thoroughly enjoyed playing Jerry. "It's an exhilarating role in many ways. Jerry feels so much for his clients and, in doing the show, I got wrapped up in how he feels for his clients," he said. "I sometimes take it personally, the absurdity of what his clients go through. I see Jerry's passion for his clients."

After "Franklin & Bash," Gosselaar immediately jumped back into TV work with a four-episode arc on "CSI: Crime Scene investigation." He then starred in two short-lived television shows: the sitcom "Truth Be Told" and "Pitch." While "Truth Be Told" was fine, it is "Pitch" that really deserved a much longer run. The sports drama centered on a fictional version of the actual Major League Baseball team the San Diego Padres, which signs Ginny Baker (Kylie Bunbury), the first woman to play Major League Baseball. Gosselaar played Mike Lawson, a veteran player and the team captain who is initially not on board with Ginny's presence, but eventually takes her under his wing.

"Pitch" aired on Fox during the 2016-2017 television season. Though it lasted only 10 episodes, the show was critically acclaimed (it currently has a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes). Lead actress Bunbury was the focus of much of the media coverage, but critics also praised Gosselaar's performance. Writing for The Guardian, critic Brian Moylan opined, "Gosselaar, darker and heftier than in his Zack Morris days, is absolutely perfect as a faded hero and gets to display more nuance than he ever could on 'CSI' or 'Franklin & Bash.'" Other reviews also talked about the giant beard Gosselaar grew for the role.

Okay, so "Showgirls" is perhaps not a conventionally good film. It is, however, so bad that it is good, and has developed such a passionate fanbase that even The Economist has written about its cult following. And while it is the film that nearly broke Elizabeth Berkley's career, it is also — next to her "Saved by the Bell" role as Jessie Spano — the part that has come to define it. Berkley portrayed Nomi Malone in the 1995 erotic drama, which documented the troubled young grifter's rise as a Las Vegas showgirl. 

The reviewers were scathing when "Showgirls" came out, but as we mentioned, it has found new life as the years have worn on. There is even a 2020 documentary, "You Don't Nomi," that aimed to deconstruct the film's "afterlife." Many now view the film as satirical, and recent comments about Berkley and the movie have been much kinder. "The following, and the cult and queer fandom that it has, basically allowed space for it to be revisited and reevaluated," "You Don't Nomi" filmmaker Jeffrey McHale said to Los Angeles magazine. "People are tuning in and checking it out again. Maybe back in the day it was harder to digest the satire that I think Verhoeven was aiming to achieve, but people can step away and look at it a little more objectively now."

Tiffani Thiessen was the first "Saved by the Bell" alum that was able to shed their teenybopper image, when she took on the role of "bad girl" Valerie Malone on "Beverly Hills, 90210" right after the end of "Saved by the Bell: The College Years." Thiessen appeared on the show from 1994 until 2000, and Valerie was just about as far from Kelly Kapowski as one could get. She was a manipulative, smart, and complicated woman who enjoyed drinking, drugs, and sex. It was a high-profile gig that completely changed the type of roles Thiessen would occupy in the future.

Thiessen joined "Beverly Hills, 90210" after Shannen Doherty (Brenda) departed, which of course led to constant comparisons between Valerie and the much more innocent Brenda. "'I'd call her a bad girl in the sense that she does bad things," Thiessen told the Los Angeles Times back in 1994. "She's had a lot of difficulty in her life and doesn't know how to deal with them."

Next to Gosselaar, Thiessen has arguably had the most successful post-"Saved by the Bell" career. And like Gosselaar, she too has been somewhat of a television staple over the years. In addition to the shows we have already mentioned, Thiessen had memorable recurring roles on "Good Morning, Miami" and "What About Brian," and recently had a main role on the Netflix original sitcom "Alexa and Katie." But the role we chose for her third entry on our list is the one she played for the longest time — Elizabeth Burke on the USA Network's "White Collar."

Airing from 2009 to 2014, "White Collar" focused on Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) who gets an early release from prison by helping the FBI catch other white collar criminals. Neal works closely with Special Agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay), and Thiessen plays Peter's wife. "Ever since I read the script, which has been a little over a year ago now, I fell in love with it. I fell in love with the characters. I fell in love with the show, and more and more, when the cast was brought together, the more excitement I had for the show and wanting to be a part of it," Thiessen told Cinema Blend in a 2009 interview. "This is really the first time I feel like in my whole entire career which has been over 25, 26 years of doing this that I finally feel like I'm kind of playing a role a little closer to home for me, which is kind of exciting."

Lopez has not had a ton of series regular roles, so his multiple seasons on the USA Network's "Pacific Blue" are an obvious standout on his resume. Lopez played Officer Bobby Cruz on the show, which was about Santa Monica police officers who ride around on bicycles.

While "Pacific Blue" ran for five seasons, Lopez only appeared in the final two. In a 2000 interview with La Prensa San Diego, Lopez said, "Right now, I'd like to just continue on a series where I am doing good work with a balance of comedy and drama. That and do occasional features and movies. Eventually though, I'd like to have my own production company. Then I could create great opportunities not only for myself, but for other actors as well." Clearly, he did not see himself hosting every celebrity news television show in the game, but who ca blame him for not foreseeing that?

Rounding out our list is one of Lark Voorhies' best roles, that of Mercedes Langford in seasons four and five of "In the House." While Voorhies has fared less well in Hollywood than some of her "Saved by the Bell" co-stars, she seemed to have an easier time finding work in the 1990s than in the ensuing decades. The biggest roles she had after "Saved by the Bell" were both in daytime television — first as Wendy Reardon on "Days of Our Lives" and then as Jasmine Malone on "The Bold and the Beautiful." By the time "In the House" came along, Voorhies was 23 and four years past playing Lisa Turtle.

"In the House" was a five-season sitcom that aired on NBC for two seasons, and then UPN after that. LL Cool J starred as a former pro football player named Marion Hill, who rents out his house to a single mother (Debbie Allen) and her two kids. Voorhies appeared in 18 episodes of the show as Mercedes, the love interest of Dr. Maxwell Stanton (Alfonso Ribeiro), who helps Marion manage his sports clinic. The two have an on-again off-again relationship but end up married and expecting by the end of the series.