By now, you’ve probably heard NBC is rebooting Saved By The Bell for its new streaming service entitled Peacock. I’m not sure the world was clamoring for more Bayside Hijinks (see what I did there?), but now that the show is on the table, I’m interested in seeing what the gang is up to. Let me just hop on over to the press release and see what’s going on. It looks like Mario Lopez and Elizabeth Berkley are both coming back, and I see Zack Morris’ name there. Seems he’s now… wait, what? Governor?
Yup. Apparently Zack Morris turned all those skills he used to direct address the camera toward a career in politics, and things have gone pretty well. Or at least they were going pretty well until he closed too many low income schools, and now, in an effort to make things right, he’s sending those kids to Bayside to hang out with a new generation of students.
I’m sure there are a lot of people who are a lot smarter than me churning out think pieces on that unexpected premise; so, I’m going to hold off on commenting there. You can make up your own mind. What I do want to talk about, however, is Zack Morris apparently being the freaking Governor of California. What the hell happened here?
Let’s take a step back. Despite routinely not taking life seriously or applying himself, Zack is a pretty smart guy. He got more than 1500 on his SATs and somehow even got into Yale (he doesn't end up going). He’s proven over and over again that he’s very good at manipulating people. His moral compass is suspect at best, and he’s an excellent public speaker. Those are all skills that are very helpful in the world of politics. So, from that angle, I can really buy him as a politician.
Unfortunately for Zack Morris, he also possesses one skill that is uniquely horrible for politics: a complete inability to focus on anything for a sustained period of time. He’s in a band. He runs cross country. He plays basketball. He obsessively chases girls. He’s in ROTC, and he repeatedly prioritizes hanging out over all of his other commitments. He’s one of the most wishy-washy, as the wind blows characters in TV history. So, from that angle, I don’t see how he could focus on anything, let alone politics long enough to gradually build himself up to the point where he’d win a governorship. Then again, maybe he got there by some kind of unconventional means.
Hilariously, none of this may matter anyway. Actor Mark-Paul Gosselaar hasn’t officially signed on for the reboot, and since he’s a lead in Mixed-ish, he might not even be able to appear on the show. If he does, it’ll probably only be for brief and occasional appearances, though I bet he tries given he's reportedly still close with the major cast members in real life.
I don’t know. My initial reaction was to laugh out loud, but the more I think about it, the more I’m contorting my brain to accept this as a reasonable occupation for Zack. What do you think? Are you on board? Vote in the poll below and let us know your thoughts…
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