Spoilers ahead for the series premiere of new drama Found on NBC.
After a great deal of promotion from NBC, new drama Found has finally premiered with Shameless alum Shanola Hampton in the lead role of Gabi Mosley, who heads a crisis management team that specializes in finding those who nobody else is looking for. The series premiere showed the team in action, as well as how they interacted with local law enforcement for a very solid hour of television. What helped to set it apart from other crime-related dramas was the performance of Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who has me hooked on the new show after one particular scene.
With Found premiering not too long after the Saved by the Bell alum opened up about nearly quitting acting, I'm particularly relieved that Shanola Hampton has him as a scene partner. So, let's get into why Mark-Paul Gosselaar might have left the entertainment industry, and how Found got off to a strong start!
Mark-Paul Gosselaar Almost Quit Acting
Mark-Paul Gosselaar is a familiar face for plenty of people across decades of television, known for his iconic performance in Saved by the Bell as well as more serious roles in shows like ABC crime drama Will Trent, Fox's The Passage, and the cancelled MLB-based drama Pitch. Speaking at the recent Saved by the Bell panel at 90s Con Tampa (via People), the actor explained how he felt when Pitch was cancelled by Fox after just one season in 2017:
I wanted to quit the industry after that ended. That’s one of those, you feel like in your lifetime you’re not going to be handed opportunities like that, so for that to pass in the fashion that it did it was sort of a gut punch.
Mark-Paul Gosselaar played catcher Mike Lawson in the drama that starred Kylie Bunbury as the first woman to play for Major League Baseball. Following the cancellation, he seemed hopeful for the show to be rescued, but that ultimately never happened. Fortunately for fans, quitting the industry ultimately didn't happen either, and now he is back in primetime in a very new and very different role.
How He Hooked Me On Found
I was already optimistic about Found based on the first looks of Shanola Hampton as Gabi Mosely, and definitely looking forward to seeing Mark-Paul Gosselaar in action. Still, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from his role as Sir, who kidnapped Gabi as a child and forced her to read books and recite scripts at dinners with him during her captivity. I mostly knew MPG from Saved by the Bell and Pitch, and he definitely wasn't abducting children as Zack Morris or Mike Lawson.
The Will Trent co-showrunner explained how Gosselaar has a knack for making unlikable characters more likable, but Sir is a far cry from the ABC drama's Paul, who was a bully at his worst instead of a twisted criminal. While Found's first glimpses of Sir in the series premiere showed that the actor could play the character in full villain mode with two young girls in captivity, it was his final scene that really showed that this show has something special with MPG and Shanola Hampton.
Gabi keeping Sir locked in her basement and using him as a resource for locating other kidnap victims was already given away by the promos for Found, but seeing the full scene completely in context was a chilling way to end the episode and pay off on the clues she was dropping throughout the episode. Plus, the shift from seeing Gabi triumphantly finding Camilla to the reveal that she pulled it off because of Sir's insights left me ready to rewind ASAP.
The whole ensemble was interesting as well, with the reveals of how each member of Gabi's team has a personal motivation to help find the people who nobody else is looking for. Given that Found premieres in a 2023 TV season that's short on scripted dramas due to the WGA writers strike, the timing couldn't be better for a launch.
After all, The Irrational got off to a strong start as another new NBC scripted show and has already shown Jesse L. Martin in action. As for what's next for Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Shanola Hampton as Sir and Gabi... well, keep tuning in to NBC on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET for new episodes of Found.
