In what is certainly a very memorable episode, Zack discovers that he has Native American heritage in the episode “Running Zack.” It’s made a focal point of the episode but is never brought up again. While Mark-Paul once said it was his favorite episode, his opinion has changed as of 2016, at which point he apologized for the episode, stating it was insensitive.
The episode, which features Zack in quite cringe-worthy, stereotypical Native American costuming, certainly could never be made today. (Interestingly, Mark-Paul is mixed race, though not Native American – he’s part-Indonesian on his mother’s side.)
Infamous Infidelity
Hunky A.C. Slater, played by Mario Lopez, was a ladies' man who could barely even stay with his designated girlfriend Jessie Spano. Lopez himself was also quite the cheat. While he and Thiessen dated as the show was filming, she caught him making out with an extra, and she tore off his letter jacket – a definitive end to any high school relationship.
Lopez has also had a few marriages end quickly thanks to his antics, including to Ali Landry, which lasted only a few weeks, and Karina Smirnoff. His current wife, Courtney Lopez, put a cheating clause in their prenup, which has so far kept Mario on the straight and narrow.
He Loves to Show Off
Mario Lopez isn't just a pretty face and a handsome bod. Before he even joined the cast of Bell, he was a dancer and a “drummer” on Kids Incorporated, a long-running children's musical show which launched not only Lopez, but Jennifer Love Hewitt, Scott Wolf, Eric Balfour, and Stacy Ferguson – whom you probably know better as “Fergie.”
Lopez, like Slater, put his skills to good use during the run of Bell and even brought some of those skills back for an appearance on "Dancing with the Stars," which "Saved by the Bell" superfan Jimmy Kimmel had fun with.
A Show by Any Other Name
At a pre-production meeting, NBC President Brandon Tartikoff suggested the show have a name incorporating the word “bell” as befitting a show set entirely in a school. Tartikoff's original suggestion was “When the Bell Rings,” and when one of producer Peter Engel's colleagues suggested “Saved by the Bell,” Tartikoff liked it.
Engel disliked the title, but went along with it, under the assumption that someone else owned the rights to the phrase. To his great surprise, NBC's legal department found no one owned the rights, and the very next day Engel's office was covered in banners that said: “Saved by the Bell.”
Slater's Origins
It's impossible to think about athlete and goofball A.C. Slater and not picture a young Mario Lopez. However, it wasn't always to be – originally, Slater was going to have a very different look. The character was originally going to have a John Travolta style, such as the dancing king himself from Saturday Night Fever, though obviously not with the same fate – but with the same panache, charm, and charisma.
Yet when producers started the actor search, they failed to find the guy, at least among Caucasian actors. Producer Engel expanded the search to Latino, Asian, and Black actors, and came up with a winner with Lopez.