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.”
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.
Old Shame Episode
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.)
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.
Named After an Executive
In a well-known episode, geeky Screech builds a functioning robot. While the robot only appeared in three episodes, it was a famous detail of the character, and one of the ways he set himself apart from the other members of the cast – none of the other principal cast members could have done such a thing, that's for sure (except for maybe Jessie if it was for extra credit).
The robot's name was Kevin, which was the name of the NBC executive who was in charge of the show. While we have on the confirmation, we like to imagine the executive loved getting his name in the show in such a way.