The details right now are far and few between.

The movie won’t be like a “where are they now”, but rather a movie based on the show’s characters.

Hopefully, the original Bayside cast members will make appearances! Stay tuned for updates!

The semester’s been crazy, so I haven’t updated in a very long time.  Nonetheless, here’s my December 2009 12 of 12.

9:37 a.m. Let's hop in the Way Back Machine, shall we, and start our Saturday morning with an episode of Saved by the Bell. This was the episode where the students switched places with the teachers and administration. Ah, Kelly Kapowski.

10:11 a.m. Hopped online to order one of Xan's Christmas presents. The yearly fee for Amazon Prime: TOTALLY worth it.

10:15 a.m. Our little Christmas tree. Cute, huh?

3:13 p.m. I got WAAAAY behind in my grading toward the end of the semester. Here's the sea of papers in which I almost drowned.

3:56 p.m. Staying hydrated is just as important during the winter as it is in the summer.

5:07 p.m. Our new blu-ray player can stream Pandora...wirelessly. It's pretty kick-ass!

6:58 p.m. Grading is done! This is the stack of papers that I graded this afternoon. As you can see, it's taller than BOTH my gradebook and my pen stacked on top of each other. Yikes!

7:03 p.m. As a reward for finishing my grading, I play IMPLODE!, an addictive little game in which you try to demolish various structures. I accomplished my goal of getting A+'s on every level. Go me.

7:26 p.m. After beating IMPLODE!, I play MGMT's "Electric Feel" on the bass. Man, I love that bass line.

9:24 p.m. Making the Aural Skills 3 dictation final key.

10:15 p.m. Getting directions to a party.

10:49 p.m. It was an "Edward Fortyhands" party. I decided to go "Christopher Twelvehands." Hooray, beer!!!

Bonus pic: Oreo cuteness!

source: people.com

It’s true. She’s all grown up. Tiffani Thiessen and her husband of 4 years, artist and actor Brady Smith, are expecting their first baby next May, her rep told PEOPLE in an exclusive.

“We are over the moon!” the couple said in a statement. “It’s something we’ve wanted for a long time and we are thrilled that it’s actually happening.”

Thiessen, currently stars on USA’s drama White Collar and is best known for her work on Saved By the Bell and the original Beverly Hills 90210.

Everyone here at le•top wishes all the best to the happy couple!

Kelly Kapowski is with child.  If there was anyone capable of a virgin birth in modern times, I thought it was her…or at the very least I figured Johnny Dakota or Jeff from the Maxx would have knocked her up at some point.  Instead its some guy named Brady Smith, who is apparently an actor, but whose greatest achievement in life is marrying and impregnating Kelly Kapowski.

FDWL and now this…these are dark times we live in, people.

[HT: The Clinton Administration]

So the University of Central Florida basketball team pretty much exists in a vacuum. Local media barely care, national media, ha! The Knights have rarely gotten any attention.

Until now. A few months ago UCF, located in Orlando, signed a guard from Chicago named Marcus Jordan. Seems his dad was kind of an OK basketball player for the Bulls back in the day. Michael something, I think. Anyway, at the time Jordan signed, he asked UCF if it was OK if he continued to honor his father by wearing Air Jordan Nike sneakers. See, UCF has a contract with adidas that states all of its players will wear their sneakers, and in return for that the school will get a few million dollars.

UCF said it was OK. adidas, apparently said it was OK, too, at that time. Only now, not so much. Marcus Jordan wore Nikes during the Knights’ first game the other day, and presto! adidas has cancelled its $3 million contract with UCF.

This is one of those “Only in America” stories, I think. It reminds me of the great Olympic controversy of a few years back, when Shaq and other Reebok endorsers didn’t want to wear Nike warmups at the Olympics.

This may be even more ludicrous. How incredibly tone-deaf is adidas, not realizing how stupid and petty this makes them look. The kid is the son of the greatest player of all time! Who cares if he wants to honor his father.

Some people, including the excellent writer Ann Killion, have taken shots at Marcus, for putting himself before the team.

Me? I’m willing to chalk it up to the kid simply learning from his Dad, and not knowing any better. What Nike ought to do, as several others have pointed out, is come in as the knight in shining armor, and give UCF a Nike contract worth at least as much as what adidas was playing. They have a chance to look like the good guys in all this.

What a strange, strange story. Only in America.

***So maybe only people between the ages of 25-35 will get this, but here goes. I’m reading the celebrity blurbs in my newspaper this morning (the very fine Daytona Beach News-Journal, where yours truly has a big story today about a high school swimmer who’s gone through some serious health issue, not that I’m trying to plug my own work or anything), and I come across something about Mario Lopez.

And the blurb, taken from the AP wire, referred to Lopez as the “Extra” host and as a former “Dancing With The Stars” contestant.

And I’m going: Excuse me? No mention of “Saved By The Bell?” No mention of A.C. Slater, the man who stole Kelly Kapowski’s heart, and then Jesse Spano’s? No mention of the character who turned himself in during a very special Driver’s Ed episode, and helped the Bayside High football and wrestling teams to important victories?

Sigh. It’s a sad, sad day when Mario Lopez and “Saved by the Bell” aren’t even in the same sentence anymore. Ah, A.C.

***And finally today, nothing like a little Karl Rove to brighten my day. I wish I could chalk this article he wrote in the Wall Street Journal up to amnesia, but I don’t think that’s it.

Get this: The man who directed a President to spend more money, and waste more money, than anyone else in history, the man who sent us spiraling into some of the worst debt ever, now says we have to curb the runaway spending of the Obama administration.

My favorite line in this piece, which may break the record for Unintentional Comedy: “Tuesday’s results were the first sign that voters are revolting against runaway spending and government expansion.”

Rove warning against runaway spending is kinda like Jesse James telling those railroad conductors back in the day to watch out for thieves. Unbelievable, the chutzpah on this guy.

Saved by the bell

Hustler Vidéo a sorti sont This ain’t SAved by the bell xxx parody… comprendre : ceci n’ai pas sauvez par le gong, une parodie x… et ça cartonne…La série des années 90 parodiée en version porno, est un véritable succès… David Diamond, le responsable des ventes aux USA explique : “les scènes sont explosives, le casting est prometteur avec de superbes couleurs…” La scène la plus appréciée, dont tout le monde parle : une entre Screech et Lisa, où Screech sort son énorme engin…et où ils enchaînent les positions… banal me direz-vous… je sais… moi aussi je trouve…

Au Casting :  Missy Stone, Ashlyn Rae, Misty Stone, Ally Ann, Nicole Ray, April O’Neal, Eric John, Ralph Long, Mikey Butders, Scott Stone as Mr. Hijinx himself, Zack Morris.

Et pour l’info en directe c’est ici…

et une fois n’est pas coutume je poste également le trailer…

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Teniendo en cuenta que la industria de la moda ha decidido que tenemos que volver a vestirnos como Kelly Kapowski (que no os engañen: no han vuelto los 80 con las hombreras, los 90, han vuelto los 90, os lo digo yo) tampoco es tan raro que esta mañana mis dedos hayan tecleado casi de manera inconsciente “Smashing Pumpkins” en el buscador de Spotify.

Porque si total voy a tener que vestirme como cuando iba al instituto, pues una parte de mi inconsciente relacionará las mallas de flores tipo Liberty con grupos de la época. También puede ayudar que con la llegada salvaje del otoño, así sin avisar, se me ha puesto un ánimo turbio y negro como las alas de un cuervo o como las ojeras de Billy Corgan.

Así que bueno, pasaré la mañana con el “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” a todo trapo. Podría haber sido peor, mi inconsciente podría haberme hecho teclear “BackStreet Boys” o algo peor que no quiero ni pensar. Y una recomendación antes de irnos: no se pierdan la última película de Woody Allen “Wathever Works”, que es una delicia de diálogos ágiles, ingeniosos e irónicos a más no poder. Allen ha vuelto a Nueva York y lo ha hecho a lo grande. Imprescindible.

I spend the majority of my days, as a 30 year old college student, surrounded by people that are quite a bit younger than me. This means that, at times, we have different frames of reference for pop culture references. In an effort to help this phenomenon, both in my own life and in the world in general, I am introducing another new recurring feature here at Mainlining Pop Culture entitled Retro Rewind. Each edition of Retro Rewind will take a look at an aspect of pop culture from days gone by…hopefully in an entertaining way.

If you are of a certain age, and think of either the letters TNBC or TBS after school, then the first thought that comes to your mind is probably the ringing of a school bell and a very familiar song. That’s right, you probably think of Saved By The Bell.

That simple song, that every kid born between 1978 and 1985 knew by heart, was the bellwether for 30 minutes of pure bliss, no pun intended.

While Saved By The Bell started as a very bad vehicle for Haley Mills, of Parent Trap fame, entitled Good Morning, Miss Bliss, that “first season” shows little to no resemblance to the seasons that followed. After the failure of Good Morning, Miss Bliss, the show was revamped, moving the setting from Indianapolis, Indiana, to Palisades, California. Also, in one of the least believable plot contrivances ever(and that is saying something on this show), Zack Morris, Samuel “Screech” Powers, Lisa Turtle, and Principal Richard Belding all moved from Indianapolis to Bayside at the same time. However, this mass migration from Indiana to California(really, who can blame them?) was never mentioned on the show. In fact, the writers would later do a ret-con that insisted that Zack had lived his entire life next to Jesse Spano.

However, the move to California was able to do several things. For one, the focus was shifted off adults and onto the students of Bayside High. We were introduced to the characters of Jesse Spano, A.C. Slater, and Kelly Kapowski as classmates of the original Indiana imports. This would be the cast that, despite some issues of “alternate realities” to be discussed later, is most identified with the series. It was this group of characters that would make teen sensations of the cast.

The show has many aspects of it that are near and dear to myself, and many other people in my age group. For example, there is the fact that Zack Morris was one of the first teens we were ever witness to with a cell phone. Granted, that phone was the size of my first car, but it was still a cell phone. This allowed him to be the coolest guy on TV for many of us.

Is that a phone or a robot in Zack's hand?

Granted, it wasn’t just the cell phone that made Zack cool. There was also the fact of his on-again, off-again girlfriend Kelly Kapowski. Kelly was every teen’s dream woman. She was inhumanly sweet, beautiful, popular, and a cheerleader. The fact that she was the object of both Zack and Slater’s affection for the early part of the series was a given. Who wouldn’t want to date the head cheerleader in high school? That is a one way ticket to popularity that not many of us had the opportunity to obtain.

One of the less believable aspects of the show(I know that none of it was truly that “real to life”) was that Zack was never expelled. Considering that, from 1989-1993, Zack was perpetrating some sort of scam against the administration of Bayside High at least once a week, twice a week in the later seasons, you would expect him to have some sort of severe punishment laid out against him. However, usually Mr. Belding was content to teach Zack a lesson about whatever the moral of that particular episode was and leave it at that. (It is that kind of touchy-feely, socialist, commie, nazi crap that the parents of the country were afraid that Obama would instill in their children in with his welcome speech this year. In fact, has anybody ever seen Mr. Belding and President Obama in the same place? I’m not going to make any accusations, but the resemblance is uncanny!)

Is that our president? No, it's Mr. Belding, or is it?

As I said above, each episode had a very clear moral. They dealt with all the issues of the day. Secret admirers, driving lessons, drunk driving, racism, treatment of the disabled, glee club…all the important issues. However, it was oftentimes tough to take it seriously, as they used a heavy handed approach that made the cheese-level a bit strong.

One such episode that comes to mind is “Running Zack”. In the episode, Zack treats his purported Native American heritage as if it is a big joke. His teacher, frustrated with Zack’s blatant disrespect for the assignment, does not fail him. Instead, she sends him to hang out with a surfing Native American(I promise, I’m not making this shit up). However, as can be predicted(spoiler warning), the wise mentor suddenly dies, teaching Zack an important lesson about the value of your ancestors, and your friends. Yeah, this is the level of cheesy over the topness that was considered ordinary on this show. But that isn’t even my favorite example of the heavy handedness of the moral of the episode.

As we all know, the abuse of caffeine pills is not a laughing matter. Evidently, judging by the self-serious tone that Saved By The Bell took in dealing with the subject, there was an epidemic of kids abusing caffeine pills in America’s high schools. I’m never going to discount the level of temptation that people have in using drugs, especially teens. However, if the most serious drug you are going to address is caffeine pills, then don’t even bother with the damn episode. Because if you do, you are going to make something like the following video, which has been immortalized on shirts and posters, and as a pop culture shorthand joke, in the years since.

With all the problems of cheesiness and lame writing, why do I want you to watch it? Because this show is essential in understanding the pop culture sensibilities of an entire generation of America’s youth. Also, because where else will the producers have the balls to film two separate senior years, with varied casts, and air the episodes back to back? Seriously, if anybody can explain to me what the hell was going on with “the Tori Scott universe” please do. And I don’t want the technical “contract negotiations fell through” explanation. I want something that makes sense in the Bayside world.

But even that odd alternate reality can’t make me give up on the gang from Bayside. I think it is important to leave you with a word from the resident band of Bayside High, Zack Attack.

And that is your Retro Rewind.

Saved By The Bell a more elegant teen sitcom for a more elegant time. Zac Morris ran Bayside High with Screech as his trusty nerd and A.C. Slater running as his mussel. Yes the times had by the boys of bayside high were those of legend that any other red blooded male would give his left nut to be a part of. But the legend of Bayside lies not with the school boy antics of….well school boys. No, the true legend of Bayside High were the three ultra hot girls that were in the school. Jessica Spano, Lisa Turtle and Kelly Kapowski, these three ladies were the hottest thing in California since the sun.

Okay enough of all this fake E! True Hollywood Story write up, lets get down to it. The girls from Saved By The Bell were/are/will forever be hot. Here are a bunch of pictures of them to prove me right. Pay extra attention to the Tiffani-Amber Thiesssen ones because she was so fine!

Now who wouldn’t love this kinda next door foolishness… The girls hotter than frank’s sauce and on top of that she’s a keeper since she knows no harm. According to bayside handbook she has to be nice and sweet because that’s what her character is supposed to be. Now any human with half a brain realizes that you can’t find this type of person in the world only on television and there’s something special about that in itself… Maybe some how that television is better in some way since there is no harsh reality that has to be dealt with on a regular daily basis. No one complains about the electric bill or who’s gonna take the garbage out on Monday night in the middle of January. That’s because this kind of shit is mundane and trivial kind of like the rest of our daily lives. But if I could argue with Kelly Kapowski about taking the trash out then maybe things might just be a little better in some way. Or maybe I’m just really bored sitting in this meeting and nobody can even tell I’m sitting here typing this shit out on my cell phone to care enough to tell me to stop. Either way Saved by the Bell was kinda cool you could watch it four times a day on two dofferet networks and I’m sure that even today it’s still on cable somewhere. Good times good times.

Puberty!

Yeah, I know this is old news.  This becomes more relevant when coupled with the recent People cover story he was snubbed and removed from.  What’s new is that despite being dropped by Gotham Publishing last year, he has found a new company to release the memoir.  Us Magazine has the story:

…in July 2008 that Diamond would pen the memoir, publisher Gotham Books promised “sexual escapades among cast members, drug use, and hardcore partying” that occurred throughout the nearly thirteen years he was a part of the hit sitcom franchise.But, according to The New York Observer, Gotham dropped the 32-year-old star shortly after he turned in his manuscript three months ago. Behind the Bell has since been picked up by a small Montreal-based operation called Transit Publishing.

Yeah, man!  Hardcore partying, drug use, SEXXX!!  I bet he Turtled all over Lise and gave Kelly a KaPOW!!ski she’ll never forget.  And as for Jesse Spano, I bet he A.C. Slayed-her!  Get it?  Whatever, I’m leaving anyway.

Look, I loved the show.  I shouldn’t have but I did.  I wouldn’t read the book but I would definitely catch the highlights on a website like this one (plug!).  I’d be interested to hear who doesn’t have a gag reflex or which one of them they had to search for under a freeway in L.A. after a three week smack binge or who could swallow the biggest item with their ass.  That sort of thing is interesting (I know I’m sick).  If it’s nothing more than the typical teenage antics, leave me out.

(A) It’s been like 15 years since a new episode has been created.

(B) All of the actors are into their thirties now so this tell-all couldn’t hardly be damaging or edgy.

No one expects these people to be role models anymore so the intrigue factor is almost entirely nonexistent.  However, if this book gets Screech’s ass kicked (I’ll be damned if I call him Dustin Diamond), I’ll buy three.

I really hope that the Live ‘Saved By The Bell’ Reunion on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” happens soon!  Oh and if you’re wondering where Screech (Dustin Diamond) is… he’s busy writing his tell-all book “Behind The Bell” supposedly exposing the cast and all of this horrible behind the scenes stuff that happened over the years of the show.  The book has been rejected by publishers 3 times!!

Time-out!

When I was in elementary school, life was simple.  I spent my time divided between the playground at school and my living room couch.  Yeah, there might have been some school involved, but nothing was important as my shows:  Step By Step, Family Matters, Full House, and Saved By The Bell.  Especially Saved By The Bell – Zack Morris was cute to the max.

All the best moments are etched in my mind as clearly as events from my own life:  Jessie Spano’s caffeine pill addiction, Lisa Turtle’s sprained ankle dance, the Hot Fudge Sundae aerobics/music video, the gang’s glee club fail and the time AC Slater and Zack got in a fist fight.  A. Ma. Zing.  Never mind that my childhood memories are of TV shows…

Anyway, when I recently became aware of Jimmy Fallon’s plan to reunite the cast of SBTB, I had a minor freakout of happiness.  BUT then I found out about Tiffani Thiessen’s plan to eff everything up! WTF Kelly Kapowski!!  I always knew she was a bitch.  She even left Zack for that douchebag, Jeff!  According to a recent interview, she’s just too busy for a SBTB reunion due to her excessive hotness and her new live-action cat movie (she’s doing all the voices).

You know what, Tiffani Thiessen?  I say you get off your bikini-clad ass and take one for the team.  Saved By The Bell was the high point of your career (hell, it was her career – what has she even done since then, aside from her stint as bitchy Valerie Malone and a few crappy TV movies?), so this can only help you, really.  I mean, it’s a small step from the cover of People magazine (from which Screech was missing…somewhat worrisome) to a full-scale reunion, is it not?

I don’t know why anyone would voluntarily skip out on a chance to hang out with Mark-Paul Gosselaar.  Seriously.  Just make it happen.

Time-in!

i’m sure kelly kapowski was many of ya’ll’s first crush, so you’ll enjoy this. tiffani amber theissen addresses the rumors of the saved by the bell cast reunion on late night with jimmy fallon. i won’t ruin anything, but it’s pretty funny.

-grizzly

It’s here and it’s glorious!

Audrina attended the annual Comic-Con fest today in San Diego, CA.  She chose a sophisticated up-do, but when she turned around her tattoo was exposed pairing her softer side with her rocker edge.

We’re not sure what it is, but in a couple flicks she reminds us of Kelly Kapowski.

Hey!

If you want to check out some AWESOME deals on swimwear I found check it out on  my Top Deals of the Week Page!

So if you want to know what all this has to do with Saved by the Bell… Click Here!

And if you wanna see some SUPER SASSY shoes go to my Fashion Files page or Click Here!

Not to mention my WWTT page too for some Saucy Hayden Panettiere pics from Letterman!

Late pass but Zack Attack on Jimmy Fallon is the funniest thing on that show thus far. Grab your Buddy Band and keep your fingers crossed for the stadium Friends Forever reunion tour.

Fuck Off, I'm Zack Morris

Zack Morris was one of the great modern lotharios of the small screen. I have a fond recollection of a classic episode of Saved by the Bell when he disguises himself as a girl to infiltrate Kelly Kapowski’s slumber party in order to learn something of the exotic secrets that she and her chums hold.

I’ve not read whether John Buchanan is a fan of Saved by the Bell or other shows in the Peter Engel canon, but the announcement today of his short-term employment by the ECB in a consultant role sets the alarms bleeping in my mind. For Buchanan read Morris, for the Loughborough academy read the Kapowski boudoir. A week-long contract seems suspiciously brief – although plenty long enough to conduct some heavy-duty espionage on the England team on behalf of his former charges.

Buchanan is famous for studying the ancient Chinese military manual The Art of War, and there is almost certainly some wank in there about knowing one’s enemies is to know oneself or something. Thus we are presented with the terrifying prospect of Buchanan as a sort of bespectacled Trojan horse hell-bent on unleashing a battalion of tiny Australian coaches from beneath his ACB anorak to gather intelligence at ECB headquarters.

Of course I shouldn’t be so worried – the Aussies would never dream of going to such extravagant lengths to spy on their mortal foes. No need. Just have a look in the vicinity of the England dressing room. You should find everything you’re looking for on a piece of paper there.