#5-Saved by the Bell

I have a morning ritual of watching double episodes of Saved by the Bell at 8:00 and 8:30 on TBS. The acting is horrible. The story lines are cheesy. The clothes are horrendously out of style. But I love it!

I love it, because it reminds me of watching Saturday morning cartoons as a kid, starting bright and early at 8:00 and then ending the morning with a 10:00 episode of Saved by the Bell.

I idolized all the actors on Saved by the Bell, and was mortified at some their work post-Saved by the Bell. Like when Tiffany Amber Theissen came back on the scene to play the slutty bitch, Valerie Malone, in 90210. I could never see her as anything but Kelly Kapowski, the bubbly, innocent cheerleader from Bayside.

The ultimate betrayal of character though was Elizabeth Berkley, who played Jessi Spano, the feminist, over-achiever. She left "Saved by the Bell", and committed career suicide when she played a Las Vegas stripper in the B movie "Showgirls". She went from being Jessi, the girl who was all about women's rights to playing a degrading nude dancer. Not only was it a horrible movie, but it completely destroyed her reputation as Jessi on Saved by the Bell.

All of the characters on Saved by the Bell have tried desperately to escape their TV stereotypes that have been ingrained into the minds of my generation. And as much as I enjoy seeing their careers thrive in other genres and mediums, they will always be Zach, Kelly, Lisa, Slater, Jessi and Screech to me.