Mark-Paul Gosselaar will watch ‘Saved by the Bell’ for the first time

When he wakes up in the morning and the ‘larm gives out a warning, you know what Mark-Paul Gosselaar will be doing: he’ll finally be watching Saved By The Bell. For the first time. In his life. TIME OUT.Considering he starred in the series for four formative years and is currently attached to the reboot, fans were obviously a little shocked to hear the news. But it’s true. Zack Morris himself is launching a new podcast with podcasting platform Cadence 13, and the entire premise of Zack to the Future is that Gosselaar is strolling down memory lane to watch the show from the beginning. After each episode he’ll sit down with co-host Dashiell Driscoll (of Funny or Die’s Zack Morris is Trash) to chat all about it. “I'm going back to Bayside! Sort of. Come with me and Dashiell Driscoll as we go #ZacktotheFuture,” Gosselaar shared on Instagram.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

I'm going back to Bayside! Sort of. Come with me and Dashiell Driscoll as we go #ZacktotheFuture Link in bio. #SoExcited #SoScared

A post shared by Mark-Paul Gosselaar (@mpgosselaar) on Jul 23, 2020 at 11:45am PDT

In the three-minute teaser clip posted online, Driscoll reminds listeners that pretty much everyone watched the series—whether they tuned into it live when it aired from 1989 to 1992, or if they caught it hungover on weekend mornings. “Everyone has seen Saved By the Bell. Everyone except this guy…” he says. “I haven’t watched an episode since I left the set over 25 years ago,” Gosselaar admits, revealing this podcast was all his idea. “I didn’t watch it when it was on either. I’ve never seen what fans assure me is one of the greatest shows of all-time.”One thing is clear from the banter between these two: this will be as much of a deep dive for fans as it will be a self-deprecating showcase for Gosselaar, who also jokes that he was “one of the guys” on Franklin & Bash… not that anyone could tell them apart. “Unlike Mark-Paul, I’ve seen every episode—extensively. My name is Dashiell Driscoll and you might know me as the guy who’s been dragging Zack Morris on the internet for years,” Driscoll adds. “That makes you the perfect person to introduce me to the show I starred in, but have never seen,” Gosselaar shoots back, joking that this rewatch sounds like “a giant headache.”In the teaser the duo also promise special guest stars and some insider gems, but overall it seems like this is all just in time for fans who are anticipating the upcoming Peacock reboot. Gosselaar is reprising his role for the show (no word if his giant cell phone will be in tow) along with original series stars Mario Lopez, Elizabeth Berkley, and Tiffani Thiessen. Driscoll also writes on the new iteration under showrunner Tracy Wigfield (30 Rock). For those wondering, the new series picks up with grown-up Zack, who is now the governor of California. After closing too many low-income schools he is forced to send a bunch of students to the state’s higher-performing schools—including Bayside. “Script-wise, these aren't the scripts we got [31 years ago],” Gosselaar previewed to TVLine. “I don't think you could do that. That's sort of just across the board with television: There's a lot of things we did [then] that we're not doing now... and I don't know necessarily that it would be appropriate [to do things the same way].”Zack to the Future debuts on podcasting streamers beginning July 29. “For years I have been asked by the dedicated fans of Saved by the Bell to revisit the show," Gosselaar added in a statement, as per People. "I couldn’t wrap my head around an idea that would keep the audience entertained and celebrate the beloved series we created over 30 years ago, mostly because I can't remember a thing about making it, and I am thrilled to say I have found the answer. As my co-host, Dashiell Driscoll will be my key to unlocking every door at Bayside, a key he assures me Zack Morris would've had. I haven’t watched a single episode in its entirety since I walked off the sets in 1993. It’s time to wheel that big television into class. Go Bayside!”Since his time on the teen series Gosselaar has reinvented himself on a slew of different TV projects. He starred as Peter Bash (and not Franklin) for four season on Franklin & Bash, he tried to make fans laugh on comedies like Truth Be Told and Nobodies, and he got his supernatural on with the short-lived drama The Passage. In 2016 he also buffed up to play a major league baseball catcher for the sporty drama Pitch starring Canadian Kylie Bunbury. The drama, which was created by This Is Us scribe Dan Fogelman, struck out after half a season but to this day avid fans are calling for a revival. Along with starring in the Saved by the Bell reboot, Gosselaar currently stars in mixed-ish, the ABC spinoff of black-ish.[video_embed id='1999752']BEFORE YOU GO: This artist gives Disney princesses a realistic makeover[/video_embed]