When I wrote about NBC’s reboot of Saved By the Bell, I’d said that it sounded odd to build a story around Zack if Mark-Paul Gosselaar wasn’t definitely in talks to be involved. It turns out that Mark-Paul didn’t even know about the reboot. Neither did Tiffani Thiessen. She spoke to Us about being taken by surprise:
The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum, 45, told Us Weekly exclusively on Wednesday, October 2, that she and her former Saved by the Bell costar, also 45, were unaware that a remake of the ‘90s sitcom was in the works before NBC officially announced the reboot in September.
“I don’t know anything about it,” she said. “Literally, Mark-Paul and I were like, ‘Oh, wow! I didn’t know that was happening.’ But it seems like everyone is doing a reboot, these days. It’s, like, popular, I guess.”
Though the Pull Up a Chair author isn’t opposed to reboots of TV shows, she admits that she prefers the classics.
“I’m a girl that likes the originals. But that’s me, though. I’m nostalgic that way,” she said. “But I’m sure people are going to be excited about it. It seems almost popular to redo a show.”
Fans hoping for cameos from Mr. and Mrs. Morris are out of luck: Tiffani also says that the two are unlikely to cameo because of their other current TV projects: “Mark-Paul and I both have different shows. We’re not a part of it. It has nothing to do with us.”
Tiffani seemed to be thrown by the news of the reboot, and she’s trying to walk the line between being as upfront as possible about not being involved with it while not saying anything that could potentially annoy fans. So, she points out that her schedule is the main reason that she’s not going to be involved. She never says that she wishes she could make it work, though. It’s fine if she doesn’t want to participate, but she’s going to be asked about it in interviews for the foreseeable future, especially if the show gets off the ground, so I hope she eventually says something that sounds slightly more polished.
For some reason, this interview bothered me more than it should have, but I think it’s because Tiffani hasn’t figured out her talking points, and so tripped over herself. It’s easy enough to say that she didn’t know about the show, and she isn’t going to be involved because her schedule makes it impossible. Instead, she throws shade at the people who make reboots and the people who enjoy them: “‘it seems like everyone is doing a reboot these days. It’s, like, popular, I guess.'” Then she backtracks a bit and says, “It seems almost popular to redo a show.” Which is it? Actually popular, or seemingly popular? Obviously it’s popular to make reboots or we wouldn’t have so many. I still think the premise of this reboot is odd, and stranger still that it would be hypothetically tied to a cast member who didn’t even know that the show was happening. Somebody at NBC dropped that ball, which annoys me because it is lazy and short-sighted and seems like something one would know not to mess up: “Make sure actor who portrays central character is on board!” I’m so curious now to see whether this is actually going to go forward or not.
photos credit: WENN and Getty
Old school 90210’er here! I always loved her Val. I thought she brought such humor and snark to that show, I loved the way she played it. A lot of OG 90210’ers say it wasn’t the same after Brenda left. I didn’t like Brenda at all, she grated. Not a knock on Shannon who I loved on Charmed. Anyway, I personally believe Tiffani wasn’t asked back because my god she is stunningly gorgeous, and the others don’t want to be filmed next to her. I know there’s a lot of bad blood between Garth and Tiffani, and who knows or cares for the details, but I also know those ladies are famous for being petty and vain. They are. And they don’t want to stand next to this. Just my opinion. Oh, and I still miss Val, she should have been on the reboot.
I love her hair color!! That’s weird they didn’t give her a heads up about the show… she’s right no one is original anymore
Tiffani was my fave on the original 90210.
You and me both, Tiffani.
Originals FTW.
I read the summary of the reboot and honestly it seems like it will be the kids and stuaff and Zack’s name is in there to sell the show but it would be easy to do without him or just have a 5 minute cameo from him (which could be worked out later and draw on old favours) and then name drop him a lot. I wouldNn’t expect the governor to be a regular character.
It may have come out a bit clumsy but she’s not wrong about originals being better. You know you’re scraping the bottom of the reboot barrel when you’re trying to bring back SBtB, and I say this as someone who watched it as a guilty pleasure. On a side note, her kids are adorable. Her daughter is totally her mini-me, wow!
I wouldn’t watch it without Zack and Kelly.
My 7 year old daughter was watching a show the other day and she is the mom. She looks great and still sounds like she did as Kelly.
Call me basic but I loved the 90210 reboot with the original cast! It was funny, snarky, meta, and lots of the original soapiness. The season length was great too so instead of a 22 episode season that drags out stories, much of it was wrapped up quickly and satisfactory enough. It’d be great to see TAT back but I don’t imagine that’ll happen. She and JG were tight back in the day so I’m curious about what happened.
I liked BH90210 too, was silly summer fluff and the perfect amount of episodes ! Even my husband enjoyed it and he never watched the original. I do wish TAT would go on for a cameo on that show too.
She looks great and her statement was fine, imo. Tbh I thought there already was a SBTB remake.
I said it a couple of times on this site and it’s worth repeating: I love her. She is my girl crush since back in the day. Loved her as Kelly Kapowski and was more than just thrilled when she joined Beverly Hills 90210.
Usually I agree with her, that I don’t care about reboots. But I have to say, I did enjoy the 90210 reboot. This was done the right way – bringing back the original cast but not the old tired storylines. But a Saved by the Bell reboot without Zack and Kelly? What? That’s like bringing 90210 back with only Donna and David.
Didnt the actor who plays Mr belding make an appearance on the today show or GMA to surprise Tiffani she her response wasn’t that great? People assume actors in popular shows are friends but not necessarily
I just watched that – Awkward!!! But I don’t know what people were expecting, she was a kid at the time, he was an adult, and they worked together like 20 years ago. It’s not like they are BFFs. That’s pretty lame of the Today show to spring that on her.
Saved By The Bell The New Class sucked and then they tried to reboot with the original cast with Saved By The Bell The College Years which didn’t work well, but then they had a special made for TV movie where Zach and Kelly get married. Mark has gone on to be in NYBD Blue, The Passage, Franklin and Bash, CSI, Pitch and Mixedish. Tiffany has done 90210, Fastlane, Two Guys A Girl and a Pizza Place, one of my favorite shows White Collar, her own cooking show (which was really fun to watch with her celebrity friend guests coming over to eat and chill) and Alexa and Katie. Neither need to do this reboot. Last thing I’ve seen Elizabeth Berkeley In was The L-Word and i can’t stand Mario Lopez. I don’t see anything wrong in the way 90210 did theirs. They should have had Tiffani on it though. Jenny Garth is a total bitch. They used to be best friends and Tiffani was at the birth of Jenny’s firstborn while her husband was not because he was supposedly shooting a film and theirs some story there no one will reveal. I don’t think Peter was ever a good husband and when he got more famous and roles than Jenny and wasn’t faithful, I’m sure she took it out on her. Also Tiffani was friends with Charlie, Tori’s first husband and felt bad for how she dumped him. So both Tori and Jenny claim they don’t have issues with her, but they are for sure catty towards her. I don’t think Tifffani has the time to care about them as she’s actually happy, can pay her bills and lives a good life. That being said, They did the 90210 reboot smart, irreverent, Meta way.
I don’t know which NBC exec thought this would be a great idea to draw fans back to the show on their new pay channel. It frustrates me that every network now is going that route when I already have cable, Hulu, Prime and Netflix. These companies are so horribly greedy! Having cable now is like the monthly cost of leasing a small or midsized car. I can’t add anymore streaming channels.