| Dustin Diamond Star Bob Golic Star Mark-Paul Gosselaar Star Rodger Kabler Star Mario Lopez Star Tiffani-Amber Thiessen Star Peter Engel Executive Producer (taped segment) Ballroom Universal City Hamilton Hotel Universal City, California ********************************************************************************************************************** All NBC Press Tour Transcripts are prepared immediately following press conferences. They are provided for your convince and are not intended as a substitute for attendance at press conferences. Due to the speed with which these transcripts are prepared, complete accuracy cannot be guarantee. ********************************************************************************************************************** CHARLES RILEY: Okay, We`re about to begin this session of "Saved by the Bell: The College Years." My name is Charles Riley and I`m the press manager for "Saved by the Bell: The College Years." It`s a new comedy that`s going to air this fall on Tuesdays from 8:00 to 8:30 and before I introduce you to the cast, I`d like to show you a clip from our executive producer Peter Engel who could not be here today. PETER ENGEL: {On Tape} Hi. I`m Peter Engel. I wish I could be there with you in person today, but I made a promise to my son that I would visit him in camp this weekend in New Hampshire. And I could`nt break that promise. However, you`re about to meet some people who are very, very important to me. And before you do, I want to give you a little background on them and about our show. Five years ago, in 1988, I developed a pilot called "Good Morning, Miss Bliss" It did`nt get picked up for the fall schedule, but there was something about it that intrigued Brandon Tartikoff, who was then president of NBC Entertainment. And he was convinced there was a audience for the show. In a unique network-cable venture, the show was broadcast on The Disney Channel for 12 episodes and the rights reverted back to NBC. At that time, Brandon got the idea to re-work "Miss Bliss," focus on kids, and put it on Saturday mornings, going after the teen and tween audience. The researchers and the critics said it would never work, that we could never compete with cartoons on Saturday morning. But it did. And that little show, which was re-titled "Saved by the Bell," became the building block of NBC`s Saturday morning line-up, which now consists entirely of live action teen-oriented programming. "Saved by the Bell" has been a major success internationally. In 51 countries foreign countries, And it`s currently seen in most of the country Monday through Friday in syndication. Further to this, in May, Turner Broadcasting (TBS) ran a "Saved by the Bell" marathon, Six great hours of "Saved by the Bell." The response was tremendous. We really had no idea at the time that we would be creating one fo the most popular teen sitcoms in television history. The kids have become international and national teen idols. They`re seen on covers of major teen publications throughout the world. Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who plays Zack, was recently voted favorite teen star in Teen Beat`s 10th Annual Awards, surpassing Luke Perry of Fox`s "90210." Last November, NBC presented a special movie - of - the - week entitled "Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style." The movie ranked third for the week among teens, behind "Blossom" and "Fresh-Prince Of Bel-Air." "Saved by the Bell" has been the recipient of many major awards including the Angel Award, Best of Prime time Series, and we`ve been finalists in the prestigious Humanitas Awards. In September, 1991, NBC entered into a unique arrangement with Rysher Entertainment, whereby "Saved by the Bell" was distributed by Rysher Entertainment nationwide. The series has performed extremely well in syndication, averaging a 29 share among teens, and is seen on over 80% of the country. "Saved by the Bell" has truly been an amazing success, a success of which I am extremely proud. For me, personally, as a Father of three children, the biggest satisfaction has been the letters I get from kids, teachers, parents, counselors, DARE offices and pastors who thank me for doing a show that presents positive role models for kids and deals with issues that the majority of teens face each and every day. All of us who have been associated with "Bell" take our responsibility as broadcasters very seriously. We`ve remained true to the kids the show targets, and we`ve never denigrated kids problems or wrote down to them. The key is to be honest and reflect the kids` true feelings, and have fun along the way. On September 11th, when NBC`s new Saturday morning schedule premieres, we will introduce a brand-new cast of kids to Bayside High school in "Saved by the Bell: The New Class." The original "Saved by the Bell" will continue to be seen in syndication. And now, finally, on Tuesday nights beginning this fall, "Bell" fans will get to see how Zack, Slater, Kelly and Screech fare when they hit the college campus in "Saved by the Bell: The College Years." We`ve dreamed about this moment for five years. And now the reality is here. We are so excited. We can`t wait to start production next month. And now, this morning, I`m proud to introduce to you most of the cast of our Prime time series, especially my four kids from the original show. Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Dustin Diamond, Mario Lopez and Tiffani-Amber Thiessen. Now grown up and on their own. Ladies and gentleman, please welcome the cast of "Saved by the Bell: The College Years." RILEY: Thank you, Peter. Like Peter said, we have today with us, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who plays Zack; Dustin Diamond, who plays Screech; Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, who plays Kelly; and Mario Lopez who plays Slater. We also have two of the new additions to the show, the former Los Angeles Raiders defensive tackle Bob Golic and Rodger Kabler who is going to play Professor Lasky. And from NBC we have Linda Mancuso who the vice-president of Saturday Morning and Family Programming. And we`d like to welcome your questions right now. QUESTION: Well, now that this moment have finally arrived for all of us, [laughter] Tiffani, you`ve had a pretty good with "Son-In-Law" and the reviews for it. And when they announced this show initially, you were`nt part of the cast. TIFFANI-AMBER THIESSEN: Right. QUESTION: What made Kelly a character and made you want to come back? THIESSEN: Well, it was a really hard decision. I left the show early and I did some other stuff, like "Son-In-Law" and I did a movie-of-the-week with actually Patty Duke, who was just here. I did`nt get to see her though. But when I was asked to come back, it was just -- I don`t know -- it was a decision that I made, that I really -- I was just -- I could`nt believe that I was asked and then when I decided to come back, you know, I`m really excited about coming back and I think it`s really going to work. And so I`m real happy-- QUESTION: Was there any rationale for why you were`nt part of the original concept for moving on to college? THIESSEN: Well, I mean, we were all asked back, but I declined on it because I was doing the movie at the time. When the movie was over, I was asked to come back again, so I said yes. QUESTION: Mr. Kabler, you did a series that was`nt for too long. Is your character similar that your playing, a fast-talking type of character? Or are you playing the professor differently? ROGER KABLER: Hi. Goodness, I remember you from last year, How are you doing? Yeah. It`s a vastly different character. There`s a great inner energy and drive to his character. But the main difference is that I`m an adult in a responsible role. And to be a role model. It`s wonderful. And since we last talked, I`m a new dad. So I have that built in now. I am looking after a 10-month old maniac now. And that`s adding a lot to, I think, the inner works of this character. There are differences. And I`ll think you`ll see them in the way this character moves and speaks. And I`m really exited about doing it, because again, as an actor, I just want to go from role to role and create something completely different each time. So you`ll see big differences. QUESTION: Mark-Paul and Mario, you`ve actually both kind of wound up doing double-duty on Saturday morning. Mark-Paul, you`re newer to it. Between the two shows, what kind of time will this involve for you, Mario, with the name "Name Your Own Adventure," and Mark-Paul, with your new show? MARIO LOPEZ: Well, it seems to -- in my situation -- work out perfectly in the sense that I finish the Friday before the Monday that I start, so I`ll have that weekend to rest and look at the script and it works out fine. MARK-PAUL GOSSELAAR: Yeah, I did about 15 episodes in three days, so mine was on my -- three months that we had off. He does it sometimes off the weekends, eh? LOPEZ: Yeah, I`m going --- GOSSELAAR: I`m lucky. He`s the one -- LOPEZ: --Keep pretty busy on the weekends on the weekends and hiatus. But it`s okay. I`m looking forward to it. GOSSELAAR: Just any time we have off, we usually -- we do the other shows. QUESTION: I have a question for Bob. Bon, when you were playing football, you were very well liked by the electronic media because it was said that you never met a TV camera that you did not like. BOB GOLIC: True. QUESTION: And I`m curious -- so it was a -- it must have been a rather easy transition from -- GOLIC: Yeah, oh yeah. I mean, it was -- I mean, this is`nt like something that growing up in Cleveland, that I was saying "You know what? I want to play for the Raiders a little bit then move on into acting." But I was given the opportunity att he end of season last year, and my last season with the Raiders was -- let`s put it this way, by the end of the season, I still had a lot of energy left. {Laughter} And my uniform was very clean, so. So when the opportunity was presented to me, I was very excited to try something that was extremely challenging and -- because I`m not -- believe it or not, I`m not trained for it. But it was something in that respect that I thought would be extremely challenging and exciting and I think after 14 years of football, to change careers, to me sane, I was going to need something that was really going to push me. And the fact that cameras were involved was a definite plus. QUESTION: Bob, is it perhaps safe to say that you`re a bit of a ham and perhaps always have been? GOLIC: Oh yeah. QUESTION: Is this extraverted nature something new? GOLIC: No it`s -- I don`t know if it`s inherited or anything, but I definitely acquired it when I was young. And they -- I have`nt come up with any kind of cure for it, so I guess I`m an uncured ham. {laughter} Sorry. I`m very sorry about that. QUESTION: Mark -- GOLIC: {Glum} No one is going to ask me any more questions now. QUESTION: Mark, in the "George" comedy, there`s a character, a white-bread kind of character who`s in an ethnic school and he talks Spanish and tries to be very ethnic. With your blonde looks and fair complexion in this ethnic world that we live in, did you ever say, " I think I better dye my hair?" or act ethnic Does being so blonde and good looking scare you? GOSSELAAR: Thank You. GOLIC: Mario was a blonde. LOPEZ: I was a former blonde. {laughter} GOSSELAAR: It`s funny, because I`m not a pure -- my mother`s Indonesian. So I do have -- I have dark -- my, you know, the rest of my family is dark-complexioned. Dark eyes. Dark hair. And believe it or not, I have dark hair. But this is a job. GOLIC: It`s the lights. GOSSELAAR: So this -- yeah, the lights. But no, when I started "Saved by the Bell," my hair is blonde. As I matured, my hair slightly got darker and they liked it blonde, so I never really had a problem with being ethnic and stuff like that because I`m not completely American, you know. QUESTION: Why did they want it blonde? What was their explanation? GOSSELAAR: Why? Because it worked. It worked when we did "Good Morning Miss Bliss." It was a different -- you know, all of us different. You know, brunette, blonde, -- I mean, it was something that worked and I don`t know they found me attractive being blonde, I guess. I, you know, I actually like my hair blonde, so I guess. QUESTION: Does it change how you act or how you think about yourself? GOSSELAAR: No, no, no {laughter} QUESTION: I mean, when you look at the mirror, do you feel differently about yourself. GOSSELAAR: No, no, no. Because like I said, I was born a blonde and {laughter} LOPEZ: And I`ll die a blonde. GOSSELAAR: {laughing} And I`ll die -- no it does`nt change who I am. I mean, like I said, this is a job. This is an act. This is you know, my career. And what they want me to do with my -- you know, how they want me to look is up to them, It does`nt affect me personally. As myself. And it does`nt affect how I act. QUESTION: Loni Anderson who changed her hair to blonde always said it did change her. That she actually felt different about herself, that it was more confident. GOLIC: She`s not blonde really? GOSSELAAR: She`s blonde. Yeah, she`s blonde. Yeah, really. QUESTION: No. {laughter} GOSSELAAR: No really, it does`nt affect me at all. QUESTION: This is "Saved by the Bell: the College Years." I know some of you have graduated high school so far. Does anybody want to go on to college? THIESSEN: Yes. I do. GOLIC: Yes. THIESSEN: Bob! QUESTION: Okay, start with Dustin. Dustin, have you graduated high school? DUSTIN DIAMOND: Yes. Actually I have. QUESTION: Okay. When do you want to pursue college? And what do you want to study and would you go down the line? DIAMOND: Well I`m still 16. I`ll probably go to college, 18, 18, about like, you know, every other normal teenager. After--it will give me time to finish all the number of shows and sessions too. QUESTION: Mark-Paul? GOSSELAAR: Yeah, I definitely feel the same way. I`m not rushing into college. I definitely I`d like to go to college, because I think it`s important and I think it`s essential for me to go to college, but I think I`m just going to have to wait it out. I`d like to do this series first. I don`t want to do college and the show at the same time. Because I want to particularly concentrate on the show. So I`m going to wait for that. QUESTION: Tiffani-Amber? THIESSEN: Actually, I was scheduled to go back to school, but because of work and all that, I was`nt able to. When I do get some time off, I would love to go back to school. I`ve always enjoyed it. QUESTION: What school? And what subjects did you take? THIESSEN: Actually, I`d love to go into English Literature. I love to write. Also. Creative Writing. And what school? I have no idea yet. Somewhere around --still here in California, just because of work schedules and things like that. But. QUESTION: Mario? LOPEZ: It`d be impossible to try to juggle college and a television series, so....but I definitely do want to go an I`m not in a rush and that`s the great thing about America is that you can go whenever and it does`nt matter your age. I would like to study, I think, Broadcasting. I`ve always wanted to be an anchorman and kind of do sports and it`s still in front of the camera and talking to the people and so forth. But later on, definitely. QUESTION: Bob, do you have any tips for him? GOLIC: When I was -- well actually -- during this last off - season when I was talking about retiring. And people were asking me, well, you know, you`ve got your education, your college degree, don`t you? I said, "Yeah," and they said, well what`s it in? And I said, " I don`t remember," I mean it was, I mean I realized it was 14 years ago. And so I told them I had it written down somewhere on a piece of sheepskin -- {laughter} But he`s be good for -- in the broadcasting thing. LOPEZ: Why thank you. GOLIC: Yeah I think that, you know he has a -- you know we`ve sat -- I mean I met Mario probably two years ago at the Sega Starkist Challenge, and he came up and said, you used to wrestle in school, right? And we went through this whole thing and he wanted to do like movies and stuff. And I`m like saying, you know, "Relax, kid -- LOPEZ: Ayyy....{laughter} I don`t know about all that, Bob, but-- GOLIC: No, but we started talking back then and he`s been very big into sports as is Mark-Paul, we were talking yesterday -- QUESTION: Bob, do you think you should be blonde or brunette? {laughter} GOSSELAAR: Blonde. GOLIC: I think, you know, the big thing is kind of that auburn now {laughter} a lot of people are going to. QUESTION: Mario, Mark-Paul and Dustin, when Tiffani and Elizabeth left the show, how much of a change was it for you, working with Monica? And did you think the show was going to survive the change and really how surprised are you that this show is continuing in Prime time? LOPEZ: Well, first of all, we`re working with Leanna, but Monica is her sister`s name. But it was weird I mean we missed them but it seemed to-- GOSSELAAR: But we`re so close together, the chemistry between the three guys and the way the show runs, I think that it was`NT hard for us to bring somebody in and for them to immediately bond with us and the show-- THIESSEN: They`re pretty easy to work with. LOPEZ: And we reunited when we did the movie, too. GOSSELAAR: Right, of course, but I mean -- LOPEZ: So it was like we picked up {snaps his fingers} GOSSELAAR: --the chemistry that we have between all of us is so strong that I think we can take in anybody and-- DIAMOND: They made the show little different, they made it a little bit more interesting to have a new cast member work with us. Just like, you know Bob and them and so, it`s kind of like a new experience, yet the same show. So now we don`t only have new sets now it`s the college years, we actually have new people to interact with. SO it makes it more interesting. GOLIC: And as a new person coming into the show, that`s something that I noticed immediately, is there a bond, a relationship that three guys had. And you know I felt, I mean they taught me the handshake and everything right away. And I felt there was a special bonding that took place there. But-- LOPEZ: Bob and I are dating. GOSSELAAR: Squared him away. Squared him away. GOLIC: Squared me away. But in all seriousness, I mean, you could see that. And I think, as a new person coming in, made it very easy -- or, much easier, I should say, to deal with them because they were all working together, you did`NT have to deal with all these personalities. They knew who they were, and how to work together. QUESTION: Speaking of new sets, the budgets for prime-time show are higher than the day-time syndicated shows. What changes in the episodes you`ve done have you noticed? GOSSELAAR: We have a pool table. {laughter} LOPEZ: No, well, that is just it. We have`nt – we`ve only done the pilot. We have`nt started production yet, until-- GOSSELAAR: August. LOPEZ: August. QUESTION: Do the four of you know yet whether your characters are going to mature? Occasionally, some people do mature in college -- {laughter} -- but not very often. THIESSEN: The whole--I think the whole show is going to be matured: Writing-wise, between us, all of our characters. You know, we`ve all - we`re away from home now, you know, we`re living on our own, supporting ourselves, and I think that`s going to mature us a lot, in our characters, and the whole show. GOSSELAAR: It has to, I don`t think the show has any choice. except for us to mature. DIAMOND: My character has, probably, the biggest change because he`s not as goofy. He does`NT do the silly walk and the silly face, yet I realized -- moving on, doing just the pilot, so far -- that I can get the laugh on just the line, and not have to do the, you know, I`m getting the laugh for how I look. And that was really interesting, you know, to find out because I always had that funny look at a kid, and -- {laughter} well, you know, I`m much better now. {laughter} QUESTION: If I could follow up on that for just a second. Some of us talked with Jennie Garth yesterday , and she was saying she`s not even sure where these demographics are for "90210" now because as time has gone on, and of course, they`re to be doing different things this fall. For those who have kind of been weaned on the Saturday morning "Saved by the Bell" who might be coming into this show. are you kind of telling them that, yes, it will be basically the same thing, or do you have any concerns about that audience that followed you through Saturday mornings into Prime time, where things might be different? THIESSEN: I mean-- GOSSELAAR: We still have the lightness of the show, you know, the comedy of the show is still there. But, yeah we`re still going to explore -- It`s a wider range-- GOSSELAAR: things that we have`NT. We have a lot more to work with because our time-slot, and because of, you know, being the show that we can expand. And that’s why, also, we`ve had new cast members, so that we can expand into other relationships. For instance, I have a relationship with the new girl Leslie, who`s played by Anne Tremko. And then, Tiffani, is going to come in on the first episode, so that`s going to sort of play off. So, I mean, we have a lot more-- I don`t want to you know-- LOPEZ: It`s kinda like "Part 2." GOSSELAAR: Yeah I don`t like to compare ourselves to "90210" or anything like that because last time I did that, I got into trouble. QUESTION: Who do your fans tend to be in terms of age up to this point? THIESSEN: It varies. LOPEZ: You know, it`s funny, little kids that can barely talk, "Saved by the...." Then, I have men, older men and women in their 40s and 50s say "Hey, I watch you." So, it`s weird. THIESSEN: A lot of parents watch it with their kids. Basically, it`s a teen audience but we do have a lot of older people and lot of younger people also. GOSSELAAR: But, then again since this is 8:00 on Tuesdays, I think were going to play to a little older crowd than-- THIESSEN: I think we`re going to bring our audience we have on Saturday morning and then maybe add some more who have`NT seen the show. DIAMOND: Plus, I think teens will be able to -- those ones that like to sleep in on Saturdays can get up now later and see it. GOSSELAAR: Much Later {laughter} QUESTION: I have a question for Bob. In the last six months, you`ve been interviewed twice on ESPN, the most recent being Sunday night, and you cried during both of those interviews. GOLIC: I`m a 90`s guy. {laughter} QUESTION: My point is I can`t remember seeing a football player cry once on TV, let alone twice. Why does that happen? Have people -- what was your reaction to that? GOLIC: I don`t cry when I get hurt physically. I`m just a little sensitive. I don`t remember the first time crying. QUESTION: The Firestone Show. GOLIC: Oh, Yeah. {Laughter} Roy had this really ugly outfit on. I`m just sitting, you know {laughter} -- and I don`t know what -- I`ve always just been very emotional. Marcus Allen told me one time -- we had lost a game and Howie Long and I jumped offsides probably eight times between the two of us, causing a lot of bad things to happen and us to lose the game. I was interviewed afterward and I was very upset. I was crying and Marcus came up to me and said, "Bob, you gotta stop crying in these interviews." I said, "Why?" He goes, "All the women I know think you`re a geek." I said, "But women like sensitive guys." He said, "Not the girls I know. They think you`re a geek." {laughter} So-- THIESSEN: I don`t think you’re a geek. GOLIC: See? {laughter} I don`t know. Obviously, this last time was difficult. I knew that I was done playing. But, I just felt that I needed, as the psychologists call it, "closure." I mean I had to come out and just physically say, "I`m retired." It was an inevitability but I had to come out and say it. I did and it was -- after four years in college, four in high school and three in grade school playing a game that I love to play, I could`NT walk away and just leave it open-ended. I had to end it and it was very difficult. It also gave us the chance to plug the show a little bit, too. {laughter} QUESTION: Bob, after 14 years in the NFL, is it overstated how -- and playing as a lineman, we see lots of stories about how crippled and beat up you get and that you`re never the same after you leave the game. Are your working parts in reasonable order, most of them? Do most lineman come out of the game in relatively good health? GOLIC: I was hoping I would get the chance to do the thumb thing. {dislocates thumb} {laughter} That`s gross. {laughter} One of the problems I hear is`NT so much the accumulated damage that the body takes. Once you stop working out to the intensity level that you do to prepare for a game -- I mean, obviously, now I`m not going to be doing the intensive conditioning that I was doing to play football. Once your body starts to settle a little bit, some of these old things come back to you and start to haunt you. I don`t think that I am going to end up as some TV special, as I`ve seen some of these guys, but workers comp will be hearing from me eventually, I`m sure. But, it`s not -- I came through it pretty well. I broke a couple of bones but that`s nothing compared to some of the guys I`ve played with. A lot of us actually speak, too, which is a major misnomer. QUESTION: Rodger, with the benefit of hindsight, could you talk a little bit about your experience on "Rythem and Blues?" What you got out of it was positive? What pains you about it? KABLER: Yeah, I`d be happy to. Yeah, last year at this time we did a press conference for "Rythem and Blues" and found out there were some problems with racism on the show that nobody really saw coming. Beyond that, it was a wonderful experience and I think that any young actor would benefit from getting that kind of experience, getting their "TV Chops," as it were, working week after week on a grueling schedule. You know, if I could do it all again, I`d be a football player. {laughter} You know, it`s like, I had creative goals on that and I found a way to eventually to reach them through real hard work and diplomacy and learning how to talk to producers and writers. Coming into this, I have that now, and I have a really great rapport, so far, with the producers and the writers of this in creating Dr. Lasky for the show. I gotta credit that to "Rhythm and Blues" because I`m not trying so hard now to be a great guy. What I want to be is a really terrific character and whatever I have to do to become that, I will do. I think I`ve got a little more courage to stand up for the creative integrity of the character and how it fits into the show. I realize that the important thing is to use humor when approaching the people that your working with, because I would get emotional. I would go and pull my hair and plead and show them how I worked all weekend on this stuff that I was writing. They would just, like, take a chill pill. I realize that you need in this business especially to have a great deal of humor. So I don`t tread as softly as I did before but I tread with a little more humor. I think that appeals more than {yells}. You know what I mean? That`s what I learned and I tell you, it`s a wonderful experience. I don`t care what anybody says. It was a good experience. QUESTION: Mario, this is kind of a delicate question that I hope I can put delicately. Your situation that got you into headlines earlier this year -- through that whole time, conversations with the producers of this, were they fairly okay that things would come out and everything would be all right? LOPEZ: Yeah, I mean, it was just a false accusation and they were very supportive. Charges were never brought up so I`m glad it ended rather quickly. (* Side Note -- This is in reference to a rumor in the press that Mario was using drugs. Not true! -- Carrie :) QUESTION: Bob? I want to ask Bob and Tiffani something that kind of combines -- sometimes, I wonder when someone since they`re a little tied up in something, trying to achieve physical perfection, how much -- how hard it is on them, how difficult in the case of athletes who`s always trying to be the best, and in the case of Tiffani being in beauty pageants since the time she was little, and so forth. It seems like it`s so straining to be that perfect that it`s hard to do anything else. Could you both kind of talk about how that affects your life to be into that from the time you`re so little. THIESSEN: Go ahead. GOLIC: Well, I think the important thing in either situation is that when you talk about striving for perfection, the thing that you realize that the best thing to do is to strive to be the best that you can be with the tools that you have. I mean, I never – you know, over the years – assumed that I could, you know, be a running back of – well, I was`nt built for it – or a quarterback or anything like that. But I knew what my talents were; I knew what my abilities were. And once I saw that, my parents were always very big on setting goals. And once I knew what I wanted and I set that as my goal, the perfection that I sought was the perfection needed to achieve to achieve that goal. Not so much to look good, to do anything except to go out there and perform a game that I loved. And I think that was the key. It was something that I loved to do. And that`s what made it very easy to – and it did`nt even – I mean, you say the hard work of striving for perfection – it did`nt seem like hard work because it was something I loved to do. So it was`nt a big deal. QUESTION: Let me ask Tiffani a variation of that. Two things: when I see the pictures of young girls in the beauty pageants, I always worry, they don`t seem to be having the amount of fun, you know. And the other thing is, unlike what Bob was talking about, they always have a winner and a lot of losers. THIESSEN: Right, right. QUESTION: Could you kind of talk about what it was like for you at that point? Thiessen: Well, I was never pressured into it. I always went in there knowing that, you know, whatever I came out with was what was supposed to be. I was never a quitter. I always liked to go in there know that I can do my best, and whatever comes up is supposed to happen. I went in, actually to meet people. And I still have a lot of friends that – years ago, that I used to do these things with. And I enjoyed it. That was the biggest thing. I enjoy what I am doing now. I enjoyed what I did years ago. And I think that was the most important thing. It was never that I wanted to be perfect or was striving to be perfect. QUESTION: Will any of you be revisiting Bayside High on this “new generation” Series, making cameos at all? THIESSEN: I don`t know. GOSSELAAR: That`s be fun. THIESSEN: It would be fun. GOSSELAAR: We don`t know yet, but there`s been talks about that. But whether we do it or not, that`s up to the producers. Be fun, though. I would`nt mind. QUESTION: Bob I enjoyed your interview with Jim Hill last week on KCBS, Channel 2. GOLIC: I did`nt cry on that one, I don`t think. {laughter} QUESTION: No, you did`nt cry. I wanted to ask you - Jim Hill started to ask you something about the serious part of “Saved by the Bell,” a meaningful part. And then you came back with a quick line. YOU SAID, “The only serious thing about ‘Saved by the Bell’ is that I needed a job.’ ” QUESTION: You may cry now. {laughter} GOLIC: I may cry now. {laughs} No, I mean, that – QUESTION: Had you never seen the show, or were you saying that Jim had`nt really done his homework and knew that it was more than a situation comedy? GOLIC: I think I was more joking with Jim than anything else. Because one of the things that I had, in this whole process of becoming involved with “Saved by the Bell,” right from the beginning , I mean, I had obviously seen – you can`t not see that show. I mean it`s on all over the place. Actually, it`s more fun seeing these guys when they were, like, really little, because then you come back and tell them how dorky they looked. It was amazing the transformation. But the one thing that impressed me with the show, and as Rodger was saying, being a new father, I have a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, and once you have a child, you become concerned about things that you took for granted before. And this show has always – and everything I`ve ever seen about it – has always been very straightforward, clean, family-oriented. And that really impressed me with it. As I said, the more I became involved , the more I watched it. And I said, this is a very – and at the risk of using the word “wholesome” – I mean, it`s a very wholesome show. And, you know, it approaches the life of young people and it does it in a very family-oriented way. And I think that`s impressive. And I`m glad to be involved. I mean, it would be very difficult for me being a father to involved in something that I would`nt be able to let my daughter see. And this is something that I think is pretty good. QUESTION: Bob, I don`t recall my college dormitory having a bouncer. Now, you`re funny on the show, but is your character going to be explained a little bit better? Here`s this big, hulking guy who kind of looks like he`s there to suppress riots or something. GOLIC: I`m... GOSSELAAR: You can cry now. GOLIC: Sure, I`ll get a written description of my character. RILEY: All right, we have time for one last question. GOLIC: I see myself being – just very quickly – I see myself being somebody kind of caught betwixt and between an authority figure who is in charge of these younger people, but also having lived that life and been there, and know that, you know, there is that fun and that excitement. You know, so I am going to have to – I`m going to be the guy trying to find the bouncer – yeah, you can have fun, but I kind of have to crack down on you a little bit too, Zack. GOSSELAAR: Plus, you and Mario are going to have a little – GOLIC: And I think being an ex-athlete in the show – again, wow, we really stretched for that one – {laughter} – but I actually got the job as an ex-athlete before I was an ex-athlete, technically. So you know, I`ve worked for this part. {laughter} RILEY: Okay, last question, please. QUESTION: {overlapping} I`d like to ask the young people on the show: this seems like almost dedicated to the proposition that looks are everything, which will carry on a Saturday morning. What are you going to do to extend the reach of this show to people beyond the ‘tween’ set? Or is there going to be any – I suppose Bob and Roger are a little bit, but is there going to be anything to try and give it a little more relevance? GOSSELAAR: Of course. And like I said before, I don`t think we have any choice except to broaden our – you know, the show, I mean, we can`t keep it the same way that “Saved by the Bell” is. Once again, that was Saturday morning. LOPEZ: And I think with the maturity comes more mature storylines. GOSSELAAR: Oh, yeah. Of course. THIESSEN: We have – we have new writers. We have a new director, which I think will help us mature the show. GOSSELAAR: Jeff Melman is directing the first few shows and he also directed the pilot. And you know, we`v matured, all of us, obviously. And you can`t – you can`t hide that. So I think for their sake, they have to do more mature storylines, right. KABLER: In addition to that, I`m going to be serving as a catalyst for these guys. In the first episode that I am doing, Zack and I do an episode where I challenge him and his maturity. So that`s going to be grist, I think, for a slightly more mature audience. And it`s not strictly – you know, it`s not fluffy, you know, as it were. GOSSELAAR: Once again, like in the pilot, Mario and I on “Saved by the Bell,” we got our way on everything. Everything we got away with was sort of like – you know, we led the perfect life. Here we come into college. You know, he messes up in wrestling. I don`t get – Lopez: We get humbled very quickly. GOSSELAAR: Yeah, very quickly. So I think, you know, from what I see in the pilot, there`s no choice for them. DIAMOND: My character is just the opposite. My character thinks he`s not going to get along. He misses his mom and everything when he gets there. But by the end of the show, he`s had the easy life; he`s had no problems, everything has worked out for him. And he even goes out with two of the girls from the show. So... GOSSELAAR: Happy about that one, are`nt you? RILEY: Okay, we`d like to thank you guys for joining us. |
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| NBC Summer Press Tour Saved by the Bell: The College Years July 21, 1993 |
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