Zack Attack!
There's a pictorial on ew.com called "Zack Attack: Mark-Paul Gosselaar looks back at 10 roles." I thought there were some cute/interesting quotes from Mark-Paul so here they are:
In reference to his long hair in the new show Raising the Bar- ''I had no idea hair was such an issue for people. It's become a talking point,'' Gosselaar says. (He's actually had the controversial longer locks since NYPD Blue ended.)
Gosselaar's eagerly awaiting Dustin Diamond's 2010 Saved by the Bell tell-all. ''I read that it was about sex, hardcore partying, and drug use, and I'm thinkin' well, somebody's gonna sell books. I can't wait to read it, 'cause I'd like to know what kind of hardcore partying I did and about this rampant sex that was happening. We were all very open with the fact that we all dated each other - we were kids - but...I can't wait to get an advance copy.'' Does he think he'll actually get one? ''No, because I'm still waiting for my T-shirt that I bought to save his house.'' [this comment toally cracked me up]
The three years after Saved by the Bell ended were tough, Gosselaar admits. He didn't get offered the kind of projects he expected to; he only got offered ''the ones that even I close my eyes when I watch.'' (We don't think he's joking when he says he wouldn't tell people why he was going out of town, when he'd leave to shoot one of them.)
''Those three years really opened my eyes to what could happen,'' he says. ''That's what shaped me to be very, very appreciative of the work that I have now.''
In reference to training for NYPD Blue- While Bochco was unaware of Gosselaar's SBTB past, the actor still hadn't escaped it, which he found out when he shadowed police to research his role: ''We made a drug raid at midnight. It's dark, and I have a bullet-proof vest and hat on. We crash through the door, apprehend the suspect, blah, blah, blah, and as we're standing outside, these two neighbor girls, probably 13 or 14, ask, 'Is that that guy from Saved by the Bell?'''
Let no one say Gosselaar isn't a good sport: On an upcoming episode of Seth Green's Emmy-winning stop-motion series on Adult Swim (Sept. 7, 11:30 p.m. ET), the kids from Saved by the Bell meet Jigsaw from Saw. ''It was a complete satire, and that's why it worked,'' Gosselaar says of the unofficial reunion. (Mario Lopez, Lark Voorhies, Dustin Diamond, and Dennis Haskins also recorded voices, though all did so separately.) ''That's the only way we'll ever do a 'reunion,' because otherwise it becomes campy, and I don't think any of us want to do that right now in our careers.''