Trivia / Saved by the Bell: The College Years

• Adored by the Network: In a sense. Even though TBS had the show included in a package along with the original show, Good Morning, Miss Bliss and the two TV movies, the fact that it still aired the series every Friday for two hours for years is still pretty impressive.
• Dawson Casting: As with the prime series, Mark-Paul Gosselaar , Mario Lopez , Dustin Diamond , and Tiffani Thiessen were within spitting distance of age appropriate for their characters; however, the new additions to the gang were very much not. Anne Tremko (Leslie) was 6 years older than the Bayside cast, and Kiersten Warren (Alex) was 9 years older. Patrick Fabian (who played a professor on the show) is less than a year Warren's senior.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Inverted! Mark Paul Gosselaar has a bulkier physique than he did in Saved by the Bell because he had been planning to go into college football, before opting to reprise his role as Zack.
• Hilarious Outtakes: With the exception of the first episode, every episode showed a collection of outtakes in the closing credits.
• Romance on the Set: Mark-Paul Gosselaar met his first wife, Lisa Ann Russell, when she played an extra in an episode.
• Typecasting: Holland Taylor frequently played comically intimidating women of power, such as in Legally Blonde and later Two and a Half Men.
• Underage Casting: Jeremiah Lasky is said to be 32, but Patrick Fabian was a couple of years younger. Lampshaded in his debut episode, where he pretends to be a student.
• What Could Have Been:
  • When Tiffani Thiessen decided to reprise her role as Kelly, Essence Atkins was dropped from the cast and Danielle was said to have transferred after the first episode.
  • Leslie Burke was actually established early on as being Zack's new primary Love Interests, but again Tiffani's reprisal as Kelly ultimately ended up nixing whatever planned romance was going to happen.
  • Had the series lasted longer, the popular Dean McMann would have been utilized more and given more backstory.
  • Anne Tremko turned down an offer to appear in the Wedding in Vegas finale movie, so Leslie is absent from the wedding for no apparent reason.