10 Things You Didn't Know About "Saved By The Bell"

Or have forgotten since you don't watch the show while getting ready for school anymore?

1. The Max is owned by the school board.

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In Save the Max, Jesse, while working as an investigative reporter for Bayside's radio station, KKTY, finds out that the gang's favorite hangout is actually owned by the school board. I guess that makes it a glorified cafeteria, in a way.

2. Jesse underwent counseling for her caffeine pill addiction.

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At the end of the episode Jessie's Song, she mentions to her friends (who are trying to hold in their laughter at the ridiculousness of a caffeine pill addiction, no doubt) that her mother is taking her to get counseling for her problem.

3. Zack is part Native American.

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He had a great grandfather in the Nez Perce tribe named "Whispering Wind." Yeah, because you can totally see the Native American in the show's blonde protagonist. This was all in the episode Running Zack. It's not quite as arcane as some of the other facts on this list, but it was so absurd that I had to mention it.

4. Mr. Belding had a brother who was a douche.

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Remember The Fabulous Belding Boys? In that episode we got to meet Mr. Belding's douchey brother Rodd Belding, who gets the Bayside High School kids to think he's awesome and then ditches them and their field trip to hook up with a hot stewardess.

5. Kelly Kapowski's father worked in a defense plant.

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In The Prom, Kelly's father breaks awful news to her: "World peace broke out." Alas, the global arms race apparently didn't exist in Saved by the Bell's universe and put the defense plant her father worked at under financial duress, forcing layoffs that took money out of Mr. Kapowski's pockets and forced Kelly to miss the prom (the first prom, anyway).

6. Mr. Belding was possibly a Vietnam vet.

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Mr. Belding has a darker past than most realize. He makes references to "the war" in several episodes. If Belding was a teenager in the 1960s (the episode "Save the Max" has him in high school in 1968; the draft for the Vietnam war started in 1969), it seems probable that Belding got drafted. So next time you laugh at Zack's high jinks, remember that he's doing awful things to a war veteran.

Also, in "The Election," Mr. Belding mentions to a colleague that he got arrested for skinny-dipping in the Potomac River along with his wife.

7. Screech's mother owned a travel agency.

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In "The Election," Zack runs for school president because the winner of the election gets a free trip to Washington. To better prepare for his trip, Zack asks Screech to run to his mother's travel agency to pick up some brochures.

8. Zack pimped out Lisa Turtle.

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Remember that episode of South Park where Butters pimped out the girls, having people pay for kisses? Zack did the exact same thing in "The Lisa Card." He charged $1 per kiss. When Lisa protested, Zack gave a lecherous smile and said, "I thought you wanted to kiss your debt good-bye?"

9. Screech bought a pair of Lisa's lingerie for $2.

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And I shudder to think what he did with it. This disgusting event also happens in "The Lisa Card," when Zack starts auctioning off Lisa's clothing, which includes her bathing suits (being modeled by Kelly and Jesse, which is kind of gross) to help Lisa generate money to pay back her father.

10. Slater's real last name is Sanchez.

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