Tiffani Thiessen’s Daughter Watched All Of ‘Saved By The Bell’
Tiffani Thiessen’s 12-year-old daughter, Harper, just binged every episode of “Saved by the Bell” — and it's safe to say she won't be dressing up as Kelly Kapowski for Halloween.
“Saved by the Bell” is “just not like the shows produced now for kids,” Thiessen told TODAY Parents.
Thiessen, 48, has been sharing Harper's feedback from her marathon viewing of the classic TV show, which starred her mom.
“I wasn’t sticking around to watch it half the time, but every now and then I would come in after she watched a couple (of episodes), and I’d be like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s crazy, I remember that!’” Thiessen told Scary Mommy on Oct. 10. “And she’d laugh, like, ‘Mom, this is kind of a dumb show.’”
Thiessen said she didn’t try to argue.
“I went, ‘You’re right.’ The programming was very different back then,” Thiessen said of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when “Saved by the Bell” originally aired. “It’s not as smart as it is now.”
Thiessen did have words of praise for Tracey Wigfield, creator of a “Saved by the Bell” revival that ran for two seasons on Peacock in 2020 and 2021.
“Tracey really created something I thought was extremely special,” Thiessen said. “She really did a great job of still giving that essence of the original, but really taking and layering the characters even deeper.”
Still, despite the rich writing, Harper couldn’t get into it, Thiessen said.
Thiessen told TODAY that Harper raves about "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series," and Netflix's coming-of-age series "Heartstopper." Harper also was a big fan of the Netflix situational comedy “Alexa & Katie,” which stars Thiessen as Lori.
“It felt more real to her,” Thiessen said.
The original “Saved by the Bell” series chronicled the hijinks of a tight group of friends at Bayside High in Southern California.
Thiessen, who played bubbly cheerleader Kelly Kapowski, went on to appear in “Saved by the Bell: The College Years.” She also appeared in two spin-off movies, including “Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas.” In that film, Kelly and her longtime boyfriend, prankster Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), finally tie the knot.
During a 2018 appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," Thiessen revealed that Harper, then 8, had started watching Season 1.
“But then after that, when kissing started happening, I was like, ‘No, no, no. We’re done.’ I was just like, a few more years,” Thiessen recalled. “Harper was into it. She wanted to keep going.”
She added that Harper was “so into” the jock of the group A.C. Slater (Mario Lopez) and ladies man Zack.
“She’s so boy-crazy already,” said Thiessen, who is also an alum of the show “Beverly Hills, 90210.” “Oh, I have trouble.”
Thiessen and her husband, Brady Smith, are also parents of 7-year-old son, Holt. We looking forward to hearing Holt's thoughts on Kelly, Zack and the gang!
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This article was originally published on TODAY.com
