'Saved by the Bell': Where Are They Now?
Mario Lopez has a new show, but what's happened to other cast members?
July 15, 2010— -- Who can forget the fresh-faced students of Bayside High from the 1980s hit show "Saved by the Bell?"
Well, they are all grown up and having kids of their own. Just recently, one of the show's stars, Mario Lopez, now the host of "Extra," announced that VH1 has greenlighted a reality show following him and his pregnant girlfriend, Courtney Mazza, as they prepare for the birth of their child.
"Our audience has grown up with Mario. They have watched him go from a kid in a fictional high school to a man who has succeeded in many different facets in the TV business. We're thrilled that we get to be a part of his next transition into fatherhood," Jeff Olde, VH1's Executive Vice President of Original Programming and Production, told "Extra."
Indeed, a whole generation of teens and tweens grew up on the escapdes of Lopez, now 36, and his fellow Bayside students. "Bell," which premiered Saturday mornings in the late '80s and wrapped in 1994, also launched the careers of Elizabeth Berkley, Tiffani Thiessen, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Lark Voorhies and Dustin Diamond.
While the show's squeaky-clean story lines were tame compared to today's teen hits like "Gossip Girl," the real lives of the cast members became fodder for the tabloids and gossip magazines.
Diamond, now 33, went from class geek to porn star when a 2006 sex tape of him and two women in wedding garb was released. In 2009, he released the tell-all book "Behind the Bell" about sexual escapades, drug use, and hardcore partying among cast members.
It's no surprise that Diamond is no longer close to the cast. When the stars reunited for a People magazine cover shoot shortly before his book's release, Diamond was noticeably absent. The others have reportedly stayed in close touch.
Here's the latest on Lopez, Diamond and the others:
Mario Lopez/A.C. Slater
Mario Lopez may not have A.C. Slater's trademark parachute pants or jheri curl anymore, but that hasn't stopped him from keeping busy since he left Bayside.
Entertainment Weekly's website dubbed him one of the "scrappiest" people in show business after the announcement of his reality show.