Hollywood Demons: After the Bell (HBOMax)

The latest episode of Hollywood Demons took a rather superficial look at life behind the scenes at Saved By The Bell.  The formerly reclusive Lark Voorhies was interviewed and it was good to see her looking healthy and happy.  As well, Max Battimo, from Good Morning Miss Bliss, was also interviewed and talked about what it was like to not be invited to join the cast of Saved By The Bell. 

The majority of the episode focused on Dustin Diamond and his years after Saved By The Bell.  The episode tried to generate some sympathy for Diamond and I have to admit that I’ve always felt that it wasn’t right to cast him as a high school student when he was barely 12 and had so little in common with the rest of the cast.  That said, in this documentary, Dustin Diamond also came across as being mentally unhinged.  One crew member told a story about Diamond threatening a Saved By The Bell: The New Class actor with a knife.  The name of the actor was not given, though from the details provided (the incident occurred while Diamond’s mother was dying of cancer and Diamond threatened to get the actor fired), it seems that the incident took place in 1996, during the film of the New Class‘s Fourth Season.  Assuming Diamond didn’t pull the knife on any of the female cast members or Dennis Haskins, that leaves Richard Lee Jackson, Ben Gould, and Anthony Harrell.  Jackson was in his second season on the show and was the lead actor so I don’t think Diamond would have threatened to get him fired.  Gould and Harrell were new.  On twitter, I found a tweet from 2014 of someone mentioning that they had been given a tour of Hollywood by someone who Dustin Diamond pulled a knife on.  Since Harrell has been busy with his musical career, that would leave Gould as the probable target of Diamond’s abuse.  Of course, that’s all speculation on my part.  The important thing is that Dustin Diamond didn’t come across as being particularly sympathetic, despite the documentary’s best efforts.

Unfortunately, while Lark, Max, and Ed Alonzo were all interviewed, Mark-Paul, Mario, Tiffani, Elizabeth, and Dennis Haskins were not.  I’m not surprised.  When you’ve actually got a career going, you don’t want to taint it by being interviewed by a tabloid television show.  Still, considering that they were the stars of the show, not interviewing them seemed like a missed opportunity.

Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (Shout TV)

I watched three more episodes of this odd series on Friday night.  The monsters were trippy!

Night Flight (NightFlight+)

I watched an episode on Friday night.  John Cougar Mellencamp talked about his career.

Saved By The Bell (Tubi)

My review of Saved By The Bell will be dropping soon, assuming I don’t fall asleep before I can write it.

Watched and Reviewed:

1. 1st & Ten,
2. Baywatch,
3. CHiPs,
4. Crime Story,
5. Decoy,
6. Freddy’s Nightmares,
7. Hunter,
8. The Love Boat,
9. Pacific Blue,
10. Saved By The Bell: The New Class,
11. St. Elsewhere