I know this blog hasn't officially "started" yet but I need to address something that can't possibly wait: the Zack Morris and Kelly Kapowski high school break-up of 1991
Kelly dumping Zack at the costume dance is the most famous scene in television history. For those of us who lived through it, it was both traumatizing and heart-wrenching; an all-too-familiar scenario: temptation & lust in the workplace combined with the stress of trying to support your entire family on the paycheck from your afternoon job at the Maxx.
The normally empty head of Kelly finds itself torn between hunky, high school boyfriend Zack and the dark & mysteriously raspy Jeff, new manager(?) of the Maxx). What drama! Didn't we all feel for Kelly as her world was unraveling around her? She bravely did what needed to be - oh who am I kidding, that bitch! How dare you hurt Zack!!! Go back to that gutter you crawled out of!!!
(Yikes! got a little carried away... Oh, this may be a good time to tell you that this was the LARGEST image I could find of Zack and Kelly's infamous split. Google images comes through again.)
If you squint, it could be Da Vinci painting.So here is what I was wondering the other day. Zack and Kelly break up at a costume ball, at which they are dressed up like Romeo and Juliet. Do you think that them being Romeo and Juliet is an allusion to the tragedy they suffer (and more so "we" suffer) at the end of the episode. The unspeakable awfulness of two teenagers taking their own lives simply because their families forbid their love is really the only thing that could possibly stand up to the thought of Bayside High without the "Morpowsky" power couple. I mean, that's how I feel at least... I have a soul.
But come on, this is Saved by the Bell! Do we really think their writers did something clever on purpose?? Isn't it a far safer bet that they were Romeo and Juliet simply because someone said "Hey, it's a costume party at Bayside, who would be a good couple for Zack and Kelly to go as?" "Duh! Romeo and Juliet! They're the most famous couple of all time!" "Oh right! Of course!"
Seems more likely that it was the latter.
But wait a minute! Is there another angle at play here? Was there, in fact, a secret conspiracy against Zack and Kelly's love? More specifically, did NBC executives pressure the SBTB writers and producers (all of which I feel like are Peter Engel) to make "Morpowsky" dramatically crash and burn?
Let me explain by asking you a quick piece of trivia. What song was being sung* as they broke-up?" That is of course not a serious question. EVERYONE knows it was Michael Bolton's 'How am I Supposed to Live Without You?" Well, you may not remember this but Michael Bolton did a concert special that aired on NBC in 1992 (available on VHS at Amazon.com). This would have been mere months after SBTB's Zack and Kelly's break-up aired on TV. Is it possible that this iconic TV moment only happened in the first place because Michael Bolton's upcoming NBC concert needed some extra ink??
That would be just like NBC to try to push their stupid Michael Bolton pet project at the expense of our favorite teen boyfriend/girlfriend. I think their priority list looks something like this: "1.) Bolton! Bolton! Bolton! 2.) Work self into one of the SBTB eps, 627.) me the invested viewer.)
So perhaps the Montagues and the Capulets of Kelly and Zack's world were Brandon Tartikoff and company. Hmm, perhaps the SBTB writers are (MUCH!!!!!) more clever than I gave them credit for?
