BACK TO SCHOOL
Jimmy Fallon rewound the nineties era of high-top sneakers, acid-washed jeans and big hair with a kitschy Saved by the Bell reunion.
Last night’s episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon began with an extended sketch taking viewers back to the glory days of the teen-themed sitcom and even included the participation of five SBTB originals.
During its original run from 1989 to 1993, Saved by the Bell rated among the most-watched shows on NBC’s Saturday morning broadcast schedule.
Set at a fictional California high school, the show’s premise focused primarily on the friendship between best pals Zack and Slater, played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Mario Lopez, and homecoming teen queens Kelly and Jessie, played by Tiffani Thiessen and Elizabeth Berkley.
And darned if Fallon, who is helming The Tonight Show from Los Angeles this week, didn’t get almost the whole gang back together for last night’s sketch.
In this setup, however, Fallon inserted himself into the comedic tableau as a Bayside student named Jimmy, who had to break the bad news to Zack that he was moving to New York “to become a comedian” and “maybe even date Nicole Kidman” (an obvious reference to the recent news story that the comic star and Australian actress nearly dated a decade or so ago).
Zack’s scoffish response to that suggestion: “Jimmy going on a date with Nicole Kidman is like Jessie becoming a stripper…”
Which, of course, was in reference to Berkley going directly from Saved by the Bell to portraying a nude dancer in the tacky 1995 film Showgirls.
The sketch also mined laughs from having Thiessen’s character of Kelly Kapowski still wearing her trademark cheerleader costume – even though she was obvious pregnant (Thiessen is currently expecting her second child with actor Brady Smith).
To their collective credit, the Saved by the Bell originals – all now in their forties – looked much the same as they did nearly 20 years ago, even Dennis Haskins, who reprised his role of Bayside High principal Mr. Belding in the sketch.
But conspicuously missing from last night’s reunion was Dustin Diamond, who played the nerdy character of Screech on the original series and subsequent spinoff Saved by the Bell: The College Years.
In fact, Screech’s name was never even mentioned.
That glaring omission is likely due to the fact that the 37-year-old Diamond was arrested and ordered to stand trial in connection to a stabbing incident at a bar in Wisconsin last month.
TOO HOT?
Moviegoers in Malaysia will not be allowed to see Fifty Shades of Grey. According to Variety, the film version of the saucy bestselling novel by E.L. James was denied a certificate this week by the Malaysian Film Censorship Board. The film was originally slated to premiere in Malaysia on Feb. 12. In announcing the decision, Censorship Board chairman Abdul Hamid said the film “is more pornography than a movie.” Added Hamid: “The board made a decision in view of the film containing scenes that are not of natural sexual content. The content is more sadistic, featuring scenes of a woman being tied to a bed and whipped.”
Source: Variety
ROLE MODELS
Fox News host Steve Doocy is unhappy about men being portrayed as “evil and cold” in the Disney animated film Frozen. On a recent episode of the series Fox & Friends, Doocy said, “From what we’ve seen, it looks like Frozen depicts men as evil and cold and bumblers, that’s what it looks like. What kind of message does that send?” In the same show, Doocy also said that filmmakers need to stop dumbing down male characters and provide more positive male role models. “It would be nice for Hollywood to have more male figures in those kind of movies as heroes,” he said.
Source: Rolling Stone