Didn't see Dennis Haskins' death posted. SBTB was must watch TV when I was growing up in the 90s.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/article/dennis-haskins-saved-by-the-bell-principal-dies-at-75-094734784.html

Great role.

Hey, hey, hey...what is going ON here?!

The principal we all wanted, and none of us deserved.

RIP, Saved By The Bell was a big deal for us GenX kiddies back in the day.

Didn't realize that the original series only ran four seasons (89-93), although looking back that was an eternity when we were younger.

As a fellow class of 93, it was a special time. Saved by the bell and 90210 were both class of 93. And Boyz II Men released end of the road summer of 92, which, best I can tell, was the class song for every 93 senior class in America.

I was never a Saved by the Bell guy so I didn't know who he was but, I did meet the guy in Burbank.

Here's the story...

In late 2003, I got laid off from my job in Denver. Landed a job starting in January 2004 on the Studio Lot at the Walt Disney Company in Burbank.

I wasn't sure if the job was going to work out so I didn't move my family out from Denver until about 7 months later. During that time, I was living in a studio apartment for a little over $900/month while still paying my mortgage in Denver and trying to fly home as often as I could to visit my family.

But... during the week, there were lots of opportunities to hang out with the other folks in the apartment which was similar to Melrose Place in a lot of ways.

So one day, a bunch of the younger folks who were about 5 years younger than me plus Scotty the former homeless Vietnam Vet, decided to go to Karaoke at Dimples (I didn't yet know about Porn Star Karaoke on Tuesday nights at Sardo's).

So we get there and a bunch of my apartment friends are going on about Mr. Belding from Saved by the Bell. I had no idea who they were talking about. But they all had to go up and meet him. And as it turned out, he would do Karaoke with people.

That's when I found out that this Mr. Belding guy was a fixture at Dimples. Fun times.

Here's an example pic I found on the Interwebs.
https://instagr.am/p/Dd4znH-OJ4m

HollywoodBQ said:

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I was never a Saved by the Bell guy so I didn't know who he was but, I did meet the guy in Burbank.

Here's the story...

In late 2003, I got laid off from my job in Denver. Landed a job starting in January 2004 on the Studio Lot at the Walt Disney Company in Burbank.

I wasn't sure if the job was going to work out so I didn't move my family out from Denver until about 7 months later. During that time, I was living in a studio apartment for a little over $900/month while still paying my mortgage in Denver and trying to fly home as often as I could to visit my family.

But... during the week, there were lots of opportunities to hang out with the other folks in the apartment which was similar to Melrose Place in a lot of ways.

So one day, a bunch of the younger folks who were about 5 years younger than me plus Scotty the former homeless Vietnam Vet, decided to go to Karaoke at Dimples (I didn't yet know about Porn Star Karaoke on Tuesday nights at Sardo's).

So we get there and a bunch of my apartment friends are going on about Mr. Belding from Saved by the Bell. I had no idea who they were talking about. But they all had to go up and meet him. And as it turned out, he would do Karaoke with people.

That's when I found out that this Mr. Belding guy was a fixture at Dimples. Fun times.

Here's an example pic I found on the Interwebs.
https://instagr.am/p/Dd4znH-OJ4m

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that's actually a cool story bruh!

Bel-bel-ba-bel-da-ding-da-ding-ding
Bel-bel-ba-bel-da-ding-da-dong-ding
Belding

RIP Big Bopper

Ha, here you go.

To elaborate...

In 2009, some friends of one of my younger cousins, back in my hometown in Texas, made a Saved by the Bell-related mockumentary / short film. In it, basically, four guys are not only obsessed with Rod Belding, Mr. Belding's brother from the infamous The Fabulous Belding Boys episode, but they believe Saved By the Bell to be a docu-series of sorts, and in the short debate whether Rod Belding actually got the flu or not when he ultimately abandoned Zack & co just before their white water rafting trip…



It was a pretty funny video, and ended up going viral, to the point where Ed Blatchford, who played Rod Belding, saw it and reached out to the guys, suggesting they make a sequel, and even said he'd star in it.

So… that's exactly what they did.

Ed and his family lived in Southern California at the time (and still do, as far as a I know - ha, we became Facebook friends in the wake of the shoot), so together they came up with the idea that, in the follow up, the guys would this time travel to LA to actually try and meet Rod (whom, again, they believe is real), in order discover once and for all whether "flu is true."

Knowing I live LA and work in the industry, the guys reached out, kept me updated, and asked me if I had any additional story ideas for the sequel. Well, on a whim, I basically suggested that, if they could somehow get Dennis Haskins to be in it as well, it would be hilarious if "Rod" befriends the guys, just like he did Zack and co, but ultimately bails on them the same way he did in the episode… only for Dennis Haskins to show up out of no where and save the day, essentially. They guys may have had some of that figured out already - I can't remember who came up with what, exactly - but the point is, I threw out the Dennis idea as a pipe dream, thinking nothing would actually come of it.

But then, a few weeks later, they excitedly hit me up with the news… they actually got Dennis to be in it.

Ed had worked some magic, got in contact with Dennis somehow (if I remember correctly, I think it was through Joel Murray, Bill Murray's brother, aka Freddy Rumsen on Mad Men), and Dennis agreed to give them a few hours of free work for one night.

So with that piece in place, the guys finished the script, all flew out to LA a couple months later, I picked a few of them up from the airport, and basically ended up tagging along most of the weekend, for a portion of the shoot. We shot part of it at Ed's house that Saturday afternoon, then, that night, shot Denis' and Ed's big scene in a nearby restaurant parking lot.

I didn't have an official role on the short, so they basically made me "script supervisor" for the Dennis/Ed scene. Mind you, I was a MASSIVE Saved by the Bell fan growing up. I saw every single episode, from Good Morning, Miss Bliss to Saved by the Bell: The College Years multiple times, knew so many scenes by heart, etc. So, at one point, when Dennis asked "Line?" in the middle of his and Ed's big scene, and as "script supervisor" I was the one to give it to him, I cannot begin to describe how surreal that moment was. Especially considering how memorable the Rod Belding episode was back in the day, and then there I was, smack dab in the middle of their reunion decades later.

Anyway, in 2010, the sequel went on to be a viral hit as well - more so than the first installment - and even played at the LA Comedy Festival, where the crowd loved it so much they ended up showing it twice, back-to-back. The guys even gave me a "Story By" credit for helping out, which I discovered as the credits rolled in the theater and the audience was eating it up.



Overall, it was just a great experience all around. All of this to say, Dennis could not have been nicer or more generous with his time that night. After we wrapped the scene, we all ended up eating at the same restaurant we shot at, Dennis joined us, and he was super cool/affable. It truly sucks that he's gone, and that he died at a relatively "young" 75 - I know he had some health issues later in life - but he definitely died knowing how beloved he was among my generation.

Great story, TC! I had never seen either of those short films but just watched them both. And look how cute you were back then!

My wife will be especially saddened by this news. I know she doesn't even know yet because I am just now finding out, and she would have for sure mentioned it to me.

When she was a Jr. or Sr. at the University of Texas around 2004-2005 somehow her and a group of friends ran into him somewhere downtown. They all began talking and hit it off and ended up hanging with him the rest of the night....just her and a few gf's, and 'Mr. Belding'. He was a HUGE celebrity in their minds, even if he thought of himself as 'washed up'.

She always described him a such a lovable kind guy who wanted everyone else to be happy and have a good time. He opened up to her with some of his troubles and struggles. He was divorced and single, and obviously his career never really took off like he had probably hoped it would. Similarly, her boyfriend had recently passed away unexpectedly in a very traumatic way, and he cared so much that he would check in via email every once in a while over the next few years...I believe he may have called her a time or two from California. He even called when he was back in Austin for some type of gig a yr or two later and they all hung out again and had a blast. Man she loved that guy. Same here, especially after hearing about how kind and supportive he was to my future-wife during a very difficult period in her life. Thank you sir! RIP

I'm a little old to have "grown up" with SBTB, but I'm a sucker for corny comedies, and I loved it. Watched it all the time, that and "California Dreams." Not sure if it was first run or in reruns ... for some reason I remember it as a Saturday morning staple?

Mr. Belding was a great character, and Haskins played him perfectly. He and Mr. Feeny made being a principal look cool.

That episode was so iconic, an indie film crew actually reunited Mr. Belding and Rod decades later, whose actor went on to become a top California real estate agent, just to recreate the legendary moment in a parking lot. https://t.co/u5IY239NyD pic.twitter.com/saeVesSgnA

— Anthony Maurizio (@MrTonyMaurizio) October 1, 2026