Why You Never Hear From Mark-Paul Gosselaar Anymore

In 1994, Morris and high school sweetheart Kelly Kapowski (Tiffani-Amber Thiessen) tied the knot via a made-for-TV movie titled Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas. Two years later, Gosselaar walked down the aisle in real life with model Lisa Ann Russell. Marriage takes a lot of work behind the scenes, and Gosselaar focused on his for 14 years. The couple had two children, Michael Charles and Ava Lorenn, before divorcing in 2011. We can't fault Gosselaar for focusing on his family instead of movies and TV, but we'd still like to believe that Morris and Kapowski are going strong in the land of make believe.

After Saved by the Bell, Gosselaar admitted that he struggled mightily to find steady work in show biz. He finally snagged a good opportunity as Detective John Clark Jr. in the popular TV cop drama NYPD Blue (1993-2005). Unfortunately, Gosselaar came aboard as the show was winding down. He talked about his pivotal four years on the program with TV Guide in 2005. "I used to take things for granted," he said. "I've been in this business for 26 years now, and a lot of things came at a very young age for me. [But] I wasn't working in my early twenties, and it made me realize how fortunate I was to be given a chance by [show creator] Steven Bochco. To be honest, it's not that anybody could look at my past and say, 'Oh, I've seen him do that; he can handle this.'"

Gosselaar's gratitude toward the cast and crew made filming his final scene extremely difficult. "I thought to myself, 'This may never happen again to me. These are some of the best people, crew and cast, that I've ever worked with,'" he told TV Guide. "I just wanted to hold on to it for myself because I was so happy the last four years. And then, of course, we still had to get through [that scene] because the actual ending of our show wasn't supposed to be a sad scene. But we were all fighting tears. It was tough."

When the credits rolled, Gosselaar found himself in another career slump, and that makes us fight tears too.

After NYPD Blue, Gosselaar jumped from working the streets to working the courtroom, landing a starring role alongside Breckin Meyer in the TNT dramedy Franklin & Bash (2011-2014). The show followed a quirky pair of ambulance-chasing lawyer buddies; Gosselaar played the brash Pete Bash. The new gig garnered mixed reviews and lost its case against cancellation after four seasons.

Gosselaar's career is still defined by his teenybopper days on Saved by the Bell, so reuniting with Bayside alums remains a recipe for a success. In May 2016, Gosselaar guest-starred on Theissen's Cooking Channel show, Dinner at Tiffani's. The high school sweethearts even paid homage to their '90s roots by wearing matching denim outfits. The reunion was actually a double date with their spouses, but it still gave fans a much requested dose of the good old days and offered Gosselaar some desperately needed exposure.

By the way, if all this talk about Zack and Kelly and food has you craving a milkshake from Max's, it's all right, 'cause a Saved by the Bell-themed diner called Saved by the Max opened in Chicago in 2016.