In the early 1990s, the programming wizards at NBC realized they might be leaving advertising dollars on the table by not providing teenagers with an entertaining Saturday morning bridge from cartoons to live-action sitcoms that reflected their environment in that sickly sitcom way. secondary school. lives. The only serious counter-programming threat in these hours was "Yo, MTV raps!", so for kids who were more into bubblegum pop than hard rhymes, there was a demand to go unfulfilled. And so the TNBC block was born.

TNBC's blockhead in its early prime was "Saved by the Bell." What started as a spinoff of Good Morning Miss Bliss — which started on NBC before moving to the Disney Channel — has become a Saturday morning mainstay for two kids who like to do a lot of nothing on their mornings out. from school. and hungover adults who knew better but still latched onto this mindlessly harmless riff on Beverly Hills 90210 (which we unanimously love). The series continued with minor stars from Marc Paul-Gosselaar, Mario Lopez, Lark Voorhees, Dustin Diamond, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen and Elizabeth Berkley (who did her best in Paul Verhoeven's spectacularly entertaining Showgirls), and spawned a college spinoff starring former Cleveland Browns quarterback Bob Golic. It also gave early exposure to a major sitcom star of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Don't remember how Leah Remini was on the original Saved by the Bell series? Dear reader, come with me on a trip down memory lane.

Remember the plot of Saved by the Bell Season 3 when Zach Morris (Gosselaar) and the gang all took summer jobs at the Malibu Sands beach resort run by Mr. Carosi (Ernie Sabella, best known as the voice of Pumbaa in 1994. The King Lion")? And remember when Zack fell head over heels in love with Mr. Carosi's sassy East Coast daughter, Stacey? It was the 21-year-old Remini.

Remini, a Brooklyn native, has already impressed on shows like Who's the Boss? and its short-lived spinoff Living Dolls before appearing as the tough Stacey. Seeing Zach's multiple love interests throughout the show's four seasons, she was easily his most formidable foil. The relationship came to an abrupt end when Stacy moved back east to school. Fans of the series will generally admit that the show has struggled to regain its punch in the wake of her absence.

Successful actors are often shy about discussing their early performances (usually because they were still honing their craft and had to take whatever gigs came their way), but Remini didn't hesitate to drop the Gosselaar's "Zack to the Future" Podcast in 2021 to recall her six-episode stint on Saved by the Bell.

Remini was initially terrified at the prospect of having to fit into the main ensemble. She was especially worried that she wouldn't be a Gosselaar/Zach type and thus disappoint the casting director. She was particularly intimidated by Gosselaar's on-again/off-again love interest on the show. As he told his former colleague:

“Tiffany-Amber Thiessen is so beautiful. She was like the Little Mermaid to me. And I was just amazed by her face. In awe of her face! Everyday when I showed up, I was like, “Agghhh! She is a little mermaid. "She's a little mermaid." I felt like a fat cow there. I felt old and ugly. "I was intimated by you guys."

Gosselaar assured Remini that she was an ideal on-screen partner for him. "There is an undeniable chemistry between you and me," he told her. "Those are real kisses." Because Tiffany and I have never had a kiss like we have in these six episodes. "There's not a single person that Zach comes in contact with, in my opinion, that has the chemistry that you and I had."

Hollywood is full of horror stories about actors who hate each otherso it's refreshing to learn that Remini and Gosselaar not only got along on set, but still have affection for each other to this day.

Remini quickly became a household name on television after her short run on Saved by the Bell. She played Carla's daughter, Serafina Tortelli in several episodes of "Cheers".and booked guest appearances on high-profile shows like Friends, Home Improvement, and NYPD Blue. Then, after one season on Sharon Lawrence's short-lived series Fired Up, Remini landed the role that would make her a true TV star: Carrie Heffernan, the wife of Kevin James' Doug Heffernan in The King of Queens. Over the course of nine seasons, Remini replaced entertaining pricks with comedic dynamos like James, Jerry Stiller (as her widowed father) and Patton Oswalt, and more than she had.

After The King of Queens ended its run in 2007, Remini joined The Talk, CBS' panel talk show answer to ABC's The View. After being fired from the show in 2011, she ended up in a very public feud with co-star Sharon Osbourne, who Remney claimed was fired (along with Holly Robinson-Pitt). Remini made a quick comeback with an appearance on season 17 of Dancing with the Stars, where she finished a respectable fifth place before later returning as a guest judge. Remini also teamed up with James again in 2017 for his CBS sitcom “Kevin Can Wait;” unfortunately, the second time wasn't the charm, as the show was canceled after two seasons.

While Remini has been busy on television appearing on shows like The Match Game, The Masked Singer and So You Think You Can Dance, she's made a much bigger impact as an anti-Scientology crusader through her 2015 memoir. Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology” and her Primetime Emmy Award-winning documentary series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.

Remini's battle against Scientology began in 2006 when, while attending the wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, she asked about the whereabouts of Shelly Miscavige, the wife of church leader David Miscavige. Although the LAPD quickly dismissed Remini's missing-person report regarding Shelley's well-being (she hasn't been seen in public since 2007), the performer has repeatedly come up against the notoriously controversial religion, which she claims vilified her the moment she started challenging her. the church. Despite the turbulence caused by her heroic openness, she managed to stay married to her husband Angelo Pagan, with whom she raised her daughter Sofia. In August 2024 she posted on Instagram that she and Angelo have amicably filed for divorce.