‘Saved By The Bell’ True Story Movie To Debut On Lifetime

Saved By The Bell, Lifetime’s unauthorized movie is set to debut on September 1, 2014, according to CNN. Lifetime’s Saved By The Bell movie entitled The Unauthorized Saved By The Bell Story seeks to tell the true story of what life was really like for the teen stars behind the scenes, according to the Inquisitr.

Filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Saved By The Bell 2014 is produced by Front Street Pictures, according to Lifetime’s website. When plans for the movie were first announced, it was said that the movie was based on former cast member Dustin Diamond’s book Behind the Bell. It seems now that the network has distanced itself from the book.

The Unauthorized Saved By The Bell Story is directed by Jason Lapeyre and written by Ron McGee. It stars Sam Kindseth, Tiera Skoybye and Dylan Everett, according to Eonline.

The original Saved By The Bell television show aired for the first time on August 20, 1989 on NBC. The original cast included Dennis Haskins as Mr. Richard Belding, Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Zack Morris, Dustin Diamond as Samuel “Screech” Powers, Lark Voorhees as Lisa Turtle, Mario Lopez as A.C. Slater, Tiffani Thiessen as Kelly Kapowski, Elizabeth Berkley as the sultry Jessie Spano, Ed Alonzo as Max, Leah Remini as Stacey Carosi and Ernie Sabella as Mr. Carosi.

People Magazine featured the cast in a 2009 article which gave some updates on the cast 20 years later. That same year, former cast member Dustin Diamond wrote a tell-all book exposing the behind-the-scenes lives of his former fellow actors. The details in the book were salacious and embarrassing. In the book, Dustin Diamond made disparaging comments about Tiffani Thiessen and Elizabeth Berkley — suggesting that the girls were loose, while at the same time admitting that he had slept with 2,000 women. Fans of the show found Dustin’s comments about his former Saved By The Bell castmates cruel and unfair.

Dustin’s Saved By The Bell book also stated that Lark Voorhies was a woman with deep emotional and mental issues. In recent years, it has been stated that Voorhies suffers from Bipolar disorder. Many fans don’t refute his claims, but admit that the tone of the entire book seemed like a man who was bitter about not having attained the level of success as some of his former costars.

“It comes off as being written by a guy that is jealous of the stardom of others,” stated one fan.

“Dustin Diamond proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, who the biggest jerk is from the cast of Saved by the Bell. SPOILER ALERT: It’s him,” another fan stated.

The idea for the original show was based on an NBC exec’s school teacher who inspired the television show Good Morning, Miss Bliss, which later became the 1990s teen comedy show Saved By The Bell.