Saved By The Bell: 10 Ways Kelly Got Worse And Worse

Tiffani Thiessen is now a successful cookbook author and host of a cooking show, and she rose to fame after starring as Kelly Kapowski on Saved by the Bell. She and Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) have a long-running romance, and she’s a model student and very cheerful person.

Kelly is with Zack on the reboot that will stream on Peacock, but before fans catch up with what this popular couple is up to these days, it’s interesting to take a look back at Kelly’s character on the original show. While she’s a sweetheart, there are a few strange things about her character arc.

10 She’s Boy Crazy Instead Of Having Interesting Personality Traits

Kelly and Zack’s romance lives on in the reboot, but this isn’t necessarily a great thing for Kelly.

Instead of having a ton of interesting personality traits, or having some hobbies and interests, she’s pretty boy crazy. This continues in the new episodes as it sounds like she’s mostly just there to be Zack’s wife and follow along with him. Lisa Turtle (Lark Voorhies) and Jessie Spano (Elizabeth Berkley) offer a bit more, as Lisa is into fashion and Jessie is a passionate student and activist.

9 She Always Makes Ditzy Comments

Instead of growing up and learning more about who she is and what she wants out of life, Kelly always makes ditzy comments.

For instance, when Slater (Mario Lopez) and Zack both want to date her, Kelly says, “Guys, this is hard. It’s like choosing between two great pieces of chocolate.” That’s definitely a strange thing to say and not all that funny. Unfortunately, Kelly never stops sounding ditzy as the series progresses.

8 She Keeps Becoming Romantically Interested In Older Guys

Kelly has a lot of inappropriate love interests, and she keeps getting worse because this keeps happening on the show. Although Kelly is easy to like, this is definitely a flaw with her character.

Kelly has a crush on Jeff Hunter (Patrick Muldoon), who is the manager of The Max and, therefore, her boss. Later, on Saved By The Bell: The College Years, she starts crushing on Jeremiah Lasky (Patrick Fabian), who is one of her teachers.

7 Her Love Story With Zack Is Inconsistent

Kelly’s relationship with Zack doesn’t always follow a straight line. She gets upset and frustrated with him for always looking at other girls and he even starts liking Bayside High’s nurse when they’re supposed to be together.

But Kelly will sometimes like someone else when she’s with Zack, like Jeff, for instance. If Kelly and Zack are supposed to have such a great love story, this wouldn’t happen.

6 She Doesn’t Always Stand Up For Herself

In the season three episode “No Hope With Dope,” the gang is in a commercial telling people not to do drugs, which is one of the most well-known storylines.

It turns out that the actor working with the students does drugs himself, and Zack tells Kelly that she shouldn’t be in the commercial anymore. This just proves that Kelly doesn’t always stand up for herself and often relies on other people, like Zack, to speak for her. Why doesn’t she take the lead in this situation?

5 She Doesn’t Always Talk Like A Teenager

It’s very important that teen characters sound authentic and real, and unfortunately, that stops being the case with Kelly as the show goes on. In one episode, Kelly says “You sound like you’re on thirtysomething,” which is a strange reference for her to make.

Would a teenage girl really reference a TV drama about people in their 30s? It doesn’t seem very likely.

4 She’s Supposed To Be A Good Student Yet Gets Detention

Even though Kelly is painted as a really good student, she seems to get detention quite a lot, which is confusing.

This shouldn’t have been the case, as Kelly should have been more of a contrast to her main love interest Zack, who definitely can’t help getting into trouble all the time. It was hard to buy that Kelly was a goody-two-shoes in some ways but would get in trouble, too.

3 She’s Supposedly Good At Everything Which Is Unrealistic

Kelly is supposed to be a perfect student, cheerleader, and even an athlete, too. She’s the object of every male’s affection and the kind of person who everyone wants to be best friends with. She can even sing and dance and work at The Max.

It’s unrealistic for someone to be good at everything, though, and instead of being inspiring and positive, it feels like yet another flaw with this character.

2 She Starts Acting Silly By Competing With Zack

Zack has a lot of jealousy surrounding Kelly’s relationship with Jeff, but Kelly is painted as a much more intelligent person than him. The show has many funny quotes, but it’s never funny to watch Kelly act just as silly as Zack does.

Unfortunately, she stoops to his level and plays the same game as him. The two characters try to make each other jealous at the beginning of the third season, and it doesn’t seem like something that a smart girl with a good head on her shoulders would do. Doesn’t she know that Zack is too immature for her?

1 She Isn’t In Many Season Four Episodes

Strangely, there are many episodes of Saved By The Bell‘s fourth season that Kelly doesn’t appear in at all. And Jessie is gone from these episodes, too.

The show’s best episodes are the ones with the whole gang as fans love seeing the characters hanging out together. It doesn’t seem right that Kelly wouldn’t be there for all of them, and it seems like a big mistake was made with her character.

About The Author

Aya Tsintziras
(1730 Articles Published)

Aya Tsintziras is a freelance writer who writes about pop culture and TV. She has a Political Science degree from the University of Toronto and a Masters of Journalism from Ryerson University. She loves coffee, reading, working out, and watching TV. She lives in Toronto with her husband.

More From Aya Tsintziras