Saved By The Bell: 5 Best Couples (& 5 Worst)

The early ’90s brought fans a gem of a teen show in Saved By The Bell. TV fans watched Zack Morris and company grow up through high school and even into their college years. With all of that growing up came plenty of life lessons, but also a lot of relationships.

Amongst the main characters, there were a handful of relationships that ran through most of the show. Though fans likely remember those most clearly, they weren’t the only ones. Every main character had at least one other love interest outside of the group, but they never lasted long. Some relationships were clearly good for the characters and storylines, while others the show could have done without.

10 Best: Zack And Stacey

Of the characters in the series, Zack had the most love interests. He took every opportunity possible to date a new girl. Stacey was a summer romance for him.

When Zack and his friends got jobs at the Malibu Sands beach resort, Stacey Corosi and Zack initially butted heads. She was the owner’s daughter and used to getting exactly what she wanted. By the end of the story arc, however, they weren’t just allies, but in a relationship. They promised to write and visit after the summer, but the audience never saw her again.

9 Worst: Screech And Lisa

Lisa never actually dated Screech, but she did take him to a few school events because she felt bad for him. A person should never go the pity date route. The problem with this potential pairing isn’t entirely on Lisa’s end. It’s actually mostly Screech.

Screech continued to pursue Lisa all through high school, no matter how many times she told him she wasn’t interested. His attention was more stalker than friend, and Lisa couldn’t get away from him. While his interest was mostly played for laughs, it was creepy.

8 Best: Jessie And Slater

Some fans found Jessie and Slater to be too different to ever work and didn’t like watching them together. The duo, however, helped each other to be better people in high school. Jessie, a proud feminist and straight-A student, didn’t have a whole lot in common with a jock who was only interested in school when it suited him.

Slater’s continued use of “mama” to talk to Jessie started as a way to annoy her but became a term of endearment. She taught him about why his treatment of women needed to change, and he helped her cut loose once in a while. With the two appearing as married parents in the upcoming Saved By The Bell spinoff, the audience knows they found a way to work things out.

7 Worst: Zack And Tori

There is nothing wrong with Tori as a character. If her transplanting into Bayside had happened earlier in the series run, she would have been a great person to date Zack. The issue with Zack and Tori’s relationship is where it happens in the series.

Tori was added to the series when the network ordered additional episodes of the show after having already filmed the graduation episode. Elizabeth Berkley (Jessie) and Tiffani Thiessen (Kelly) were already contracted to other projects and couldn’t appear, so the writers brought in a new female character. By that point in the show, however, Kelly and Zack were in an exclusive relationship. Airing Tori’s episodes throughout the final season, with no mention of Kelly, made it seem like Zack was dating both of them without telling them.

6 Best: Zack And Lisa

There was a surprising pairing late in the Saved By The Bell game. In one episode, Lisa And Zack saw sparks fly. The two kissed a handful of times, but their potential relationship never really went anywhere. It made sense for Zack and Lisa to at least consider a relationship with all of the hormones flying and dating the show spotlighted.

Lisa was the only female character to transition from Good Morning, Miss Bliss to Saved By The Bell. The two already had history. They also had great chemistry. Zack and Lisa were the ones that got away. Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Lark Voorhies also dated on and off for three years during the time they starred in the shows, so that might have provided a bit of a conflict for the producers.

5 Worst: Lisa And Eric

When Jessie’s parents remarried (other people), her mother brought her a few new family members. One of those was a stepbrother named Eric. Eric was like the dark version of Zack Morris when he began his time at Bayside.

Eric routinely tricked and blackmailed all of Jessie’s friends, forced Screech to carry his things around, but also showed an interest in Lisa. The group devised a plan to get him in trouble with Mr. Belding in revenge, but it required Lisa to go out with him. Lisa would have you believe he was just misunderstood and lonely after spending one evening with him. By the end of the episode, he was trying to turn himself around, but the audience never saw him again, so who’s to say if he was really a good guy?

4 Best: Screech And Violet

There were only a handful of times in the series that Screech was able to be comfortable around girls – or show an interest in a girl that wasn’t Lisa. Tori Spelling joined the show for a brief arc as Violet, a fellow outsider who had the voice of an angel.

She and Screech got along academically and socially while she became a soloist for the glee club. Violet even introduced Screech to her snobby parents – and they accepted him. The two were able to be themselves around one another without creepily stalking each other or angering other suitors. Why didn’t the show keep Violet around?

3 Worst: Kelly And Jeff

When Kelly’s father lost his job in season two, she was forced to make a few changes to her lifestyle. Coming from a big family with several kids, Kelly decided she needed to pull her own weight so her parents didn’t have to provide things for her. Season three began with her working at the popular after school hangout The Max.

The Max had a new manager. It’s owner, aptly named Max, had vanished on the series. The new owner was a younger man named Jeff. Though he was significantly older than Kelly, he began hitting on her as soon as she started working for him. Kelly ended up leaving her boyfriend for Jeff, only to find out he was cheating on her. Yikes.

2 Best: Zack And Kelly

Despite Zack always looking for love, his relationship with Kelly was the mainstay of the series. He spent the first season crushing on her, the second season dating her, and the third trying to get her back. 

Zack initially had a crush on Kelly because she was pretty and sweet, but over the course of the series, the two became genuine friends. Kelly’s interests didn’t always line up with Zack’s scheming, but the two understood one another and had a great foundation for a relationship. They even got married in a movie special following the single season of Saved By The Bell: The College Years.

1 Worst: Kelly And Jeremiah

Because The College Years only lasted a single season, there weren’t a lot of particularly memorable couples for the show. One that called back to the original series, and one that fans hated, was that of Kelly and Jeremiah Lasky.

To everyone else, Jeremiah was Professor Lasky. He taught a cultural anthropology course that Kelly and most of her friends were taking. He took a special interest in Kelly that was reminiscent of Kelly’s relationship with Jeff in Saved By The Bell. It weirded fans out and got in the way of Kelly and Zack finding their way back to one another.

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