1. Zack Sells His Black Friend Into Sexual Slavery
(From "The Lisa Card") One of the few progressive things about Saved By The Bell was that, aside from most of her one-episode love interests being black, the Lisa Turtle character is pretty much written colorblind. Nowadays, it's seen as a badge of honor that Shonda Rhimes' hit shows like Grey's Anatomy and Scandal use colorblind casting, and in one case, it even enhanced a twist cliffhanger that would've been telegraphed on a show with more conventionally color coded casting. On Saved By The Bell, Lisa was written as a rich white girl, possibly Jewish, and Lark Voorhies got the part because she was the best actress for it. Obviously the aforementioned genealogy plot was an exception, but usually Lisa was not seen through the prism of color and it would be refreshing if it didn't introduce...problems. What happens in "The Lisa Card" would be creepy on its own: Lisa overspends on her parents' credit cards, needs money, and along the way, Zack not only sells her used underwear to her stalker Screech (amongst others), but he sells opportunities to kiss her without her knowledge. Guys just pop up and plant one on her after paying Zack. Lisa is one of Zack's oldest friends. And he does this. This isn't the only time anything like this happens: In the episode where Lisa and Zack hook up, Screech acts betrayed because his best friend is dating the girl he stalked. As if he felt he owned her.
Formerly the site manager of Cageside Seats and the WWE Team Leader at Bleacher Report, David Bixenspan has been writing professionally about WWE, UFC, and other pop culture since 2009. He's currently WhatCulture's U.S. Editor and also serves as the lead writer of Figure Four Weekly and a monthly contributor to Fighting Spirit Magazine.
