Zack Morris Is Trash

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About

Zack Morris Is Trash is an ongoing web series produced by Funny Or Die which recaps episodes of popular 90s American sitcom Saved By The Bell by recounting the various misadventures and malicious behavior of main character Zack Morris. The series, written and narrated by Dashiell Driscoll, has run five seasons, and its episodes regularly gain hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube.

History

Saved By The Bell ran for four seasons between 1989 and 1993.^[1] In the show, the main character is Zack Morris (portrayed by Mark Paul Gosselaar), a high school student who is usually scheming to avoid schoolwork, win dates, and make money. Often, the plot of an episode will be set in motion by Zack concocting a series of lies in order to pull off a plan.

On September 29th, 2017, Funny Or Die premiered Zack Morris Is Trash,^[2] a series that recaps episodes of the show by examining the appalling behavior of Morris and discusses how many of the misadventures of Morris and his friends could have been avoided if Morris was honest. The first episode of the series recaps a Saved By The Bell episode in which Morris lies about being Jewish to go to a baseball game, setting motion a series of mishaps that includes causing his friend Lisa to get into a car accident (shown below). It gained over 1.2 million views on Funny or Die and 870,000 views on YouTube.

Popular episodes include "The Time Zack Morris Narc'd On A Friendly Movie Star For Smoking Weed," which gained over 1.1 million views (shown below, left), and "The Time Zack Morris Told His Girlfriend's Little Sister To Hook Up With Him Twice," which gained over 1 million views (shown below, right).

Reception

The show has proven popular online with fans and critics. On Facebook,^[3] the series has over 404,000 followers. It has also been well reviewed by several pop culture blogs. Dave Weisberger wrote on Medium,^[4] "Through the benefit of hindsight and woke-ness, Zack Morris Is Trash exposes this seemingly innocent teen sitcom for what it is, the profile of a maniacal narcissist who vindictively manipulates his friends and family for personal gain." In The AV Club,^[5] writer Reid McCarter wrote, "All in all, the videos argue an alternate meaning for the show’s title, one that refers to the fact that the students of Bayside High were only kept from total ruin at Zack’s hands by the simple mercy of each school day coming to an end."

Mark-Paul Gosselaar, the actor who portrayed Zack Morris, acknowledged the show in a podcast with Anna Faris,^[6] said "If you really break it down, (Zack) did some really shitty things. And it's funny if you're a real true fan."