I Wish I Were Kelly Kapowski

Saved by the Bell has been off the air for years. Actually, almost two decades. But I still have those rainy (or let’s face it, sunny) days where all I want to do is watch TV and immerse myself in Bayside High. Like thousands of other little girls who actually watched the show when it aired on tv in the early 90s, I desperately wanted to be Kelly Kapowski. She had it all—beauty, a winning personality, popularity, and brains (or at least brains enough to be an average student). And she always had Zack and Slater and a slew of other boys fawning all over her. (For the record, Zack Morris all the way!) Years later, as I watch Kelly fall for Screech after their science tutoring sessions, or dance with Zack outside the school gym because she couldn’t afford to go to the prom, or tell everyone that her ideal future career is a housewife and mom, I find myself STILL wishing I could be Kelly Kapowski. Part of me is slightly offended that the character that everyone falls in love with or every girl wants to be isn’t a brainy feminist-leaning Jessi Spano. What kind of lesson were they teaching the children of the early 90s? But then I squash those dark thoughts away and embrace it: Kelly got to do almost everything you could fantasize about while growing up in white suburban America: dancing, singing, competing in beauty pageants, modeling abroad, going to college, and marrying your high school sweetheart. Plus, she landed Zack Morris.