SAVED BY THE BELL: Kelly Kapowski vs. Stacey Carosi
I watch Saved by the Bell pretty frequently. It’s not that I’m obsessed or anything. It just happens to be on whenever I get ready for work. And since it’s a half-hour sitcom, I can usually see an entire episode before I have to leave, instead of watching 40 minutes of an hourlong drama, and then being left in angst.
Earlier this week, though, I was stuck getting ready for my day watching a clip show. This particular episode happened to be “Best Summer of my Life,” which recapped the group’s adventures at Jessie’s father’s wedding and working at Malibu Sands Beach Club.
Here’s the little thing about these episodes: Zack finds himself with some smokin’ ladies in each. The first is Kelly (which in the end, they decide they don’t really want a relationship) and the other is Stacey Carosi.
And as I’m watching these flashbacks, I just noticed one thing: Why would anyone want to date Stacey Carosi?
Stacey’s just no fun. She takes everything too seriously. She apologized once. Did they ever really show her having fun? Sure, she stuck up for Zack when the parties were double booked (among other things), but she was just really a tightass who just isn’t really fun to be around. That’s why, well, no one liked her.
Now, Kelly. Here’s our all American girl! Cheerleader, Homecoming Queen–heck, she even got a crown at Malibu Sands (and who wants to date Stacey, the loser who just assumes Zack is playing favorites instead of just being fair about the winner? Talk about jumping to conclusions).
Plus, and I know this is just an oddity in women, Kelly SMILES. We barely saw anything break that stoneface of Carosi. Perhaps she was more like her father than they wanted us to believe.
Sure, there are some flaws with Kelly. Zack and Kelly have baggage. She did cheat on him, though Stacey’s not all that much better since she had a boyfriend at home that made a surprise appearance.
I don’t know. I just never saw the appeal of Stacey. I guess if it were the Zack and Kelly show all those years, though, people would be turned off because it would be the “Zack and Kelly Show,” and Stacey was a lot better than Tori (oh man, Tori, that’s a whole ‘nother Recap Review), but eh.
Maybe it just works the other way around, too. Girls aren’t the only ones who have to kiss frogs.
Raked 
I couldn’t agree with you more! Stacey Carosi was never fun and you make a good point about her never smiling. Why did Zack like her anyway? Both Stacey and her father treated Zack like he was just some dumb surfer dude. 🙂
Kelly was clearly the better choice all along. Maybe Zack had a thing for girls who were mean to him at first (wasn’t Tori?). At least he ended up with the right one!!
I love that analysis, though it does ignore the fact that everyone knew that once the gang left the beach club, we would never see stacey again. Perhaps we can see the entire show, begining years, high school years, and college years as a trilogy, following the life of zack morris. If we do this, we see stacey as a point in his life where he learns dicipline and structure in a seemling non-structured or party environment, thus maturing the character. With stacet he learns the give and take of relationships, with her being so tight ass and not falling for his regular charm that has gotten him thus far. Anyway, stacey end up moving to new york and marrying kevin james, who sort of looks like mr. Carrosi. coincidence??