Wednesday night, Jimmy Fallon took a nostalgic trip back to Bayside Height to reunite the cast of the hit 90s TV show Saved by the Bell.
Fans in the audience applauded as Zach, Slater, Jesse, Kelly and even Mr. Belding made a rare appearance to pay homage to their glory days. Not surprisingly, the segment was a hit online as well, but people couldn’t help noticing that Lisa Turtle, played by Lark Voorhies, and Screech, played by Dustin Diamond, were both absent.
It has been confirmed that Diamond couldn’t make the airing because he’s currently facing prison time for knifing a man during a bar fight.
Now a publicist for Voorhies has told E! News that:
“Lark would have loved to be part of the Jimmy Fallon skit (as she is a big fan of the show), however due to an intense work schedule she was not available.”
This comes as a surprise given that, according to her iMDB page, the 40-year-old actress hasn’t had any film roles since 2012.
Everyone on the reunion looked great in spite of the twenty plus years since they’d originally been on the NBC sitcom. Some are speculating that the public backlash Voorhies has received over her (almost unrecognizable) appearance may also have led to her absence.
In 2013, Voorhies’ mother made claims that her daughter was suffering from bipolar disorder and that she was going through a personal crisis, but the actress quickly defended herself on several entertainment outlets, saying that her mother’s claims were “comical” and had “no relevance.”