{"id":362840,"date":"2026-09-26T02:12:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T07:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/tiffani-thiessen-says-saved-by-the-bell-made-her-famous-but-not-rich-we-got-nothing"},"modified":"2026-09-26T02:12:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T07:12:28","slug":"tiffani-thiessen-says-saved-by-the-bell-made-her-famous-but-not-rich-we-got-nothing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/tiffani-thiessen-says-saved-by-the-bell-made-her-famous-but-not-rich-we-got-nothing","title":{"rendered":"Tiffani Thiessen Says \u2018Saved by the Bell\u2019 Made Her Well-known however Not Wealthy: \u2018We Bought Nothing\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"text\">\n<p><em>Saved by the Bell<\/em> turned Tiffani Thiessen into one of the most recognizable teen stars of the early 1990s. According to Thiessen, the paycheck did not come close to matching the fame.<\/p>\n<p>During a new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymotion.com\/video\/xbcrqf6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Page Six<\/a> Radio interview, Thiessen was asked whether the cast saw episodes before they aired. Her answer quickly moved from creative access to money. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have any pull on that show at all,\u201d she said. \u201cWe made nothing and we just did our job.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A few moments later, she explained that the cast earned \u201ca little bit more\u201d when the franchise moved into primetime and said she did not begin making what she considered \u201creal money\u201d until she joined <em>Beverly Hills, 90210<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/tiffani-thiessen-says-she-got-nothing-for-saved-by-the-bell-12139367\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">EW<\/a> noted that Thiessen\u2019s financial situation changed substantially when she moved from Kelly Kapowski to Valerie Malone in 1994. The conversation came while Thiessen was promoting <em>Coven Academy<\/em>, where she now works alongside a much younger cast.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>Thiessen Says the \u2018Saved by the Bell\u2019 Cast Had Almost No Leverage<\/h2>\n<p><noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tiffani Thiessen on Her Days on \u201cSaved by the Bell\u201d and \u201cBeverly Hills, 90210\u201d (2012)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iAGyaqIPbYk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>Thiessen joined <em>Saved by the Bell<\/em> as Kelly Kapowski while she was still a teenager. The NBC Saturday-morning comedy made Kelly, Zack Morris, A.C. Slater, Jessie Spano, Lisa Turtle and Screech fixtures of youth television, but Thiessen remembers the actors themselves having little influence over how the production operated.<\/p>\n<p>They did not receive advance cuts of episodes, she said, and simply watched the finished show when it aired. When one of the Page Six Radio hosts expressed surprise that the cast had not been earning major money, Thiessen answered more bluntly: \u201cOh no, we got nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe got a little bit more,\u201d Thiessen said. \u201cBut yeah, I didn\u2019t start making real money until I went to <em>90210<\/em>.\u201d Thiessen joined <em>Beverly Hills, 90210<\/em> in 1994 as Valerie Malone and remained part of the Fox drama for several seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>Her Costars Have Told a Similar Story About the Money<\/h2>\n<p>Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who played Zack Morris, said during a 2019 appearance on <em>Watch What Happens Live<\/em> that the cast had made \u201creally bad deals\u201d when the show was produced. \u201cPoor deals, back then,\u201d he said, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/entertainment\/mark-paul-gosselaar-says-saved-192554901.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yahoo<\/a>. \u201cIt is what it is. You move on, you learn. Great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A 2026 <em>Hollywood Demons<\/em> episode added more context to the economics of the series. Child-star manager Denise Simon said Mario Lopez had reported starting at roughly $1,500 per episode. The episode also said <em>Saved by the Bell<\/em> was generating approximately $15 million in advertising by 1991.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/saved-by-the-bell-cast-contracts-surprising-pay-11965749\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">PEOPLE<\/a> separately covered the documentary and its examination of the young cast\u2019s contracts, noting that actors on shows like this could have little negotiating power early in their careers.<\/p>\n<p>Thiessen also said her own residuals from playing Kelly have essentially disappeared. When the hosts brought up the tiny residual checks actors sometimes share online, Thiessen said she could relate. She joked that her <em>Saved by the Bell<\/em> payments have probably \u201cdried out\u201d to the point that printing the check might cost more than the amount itself.<\/p>\n<h2>Thiessen Says Young Actors Advocate for Themselves Differently Now<\/h2>\n<p>She said she admires younger actors for being more willing to advocate for themselves, ask for what they need and expect support when they speak up. Her own experience was very different. \u201cWe shut our mouths,\u201d Thiessen said during the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymotion.com\/video\/xbcrqf6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">interview<\/a>. \u201cWe were not allowed to talk back at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She emphasized that she was not saying every experience she had as a young performer was terrible.\u00a0Thiessen said she especially appreciates seeing younger women feel empowered to set boundaries in ways she did not always believe were available to her generation.<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018Coven Academy\u2019 Put Her Around a New Generation of Young Stars<\/h2>\n<p>Thiessen is seeing that generational difference firsthand on <em>Coven Academy<\/em>, where she plays Miss Graves, the formidable head of a supernatural school in New Orleans.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/press.disneyplus.com\/news\/disney-plus-coven-academy-teaser-trailer-premiere-date-key-art-announcement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Disney<\/a> lists Malina Pauli Weissman, Malachi Barton, Jordan Leftwich, Ora Duplass and Louis Thresher among the younger ensemble surrounding Thiessen, with Devon Sawa appearing as Mr. Cole.<\/p>\n<p>The series follows three teenage witches and their supernatural classmates at an elite magic school where romantic relationships, rivalries and an escalating threat collide. Thiessen and Sawa have also been promoting the show together. <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/video\/136680585\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ABC News<\/a> featured the pair discussing the new series ahead of its premiere.<\/p>\n<p>Thiessen told Page Six Radio that working with younger casts has become something she genuinely enjoys, adding that the exchange of advice goes in both directions. She said some of what she learns from them even helps her better understand her own teenage daughter. <em>Coven Academy<\/em> premieres Oct. 1 at 8 p.m. on Freeform. The full season arrives Oct. 2 on Disney+, Hulu and Freeform On Demand.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/wealthofgeeks.com\/tiffani-thiessen-says-saved-by-the-bell-made-her-famous-but-not-rich-we-got-nothing\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saved by the Bell turned Tiffani Thiessen into one of the most recognizable teen stars of the early 1990s. According to Thiessen, the paycheck did [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":362843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4557],"tags":[29118,38212,38211,1653,30835,38214,38213,2785,38215,408,38216],"class_list":["post-362840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing","tag-beverly-hills-90210","tag-coven-academy","tag-devon-sawa","tag-disney","tag-malachi-barton","tag-malina-pauli-weissman","tag-mario-lopez","tag-new-orleans","tag-paul-gosselaar","tag-supervisor","tag-tiffani-thiessen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362840"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":362842,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362840\/revisions\/362842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}