Mario Lopez Backs Tiffani Thiessen's Claim That "Saved by the Bell" Residuals Are Negative

Tiffani Thiessen recently told Page Six Radio that her“Saved by the Bell”residual checks are now negative because it costs more to print the check than the check is worth. Now Mario Lopez, her former co-star, is backing her up. The two starred on the hit’90s show as Kelly Kapowski and A.C. Slater, and their comments are shining a light on how little the young cast was paid compared to what the show was earning.

Mark-Paul Gosselaar said something similar back in 2019, calling the cast’s original deals“really bad.”A child star manager told Page Six that Lopez earned about $1,500 per episode early on, while the show was pulling in roughly $15 million in advertising by its second season in 1991. Thiessen added that she didn’t start making real money until she joined“Beverly Hills, 90210”in 1994.

Residuals are the payments actors receive when their work airs again, whether in reruns or on streaming. For many performers, those checks shrink over time, and in some cases, as Thiessen described, they can actually cost more to process than they’re worth. It’s a fairness question that goes way beyond Hollywood, and it’s got fans wondering how many other beloved shows left their stars behind.

What’s your take: should child stars get a bigger piece of the profits from hit shows?