Mario Lopez Says 'Saved by the Bell' Residual Checks Are 'Sometimes Less Than the Postage'

Mario Lopez just gave fans a reality check about life after a hit sitcom. In a new interview with the Daily Mail, the actor who played A.C. Slater said his“Saved by the Bell”residual checks are“sometimes less than the postage.”His comment backs up Tiffani Thiessen, who said in September that the show’s money had“dried up”and it now costs more to print the check than it pays out.

So why the tiny checks? Lopez thinks the Saturday-morning time slot is the culprit. The show aired on NBC on weekends rather than primetime, which meant the cast never reached“Friends”or“Seinfeld”levels of pay. Child star manager Denise Simon said Lopez started at around $1,500 an episode, even as the show brought in roughly $15 million in advertising after season two. Mark-Paul Gosselaar has also called the cast’s deals“really bad.”

The bright side? Lopez says the experience still gave him many of the opportunities he has today.“We made nothing and we just did our job,”Thiessen said, and honestly, that line says it all. So the checks are basically postage-sized, but the show’s legacy clearly isn’t. What’90s show would you have assumed made its cast millions?