Cloves and Fedoras: "Zack Morris is Trash" Delivers the Truth on One of Television's Greatest Monsters

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture.  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known.

I'm not big on watching TV or videos on my phone. The screen is too small, and unless it is about 5 minutes long or shorter, I am not interested. But, there is one particular shot clip show that I love watching on my phone, and that is Funny or Die's "Zack Morris is Trash".

Now, I used to love "Saved By the Bell". I watched it all the time with RD, and when he moved away, I watched it by myself. RD and I even went so far as to wear Zubazz pants and have a Screech Powers day, for which we were deservingly ridiculed by friends and family. I even listened to April Richardson's phenomenal podcast, "Go Bayside" two full times through the entire catalog. After listening to "Go Bayside", I decided that I wanted to give "Save By the Bell" another chance. Luckily for me, it was streaming on Netflix, and I was able to start watching the very next day. I did, and I was so disappointed in what I was watching. This show that I adored as a kid was truly, truly awful. There is not one redeeming thing about "Saved By the Bell". RD and I have argued about this on the podcast, but I feel like I am 100 percent right. The show is terribly acted, poorly written, horrifically directed, misogynistic and, almost always, pretty racist. Maybe my mind was turning on it just from listening to comedians I like destroy it on "Go Bayside", but still, the show is very bad.

One day I was scanning Facebook and I saw a new Funny or Die video entitled, "Zack Morris is Trash". I was immediately intrigued strictly by the title. I have always thought, and it was only further hammered home by April Richardson and her guests, that Zack Morris is a horrible person. He takes advantage of his friends, family, school mates, pretty much anyone he comes in contact with. He will also stop at nothing to get his way. He is like a big baby. And, when things don't go his way, he never learns his lesson. He just whines and complains and causes awful things to happen to the ones he is supposed to love, just to get his way. He is the quintessential narcissist.

Well, "Zack Morris is Trash" takes this narrative and runs with it. The narrator, who's name I don't know, but he is so great at his voice over job, takes several instances from past episodes to explain why Zack Morris is trash. Some examples from season one include how he took photos, unknowingly, of his female class mates and printed out calendars and sold them to other students. He then gets mad when a modeling rep sees one, tells Kelly that she can travel the world as a model, and she decides that she wants to do it, leaving Zack behind. He of course convinces Kelly that she will let everyone down if she leaves, and he thwarts her chance at stardom just so she will stay at Bayside with him. There is another one where he goes on a date with a girl in a wheelchair, unbeknownst to him until later, and how he takes it way, way too far. He starts a wheel chair basketball game at school for her. He complains that there is no handicap seating so loudly at a theater that he embarrasses the young lady. He makes a big speech about hos much she has overcome, once again embarrassing her, this time in front of the whole school. He clearly only cares about himself, and the "good deed" he thinks he is doing. Another great one with a "good deed" is when he helps out the homeless family in that god awful Christmas episode in the mall they did. That "Zack Morris is Trash" is more than worth your time. There is the Yom Kippur episode where Zack fakes being Jewish so he can go to a Dodgers game, then messes with Jesse's step brother and breaks Lisa's heart all in 22 short minutes.

There are so many more great mini episodes to watch from season one of this wonderful internet show. The narrator, as I said before, is amazing. He rips Zack Morris to shreds every time. He breaks down all the evil, maniacal and mean things he does to the people he is supposed to care about. The breakdowns at the very end are my absolute favorite part of the show. This is when the narrator quickly goes through all the bad stuff Zack did, reprimands him for it and shows sympathy for all the people that got hurt during his personal take downs.

The reason I bring this show up today is because season 2 just started. I of course watched the first episode, it was about the ski trip and teacher's strike from a later season. I'm so happy that this is back. I look forward to the new one coming out every week. I went back and watched all of season one after seeing the season 2 "premier". "Zack Morris is Trash" is the best internet show right now, hands down, and if you even watched just one single episode of "Saved By the Bell", "Zack Morris is Trash" is must see internet television. It is wonderful. Thank you Funny or Die, thank you so much for this wonderful show.

Watch "Zack Morris is Trash" right here.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Do you like "Zack Morris is Trash" Check out the great works creator Dashiell Driscoll on Funny or Die. Just watch the horror of recapping the "Mr. Belvedere" episode where a kid gets AIDS. You read that correctly.  

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