R.I.P. Dennis Haskins

It was reported last night that Dennis Haskins had passed away at 76.

For those that may not know who that is, Haskins played Principal Belding in every iteration of "Saved By The Bell". Dennis Haskins portrayal of Principal Belding held an important place in my life growing up. I adored "Saved By The Bell". It was, and still is for that matter, one of my favorite comfort shows. I used to get home from school as a kid and watch every episode when it was in syndication. I grew up with Zack, Kelly, Jesse, Lisa, AC, Screech and Mr Beliding. Hell, I remember watching it when Mrs Bliss taught at the school and the show took place in Indiana. I was all in. And an ever present character in the show was Mr Belding.

Mr Belding was your typical principal in any 90's tv show that took place inside a school. He was kind of a doofus who was way too involved with the main characters of the show. For so many different reasons, each more inexplicable as the last, Mr Belding would find himself caught up in the nonsense that the students had started. He was involved in so many wacky scenarios throughout the running of the series. Some that remember best are the white water rafting incident with his brother. Mr Belding wanted to do a hike, but his brother showed up to substitute, and he was cool and convinced the kids to go white water rafting. After the brother was found to be a lothario, and decided to bail on the kids, Mr Belding was there to still take the kids on the hike. I also recall when his wife had a baby in the elevator, with AC Slater present. There's the episode when the kids drive drunk and Mr Belding has a talk with them before and after they speak with their parents. One could never forget when he tried to wear a toupee, then Slater and Zack got in a massive fight, and the toupee fell off into the punch. He was almost too involved in these kids' lives. Hell, I cannot even remember any of my principals from school, but maybe that has to do with the fact that they didn't do anything nearly as memorable as Mr Belding. There was also his iconic laugh from the show. Anyone who watched knows exactly what I'm talking about. It was fast and loud and left an impression. I would do my version of it all the time growing up. I bet my parents grew to really dislike that laugh because I would do it all the time. I know that Dennis Haskins did some other work, most notably for me was his lone episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia". But he is always going to be Mr Belding to me.

With Haskins and Dustin Diamond both passing away during the 2020's, my two favorite characters from the show are now gone. I know Dustin Diamond had his issues, and the way the writers wrote Mr Belding was more than problematic, but those two never failed to make me laugh when I was a kid watching the show. I knew whenever I would tune in that one, or usually both, would make some solid jokes that I would retell later that day, or the next at school.

Mr Belding was most likely the first adult character on a show that made me see that older people needed to be listened to. I have always listened to my folks, but teachers and principals felt like it was optional when I was a kid. But then I started to watch "Saved By the Bell", and seeing how the kids reacted to Mr Belding kind of shifted my thinking. Sure, they would make fun of him, but in the end the kids almost always did what was asked of them by Mr Belding. He was an authority figure, but he also listened to the kids and took their ideas to heart. Mr Belding was also one of the first characters I saw on a kids show that they portrayed as cool when he was younger. The episode with the radio station, where they flashed back to when Mr Belding was the DJ, he was playing dope music, had long hair and some sweet ass facial hair. I saw that and thought, oh man, older people used to be young and cool too. It may sound weird, but Mr Belding was the first tv adult that really showed me some things that I still hold true to this day.

Dennis Haskins is going to be missed. We are lucky that we have many episodes of "Saved By The Bell" to watch and remember his legacy. Rest In Peace Dennis Haskins, aka Mr Belding. I hope you are spinning records and teaching lessons wherever you may be right now. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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