35 of the most shipped television couples
By Sundi Rose
Zack and Kelly – Saved By The Bell
What you need to know: Okay, okay. So maybe these are candidates for an actual ‘ship, since they spend most of the Saturday morning series in an actual relationship. However, there are a few moments, here and there, in which the show tried to make us think they’d actually broken up, and during those times, we were all heartsick.
This high school relationship was the formative model for a lot of folks my age, and watching these two try to figure out how to be in a couple is mesmerizing, although retroactively very cringe-inducing.
Why we ‘ship them so hard: NBC had to keep this couple in a very chaste and asexual space. Airing for kids far outside their intended demographic kept this relationship very G-rated. Maybe that is why we loved them so much — they’re a pristine example of young love, before things get all messy and complicated by sex.
Kelly Kapowski never has a pregnancy scare, and Zack Morris never has to be tested for an STD. Their biggest concerns are about themes for prom and how to make it to sports practice on time. That silliness still touches contemporary audiences, but by now, it’s probably just translated into nostalgia for a show couple that could never exist today.
How to watch it all unfold: I’ll do you a favor and warn you to skip right over those “Miss Bliss” years, and just go straight to the high school years. You can watch those years, the college years, and the wedding, not to mention their trip to Hawaii, on Hulu. The reboot streams on Peacock.
If you still haven’t gotten your fill, you can also watch the Lifetime unauthorized story about the goings on behind the cameras.