Mark-Paul Gosselaar Explains Why “Saved by the Bell” Alums Forget Episodes from Over 30 Years Ago (Exclusive)

The star also revealed whether the original ‘Saved by the Bell’ cast members still hang out

• Mark-Paul Gosselaar exclusively told PEOPLE that he and his former Saved by the Bell castmates have a hard time remembering specific plot points from the ’90s teen sitcom
• “This, for us, was over 30 years ago. It was work, so I don’t think most people can remember their work days, but they’ll remember the lunch they had with a coworker ... And that’s how we remember our memories as well,” the actor explained
• Gosselaar played Zack Morris in ‘Saved by the Bell’ and the series' two sequels

If the teacher pops a test about what happened on any given Saved by the Bell episode, Mark-Paul Gosselaar knows he’s in a mess to answer.

The 51-year-old actor, who played Zack Morris in the ’90s teen sitcom and its two sequels, recently told PEOPLE that he and his original Saved by the Bell castmates have “a very limited memory” of details about specific episodes.

“I always thought that I had a bad memory about certain things,” Gosselaar recalled of a fan once talking about a plot from a season 3 episode titled “Mystery Weekend” from 1991. “It was about a murder mystery dinner or whatever. And I knew about it because of my podcast.”

“But Mario [Lopez] had no idea what this person was talking about — neither did Elizabeth [Berkley],” he added of his fellow alums, who played A.C. Slater and Jessie Spano. “I was pleased to know that they have a very limited memory of those events as well. I thought it was just me.”

The Found star then explained why they’ve forgotten certain plot points from the original Saved by the Bell, which ran for four seasons — totaling 86 episodes — from 1989 to 1993.

“This, for us, was over 30 years ago … It was work, so I don’t think most people can remember their work days, but they’ll remember the lunch they had with a coworker or they’ll remember going on a trip with a co-worker,” Gosselaar said. “And that’s how we remember our memories as well.”

“We remember the beach episodes, but not specifically the beach episode,” he elaborated. “We remember just that time or the filming — anything we did on location was like a treat for us. And so we remember those things. We have memories outside of being on set, but the actual episodes, it’s like we couldn’t tell you.”

The father of four also shared that the remaining alums still keep in touch. 

“We text each other all the time,” Gosselaar revealed. “People always ask, ‘Do you guys hang out?’ We don’t hang out because I live somewhere else, we all have schedules, we all have kids, but we always text.”

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“I’m not on social media, so I’m not able to see what everyone’s doing, but we feel like we’re family,” he continued. “You don’t have to talk to your brother or sister every day or every week or even every month, but the moment you do connect again, it’s like you haven’t skipped a beat, and that’s how we are. We’re very fortunate to have had a cast like that.”

Aside from castmates Lopez and Berkley, Saved by the Bell also starred Lark Voorhies, Tiffani Thiessen and Dustin Diamond as Zack Morris’ fellow classmates Lisa Turtle, Kelly Kapowski and Screech Powers.

Gosselaar, who is married to wife Catriona McGinn, can now be seen starring in NBC’s Found, which aired its season 2 finale on May 15. Seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on Peacock.