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TV TATTLE

Josie Totah is the secret weapon of Peacock's Saved by the Bell reboot

  • "One of the biggest gems among the countless streaming TV shows that have debuted in the past couple of years is the Saved by the Bell reboot," says Esther Zuckerman. "What at first seemed like a crass attempt to capitalize on millennial nostalgia for Peacock's launch, revealed itself to be something far more wonderful and stranger than that. The new Saved by the Bell, developed by Tracey Wigfield, is like a reflective commentary on the original as well as a successor to 30 Rock, where Wigfield cut her teeth, complete with viciously funny insider gags. (There's a joke at the expense of Joss Whedon in the second season that's absolutely devastating. James Corden should also be scared.) If the show has a secret weapon it's Josie Totah as the gloriously self-involved Lexi, a rich girl on her way to becoming slightly more vulnerable and less self-obsessed. Lexi wears dresses with eyeballs, and has her own reality show. She only wears heels because she has 'Barbie feet' and will tip over if she doesn't." Totah, who expanded her producing duties to become a writer on the show, says: "Lexi is just like always on 10. She's psychotic." Totah adds: "She is trans and we don't want to ignore that. Then we wouldn't be recognizing her, we would just be tokenizing her. She is also so many other things. This was just an episode to explore something that trans people deal with on a daily basis especially with the amount of traumatic things in our community. I'm glad that we got to comment on it in a way that is lighthearted. Episode 5 is a really funny episode in my opinion, and not just because I'm in most of it."

    TOPICS: Josie Totah, Peacock, Saved by the Bell