Does anyone even remember Max from Saved by the Bell? The eccentric, wisdom-spewing cafe owner that would interact with the students from Bayside and perform magic tricks, anyone? If you don’t remember him it’s likely that you might not have watched the show or, like many others, you didn’t even notice his departure since after a while his whole gimmick just didn’t work. If Saved by the Bell had been a kids’ show then maybe the idea would have worked, but for teenagers, it was a bit dated and just didn’t mesh with the whole idea, after a short run in season 2, Max had to go. It’s not too hard to imagine why he wouldn’t be showing up in the return either since after decades of being off the show it’s not likely that the creative team was thinking of bringing him back on. While a person that’s there to give good life advice is usually something that’s needed in any show, the idea of someone that’s also there to perform quirky magic tricks is more than a little cringe-worthy and isn’t really what people are into. The sad fact is that characters like Max might get some attention and be thought of as intriguing at first, but if they don’t evolve with the show and end up being written in as the same person day in and day out, and aren’t entirely pertinent to the show, then it’s not likely that they’re going to last that long.
Looking at many a TV show one tends to realize that there are a lot of characters like Max that are there for one reason or another and tend to get noticed if they’re zany enough and are able to hang with the regular characters in a way that is both uplifting and impressive since they tend to steal the show every now and again. Unfortunately, some of them just aren’t well-liked by the audience and might not fit in that well according to the writers, so their stay on the show usually ends up being conditional, and any attempt to bring them back is typically a disaster waiting to happen, but there are exceptions. It won’t be happening this time around however since Max is well and gone and the character isn’t bound to come back unless the writers are allowed to have a free for all and invite back a number of innocuous characters that people may or may not remember depending on their level of fandom.
When it’s made public that two of the original cast members, Dustin Diamond and Lark Voorhies, won’t be coming back, then it’s a sure bet that someone like Ed Alonzo won’t be sent an invitation either. Dustin has unfortunately burnt a lot of bridges it sounds like, according to some sources, when it comes to his Saved costars, though he’s gone on to state that he didn’t write the tell-all book of what happened behind the scenes, stating that it was a ghostwriter that took what he said out of context. Unfortunately for Dustin, it’s hard to believe him since his attitude and behavior has made it clear that he’s not that desirable of a person when it comes to bringing him back into the fold. As for Lark, she was a bit distraught to realize that she wasn’t asked to come back, but there are a few issues in her life as well that prevented an easy transition into the continuation of the show. In Ed’s case, he hasn’t been on the show for years, so bringing him back at this point might just confuse a lot of people and make them wonder what in the world the writers are trying to do. It does sound as though he’s continued his magic act through the years and done fairly well. Unless there was a call for Max to come back, which is highly unlikely, we won’t be seeing him anytime soon. He’s one of the many characters that were there for a purpose, to begin with, and then became an interactive part of the background at best, a voice that would pop up whenever he was needed or when the writers had nothing else to do at that moment.
These types of characters aren’t saddening or pathetic in any way since a lot of times they’re needed and even desired by the fans since they can add depth and a bit of realism to the show. But unfortunately, their worth is bound up in just how often the characters interact with them and how many possible situations they can really be expected to influence. Max did his job while on screen, and he was a character that helped to shape how the show would eventually go in later episodes. But overall, he was obviously expendable.
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