Dustin's Diamond Doesn't Shine

Back in the early 90s, Dustin Diamond was a cast member of the hit Saturday morning show Saved by the Bell as the nerdy Samuel "Screech" Powers. Since then he has been missing in action while his costars have achieved success after graduating from Bayside High. Now at the age of 32, Dustin is releasing a book titled Behind the Bell which gives some steamy yet hard to believe details about what was going on behind the scenes with the cast.

Us Weekly has recently published an excerpt of his book in their magazine (on news stands now) where he states that Mark-Paul Gosselar, before the start of Saved by the Bell: The College Years, used steroids. "He suddenly exploded with manliness, loading 25 pounds of muscle on his once-scrawny frame in, oh, about a month," he says. Believe it or not it is possible for a guy to bulk up in a month, it all depends on his metabolism and what kind of supplements he takes. Mark wasn't with Dustin 24/7; just because he was a beanpole for most of the show's run doesn't mean Mark is supposed to be the same way. If memory serves, Mark gradually gained some weight over the years.

He's also claiming that Tiffani Theissen used guys to further her career, Mario Lopez was a serial womanizer and the costars would hook up if their characters were written that way. TV Guide reported that Diamond said "I could smell a certain 'smoke,' wafting from the crack" from under his castmates' dressing rooms.

Behind the Bell is nothing more than another desperate attempt to get attention because obviously no one is knocking on his door to work with him. The most people can remember Dustin doing was a cameo in Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star with David Spade and being a contestant on VH1's Celebrity Fit Club. Who could forget the considerably comical sex tape (Screeched) he released on his own in 2006? Fortunately this writer didn't view it; there's not enough weed in the world for that. Just because it worked for Pam, Paris and Kim doesn't mean it's gonna work for you - Screech.

Dustin hasn't been close with his old 'high school' friends for some time now which is a good thing - for them. Seems like this is a way for him to express his jealously of the continued work everyone else has obtained.

Let's do a run down on the Saved by the Bell Alums:

Tiffani Theissen (Kelly Kapowski) - After the show she went on to be the new bad girl on Beverly Hills, 90210 as Valerie Malone (her best friend Jennie Garth played Kelly Taylor). That opportunity opened doors for her to move to made for TV movies and featured films like The Ladies Man with Tim Meadows and From Dusk Till Dawn2: Texas Blood Money with Robert Patrick. Later this month she'll be starring with Tim DeKay (HBO's Carnivàle) in White Collar on the USA Network.

Elizabeth Berkley (Jessie Spano) - Bayside's former straight-A feminist made an eye-popping impression with her leading role in the cult classic film Showgirls with Gina Gershon. She also appeared alongside Al Pacino in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday. Married to Ralph Lauren's nephew Greg since 2003, Berkley starred in the indie film Roger Dodger and the Showtime hit series the L word with best friend Jennifer Beals.

Mario Lopez (A. C. Slater) - He started acting as a cast member of Kids Incorporated with Fergie and Jennifer Love Hewitt before joining the cast of Bell. He made his transition from child actor to adult actor portraying the Olympian Greg Louganis in the biopic film Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story; soon after he joined the cast of Pacific Blue on the USA network. After a series of guest appearances on various shows like Eve and Nip/Tuck he was a contestant of ABC's Dancing with the Stars in 2006 coming second to NFL player Emmitt Smith. In 2008 he made his Broadway debut as Zach in A Chorus Line. He's now hosting America's Best Dance Crew on MTV.

Lark Voorhies (Lisa Turtle) - The school's fashion princess graduated to soap operas Days of Our Lives on NBC and The Bold and the Beautiful on CBS. She also made the move to feature films like How to Be a Player with Bill Bellamy and How High with Method Man and Redman. She runs Lark Voorhies Productions and Voorhies Management, Inc. and is working on a couple of film projects.

Mark-Paul Gosselar (Zack Morris) - Acting since the age of 12, Gosselar has been able to maintain a steady career. After his film debut in Dead Man on Campus and a couple of failed television series he bounced back as Detective John Clark in Steven Bochco's NYPD Blue on ABC. He teamed up again with Bochco to star on TNT's Raising the Bar as Defense Attorney Jerry Kellerman.

As you can very well see, everyone is doing well for themselves. So of course it would raise the question as to what happened to Dustin. He has filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and went as far as to sell t-shirts for $15 each with the words "I paid 15 dollars to help Screeech save his house" on the front; the extra "e" was added because legally he didn't own the name. He's now a stand up comic performing in comedy clubs around the country; anything to keep his face out there.

Again, Dustin is at the point of desperation with the publication of Behind the Bell. What reason other than plain jealousy to go to this extreme? It's such a shame to stoop so low. The sad thing is that in this day and age it could turn out to be a best seller, ask Sarah Palin.