Mark-Paul Gosselaar Interview

Even if you don’t remember the name, you will remember the face. He has done several television movies. He starred in Commander in Chief, Saved By The Bell and NYPD Blue. Mark-Paul Gosselaar was a cutie as a child actor and is a hottie all grown up. We are about the same age. I am a couple of years older, but I have followed him since his time on Saved By The Bell.

I posted earlier in the week about the upcoming TNT’s Raising The Bar’s episode “No Child’s Left Behind” that airs Monday, June 29 at 10:00PM ET/PT. I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to interview him on a conference call with eleven other bloggers.

I found Mark-Paul to be very friendly and straight forward in response to some difficult questions. He is a very private person and doesn’t like to share his private life with the public. I can respect that. Being a celebrity makes you an easy target for the press and paparazzi. I applaud him for keeping his wife and children out of the public arena.

When asked by another blogger “What kind of limits would you suggest for parents?” (referring to posting pictures of their children on public social networking sites and blogs) he replied “I’d rather not judge other parenting” and “I don’t like to share the inner happenings of my household. I don’t know what’s wrong or right. We have to be aware.”

Another question he was asked was “What other episodes impacted you in a personal way?’ He replied by referring to an upcoming episode about a seven months pregnant woman that is arrested in a drug raid. The courts want to keep her in jail until the baby is born and take the baby away from her. In reality, it is her "human right" to do what she wants. Mark said that this episode affected him deeply. He also praised the show for the way it shows the “grayness of the criminal system.”

When I had a chance to ask Mark-Paul Gosselaar a question, most of my questions had already been asked. My son had given me a question to ask him, so I did. His question was “Do you know anyone with Autism and do you do anything to support Autism?”

Mark-Paul answered that “I think chances are pretty good that you know someone with Autism. We do.” He started to say more, but caught himself. I could tell he didn’t want to publicize the person he was referring to. I was fine with that. He also explained that he does a lot to support pediatric organizations and would “like to donate my time and resources to the cause.” Well, he stated this knowing it would be put on my blog. So, Autism Speaks or National Autism Society of America, here you go. If you don’t ask, I’m sure someone else will.

Thank you Mark-Paul and TNT for this opportunity. I really enjoyed the phone conference interview. I am sure I will being following Raising The Bar for many seasons to come.

Here are the posts by a couple of the other moms on the call:
http://sweeps4bloggers.blogspot.com/2009/06/tnt-raising-bar-mark-paul-gosselaar.html