‘Saved by the Bell’ EP Peter Engel Remembers ‘Comedy Genius’ Dustin Diamond With a Smile

usmagazine.com:

Remembering the good times. Saved by the Bell executive producer Peter Engel can’t really talk about Dustin Diamond‘s time as Samuel “Screech” Powers without laughing — a feeling he’s holding onto following the actor’s Monday, February 1, death.“It’s heartbreaking.

It’s a sad, sad day,” the longtime producer told Us Weekly exclusively on Monday following the news that Diamond had lost his battle with stage IV cancer at age 44. “He was a comedy genius.”Engel met Diamond when the young star was only 11 years old — something Mark-Paul Gosselaar didn’t tell him at first because he wouldn’t have cast such a young actor.“Once that worked, we knew anything would work and that happened the first season,” Engel told Us on Monday. “People who know me