Pictures say it all about "Seinfeld" and "Saved by the Bell" reunions

Sometimes you just need to let pictures tell the story. And the following photos of two TV reunions in the making should cause fans of both shows to bust out some of Elaine Benes' patented dance moves in celebration.

First up is the HBO released promo pic of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" with the "Seinfeld" cast in tow. This is truly awesome for two reasons. Larry David's contributions to "Seinfeld" were largely ignored during the show's primetime peak because the ubiquitous cast of four -- Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards -- so dominated everything about the revolutionary NBC sitcom. It was only after "Curb" came out that viewers began to realize that George Costanza was basically a PG-rated version of the emotionally-stunted David. And that's saying something.

Two, it's just nice to see the entire cast together again (Louis-Dreyfus and Alexander were already part of a hilarious Season 2 "Curb" arc, Seinfeld made a brief cameo at the end of Season 4) and getting along, particularly since Richards is still dragging around baggage from that whole racist uproar a few years back. This should sweep all that bad karma away and finally force those so-called "Seinfeld" fanatics who've never watched "Curb" (it's on DVD, people!) to get on board with David's second classic show.

As for this one ... not gonna lie. The minute I saw this cover shot on Friday, I ran out to find the magazine so I could tear through it like the darn thing was a long lost copy of "Tiger Beat." But it's not on newsstands yet, so I'll just have to exhibit the Zen-like patience of the Bayside gang as they attempted to save the Max with an all-night radio telethon on KKTY.

Anyway, while Mark-Paul Gosselaar was playing up his Morris shtick on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (that video never gets old, people) it appears People magazine already had the "Saved by the Bell" crew ready for a reunion. It'll be fun to see what each has to say about their post-"SBTB" days, and I'm obviously not alone in noticing that a certain Samuel Powers is not present for the cover shot.

Mr. Belding, Tori and Maxwell Nerdstrom ... OK, you can probably make cases for them not being involved. But to not include the Screech-meister?

Well, as Gosselaar explains to Newsweek, you probably can't blame the more successful wing of Bayside High (yes, I know that Screech was valedictorian) for keeping a safe distance these past few years. Still, this feels somewhat deliberately incomplete, like the black sheep of the crew is officially the black sheep in real life. But I'll take it, if only because Maxwell Nerdstrom references don't fall into your lap every day.

UDPATE! UDPATE! While at the grocery store just now, I picked up a copy of People in the checkout lane. And frankly, I feel more disappointed than when Zack and the gang discovered that Rod Belding had ditched them on their class whitewater rafting trip. It's literally three paragraphs with trite observations like, "We totally had crushes on each other!" That's it. There are also a few posed photos of the Bayside crew and an update on what they're doing now. But nothing remotely comprehensive or "insider" ... not that I expected People magazine to deliver on that end. But c'mon. Jimmy Fallon totally needs to do a REAL reunion. The dude would actually have fun with it. Maybe even invite Big Pete along. Because quite honestly, this magazine spread would have been embarrassing for the cast of "California Dreams." Shame on you for getting my hopes up, People. Shame on you.

-- Thomas Rozwadowski, trozwado@greenbaypressgazette.com