If there’s one thing Mark-Paul Gosselaar should have realized from his years playing Zack Morris, it’s this: The hair makes the man. Unfortunately, it took a whole season of Raising the Bar before that lesson was learned.

In an interview with TV Guide, the 35-year-old explained the reasoning behind his public defender’s distracting stringy look. “It defined a characteristic of Jerry [Kellerman], that he’s not going to conform to a system. But this year, we had to evolve Jerry. He had to mature, he had to become more tactful. So we cut his hair. It’s down with a story in mind also with a client that he’s working with.”

But character development wasn’t the sole reason for the clipper action. “To be honest with you, it was a distraction,” Gosselaar admitted. “Hair was walking in before Jerry was. And that’s what people were commenting on. The show doesn’t need gimmicks like my hair. We never intended it to be a gimmick, but that’s what it evolved into.”

If Mark-Paul’s new ‘do makes the show easier to digest, make sure to check out Raising the Bar Monday nights @ 10:00 on TNT.