Baywatch

Baywatch
Baywatch title screen
Genre	Drama/Action series
Created by	Michael Berk Douglas Schwartz Gregory J. Bonann
Starring	David Hasselhoff Pamela Anderson Yasmine Bleeth Alexandra Paul Parker Stevenson Michael Newman Jeremy Jackson David Chokachi Gena Lee Nolin Traci Bingham Erika Eleniak Carmen Electra Donna D'Errico David Charvet Nicole Eggert Brande Nicole Roderick Michael Bergin José Solano Mitzi Kapture et al.
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	243
Production
Running time	1 hour
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC (1989-1990) Syndicated (1991-2001)
Original run	September 22, 1989 – May 14, 2001

Baywatch was a popular American television series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the crowded beaches of Los Angeles County, California. The show ran from 1989 to 2001. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Baywatch is the most watched TV show in the world of all time, with over 1.1 billion viewers.

Gregory J. Bonann worked as a Los Angeles County lifeguard, and started up a motion picture project about lifeguards that eventually became Baywatch. Baywatch premiered on NBC in 1989, but was cancelled after only one season because of the high cost of producing it and low ratings. Feeling the series still had potential, David Hasselhoff revived it for the first-run syndication market in 1991, investing his own money and additionally functioning as executive producer. The show was hugely successful, especially internationally. The show led to a spin-off: Baywatch Nights and a reunion movie, Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding.

In 1999, an Australian version was planned and cast members travelled to Sydney for filming. The idea was to have the established stars appear in the pilot, interacting with a local life saving organisation, and thus help launch "Baywatch Downunder." A pilot was filmed but the series was stopped when residents of Avalon, a local village, put forth strong objections, including potential damage to a fragile ecosystem. Avalon council permanently barred all future filming, and the pilot remained unbroadcast for over a year, only to be panned by critics and viewers.

In Season 10, the location of the show was changed to Hawaii and the show's name was changed to Baywatch Hawaii.

Plot

The show starred David Hasselhoff, of Knight Rider fame, as Mitch Buchannon, who was the only mainstay on the show, besides Michael Newman, for 10 of the 11 seasons. Baywatch was centered around the work of a team of lifeguards and their interpersonal relationships, with plots usually centering on dangers related to beach and other activities pertinent to the California (later Hawaii) beach lifestyle. Everything from earthquakes to shark attacks to serial killers, and even nuclear bombs, served as plot conflicts on the show. Saving people from drowning tended to be one of the most typical situations used in the shows. Thus a trademark of the show was slow motion shots of the attractive lifeguards running, most notably done by Pamela Anderson, Yasmine Bleeth, Alexandra Paul, and David Charvet along with Hasselhoff during the height of the show.

After the 1997-1998 season, many cast members decided to leave as the writing staff for Baywatch began to recycle storylines used in earlier seasons.

Casting

Cast of Baywatch

Many different actors and actresses were featured on the show over its long run with most appearing for only a few seasons. Some of the other stars who became famous were Carmen Electra, Traci Bingham, Donna D'Errico, Nicole Eggert, David Chokachi, Gena Lee Nolin, Jaason Simmons, and Kelly Slater, a pro surfer, among many others. Erin Gray, former star of Silver Spoons and Buck Rogers, was among the cast.

The eleven seasons of the series dealt with a crew of tanned, muscular male and mostly large-breasted female lifeguards. It was one of the first network TV shows that featured frequent close-up shots of the large breasts.

Baywatch was most notable—some might say 'notorious'—for most of its female cast members dropping their lifeguard swimsuits for Playboy. Most of the female stars appeared in Playboy at the height of their fame on Baywatch, while Pamela Anderson and Carmen Electra had already appeared before joining the show. Yasmine Bleeth, who played lifeguard Caroline Holden, was at least one Baywatch actress who was offered $750,000.00 in 1998 to pose nude, but refused, vowing that she never would.

Cast members/characters

Main see Cast of Baywatch

Baywatch 1989-1998

David Hasselhoff as Mitch Buchannon

Pamela Anderson as C.J. Parker

• David Hasselhoff - Mitch Buchannon 1989-2000
• Michael Newman - Mike 'Newmie' Newman 1989-2001
• John Allen Nelson - John D. Cort 1989-1999
• Parker Stevenson - Craig Pomeroy 1989-1990, 1997-1999
• Gregory-Alan Williams - Garner Ellerbee 1989-1995
• Erika Eleniak - Shauni McClain 1989-1992
• Billy Warlock - Eddie Kramer (Baywatch) 1989-1992
• Brandon Call - Young Hobie Buchannon 1989-1990
• Jeremy Jackson - Hobie Buchannon 1991-1999
• Shawn Weatherly - Jill Riley 1989-1990
• Alexandra Paul - Stephanie Holden 1992-1997
• Pamela Anderson - C.J. Parker 1992-1997
• David Charvet - Matt Brody 1992-1995
• Nicole Eggert - Summer Quinn 1992-1994
• Monte Markham - Don Thorpe 1992
• Kelly Slater - Jimmy Slade 1992-1993
• Yasmine Bleeth - Caroline Holden 1994-1997
• Jaason Simmons - Logan Fowler 1994-1996
• Gena Lee Nolin - Neely Capshaw 1995-1998
• David Chokachi - Cody Madison 1995-1999
• Michael Bergin - J.D. Darius 1996-2001
• Traci Bingham - Jordan Tate 1996-1998
• Donna D'Errico - Donna Marko 1996-1998
• Kelly Packard - April Giminski 1997-1999
• Marliece Andrada - Skylar Bergman 1997-1998
• Angelica Bridges - Taylor Walsh 1997-1998
• Carmen Electra - Lani McKenzie 1997-1998
• Brooke Burns - Jessie Owens 1998-2000
• Mitzi Kapture- Alex Ryker 1998-1999

Baywatch Hawaii 1999-2001

The girls of Baywatch Hawaii.

• David Hasselhoff - Mitch Buchannon - 1999 - 2000
• Brooke Burns - Jessie Owens - 1999 - 2000
• Michael Bergin - J.D. Darius 1996-2001
• Jason Brooks - Sean Monroe 1999-2001
• Brandy Ledford - Dawn Masterson 1999-2000
• Simmone Jade Mackinnon - Allie Reese 1999-2000
• Jason Momoa - Jason Ioane 1999-2001
• Stacy Kamano - Kekoa Tanaka 1999-2001
• Krista Allen - Jenna Avid 2000-2001
• Charlie Brumbly - Zach McEwan 2000-2001
• Brande Roderick - Leigh Dyer 2000-2001

Theme song

Yasmine Bleeth as Caroline Holden

Gena Lee Nolin as Neely Capshaw

The original NBC theme was "Save Me," performed by Peter Cetera, with Bonnie Raitt on guitar and Richard Sterban, bass singer for The Oak Ridge Boys, as one of the background vocalists.

For the syndicated series, a new theme, "I'm Always Here," performed by Jimi Jamison, the one-time lead singer for the rock band Survivor, replaced "Save Me."

When the NBC episodes started to air five times a week with all the other syndicated episodes, the opening theme was changed to a shorter version of "I'm Always Here," with some images of the original NBC opening retained.

In 2006, remixes of the official Baywatch theme, "I'll Be Ready," were released as singles by Naughty Boy and Sunblock. The Naughty Boy version "Phat Beach (I'll Be Ready)" reached #36 on the UK Charts, while Sunblock's version "I'll Be Ready" entered the UK charts at number four a week later.

Also a highly popular version of "I'm Always Here," by Andrew Spencer feat. Pit Bailay was released in 2005/2006.

On the DVD edition of the first season, the original main title theme is replaced by the song "Strong enough", performed by Evan Olson (from his album Audio).

Crew members

• Anson Williams was a frequent director. Williams is best known for playing Warren "Potsie" Weber on Happy Days.

Episodes

Main article: List of Baywatch episodes

Theatrical release

In 2004, DreamWorks announced they had bought the rights to create a new theatrical Baywatch movie. Jessica Simpson was officially cast as C.J. Parker. The movie was slated for release in 2006 but it never materialized. There is no word on the future of the movie.

Movie cameos

• Pamela Anderson

DVD releases

USA: Seasons 2 and 3 were released on October 31, 2006. Each set features a Disc with Season 1 episodes on it. Fans will need to purchase Seasons 2-7 to complete Season 1, then they will be able to send away to First Look for a box to hold the 6 discs. These releases do not contain the original theme song they have been removed due to copyright agreements. On February 11 2007 Ashleigh Evan was named The Official Baywatch DVD Babe by voters at www.BaywatchOnDVD.com

Germany: Seasons 1 and 2 were released on 23 June, 2006. Seasons 3 and 4 were released on 25 August, 2006 and 6 October, 2006 respectively. Season 5 was released on the 1 December, 2006 and Season 6 was released on 2 February, 2007. These releases are presented exactly as they originally aired, albeit with German language credits.

International airings

Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding is a special made-for-TV movie with a reunion of the most notable characters of Baywatch show.

Baywatch was very popular in foreign markets and still airs in many today.

• Australia - Airs on FOX Classics.
• Austria - Aired on ORF
• Bulgaria - Previously aired on BNT Channel 1, currently on Diema Family
• Czech Republic - Aired on TV Nova.
• Canada - Airs on Drive-In Classics.
• Chile - Aired on Canal 13 and on Chilevisión.
• Croatia - Aired on HRT
• Denmark - Previously shown on TV3, currently on Kanal 5.
• Estonia - Airs on TV3.
• France - Airs on TF1.
• Germany - Airs on Premiere and Das Vierte.
• Greece - Aired on ANT1
• Hungary - Airs on Viasat 3 (Season 9) and on TV2 (Season 10).
• Indonesia - Airs on RCTI and Lativi.
• India - Airs on Star World.
• Ireland - Airs on UKTV G2.Originally aired on RTE and UTV.
• Italy - Airs on Italia 1.
• Lithuania - airs on BTV
• Latin America - Airs on FX.
• Malaysia- Previously aired on 8TV and Star World
• New Zealand - Previously shown on TV3, not currently airing.
• Norway - Previously aired on TV 2 and TV 3.
• Philippines - Previously aired on ABS-CBN, then on the Star World networks.
• Poland - Airs on Polsat, previously on TVP1.
• Portugal - Airs on TVI.
• Serbia - Previously aired on Pink TV.
• Slovakia - Aired on the public network Slovak Television in the early 1990s - first two seasons, then aired on TV Markiza with several re-runs.
• Slovenia - Previously aired on POP TV.
• Spain - Shown first run on Antena 3 and it's now being aired on Canal Sur.
• Sweden - Shown first run on TV3; has been repeated on TV4, ZTV and currently airs on TV4 Guld.
• UK - Currently airs on UKTV G2 (Season 8 currently). Most recently aired on UKTV Gold. Previously on Trouble TV. Originally aired on ITV.
• USA - Previously shown on Spike TV, not currently airing.