Baywatch
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Baywatch was an 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 1999 (and 1999-2001 as Baywatch Hawaii ). 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.[1]
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 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.
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[edit] 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 Erika Eleniak, Pamela Anderson, Yasmine Bleeth, Alexandra Paul, and David Charvet along with Hasselhoff during the height of the show.
After the 1998-1999 season, many cast members decided to leave as the writing staff for Baywatch began to recycle storylines used in earlier seasons.
[edit] Casting
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 Pamela Anderson, Yasmine Bleeth, Carmen Electra, Erika Eleniak, Donna D'Errico, Nicole Eggert, David Chokachi, Gena Lee Nolin, Sebastian Siegel, 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.
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 Erika Eleniak, 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.
[edit] Main Cast and characters
[edit] Baywatch 1989 - 1999
[edit] Baywatch Hawaii 1999–2001
| Actor | Character | Years starred on Baywatch |
|---|---|---|
| David Hasselhoff | Mitch Buchannon | 1989-2000 |
| Michael Bergin | J.D. Darius | 1997-2001 |
| Brooke Burns | Jessie Owens | 1998-2001 |
| 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 |
| Alicia Rickter | Carrie Sharp | 2000-2001 |
[edit] Theme song
The first theme song which accompanies the pilot episode and season one was "Above the Waterline" by Kim Carnes. 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).
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'll Be Ready" performed by Jimi Jamison (of Survivor) replaced "Save Me", although it is mistakenly attributed to the show's star David Hasselhoff.
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.
Daivd Hasselhoff sang "Current of Love" as the ending theme of seasons 2-4. Together with Laura Branigan he sang "I Believe" as the ending theme of season 5.
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 #4 a week later.
Also a highly popular version of "I'm Always Here," by Andrew Spencer feat. Pit Bailay was released in 2005/2006.
An instrumental version of the song appears in the episode "Battles" of the UK television programme Spaced.
[edit] Episodes
[edit] Theatrical release
In 2004, DreamWorks announced they had bought the rights to create a new theatrical Baywatch movie.[2] Jessica Simpson was officially cast as C.J. Parker.[3] The movie was slated for release in 2006 but it never materialized and there is no word on the future of the movie. However, Keeley Hazell has said numerous times in FHM Australia that she is contracted to appear in a new Baywatch movie.[4]
[edit] Movie cameos
- Pamela Anderson[5]
[edit] DVD releases
USA: In June 1999 a single disc DVD was released featuring two 2-part episodes from the show's original run (Nightmare Bay part 1 & 2 from Season 2, and River of No Return part 1 & 2 from Season 3). These episodes are absent from the U.S. box sets of their respective seasons mentioned below.
The first three seasons have since been released on DVD by First Look Studios. 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.[6] On February 11, 2007 Ashleigh Evan was named The Official Baywatch DVD Babe by voters at www.BaywatchOnDVD.com.
Australia: Seasons 1-4 have been released in collector's edition boxsets.
Germany: Seasons 1 to 11 have been released. These releases are presented exactly as they originally aired, albeit with German language credits.
Sweden: Seasons 1-3 have been released.
Italy: Seasons 1, 5 and 6 have been released by Sony pictures HE.
[edit] See also
- Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (Baywatch movie)
- Baywatch: Forbidden Paradise (Baywatch movie)
- Baywatch Nights (Baywatch spin-off)
- Son of the Beach (Baywatch parody). A satirical term sometimes used in connection with the series is "Babewatch", taken up by Mad Magazine, commentators [7], as well as a series of adult films with crossover characters which ran up between 1994-1999 to become a tridecology.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Baywatch Official Site
- Baywatch TV | The Ultimate source
- Baywatch at the Internet Movie Database
- Baywatch at TV.com
- The Official Los Angeles City Lifeguard Website
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