Baywatch: Difference between revisions
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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*[http://baywatchtv.multiply.com The Baywatch Blog] |
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*[http://www.baywatch.com Baywatch Official Site] |
*[http://www.baywatch.com Baywatch Official Site] |
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*[http://www.Baywatchondvd.com Baywatch DVD Promotional Website] |
*[http://www.Baywatchondvd.com Baywatch DVD Promotional Website] |
Revision as of 08:41, 13 February 2008
Baywatch | |
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File:Baywatch title.jpg | |
Genre | Drama Action series |
Created by | 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 |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 11 |
No. of episodes | 243 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers | Michael Berk Douglas Schwartz Gregory J. Bonann |
Production locations | California (1989-1999) Hawaii (1999-2001) |
Running time | 60 minutes (with commercials) |
Production companies | Pearson All-American Television The Baywatch Company Tower 12 Productions Tower 18 Production Company (1996-2001) |
Original release | |
Network | NBC (1989-1990) first-run syndication (1991-2001) |
Release | September 22 1989 – May 14 2001 |
Related | |
Baywatch Nights |
Baywatch is 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.[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.
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
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, 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 and characters
Baywatch 1989–1999
- David Hasselhoff – Mitch Buchannon (seasons 1–9)
- Parker Stevenson – Craig Pomeroy (season 1, recurring seasons 8–9)
- Shawn Weatherly – Jill Riley (season 1)
- Billy Warlock – Eddie Kramer (seasons 1–3)
- Erika Eleniak – Shauni McClain (seasons 1–3)
- Gregory Alan Williams – Garner Ellerbee (seasons 1–5)
- Peter Phelps – Trevor Cole (season 1)
- Brandon Call – Hobie Buchannon (season 1)
- Monte Markham – Don Thorpe (seasons 1–2)
- Holly Gagnier – Gina Pomeroy (season 1)
- John Allen Nelson – John D. Cort (season 1, recurring seasons 2, 4–5)
- Jeremy Jackson – Hobie Buchannon (seasons 2–9)
- Tom McTigue – Harvey Miller (season 2)
- Richard Jaeckel – Ben Edwards (season 2, recurring seasons 3–4)
- Pamela Anderson – C.J. Parker (seasons 3–7)
- Alexandra Paul – Stephanie Holden (seasons 3–7)
- David Charvet – Matt Brody (seasons 3–5, recurring season 6)
- Nicole Eggert – Summer Quinn (seasons 3–4)
- Kelly Slater – Jimmy Slade (season 3, recurring season 4)
- Yasmine Bleeth – Caroline Holden (seasons 5–7, recurring season 8)
- Jaason Simmons – Logan Fowler (seasons 5–6, recurring season 7)
- David Chokachi – Cody Madison (seasons 6–9)
- Gena Lee Nolin – Neely Capshaw (seasons 6–8)
- Michael Newman – Mike "Newmie" Newman (seasons 7–9, recurring seasons 1–6)
- Nancy Valen – Samantha Thomas (season 7)
- Jose Solano – Manny Gutierrez (seasons 7–8, recurring season 9)
- Donna D'Errico – Donna Marco (seasons 7–8)
- Traci Bingham – Jordan Tate (seasons 7–8)
- Michael Bergin – J.D. Darius (seasons 8–9)
- Carmen Electra – Lani McKenzie (season 8)
- Kelly Packard – April Giminski (seasons 8–9)
- Marliece Andrada – Skylar Bergman (season 8)
- Angelica Bridges – Taylor Walsh (season 8)
- Brooke Burns – Jessie Owens (season 9)
- Mitzi Kapture – Alex Ryker (season 9)
Baywatch Hawaii 1999–2001
- David Hasselhoff – Mitch Buchannon (season 1)
- Brooke Burns – Jessie Owens (season 1)
- Michael Bergin – J.D. Darius (seasons 1–2)
- Jason Brooks – Sean Monroe (seasons 1–2)
- Brandy Ledford – Dawn Masterson (season 1)
- Simmone Jade Mackinnon – Allie Reese (season 1)
- Jason Momoa – Jason Ioane (seasons 1–2)
- Stacy Kamano – Kekoa Tanaka (seasons 1–2)
- Krista Allen – Jenna Avid (season 2, recurring season 1)
- Charlie Brumbly – Zach McEwan (season 2)
- Brande Roderick – Leigh Dyer (season 2)
Theme song
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.
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).
An instrumental version of the song appears in the episode "Battles" of the UK television programme Spaced
Episodes
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. There is no word on the future of the movie. But Keeley Hazell numerous times has said in FHM Australia she is signed in to appear in a new baywatch movie.<fer>[www.fhm.com.au]</ref>
Movie cameos
- Pamela Anderson[4]
DVD releases
USA: The first three seasons have 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.[5] On February 11 2007 Ashleigh Evan was named The Official Baywatch DVD Babe by voters at www.BaywatchOnDVD.com.
Germany: Seasons 1 to 11 have been released. These releases are presented exactly as they originally aired, albeit with German language credits.
See also
- Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (Baywatch movie)
- Baywatch: Forbidden Paradise (Baywatch movie)
- Baywatch Nights (Baywatch spin-off)
- Son of the Beach (Baywatch parody)
References
External links
- The Baywatch Blog
- Baywatch Official Site
- Baywatch DVD Promotional Website
- Baywatch at IMDb
- Template:Tv.com show
- The Official Los Angeles City Lifeguard Website
- Baywatch
- 1989 television series debuts
- 2001 television series endings
- 1980s American television series
- 1990s American television series
- 2000s American television series
- Drama television series
- American television soap operas
- First-run syndicated television programs
- NBC network shows
- Television series by FremantleMedia
- Television shows set in California
- Television shows set in Hawaii