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Everything about Baywatch totally explained

Baywatch is 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 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, .
   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, Yasmine Bleeth, Carmen Electra, Erika Eleniak, 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

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)
  • Brian L. Keaulana - Brian Keaulana (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 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's 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 sings "Current of Love" as the ending theme in some seasons.
       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.

    Episodes

    Theatrical release

    In 2004, DreamWorks announced they'd 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 and there's no word on the future of the movie. However, Keeley Hazell has said numerous times in FHM Australia that she's contracted to appear in a new Baywatch movie.

    Movie cameos

  • Pamela Anderson

    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 that'll be able to send away to First Look for a box to hold the 6 discs. These releases don't contain the original theme song they've 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 to 11 have been released. These releases are presented exactly as they originally aired, albeit with German language credits. Sweden: Seasons 1-2 have been released.

    Further Information

    Get more info on 'Baywatch'.


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