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| Baywatch | |
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| Also known as | Baywatch: Hawaii |
| Genre | |
| Created by | |
| Starring | Notable cast: Others:
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| Theme music composer | |
| Opening theme |
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| Ending theme |
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| Composers | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 11 |
| No. of episodes | 241(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Production locations | |
| Running time | 37–47 minutes |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | NBC[3] |
| Release | September 22, 1989 (1989-09-22) – April 6, 1990 (1990-04-06) |
| Network | Syndication |
| Release | September 23, 1991 (1991-09-23) – May 14, 2001 (2001-05-14) |
| Related | |
| Baywatch Nights | |
Baywatch is an Americandrama television series aboutlifeguards who patrol thebeaches ofLos Angeles County, California, andHawaii, starringDavid Hasselhoff. It was created byMichael Berk,Douglas Schwartz, andGregory J. Bonann, who produced the show throughout its 11-season run. The series focuses on both professional and personal challenges faced by the characters, portrayed by a large rotatingensemble cast that includesPamela Anderson,Alexandra Paul,Gregory Alan Williams,Jeremy Jackson,Parker Stevenson,David Chokachi,Billy Warlock,Erika Eleniak,David Charvet,Yasmine Bleeth, andNicole Eggert.
The show was canceled after its first season onNBC, but survived throughsyndication and later became the most-watched television series in the world, with a weekly audience of over 1.1 billion viewers[4] despite consistently negative critical reviews,[5] earning it a reputation as a pop cultural phenomenon and frequent source of allusion and parody.[6] The show ran in its original title and format from 1989 to 1999. From 1999 to 2001, with a setting change and large cast overhaul, it was known asBaywatch: Hawaii.
It spawned a spin-off series,Baywatch Nights, which aired for two seasons from 1995 to 1997, and a 2017feature film adaptation.
Baywatch revolves around the work of a team of lifeguards and theirinterpersonal relationships, with plots usually centering on dangers related to the beach and other activities pertinent to the California (later Hawaii) beach lifestyle. Saving people from drowning is one of the most typical situations used in the show, but a range of other topics, such asearthquakes,shark attacks and serial killers, serve as plot conflicts on the show.
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | Network | |||
| Pilot | April 23, 1989 (1989-04-23) | NBC | |||
| 1 | 21 | September 22, 1989 (1989-09-22) | April 6, 1990 (1990-04-06) | ||
| 2 | 22 | September 23, 1991 (1991-09-23) | May 18, 1992 (1992-05-18) | Syndication | |
| 3 | 22 | September 14, 1992 (1992-09-14) | May 10, 1993 (1993-05-10) | ||
| 4 | 22 | September 20, 1993 (1993-09-20) | May 16, 1994 (1994-05-16) | ||
| 5 | 22 | September 26, 1994 (1994-09-26) | May 22, 1995 (1995-05-22) | ||
| 6 | 22 | September 25, 1995 (1995-09-25) | May 13, 1996 (1996-05-13) | ||
| 7 | 22 | September 23, 1996 (1996-09-23) | May 12, 1997 (1997-05-12) | ||
| 8 | 22 | September 22, 1997 (1997-09-22) | May 18, 1998 (1998-05-18) | ||
| 9 | 22 | September 21, 1998 (1998-09-21) | May 17, 1999 (1999-05-17) | ||
| 10 | 22 | September 20, 1999 (1999-09-20) | May 15, 2000 (2000-05-15) | ||
| 11 | 22 | October 2, 2000 (2000-10-02) | May 14, 2001 (2001-05-14) | ||
| Reunion | February 28, 2003 (2003-02-28) | Fox | |||
Baywatch is noted for its largeensemble cast with various members "rotating" in-and-out of the show, similarly to many long-runningsoap operas. By the end of the 11-season run, not a single member of the original cast was still in the cast. David Hasselhoff appeared in the most episodes (totaling 206 including the pilot), followed by Jeremy Jackson (117), Michael Newman (109), and Pamela Anderson (77).
Following theHawaii retool, many of the series' longtime cast members left the show. The only remaining cast members were David Hasselhoff, Brooke Burns, Michael Bergin, and Michael Newman. Following the 10th season, Hasselhoff and Newman both left the series, leaving Bergin and Burns the only remnants of the show's original "L.A. era".
The idea ofBaywatch came about whenGregory J. Bonann, the creator of the show, was on duty as a lifeguard and saved two children of anMTM studio employee named Stu Erwin.[7] Bonann originally called the showAquatic Corps for Emergency Service (ACES), but later changed it toBaywatch, the name of rescue boats that patrolled Santa Monica Bay.[7] TheBaywatch logo was created by Bonann's lifeguard friend John Johnson.[7]
Baywatch debuted on NBC in 1989, but was canceled after only one season,[8] when it placed 73rd out of 103 shows in the seasonal ratings, and also because the production studio, GTG (a joint venture of television station ownerGannett Company andGrant Tinker) went out of business.[5] Due to high production costs, GTG was unable to finance the series any further.[9]
Feeling the series still had potential,David Hasselhoff, one of the principal actors, along with creators and executive producersMichael Berk,Douglas Schwartz, and Bonann, revived it for the first-runsyndication market in 1991. Hasselhoff was given the title of executive producer for his work on bringing the show back. The series was hugely successful, especially internationally.[10][11] In theUnited Kingdom for the week ending February 28, 1990 the series reached an audience of 12.85 million, and it had been sold toCanada,Germany,the Netherlands,Finland,Hong Kong,Greece,Turkey,Singapore,Australia,New Zealand,Argentina,Mexico,Bolivia,Peru,Chile,Panama,Guatemala and thePhilippines.[12]
The popularity ofBaywatch led to aspin-off,Baywatch Nights,[13] and three direct-to-video films:[14]Baywatch the Movie: Forbidden Paradise,Baywatch: White Thunder at Glacier Bay, andBaywatch: Hawaiian Wedding.
The audience was 65 percent female,[7][15] with its number one audience being women aged 18 to 34. Speaking in 2001, Schwartz explained that, after doing focus groups onBaywatch for about five years, they learned that the show appealed to this demographic because "most of [its] lead characters were strong, independent women who were heroic, who were saving lives, who were equal to men".[16][17]
In 2018,FremantleMedia International, working withWarner Bros. and Illuminate, remasteredBaywatch from its original35 mm film tohigh-definition, and redistributed the series to broadcasters.[18]
Will Rogers State Beach served as the predominant beach location forBaywatch, although some scenes were filmed atLong Beach, California, and inMalibu, California.[2]
The originalNBC theme was "Save Me", performed byPeter Cetera, withBonnie Raitt on guitar and Richard Sterban, the bass singer forThe Oak Ridge Boys, as one of the background vocalists.[7] From the second season onwards after syndication the theme "I'm Always Here" byJimi Jamison was used to save costs on royalties and is the most popular theme for the series.[7]David Hasselhoff also recorded a duet withLaura Branigan which was hugely successful for being broadcast as the closing track of theBaywatch TV series. The singleI Believe was originally released on CD album in 1994.[19]
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In 1999, with production costs rising in Los Angeles, and the syndication market shrinking, the producers sought to move the production elsewhere. They filmed a pilot and announced plans to title the showBaywatch: Down Under. However, strong local opposition from residents ofAvalon Beach, New South Wales eventually led toPittwater Council, the local government area of which Avalon was part of, to permanently ban future production.[20][21] As an alternative to Australia,Hawaii offered the producers large financial incentives to move the show to the islands, instead, and in season 10,Baywatch: Hawaii was launched.[citation needed]
Baywatch filmed for two seasons in Hawaii, from 1999 until 2001.April Masini, a newspaper advice columnist, pitched the move to executive producerGregory J. Bonann. The agreement mandated the addition of the subtitle, changing the title toBaywatch: Hawaii, as well as the hiring of local production crew, filming on-location for at least two years, and producing 44 episodes, each at a cost of about US$870,000 (climbing up to $1.1 million), 60% of which was to be spent in Hawaii.[22][23] The series was canceled due to poor ratings.[24][25]
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First Look Studios released the first three seasons on DVD in 2006/2007. Although the box sets are labeled "Season 1", "Season 2", etc., the sets actually feature episodes of thefollowing season (i.e., the "Season 1" box set contains the episodes of the literalsecond season (1991–1992) of the show). The second and third sets were released on October 31, 2006. Each set features a disc withseason 1 (NBC) episodes on it. These releases also do not contain any of the original music as it appeared when the episodes aired. They have been removed, including the opening title themes, due to copyright agreements.[28] However, these releases have been discontinued and are now out of print.
In August 2018,Deadline Hollywood reported thatFremantle was "remastering" the series in high definition.[29] However, Baywatch had been edited on tape, not film. This meant that the existing cuts of the episodes were impossible to release in high definition, and the "remasters" are in fact re-creations, and not always shot-for-shot accurate. The "remastered" episodes also changed theaspect ratio to 16:9 widescreen, resulting in some shots having a widerfield of view but other shots having a narrower one. The "remastered" series was released onAmazon Prime Video andHulu in HD andPluto TV in 2019. Due to expired licenses for much of the show's musical soundtrack, many of the show's episodes are either cut to remove songs, or re-scored and re-edited with new "soundalike" tracks that were selected under the advice of the show's original co-composerCory Lerios. The popular "I'm Always Here" theme song is kept in the "remastered" series, re-edited into the season 1 episodes.[29] Visual Entertainment Incorporated released seasons 1–9 on DVD for the first time in the United States on May 3, 2021, with a Blu-ray release on May 21.[30]
The show is the subject of a running gag onFriends, whereChandler andJoey would watchBaywatch together religiously, including over the phone when Joey was living in another apartment. Among other related jokes, Chandler names their pet chicken afterYasmine Bleeth (though the bird turns out to be male) due to a long-standing crush on the actress. This was largely a joke about Chandler's actor,Matthew Perry, who dated Bleeth in 1995.
Many actors from the series have become closely associated with their roles.David Hasselhoff has often referenced or satirized his role as Mitch Buchannon, notably inThe SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, in which despite distinctly playing himself, he appears in lifeguard attire similar to Mitch, runs across a beach in slow-motion, and displays superhuman swimming abilities similar to Mitch's own feats of athleticism.
Babewatch is asatirical term sometimes used in connection with the series, which has been used by the humor magazineMad and by television commentators.[31] The term was also used for a series ofpornographic films released between 1994-99.
Baywatch is prominently featured in the 2006 mockumentary filmBorat in which the characterBorat Sagdiyev, a Kazakh journalist with a misconstrued understanding of American customs and pop culture, becomes obsessed withPamela Anderson after seeing her in an episode of the series (which he believes to be a documentary) and travels to the US in a failed attempt to court her and later attempts to abduct her. In a deleted scene, Borat creates a pilot episode of a Kazakh remake ofBaywatch entitledSexydrownwatch, which features "I'm Always Here" andAlexandra Paul reprising her role as Stephanie.
The red swimsuits that the actresses wore in the series have become iconic.[32] The suits were custom-fitted for each actress; Alexandra Paul wore a suit with a higher neckline while shorter cast members wore suits with higher cut legs to give the illusion of height.[33]
"Baywatch running" refers to the show's numerous scenes, particularly in the opening credits, of its cast running across the beach inslow motion, usually wearing distinctive red lifeguard gear. The trope is closely associated with the show and often referenced directly in parodies.[34]
ABaywatch movie was first announced in 2004, although the movie became stuck indevelopment hell over the years, with several writers penning drafts.[35] A movie was eventually released byParamount Pictures in 2017 starringDwayne Johnson andZac Efron. The story follows lifeguardMitch Buchannon and his team who must take down a drug lord in an effort to save their beach. It was a commercial success, grossing $177.9 million worldwide on a $65–69 million budget, but received negative reviews from critics.[36][37][38]Baywatch received five nominations at the38th Golden Raspberry Awards, includingWorst Picture andWorst Actor for Efron.[39]
As of August 2018,Deadline Hollywood reported thatFremantleMedia International were eyeing a reboot of the franchise.[29] On April 14, 2023, it was announced that Fremantle are developing a reboot of the series and has held early talks with a number of broadcasters and streamers.[40] On March 4, 2024, it was announced that Fremantle and Fox Entertainment will team up for the reboot series forFox with Lara Olsen serving as the writer and showrunner.[41]In September 2025,Fox gave the reboot a straight-to-series order for 12 episodes, with the show expected to join the 2026–27 television season.[42] The reboot used a $21.1 million / 40% tax credit which was awarded by the State of California's expanded Film & Television Tax Credit Program.[43]
In 2019, it was announced thatBaywatch was being revived as a documentary feature film. As they explained on theFactual America podcast, filmmaker Matthew Felker lined up some of the show's top-billed cast members to take a walk down memory lane forBaywatch: The Documentary and talk about their time on the show and the hours they spent in skimpy red suits.[44] The documentary, now titledAfter Baywatch: Moment in the Sun, aired as an ABC News Studios program onHulu on August 28, 2024.[45]
All American Television is still casting "Baywatch" spin-off "Baywatch Nights"...
| International | |
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| National | |
