Baywatch

Baywatch Baywatch title logo Also known as Baywatch Hawaii Genre Action drama Created by Michael Berk Douglas Schwartz Gregory J. Bonann Starring See cast section Country of origin United States Language(s) English No. of seasons 11 No. of episodes 243 2 TV Movies (List of episodes) Production Executive producer(s) Michael Berk Douglas Schwartz Gregory J. Bonann David Hasselhoff Location(s) Santa Monica, California (1989–2000) Hawaii (2000–2001) Running time 45–48 minutes Production company(s) GTG Entertainment Pearson All-American Television The Baywatch Company Tower 12 Productions Tower 18 Production Company (1996–2001) Distributor LBS Communications (1991–1992) All-American Television (1992–1997) Pearson All-American Television (1997–2001) FremantleMedia (2001-) Broadcast Original channel NBC (1989–1990) first-run syndication (1991–2001) Picture format 4:3 Audio format Mono Stereo Original run September 22, 1989 (1989-09-22) – May 14, 2001 (2001-05-14) Status Cancelled (NBC) Ended (Syndication) Chronology Related shows Baywatch Nights External links Official website

David Hasselhoff as the character Mitch Buchannon.

Pamela Anderson as C.J. Parker.

Baywatch is an American action drama series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California starring David Hasselhoff.^[1] 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 a week.^[2]

Baywatch premiered on NBC in 1989, but was cancelled after only one season due to low ratings and also because the studio, GTG, went out of business^[3]. Feeling the series still had potential, David Hasselhoff, creators and Executive Producers Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz and Greg Bonann revived it for the first-run syndication 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. The show led to a spin-off: Baywatch Nights, and a reunion movie, Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding.

In 1999, with production costs rising in Los Angeles, and the syndication market shrinking, the plan was to move the show to Australia and launch Baywatch Down Under. 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. The pilot finally aired as a two-part episode of Baywatch.

Hawaii offered the producers large financial incentives to move the show to the islands and in Season 10 Baywatch Hawaii was launched.

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 and 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 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. Each show would feature one or two montages, often only superficially related to the plot.

Cast

Baywatch (1989–1999)

Baywatch Hawaii (1999–2001)

Simmone Jade Mackinnon (L), Brooke Burns (C), and Stacy Kamano (R).

Theme songs

• The initial theme was written by Bedrich Smetana. The song is called "Die Moldau" and is still famous all over the world.

• 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, the new theme "I'm Always Here" (performed by Jimi Jamison of Survivor) replaced "Save Me". This song is sometimes 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. An instrumental version of the song appears in the episode "Battles" of the UK television programme Spaced. The Swedish electronic musical group Sunblock remixed the song and released it as a single. A Soundalike version was used in an episode of Hey Arnold over the end credits.

• David 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.

• 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 spin-off series, Baywatch Nights theme song was performed by saxophonist Alfonzo Blackwell. "The Nights Will Never Be The Same" (Baywatch Nights Theme) was also featured on his 1996 sophomore CD release. Alfonzo Blackwell was featured with David Hasselhoff each week at the ending credits of the TV series.

Episodes

Theatrical release

In 2004, DreamWorks announced they had bought the rights to create a new theatrical Baywatch movie.^[4] Jessica Simpson was officially cast as C.J. Parker.^[5] The movie is slated for release in 2012^[6].

The film version is reported to be a comedy, written and directed by Jeremy Garelick.^[7] Garelick's previous successes include the rewrite of The Hangover.

DVD releases

Baywatch Nightmare Bay/River of No Return DVD

Australia: Seasons 1-4 have been released in collector's edition boxsets.

Finland: Seasons 1-3 have been released by Futurefilm.

Germany: Seasons 1 to 11 have been released. These releases are presented exactly as they originally aired, albeit with German language credits (These are also available in the U.K. from amazon as imports).

Italy: Seasons 1, 5 and 6 have been released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Netherlands: Seasons 3 have been released.

Sweden: Seasons 1-3 have been released.

UK: Seasons 1 and 2 have been released.

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 and 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.

Three seasons have since been released on DVD by First Look Studios. Although the box sets are labeled "Season 1," "Season 2," et cetera, the sets actually feature episodes of the following season (i.e. the "Season 1" box set contains the episodes of the literal second season (1991-1992) of the show). The second and third sets were released on October 31, 2006. Each set features a disc with Season 1 episodes on it. Fans will need to purchase all U.S. box set releases (the literal seasons 2-7) to complete season 1. It will then be possible to order a box from First Look to hold the six discs. These releases also do not contain any of the original music as it appeared when the episodes aired. They have been removed due to copyright agreements.^[8]

Vehicles employed

• Ford Ranger
• Yamaha Warrior 350 ATV^[9]
• Honda Fourtrax ATV^[10]
• Wellcraft Scarab 34' motorboat
• Toyota T100

See also

• Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding
• Baywatch: Forbidden Paradise
• Baywatch Nights (Baywatch spin-off)
• Son of the Beach (Baywatch parody).
• Babewatch is a satirical term sometimes used in connection with the series is which has been used by Mad Magazine, commentators ^[11], as well as used as the title for a series of adult films with crossover characters which ran up between 1994-1999 to become a tridecology.

References

External links

• Official website
• Baywatch at the Internet Movie Database
• Baywatch at TV.com
• The Los Angeles County Lifeguards