Baywatch (TV series)
"Baywatch" is a television series that originally premiered in 1989 and became widely recognized for showcasing the heroic efforts of Los Angeles County lifeguards. The show struggled during its first season due to inconsistent genre focus but was revived in 1991 by lead actor David Hasselhoff, who took on the role of executive producer. In its revamped format, "Baywatch" combined character-driven storylines with dramatic beach rescue scenes, drawing on the culture and lifestyle of Southern California. The series featured a diverse cast that included popular actors like Pamela Anderson and Yasmine Bleeth, and became known for its slow-motion montages and catchy music.
Over its run, "Baywatch" achieved significant international success, reportedly reaching over one billion viewers worldwide. The show faced criticism for its superficial content but eventually incorporated more serious themes, addressing issues such as ocean conservation and social problems like drug addiction and domestic violence. Despite experiencing a decline in quality and rotating cast members, "Baywatch" concluded its original run in 2001. In 2017, a feature film adaptation was released, though it received mixed reviews. Overall, "Baywatch" is notable not only for its entertainment value but also as a pioneer in first-run cable syndication, influencing the television landscape significantly.
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Baywatch (TV series)
Date Aired 1989, 1991–2001
Often dismissed as a kitschy series pandering to a young demographic with simplistic story lines serving as an excuse to show beautiful bodies on beautiful stretches of California beaches, Baywatch evolved into a character-centered adventure series that treated environmental and social issues, a formula that made it the most-watched television show worldwide during the 1990s.
The original concept for a drama series based on the heroics of Los Angeles County lifeguards was pitched nearly ten years before production of Baywatch started. Baywatch debuted in September 1989 on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). Despite an encouraging airing of the pilot in late spring, the show struggled in its debut season, its creators unable to settle on a genre: Should it be a murder mystery, a rescue-adventure drama, or a sexy soap opera? The show did not manage to find its audience, and with production costs exacerbated by the demands of on-site shooting, it was canceled after a single season. However, lead actor David Hasselhoff, who played senior lifeguard Mitch Buchannon, was convinced that the show had potential and took over as executive producer.
Within a year, Hasselhoff had marketed the series as a first-run syndicated cable show. When the revamped Baywatch premiered in 1991, it offered savvy, character-driven story lines centered on the emotional entanglements of an ensemble cast of lifeguards, dramatically counterpointed with gripping beach rescue scenes that exploited virtually every danger, from shark attacks to earthquakes to terrorist explosions. The series also exploited the clichés of a Southern California beach lifestyle. Each episode featured MTV-styled montages set to hip music while cameras panned, most often in slow motion, over the muscled, tanned lifeguards, male and female—a cast that came to include hot young actors such as Pamela Anderson, Yasmine Bleeth, Alexandra Paul, and David Charvet. With the forty-something Hasselhoff as the éminence grise whose character grappled with the demands of single parenting, the series took off.
For more than a decade, the show enjoyed unprecedented international success—measured, most notably, by the Guinness Book of World Records, which estimated the show’s worldwide audience at more than one billion at the height of its popularity. As Baywatch’s popularity increased, producers, smarting under criticism of the series as lightweight, introduced stories about ocean conservation, endangered marine animals, and water pollution, as well as social issues such as date rape, domestic violence, drug addiction, bulimia, and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). After a decade, the show faltered into formula, despite relocating to Hawaii in its tenth year, and the constantly rotating cast became notorious for contentious backstage ego collisions. The show was canceled in May 2001.
In 2017 Paramount Pictures released a feature-length film based on the show, directed by Seth Gordon and starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron, with a cameo from Hasselhoff. Baywatch the movie was poorly reviewed, although some critics praised the cast's efforts despite the script, and it grossed just $18.5 million over its opening weekend, falling short of the studio's predicted $30 million opening.
Impact
Although widely excoriated for its soft-porn ambience and its simplistic plots, Baywatch defined itself not so much by its content or by the tabloid fodder it generated but rather as a case study in the unrecognized market potential of first-run cable syndication. Like The Simpsons, The Sopranos, and South Park, Baywatch helped demonstrate how savvy marketing and adept programming could redefine the conception—and the reach—of cable television.
Bibliography
"Baywatch." Box Office Mojo, IMDb.com, 9 July 2017, www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=baywatch.htm. Accessed 11 July 2017.
"Baywatch (2017)." Rotten Tomatoes, Fandango, www.rottentomatoes.com/m/baywatch‗2017. Accessed 11 July 2017.
Bonann, Gregory J. Baywatch: Rescued from Prime Time; The Official, Behind-the-Scenes Story of the World's Most Popular TV Show. New Millennium Press, 2000.
Hammond, Michael, and Lucy Mazdon, editors. The Contemporary Television Series. Edinburgh UP, 2005.
McCabe, Janet, and Kim Akass, editors. Quality TV: Contemporary American Television and Beyond. I. B. Tauris, 2007.