iPedia Free Information Center

Information about Baywatch

Baywatch

Baywatch title screen from 1991 to 1997
Created byMichael Berk
Douglas Schwartz
Gregory J. Bonann
StarringDavid 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
No. of episodes243 (List of Baywatch episodes)
Production
Running time1 hour
Broadcast
Original channelNBC (1989-1990)
first-run syndication (1991-2001)
Original runSeptember 22, 1989 – May 14, 2001
External links
IMDb profile
|/summary.html TV.com summary


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, .

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

Enlarge picture
Cast of Baywatch
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 members/characters

Main see Cast of Baywatch

Baywatch 1989-1999

Baywatch Hawaii 1999-2001

Enlarge picture
The girls of Baywatch Hawaii.

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).

Crew members

Episodes

Main article: List of Baywatch 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.

Movie cameos

  • Pamela Anderson[4]

DVD releases

USA: 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 10 have so far been released with the eleventh due out in November 2007. These releases are presented exactly as they originally aired, albeit with German language credits.

See also

References

External links


Baywatch
SeasonSeason 1 • Season 2 • Season 3 • Season 4 • Season 5 • Season 6 Season 7 • Season 8 • Season 9
Characters

David Hasselhoff (Mitch Buchannon) • Michael Newman • John D. Cort • Craig Pomeroy • Garner Ellerbee • Shauni McClain• Eddie Kramer • Hobie Buchannon • Jill Riley • Stephanie Holden • C.J. Parker • Matt Brody • Summer Quinn •Jimmy Slade •Caroline Holden • Logan Fowler • Cody Madison• Neely Capshaw • Samantha Thomas •Manny Gutierrez • Donna Marco • Jordan Tate • J.D. Darius •Lani McKenzie • April Giminski • Skylar Bergman • Taylor Walsh • Jessie Owens
Baywatch Hawaii
SeasonSeason 10 • Season 11
Characters•Mitch Buchannon • Jessie Owens •J.D. Darius •Sean Monroe • Dawn Masterson • Allie Reese • Jason Ioane •Kekoa Tanaka• Jenna Avid • Zach McEwan • Leigh Dyer
Michael Berk is an American TV scriptwriter and television creator who along with Douglas Schwartz, is most famous for creating and writing the earlier scripts of Baywatch a show which exceeded a global audience of 1 billion people.
..... Click the link for more information.
Douglas Schwartz is an American TV scriptwriter and television creator who, along with Michael Berk, is most famous for creating and writing the earlier scripts of Baywatch, a show which exceeded a global audience of 1 billion people.
..... Click the link for more information.
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.
..... Click the link for more information.
David Hasselhoff

Birth name David Michael Hasselhoff
Born July 17 1952 (1952--) (age 55)
Baltimore, Maryland U.S.
..... Click the link for more information.
Pamela Anderson

Anderson aboard USS Ronald Reagan, (2004)
Birth name Pamela Denise Anderson
Born July 1 1967 (1967--) (age 40)
..... Click the link for more information.
Yasmine Bleeth

Yasmine Bleeth (left), November 11, 2006
Birth name Yasmine Amanda Bleeth
Born May 14 1968 (1968--) (age 39)
New York City, New York
..... Click the link for more information.
Alexandra Paul (born July 29, 1963 in New York City) is an American actress. She is probably best known for her role as Lt. Stephanie Holden in the television series Baywatch from 1992 to 1997. She has appeared in over 50 movies and television programs.
..... Click the link for more information.
Parker Stevenson (born Richard Stevenson Parker on June 4, 1952 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American television actor. He attended Rye Country Day School in Rye, NY.
..... Click the link for more information.
Michael Newman (born 1957) was a Los Angeles County lifeguard for 20 years and a firefighter.

Newman started his career as a lifeguard at the age of 10 when he joined the junior lifeguards. He excelled at swimming and water sports and attended Pacific Palisades High School.
..... Click the link for more information.
Jeremy Jackson

Birth name Jeremy Dunn Jackson
Born September 16 1980 (1980--) (age 27)
Newport Beach, California  United States

Official site
..... Click the link for more information.
David Chokachi

Birth name David Al-Chokhachy
Born January 16 1968 (1968--) (age 39)
Plymouth, Massachusetts  United States

David Chokachi
..... Click the link for more information.
Gena Lee Nolin (born November 29, 1971) is an American actress and model.

Biography

Nolin was born in Duluth, Minnesota. During her childhood, Nolin lived on a farm. An athletic child, she enjoyed ice fishing, mens basketball, volleyball and softball.
..... Click the link for more information.
Traci Bingham

Birth name Traci Bingham
Born January 13 1968 (1968--) (age 39) (age 39)
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Died

Traci Bingham
..... Click the link for more information.
Erika Eleniak

Playboy centerfold
appearance July 1989
Birthplace Glendale, California
Birthdate September 29 1969 (1969--)
..... Click the link for more information.
Carmen Electra

Carmen Electra at the 2007 Spike TV Awards
Birth name Tara Leigh Patrick
Born March 20 1972 (1972--) (age 35)
Sharonville, Ohio, USA


..... Click the link for more information.

..... Click the link for more information.
David Charvet

Birth name David Franck Guez
Born May 15 1972 (1972--) (age 35)
Lyon, France
Died

Official site [1]
..... Click the link for more information.
Nicole Eggert

Birth name Nicole Elizabeth Eggert
Born January 13 1972 (1972--) (age 35)
Glendale, California
Died

Years active
..... Click the link for more information.
Brande Roderick

Playboy centerfold
appearance April 2000
Birthplace
Novato, California[1]
Birthdate May 13 1974 (1974--)
..... Click the link for more information.
Michael Bergin

Birth name Michael John Bergin
Born March 18 1969 (1969--) (age 38)
Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S.
..... Click the link for more information.
José Solano (born February 22, 1971 in Inglewood, California) is an actor. He is best known for his role as Manny Gutierrez on Baywatch, and being the first minority series regular on that show.
..... Click the link for more information.
Mitzi Kapture

Birth name Mitzi Gaynor Donahue
Born May 2 1964 (1964--) (age 43)
Yorba Linda, California
Died
Resting place

..... Click the link for more information.
Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
..... Click the link for more information.
"Panic at Malibu Pier" April 23, 1989 101
In the pilot, Mitch has just been promoted to lieutenant. Mitch and his ex-wife Gayle have an argument about what's best for their son Hobie.
..... Click the link for more information.
National Broadcasting Company

Type Broadcast television network
Country  United States
Availability    United States, also distributed in Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean
Founder David Sarnoff
..... Click the link for more information.
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows to multiple individual stations, without going through a broadcast network.
..... Click the link for more information.
September 22 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.
..... Click the link for more information.
-1989- 1990 1991 1992  1993 .  1994 .  1995 .  1996  . 1997  . 1998  . 1999 

..... Click the link for more information.
May 14 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events


..... Click the link for more information.
-2001- 2002 2003 2004  2005 .  2006 .  2007 .  2008  . 2009  . 2010  . 2011 

..... Click the link for more information.


This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
Herod_Archelaus


page counter