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Baywatch was 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. 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, Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding. In Season 10, the location of the show was changed to Hawaii and the show's name was changed to Baywatch Hawaii. 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 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. 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 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. The eleven seasons of the series dealt with a crew of tanned, muscular male and mostly big-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 also 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. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Baywatch is the most watched TV show in the world, with over 1.1 billion viewers
Theme song See full article on the Baywatch Soundtrack In 2006, remixes of the official Baywatch theme ,"I'll Be Ready," were released as singles by Naughty Boy and Sunblock. The Naughy Boy version "Phat Beach (I'll Be Ready)" reached Note: The original theme song for the syndicated Baywatch series was sung by Jimi Jamison * and the title was "I'm Always Here". * Cast members See Cast of Baywatch Season 10 (Baywatch Hawaii) Season 11 (Baywatch Hawaii) Episodes Theatrical release In 2004, DreamWorks announced they had bought the rights to create a new theatrical Baywatch movie *. It is predicted that David Hasselhoff will reprise his role of Mitch Buchannon. Jessica Simpson has been officially cast as C.J. Parker *. The movie was slated for release in 2006. A 1999 episode of Futurama predicted that the Baywatch movie (shot entirely in slow-motion) would win Pamela Anderson an Oscar. Movie cameos DVD releases USA - Seasons 1 & 2 are to be released on the October 31, 2006. Each set will feature 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.* Germany - Seasons 1 & 2 were released on the 23rd of June 2006. Seasons 3 & 4 were released on the 25th of August 2006 and the 6th of October 2006 respectively. International airings Baywatch was very popular in foreign markets and still airs in many today. See also | ||||||||
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