Wednesday, May 5

Baywatch

Baywatch,
is an American television series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California starring David Hasselhoff. 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.
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. 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.
Cast

Baywatch 1989–1999,
Actor Character Years,
David Hasselhoff Mitch Bucannon 1989-2000,
Michael Newman Michael Newman 1989-2001,
John Allen Nelson John D. Cort 1989-1995,
Parker Stevenson Craig Pomeroy 1989-1990, 1997-1999,
Gregory Alan Williams Garner Ellerbee 1989-1995,
Erika Eleniak Shauni McClain 1989-1992,
Billy Warlock Eddie Kramer 1989-1992,
Monte Markham Don Thorpe 1989-1992,
Brandon Call
Jeremy Jackson Hobie Buchannon 1989-1990,
1991-1999,
Peter Phelps Trevor Cole 1989-1990,
Holly Gagnier Gina Pomeroy 1989-1990,
Shawn Weatherly Jill Riley 1989-1990,
Tom McTigue Harvey Miller 1991-1992,
Richard Jaeckel Ben Edwards 1991-1994,
Alexandra Paul Stephanie Holden 1992-1997,
Pamela Anderson C.J. Parker 1992-1997,
David Charvet Matt Brody 1992-1995,
Nicole Eggert Summer Quinn 1992-1994,
Kelly Slater Jimmy Slade 1992-1993,
Yasmine Bleeth Caroline Holden 1994-1997,
Jaason Simmons Logan Fowler 1994-1996,
Gena Lee Nolin Neely Capshaw 1995-1998,
David Chokachi Cody Madison 1995-1999,
Traci Bingham Jordan Tate 1996-1998,
Donna D'Errico Donna Marco 1996-1998,
José Solano Manny Gutierrez 1996-1998,
Nancy Valen Samantha Thomas 1996-1997,
Michael Bergin J.D. Darius 1997-2001,
Kelly Packard April Giminski 1997-1999,
Marliece Andrada Skylar Bergman 1997,
Angelica Bridges Taylor Walsh 1997-1998,
Carmen Electra Lani McKenzie 1997-1998,
Brooke Burns Jessie Owens 1998-2000,
Mitzi Kapture Alex Ryker 1998-1999,
Baywatch Hawaii 1999–2001,


Simmone Jade Mackinnon (L), Brooke Burns (C), and Stacy Kamano (R).
Actor Character Years
David Hasselhoff Mitch Bucannon 1989-2000,
Michael Bergin J.D. Darius 1997-2001,
Brooke Burns Jessie Owens 1998-2000,
Jason Brooks Sean Monroe 1999-2001,
Brandy Ledford Dawn Masterton 1999-2000,
Simmone Jade Mackinnon Allie Reese 1999-2000,
Jason Momoa Jason Ioane 1999-2001,
Stacy Kamano Kekoa Tanaka 1999-2001,
Krista Allen Jenna Avid 2000-2001,
Charlie Brumbly Zach McEwan 2000-2001,
Brande Roderick Leigh Dyer 2000-2001,
Alicia Rickter Carrie Sharp 2000-2001,

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.
Daivd 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. 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.
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

 List of Baywatch episodes

Theatrical release

In 2004, DreamWorks announced they had bought the rights to create a new theatrical Baywatch movie.Jessica Simpson was officially cast as C.J. Parker.The movie is slated for release in 2012.
The film is reported to be a comedy production being written by Jeremy Garelick who is credited with the rewrite of The Hangover that made that movie the highest grossing comedy of all time.

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.

Vehicles employed,

Ford Ranger,
Yamaha Warrior 350 ATV,
Honda Fourtrax ATV,
Wellcraft Scarab 34' motorboat,
Toyota T100

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 , 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.

(source:wikipedia)



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