March 5, 2024 – Baywatch

It was just announced that a Baywatch reboot is coming to Fox! The original show debuted on NBC in 1989, but was cancelled after just one season due to low ratings. But David Hasselhoff, who starred on the show, felt the series still had potential. So he invested his own money and along the show’s with creators and executive producers, revived the show for first-run syndication. Hasselhoff’s contract stipulated that he get all royalties from rerun profits, which allowed him to buy back the rights to Baywatch and grow his fortune to more than $100 million.
Baywatch was much more successful in its second incarnation. It ran for 11 years and at its peak, was watched by a billion people in 140 countries, making it the most-watched TV series in the world. The show had a large ensemble cast, similar to many long-running soap operas. By the end of the 11th season, not a single member of the original cast was still on the show. David Hasselhoff appeared in the most episodes (206), followed by Jeremy Jackson, Michael Newman (who was a real lifeguard), and Pamela Anderson.
The show’s signature slow motion running on the beach was inspired by the Olympics. According to the executive producer, the idea came from a friend of his who had just been filming the 1988 Summer Olympics, and captured slow motion footage of sprinters in the 100-meter dash. Hasselhoff has also said that the shots were used to pad show that were running short, so they wouldn’t have to spend more money on footage.
Baywatch was predominately filmed at Will Rogers State Beach in California, with some scenes also filmed in Long Beach and Malibu. Due to rising production costs in Los Angeles, the producers looked to move the show elsewhere in 1999. They filmed a pilot in Australia and announced plans to call the show Baywatch: Down Under. However, there was strong local opposition there, and the local government permanently banned any future production. Hawaii then offered the producers financial incentives to move the show to the islands instead. Baywatch: Hawaii  was launched in season 10. It spawned a spin-off, Baywatch Nights which ran from 1995-1997, and a 2017 movie starring The Rock and Zac Efron. Learn more here.