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Did you watch Baywatch? Admit it; you probably did. We did. Why wouldn’t you watch? Sure, there were insane plots — a surfboard-hoarding octopus! — but it was a sun-kissed look at beautiful people running around Southern California beaches. What’s not to like? Now, 35 years after the massive hit series debuted, a new docuseries takes a look at the phenomenon by interviewing the producers and many of its most famous cast members.
AFTER BAYWATCH: MOMENT IN THE SUN: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: Scenes of Southern California surf and sand, then we see a lifeguard holding a floating device, and one of the familiar lifeguard stations we used to see on Baywatch.
The Gist: After Baywatch: Moment In The Sun is a four-part docuseries that examines the massive popularity of the series Baywatch and how being on the show changed the lives of the mostly-unknown-at-the-time cast. Producer/Director Matthew Felker talks to most of the major figures from the series, including David Hasselhoff and co-creators Michael Berk and Douglas Schwartz. There is also never-before-seen snippets from a 2020 interview with Pamela Anderson. One of the show’s stars, Nicole Eggert, is also a producer.
The cast members Felker talks to for the docuseries are Hasselhoff, Eggert, Carmen Electra, Billy Warlock, Alexandra Paul, Gregory Alan Williams, David Chokachi, Jeremy Jackson, Traci Bingham, Erika Eleniak and Michael Newman, among others.
Most of the first episode examines how the series was created, with co-creator Gregory J. Bonann, a former lifeguard, coming up with the idea, which they brought to Grant Tinker, starting a new studio after his years at NBC. That network’s Brandon Tartikoff was interested but wanted them to create a TV movie first as a proof-of concept, and put the words “Panic” and “Malibu” in the title. When Baywatch: Panic At Malibu Pier was a massive hit in April, 1989, it was ordered to series for that fall.
Hasselhoff, still well known from Knight Rider, was in Germany pursuing his music career when the Baywatch opportunity came; Parker Stevenson, Billy Warlock and Erika Eleniak were also cast. When NBC cancelled the show in 1990, though, the producers, along with Hasselhoff, made the then-rare choice to enter syndication, backed by foreign money. The budget got cut, as did the cast, but Warlock, Eleniak and The Hoff all came back, and the sizzle quotient went way up, due to not being subject to network standards and practices. And the slow-motion running the show is famous for? A way to fill time if the script for the week was short on time.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? After Baywatch: Moment In The Sun is like most other behind-the-scenes documentaries about beloved TV shows, like Celebrating The Sopranos or M*A*S*H: The Comedy That Changed Television.
Our Take: After Baywatch: Moment In The Sun is one of those documentaries that perhaps doesn’t reveal all that much that’s new, but it’s fun to see everyone again and — yes, we’re just that basic — see what everyone looks like these days.
It’s something to really consider, given the fact that even the cast members acknowledged that the show was stuffed with beautiful people whose bodies were being shown off in the SoCal sun. So it’s fascinating to see what the intervening decades have wrought. Of course, in the case of Eggert, she has been through some intense health problems; the fact that she appears bald during some interview segments, meaning she was in the midst of cancer treatment, shows just how committed she was to helping tell the story of Baywatch and its success.
The opening montage promises that the cast members will talk about all of the ups and the downs of being on such a popular show, and we’re sure there may be tidbits of insight or eyebrow-raising information that might slip in. But more than anything, the docuseries feels more like an exercise in reminiscence than anything else.
Sex and Skin: Lots of Baywatch‘s lingering T&A shots, as well as the signature slow-motion running scenes.
Parting Shot: A preview of the second episode, which centers around Pamela Anderson.
Sleeper Star: Eggert is the sleeper here, for the reason we stated above, though we’re fascinated by Erika Eleniak’s tattoos. And we loved seeing Jeremy Jackson’s Knight Rider collection from when he was a kid; he actually beat out Leonardo DiCaprio (!) to play Hasselhoff’s son on the show.
Most Pilot-y Line: Why does ABC News need to bring in Chris Connelly every time they do a show about pop culture? I know he works for them, but don’t they have any other experts? Ones that aren’t used to talking in soundbites?
Our Call: STREAM IT. After Baywatch: Moment In The Sun is a fond look back at the Baywatch phenomenon of the ’90s, with all of the good and not-so-good moments explored by the producers and cast.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
- After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun
- david hasselhoff
- Hulu
- M*A*S*H: The Comedy That Changed Television
- Stream It Or Skip It
