The Most Iconic ‘Baywatch’ Moments From the Original Series
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, Baywatch is coming back to TV. Fox is readying a reboot and getting familiar faces to slather on sunscreen and shimmy into swimsuits.
But does Fox really think it can improve upon the perfection that was the 1990s-era original, a syndicated lifeguard drama that featured David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson acting fast but running in slow motion? Check out picks for the most iconic and not at all over-the-top moments from the original Baywatch, presented for your pleasure in chronological order below.
Jill’s demise
Lifeguard Jill (Shawn Weatherly) dies in a shark attack in Season 1’s “Shark Derby” as she rescues young beachgoers. It’s one of the show’s most dramatic moments — and one of the campiest, especially because Jill definitely had enough time to scramble on the boat. And after the shark chomps down, Hasselhoff starts chewing scenery. As Mitch screams Jill’s name and whips his head around to search for her, his mullet actually makes a whooshing sound.
Michelle Williams’ appearance
Why yes, that is award-winning actor Michelle Williams making her screen debut on Baywatch. She played the role of Bridget, a teenager with eyes for Mitch’s son Hobie (Jeremy Jackson), in Season 4’s “Race Against Time: Part 1.” Williams also makes an appearance as the disrespectfully-dubbed “Hobie’s Groupie” later that season.
The lifeguards rescue Hulk Hogan
In Season 6’s “Bash at the Beach,” a group of six female lifeguards team up to rescue a Speedo-clad swimmer who has been hit by a ski. And somehow, it’s only until after the man regains consciousness that they realize he’s wrestler Hulk Hogan, who assumes he made it to heaven.
The lifeguards confront nudists
C.J. (Anderson), Cody (David Chokachi), and Newmie (Michael Newman) bust up a nudist party in Season 7’s “Hot Water.” But that plot point just seems like an excuse for showing, in Newmie’s words, “very athletic-looking young ladies” sans clothing and for C.J. to sing the praises of “lying on a hot, sandy beach naked.”
C.J. gets saved by a “phantom” lifeguard
Cue the Andrew Lloyd Webber music! In Season 7’s “Nevermore,” the so-called “phantom” lifeguard — a man with bandages covering his disfigured face — comes to C.J.’s rescue after she’s injured by a falling pier support. But instead of taking her to, say, a hospital, the phantom takes her deep into his lair…
A helicopter crashes into shark-infested waters
The calamities keep coming in Season 8’s “Lifeguard Confidential” as a cameraman falls from a helicopter into the water below, then the helicopter itself crashes into the ocean, and then the pilot can’t escape his harness. Oh, and there are sharks swimming around, because why not!
Mitch saves a girl from a grenade
In Season 8’s “Countdown,” Mitch springs to action after seeing a girl finding a grenade on the beach and pulling out the pin. With a herculean grunt worthy of an Olympic shot putter, Mitch yeets the bomb into the ocean and then uses his body as a shield.
Mitch runs on the beach with President Clinton
President Bill Clinton shows up for a seaside jog with Mitch in Season 7’s “Scorcher.” It’s not actually Clinton, of course — it’s a body double — but his saxophone T-shirt wants you to think it’s the POTUS himself. And because this is Baywatch, there’s the threat of a bomb on the beach…
Move to Hawaii
For Baywatch’s 10th and 11th season, the production relocated to Hawaii and rebranded itself Baywatch: Hawaii. Much of the cast departed in the changeover — save for notable exceptions like Hasselhoff and Newman — but in their absence, new talent like Jason Momoa (pictured) and Krista Allen suited up.
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