Back in the Bay

So, in addition to all those Australian kids shows and soaps, I've also been watching old episodes of Baywatch.  Why? you undoubtedly ask.  Well, I've recently had access to a streaming channel which shows nothing but back-to-back episodes of Baywatch.  Even series 10 and 11, which were officially Baywatch Hawaii.  You know something?  It isn't anywhere near as bad as people nowadays think it was.  Sure, it was cheesy and the plot lines barely credible, (the things that went down on that beach in the average episode beggar belief).  Even David Hasselhoff isn't that bad.  OK, as an actor he is pretty limited, but he made for a likeable enough lead in the series and, like the series itself, never took any of it too seriously.  To be absolutely fair, I'm basing these judgements on having, so far, seen mainly episodes from the first four series which, in my humble opinion, had the best cast line ups.  After that, apart from The Hoff, the cast was chopped and changed from season to season, with too many short-lived characters we never got to know properly, increasingly bizarre stories and and an ever greater emphasis upon breasts and behinds of the female characters, as their swimsuits became ever skimpier and less practical.  (An opinion, apparently, shared by The Hoff himself).

But those first four seasons were, in their undemanding way, a lot of fun.  As I've said, they had the best and most likeable supporting characters: Eddie (Billy Warlock) and Shauna (Erika Eleniak) in seasons 1 and 2, Matt (David Charvet) and Summer (Nicole Eggert) in seasons 3 and 4, plus Pamela Anderson as CJ and Alexandra Paul as Lt Stephanie Holden from season 3.  In retrospect, you can see the series begin to decline throughout season 4, with increasingly off beat storylines involving such things as Matt being attacked by a surfboard stealing octopus, Mitch being kidnapped by a woman suffering from multiple personality disorder and Summer being molested by a ghost in a haunted hotel.  (No, I'm not making any of these up).  Which isn't to say that earlier series hadn't had their share of the bizarre - who could ever forget the episode where Eddie suffers a blow to the head and dreams that he's in an episode of Gilligan's Island? - but for season 4, they really started to ramp it up.  As a side note, apart from the quality of the stories, you can usually tell season 4 episodes apart from season 3 episodes by the size of Summer's breasts.  The actress playing her had a boob job with very noticeable results.  (Allegedly she felt intimidated by Pamela Anderson's impressive boobage, fearing that her bust was getting more screen time - which, when you watch the episodes back, isn't actually true).  Unfortunately, the series 4 title sequence took a while to catch up, using clips of Summer from her earliest appearances until around the half way point, making the change in her appearance even more startling.

Ultimately, Baywatch holds the same appeal as those Australian shows I was talking about yesterday: sunshine and optimism.  There's no problem that can't be solved by jumping on a jet ski or pulling on a bathing costume and everybody is just so damn decent, regardless of their trials and tribulations.  Back in the day it was the ultimate in early Saturday evening feel good TV: undemanding and filling dull, cold Autumn and Winter evening with sunshine.  It's very much of its era and simply couldn't be recreated now, (just look at the recent movie version if you need proof), but it is fun to revisit.