It was only a matter of time before Baywatch got the “ooh, look at the 90s!” documentary treatment. But the four-part After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun is a disappointment, because it seems stuck between two worlds: how can it take the astonishingly popular lifeguard melodrama seriously enough to examine it as a cultural object, while also acknowledging that, as a TV show, it remains best known for slow-motion running in skimpy beachwear and, for aficionados, a surfboard-stealing giant octopus in a cave?
The first episode does it no favours at all. Baywatch was many things – ridiculous, absurd, entertaining and a globe-conquering pop culture phenomenon – but this programme is so dry it is almost impressive. Baywatch was about “rescue, compassion and altruism”, we are told, and it came from “honest and altruistic roots”. It just so happened that everyone splashing through these massive waves of altruism was gorgeous and ripped. “You had to be pretty, else you weren’t going to be on the show,” explains Billy Warlock, who played Eddie Kramer in the early years.
It’s a shame it opts for this po-faced path early on, because there are plenty of juicy anecdotes peppered throughout the later episodes. There are also substantial interviews with almost all the big names involved, from David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson to Nicole Eggert, Erika Eleniak and Jeremy Jackson (and what a story he has to tell). Apparently, the role of Hobie was between Jackson, who got the part, and a slightly older up-and-comer called Leonardo DiCaprio. “I said, no no no, take the kid,” recalls Hasselhoff, who frequently appears to be operating in Accidental Partridge mode. Carmen Electra admits that she still shows people how to run in that famous slow-motion style. The men talk of early morning shoots in the ocean, and how they dealt with “shrinkage”. But the real gossip is fairly limited, which is odd, because I can’t imagine many people will be watching this to find out more about Baywatch’s altruistic roots.
According to one of the creators, the idea for the show came to him when he was smoking a joint at the beach, wondering why there had been no dramas about lifeguards, who held life and death in their hands. As stoner lightbulb moments go, it’s probably one of the most profitable in history: at its peak, in 1996, Baywatch had an estimated 1.1 billion viewers around the world. It still holds the Guinness World Record for the most watched TV series. But After Baywatch fumbles the most intriguing stories and leaves them hanging, limply. For instance: the show was cancelled after its first season, but owing to Hasselhoff’s popularity as a pop star in Germany, it was syndicated around the world, then given the reprieve that not only saved it but made it a sensation. Perhaps this is a matter of personal taste, but I think drawing a clear line from the fall of communism to the rise of the red swimsuit deserves more than a five-minute segment.
Baywatch's Controversies and Impact
There is also a strong undercurrent that keeps towing the story back to a discussion about American prudishness and the mainstream TV appeal of ever-plunging necklines. Eleniak recalls that, as she had already posed for Playboy, the showrunners had to fight to keep her on early Baywatch, such were the double standards of the time. But soon, a Playboy-to-Baywatch pipeline became firmly established, and it ran in both directions, with the magazine picking up models from the cast, and sending other models to the cast. There isn’t enough space given, or care taken, to unravel that moral complexity in any satisfying way. Similarly, when it discusses the whiteness of the show, it feels half-examined and rushed.
A Mea Culpa Hand-Wringing Documentary
There is a lot of material here, and it would have made for a solid hour or two, but Baywatch was better known for its taut abs than lean storylines, and like its subject, this meanders. It wobbles uncomfortably between a celebration of the show and mea-culpa hand-wringing. One talking head, on the subject of body image, says that Baywatch created a craze for fitness that “maybe was good or wasn’t good”. In a way, that sums up this documentary. It isn’t quite sure if Baywatch maybe was good or wasn’t good. Many of its stars say that even now, having Baywatch on their CV means they are not taken seriously, and this doesn’t know if it is taking them seriously or not.
I kept thinking of the wild Muscles & Mayhem, which told the outrageous story of American Gladiators, and wondering how Baywatch – equally as outrageous, another totem of the 90s – has ended up with a history as demure as this.
Where Are They Now: Baywatch Stars' Post-Beach Careers
Baywatch was the TV phenomenon of the 90s, with its red swimsuits still instantly recognisable today. David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson led a cast that featured the likes of Carmen Electra, Jason Momoa and Yasmine Bleeth, making stars of all those who joined the show.
Now, new four-part documentary After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun will delve into the show's controversies, impossible beauty standards and its effect on the cast's lives, showing revealing interviews with some of the original stars.
But what did Baywatch's biggest names go on to do after life on the beach? We take a look at what the rest of their careers had in store for them.
The Hoff was already Baywatch's star signing when the show began in 1989 - he had found fame on The Young and the Restless, followed by his lead role in Knight Rider.
Hasselhoff also served as a producer on Baywatch and when it came to an end, he was happy to poke fun at himself with parody appearances in films including The Spongebob SquarePants Movie and DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story.
Reality TV has also seen plenty of The Hoff over the years as he has competed in Dancing with the Stars and served as a judge on both America's Got Talent and Britain's Got Talent. He even met his third wife, Hayley Roberts from Wales who is nearly 30 years younger than him, during BGT auditions. The star has released 15 studio albums with his music career at its strongest in Germany and Switzerland.
However, his life hasn't been without difficulty - he has struggled with alcohol addiction and told The Mirror in 2015 about regularly attending AA meetings.
Along with David Hasselhoff, the other face of Baywatch for most of the show's fans was Pamela Anderson who starred as CJ Parker.
She had landed a role in US sitcom Home Improvement the year before joining Baywatch and was a regular model in Playboy, but it was playing CJ that really sent her career soaring.
Anderson's life was hugely affected by the theft of a sex tape of her and then-husband Tommy Lee, which was taken from their home and leaked. In the 2023 documentary Pamela, A Love Story she opened up on how it had ruined her career and relationship, as well as her anger at seeing it made into recent TV miniseries Pam & Tommy where she was played by Lily James.
Her most famous film role was in Barb Wire in 1996, and Anderson, who has been married five times, has also appeared as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars in the US and Dancing On Ice in the UK.
She is known for her animal rights activism and her support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who she regularly visited while he was imprisoned in the UK.
Joining Baywatch in season three as Stephanie Holden, Alexandra Paul had already had some success in film starring opposite Kevin Costner, Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd in 80s movies American Flyers and Dragnet.
Paul's biggest role post-Baywatch was in the TV drama L.A. Firefighters and she also had a recurring role in glossy soap Melrose Place. Like her former co-star Anderson, Paul is a committed vegan and hosts podcast Switch4Good where she encourages others to change to a plant-based diet.
Film star Jason Momoa actually got his big breakthrough in Baywatch when he was cast in the spin-off Baywatch: Hawaii in 1999.
He went on to land big TV roles in Stargate Atlantis and Game of Thrones, while his movie career took off with Conan The Barbarian.
Momoa has stayed with the water theme of his early career, playing Aquaman on the big screen since 2016 in films including Justice League, Aquaman, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. He also starred in 2021 sci-fi hit Dune.
Another later addition to the cast was Carmen Electra, who got her big break on the show in 1997 which led to her becoming one of the biggest stars of the 90s and 00s. Electra had done some glamour modelling just before joining the cast and had even released an album produced by Prince, but didn't find mainstream fame until Baywatch.
Although Electra's acting career was taking off, her personal life was hit by tragedy at the same time. Her mother died of brain cancer in 1998, followed two weeks later by her sister who had a heart attack, and as the star struggled to deal with grief she married Dennis Rodman in Las Vegas, with the marriage lasting just five months.
She told Glamour magazine in 2011 that Rodman had been a lot of fun and said: "I remember thinking, this is my out. I'm just going to have fun, and I'm not going to worry about anything. Right after my mom and sister died, I flew to Las Vegas and Dennis and I got married. I guess I was trying to cling to whatever I had. I'd lost my mom and my sister; I didn't want to lose anyone else."
After Baywatch, Electra landed a job presenting Singled Out for MTV and went on to star in the Scary Movie franchise. Her other film credits include I Want Candy, Meet The Spartans and Disaster Movie, whilst on TV she stood in for Amanda Holden as a Britain's Got Talent judge in 2012. From 2004 to 2007 she was the host of the Naked Women's Wrestling League.
Yasmine Bleeth's Baywatch role was part of a long-running Friends joke about Chandler Bing and Joey Tribbiani's obsession with watching clips of her in the show, and she remains one of its most memorable stars.
Bleeth did land further acting work after Baywatch, appearing in various one-off TV episodes and TV movies. Still, she hasn't acted since the early 00s after recovering from a drug addiction.
She met her husband in a rehab centre in 2000 while being treated for cocaine addiction and a year later was arrested for driving while impaired after police found cocaine in her car. She has continued her recovery and told Glamour magazine in 2003: "Consciously trying to stay off drugs is now part of my life, and it always will be."
Before she starred in Baywatch, Erika Eleniak had two big childhood acting credits to her name for roles in E.T. and The Blob.
Her Baywatch role only lasted for the show's first three seasons, but she went on to appear in films Under Siege and The Beverly Hillbillies, reality shows The Real Gilligan's Island and Celebrity Fit Club, and episodes of Desperate Housewives and CSI: Miami.
Eleniak was briefly engaged to Baywatch co-star Billy Warlock who had played her character's love interest Eddie Kramer, but the pair never married. Warlock went on to star in US soaps Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, The Young and the Restless, and As the World Turns.
He might only have appeared full-time in the first season, but Parker Stevenson was a recurring cast member in later seasons of Baywatch and came to the show as one of the more experienced actors.
Stevenson had previously starred in The Hardy Boys amongst various other TV shows and after his role as Craig Pomeroy came to an end, he continued to rack up plenty of TV appearance in the US including a longer running role on Melrose Place. His most recent role was in Netflix series Greenhouse Academy.
From 1983 to 1997, Stevenson was married to Kirstie Alley who he adopted two children with.
After appearing as one of Baywatch's lifeguards in seasons three and four, Nicole Eggert made a number of one-off appearances in US TV shows and TV films as well as taking part in Celebrity Fit Club and diving contest Splash.
Eggert had previously starred in US sitcom Charles in Charge before landing a role in Baywatch and in 2018 she made sexual misconduct allegations against her co-star Scott Baio, which he denied.
Fans of Eggert have been following her treatment for breast cancer, which she was diagnosed with in December 2023 and has been posting regular updates about on Instagram.
After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun streams on Disney+ from Wednesday, 18 September.
