When Baywatch first aired in Germany, I wasn’t even ten years old. David Hasselhoff was already a big star thanks to Knight Rider, but Baywatch made him the biggest TV icon of that era.
The very first episode hooked me right away. The stories were simple, and the characters were all slight variations of the same good-hearted person who wants to do the right thing—sometimes failing until a friend steps in to help.
Of course, Baywatch became a global phenomenon largely because of its beautiful women. Erika Eleniak was a perfect ten, portraying the kind, loving, and caring Shauni McLane. When she left the show, Pamela Anderson rose to international stardom as C.J. Parker. Over the years, actresses like Yasmine Bleeth and Nicole Eggert were stunning additions to the cast. For the female audience, the producers also cast plenty of ripped male models.
But as a teenager, I never saw Baywatch as the “soft p**n” it might have been intended to be from the start. I liked the characters, the beach scenes, the sunshine, and the overall kindness of the show. Sure, the stories never evolved toward any real complexity; there was basically no character development, and you could predict the ending after the opening credits.
Yet it was entertaining. It was heart-warming. It was simply nice TV.
The world of Baywatch was uncomplicated and good: beautiful people, beautiful friendships, and big, beautiful hearts.
I wanted to live in that world. I still do. Today’s world makes me long even more for that idealized early-90s California beachfront life.
Our current world is dark, dangerous, and depressing—which is why so many shows today are dark, dangerous, and depressing too. I wish we could go back to a time when we were still allowed to dream of a life that looked like Baywatch—and be naive enough to believe that such a life could come true.