Baywatch is being rebooted

[ScottS 1075]

Baywatch reboot lands at Fox

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Like the end of a slo-mo music montage on the beach, “Baywatch” reboot has found a home: Fox has closed on a script+penalty deal for a new version of the long-running surf-sand-and-saviors series from Fremantle.

Fox and Fremantle have tapped Lara Olsen (“Spinning Out”) to serve as showrunner for the new “Baywatch,” which was originally created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz and Gregory J. Bonann. Starring David Hasselhoff, “Baywatch” originally ran from 1989 to 1999 and then was retooled as “Baywatch: Hawaii” from 1999 to 2001.

Olsen, Berk, Bonann and Schwartz will serve as exec producers on the one-hour drama, which comes from both Fremantle and Fox Entertainment. Here’s the new logline: “Daring ocean rescues, pristine beaches, and iconic red bathing suits are back, along with a whole new generation of Baywatch lifeguards, who navigate complicated, messy personal lives in this action-packed reboot that demonstrates there’s the family you’re born into and the family you find.”

This isn’t Fox’s first visit to the lifeguard hut: The network also aired the TV reunion movie “Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding” in 2003.

Besides Hasselhoff, the show’s cast over the years included Pamela Anderson, Yasmine Bleeth, Alexandra Paul, Erika Eleniak, Nicole Eggert, Parker Stevenson and many others. Hasselhoff also starred in a spinoff series, the private eye drama “Baywatch Nights,” which aired from 1995 to 1997. “Baywatch” was a syndication sensation, airing in more than 145 countries at one point, more than any other TV show. The series’ PR company even made up a stat, calling it the “No. 1 series in the world,” which was then reprinted as fact in publications.

The show was originally inspired by Bonann’s time as a Los Angeles County lifeguard. Bonann later became an Olympics filmmaker and after years of pitching a show about lifeguards, eventually meeting Berk and Schwartz. They originally developed “Baywatch” for Grant Tinker’s GTG shingle, which had a series commitment at CBS. When the Eye network passed, the pilot “Baywatch: Panic at Malibu Pier” was sold to NBC, which aired it as a movie — and in success, picked up a 12-episode season.

“Baywatch” was a flop on NBC, and the producers managed to buy back the rights to the show from GTG in order to produce new first-run episodes in syndication. The producers recruited a variety of investors, including a small distributor, LBS, as well as an earlier version of Fremantle (which had distributed the show internationally and saw the popularity of Hasselhoff in Germany), UK outlet ITV and the Chris-Craft TV station group. All-American TV, run by Scotti Bros. Records, agreed to invest as the show’s guarantor, and then took over as distributor when LBS went bankrupt. Pearson TV later bought All-American; Pearson eventually became a part of FremantleMedia, which was created via a series of mergers by Germany’s Bertelsmann in 2001. (FremantleMedia became Fremantle in 2018.)

And that is the long road to how “Baywatch” ended up a marquee title in the Fremantle library. A “Baywatch” reboot has been discussed in the past; most recently a “Baywatch” film starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron was released in 2017. That movie grossed $178 million globally.

As for Olsen, she’s very familiar with rebooting classic TV franchises, having worked on the revivals of “90210” and “Beauty and the Beast,” both at The CW. Her other credits include “Blood and Treasure,” “Reign,” “Life Unexpected” and “Private Practice.” Olsen is repped by Independent Artist Group and attorney Melissa Rogal. 

 

[Parliament 14296]

Are we talking gold off 90’s T and A and Herpes BayWatch?  Or a modern, woke version?

I’m not judging either way, just trying to get a preview of what we’re looking at here.

[The Ace of Aces 5194]

Can Sidney Sweeney be in the opening credits?

[henrygandorf 29194]

42 minutes ago, Parliament said:

Are we talking gold off 90’s T and A and Herpes BayWatch?  Or a modern, woke version?

I’m not judging either way, just trying to get a preview of what we’re looking at here.

you should judge.  it will be bad either way.  bad bad, not good bad, like the original.

[Herpa Derpa 6131]

20 hours ago, henrygandorf said:

you should judge.  it will be bad either way.  bad bad, not good bad, like the original.

I think we're looking at this the wrong way. I know it tres chic to lament the lack of original ideas out of Hollywood, but sometimes that is the proper course, as is the case with Baywatch.

Baywatch should become a regular regurgitation with a soft reboot every 7-10 years to introduce a fresh set of guards. Each new boot would run 4-6 years until sagging sets in. It would become a cultural mainstay through which we judge the passage of time. Great moments in our own lives will be viewed as occurring during a particular era. The proto cast of Weatherly and Eleniak. The first recycle with Anderson/Eggert/Bleeth and then Packard/Electra/Burns. The Hawaii reboot era of Burns/Ledford/Kamano.  I hope y'all starting to see the benefits of a regular reboot.

If you're still not convinced, this is what we got with the last reboot.

Spoiler

Bonus Baddie:

 

Every generation deserves to experience the joy of a Baywatch lifeguard running to the sea. And every generation needs a new crop of recruits.

[Sam Lin 3561]

Please cast Angela White.

[Michael Knight 12995]

you know you can see tits on the internet, you don't need network television anymore

[MrX 740]

My first thought was “I hope they kept Daddario on board…”

[smuggs 9353]

A Sweeney/Daddario vehicle would probably rupture my scrotum. It’d be worth it.

[billfromlaketravis 11523]

I hope they shoot it in Australia because they could give a f*** about wokeness.

Also Australian women are hotter than a $5 pistol. 
 

But they’ll probably round up a half dozen fat chicks and shoot it in Malibu. 

[futureman 22546]

2 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

I hope they shoot it in Australia because they could give a f*** about wokeness.

Lulz

[aggie08 21531]

Yeah, someone hasn't been to Australia in a little while.

Also, pretty funny the concern is wokeness run amok when the last Baywatch content we received was two hours of dick jokes and chicks purposely bouncing their tits and slapping their asses, and no one cared.

Obviously, if it's on network TV, it's going to suck regardless of how gratuitous they try to make it.

[TrashMaster G 17600]

13 hours ago, smuggs said:

A Sweeney/Daddario vehicle would probably rupture my scrotum. It’d be worth it.

[Angry Gorilla 1769]

Meh. Wake me up when they reboot Thunder in Paradise.

[Frank The Tank 1497]

On 3/5/2024 at 4:48 PM, Herpa Derpa said:

 

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Not her best picture but this chick really ought to get more work. She’s incredibly hot. 

[C-Man 27262]

The movie with The Rock, Effron and Daddario was WAY better than it ever should've been.

[MrX 740]

1 hour ago, Frank The Tank said:

Not her best picture but this chick really ought to get more work. She’s incredibly hot. 

She’s also really good at golf which makes her hotter. 

[Frank The Tank 1497]

15 minutes ago, MrX said:

She’s also really good at golf which makes her hotter. 

Holy shit, she also apparently married the heir to the Walton billions. No wonder she doesn’t really act anymore.