jonathan45 Review of Baywatch

Baywatch (1989–2001)

Don't hassle The Hoff hes just out rescuin'!.

[6/10 · 29 January 2007]

Baywatch is quite a cynical bit of television, producers have long since known that beautiful people with toned bodies sell product and increase ratings. Normally soap operas pander to this in the more obvious way, we all know soap actors have it written In to their contract that the women have to occasionally walk around in their underwear or lounge seductively by the pool in a bikini and the men always find time to lift weights with their shirts off or walk around in a towel. But Baywatch threw plot and script out the window and just concentrated on the beautiful bodies, in fact they went even further by putting those beautiful bodies in swimsuits. The swimsuits are far too small of course, the men walk around shirtless flexing and gazing off in to the distance or if their a 'bad boy' fixing their Harley shirtless. The women are squeezed in to one piece costumes so tiny and tight i wonder if they breathe or eat. The plots revolve around distressed swimmers, drug dealing punks or selfish polluters which the team pursue in slow motion allowing for optimum 'jiggle factor'. Its easy to sneer however at this lowest common denominator show but it did have some things going for it, it had a positive message on the environment and 'doing the right thing' and promoted fitness. And David Hasselhoff has his usual 'high cheese factor' it is comical watching him suck in the gut ( partied too hard in the eighties Dave?) or chase women young enough to be his daughter or punch out bodybuilders with his dodgy karate moves. I remember a campaign by some British housewives and young mothers to ban Baywatch they referred to it as 'soft, soft porn' did they achieve success?. In any case i think thats taking it too far, certainly it shows off the bodies of the beautiful cast and probably had a high teenage boy audience who tuned in to ogle but it was ultimately a 'theme show' with mediocre scripts, babes,hunks and 'The Hoff'.