01x01 - Origin Story

[bunniefuu]

♪

Action.

Baywatch is a fantasy.

Timeless.

Iconic.

Just gonna let it

all hang out now.

Everyone tuned in

to watch the show

because you knew you were

gonna see someone sexy.

They had to wear

next to nothing.

And it was hot.

♪

It was a wild time.

And I was a wild chick.

You guys are great.

That's wonderful. OK?

1.2 billion people weekly.

That was the highest volume

of viewers of any show

ever in the history

of television.

Baywatch!

I'll be there ♪

The whole country

wanted to see sex,

but the whole country

didn't want to admit

that they wanted to see it.

I would

basically try and find

a little towel or a jacket

and hide under it

and do

a little personal fluffing.

You know,

we took a lot of crap

for those bathing suits,

running in slow-motion,

but everybody watched.

Everybody on the show

had to be beautiful.

I mean, everybody was pretty.

Jason Momoa exploded

off of Baywatch.

Carmen was a bombshell

who had something to say.

Pamela Anderson was an icon.

I'm really proud

of everything I've done.

Almost.

Baywatch was a whirlwind

of epic highs and bitter lows.

I would never talk

about my personal life.

You could be fired

for being g*y.

I found out

that the NAACP had

come down on Baywatch

because there weren't

any people of color.

I need to take a break. OK?

Greed, lust, fame.

Iconic.

It's crazy.

I'm a Baywatch b*tch,

and I love it.

Cut. Print.

Let's go.

♪

We've all been in so many,

you know, documentaries.

It's always the same stories

over and over and over again.

Oh, you were beautiful

and, you know, running around

in a bathing suit,

and you were

on the number one show

in the world,

and your life must be great.

And there was just

a lot of that

and no real truth

to people's journeys.

I feel like

I'm, like, in a circus act,

but I don't know how to juggle.

And justit was time

for everything,

for the covers

to just be pulled back,

and really get

to know everybody

and let people shine

for who they are.

And I feel like

a lot of people on that show

were deprived of that.

This is Jeremy Jackson.

You can't get any better than

the set of Baywatch Hawaii.

For me, personally,

I feel like

I had my moment,

you know, in the sun,

so to speak.

Baywatch. Moment in the sun.

It's kind of like

a relationship, right?

Somebody that

you're in love with

and it's over.

And what do you do?

You know, do you just

keep trying to relive it

or recapture it

or get a new girlfriend

that looks just like

the old one?

You know, it's like,

I'd rather just forget

about it,

but I keep trying to get out

and they just keep

pulling me back in.

It's weird.

And I think,

like, everybody from Baywatch,

in particular, has had this

success story of this journey.

Some are still acting.

And some are not.

And some are very, you know,

successful at other careers

and so happy.

JEREMY: Baywatch didn't start

the way it ended.

It started very different

than the way it went out.

I think it had very honest

and altruistic roots,

you know?

And it definitely became

something very different.

You know, greed

and lust and fame.

And everybody wanted to get

their extra piece of the pie,

you know, so it definitely

contorted and mutated.

Baywatch was

an escape for people.

People love to get away.

When you hear

that theme song

I'll be ready ♪

Oh, I'll be ready ♪

Never you fear ♪

No, don't you fear ♪

I'll be ready ♪

Forever and always ♪

I'm always here ♪

Baywatch represented

the biggest lifeguard

in the world.

No matter what happens,

you can always

turn on Baywatch.

If it's rainy

and cold and terrible,

we're gonna see

a beautiful boat,

a beautiful day,

beautiful women,

semi-good-looking guys.

Everybody believed

what they were watching,

that this was what America was,

especially

the California dream.

The beach was the star.

Venice Beach.

Hot girls,

you know, skating around

or the ocean, the water.

BILLY: Baywatch is shutting

the mind off for a good hour

and looking

at beautiful people.

Nothing wrong with that.

People say it's the DNA.

Well, you're darn right it was.

But it was because also

because this show

was about rescue

and compassion and altruism

and because the writers were

writing about those things.

Greg Bonann was

a LA County lifeguard

in the late '80s.

And he had an idea

to do a TV show

based on lifeguards.

Greg Bonann had

a really specific idea

of what he wanted to do

with it.

He knew the life.

He knew the job.

He knew the environment.

Berk and Schwartz,

who came in to write it,

did a good job

laying that out.

So we go to the beach,

smoke a joint.

We're walking on the beach,

trying to figure out

what we're gonna do,

when we see a lifeguard

coming down the ramp,

running into the ocean,

and another lifeguard

coming up behind him.

All of a sudden, there's

trucks coming down the beach

with its lights and sirens.

There's a boat coming in.

And we're looking at each other

and we're going,

it's life and death situations.

How come no one ever

thought of this idea before?

We went in and said,

look, let us do a sizzle reel.

Let us just sh**t something.

We figured we could edit

a music montage

to Don Henley's

"Boys of Summer."

I can tell you ♪

My love for you

will still be strong ♪

After the boys of ♪

Summer have gone ♪

♪

We cut together this thing

and showed it to Grant Tinker,

superstar of television,

Mary Tyler Moore's husband,

president of NBC.

Now, he was starting

his own studio.

He made a call

to Brandon Tartikoff,

who ran NBC,

and said, look, you have

to take a look at this.

And he said, I see it.

I get

what you're trying to do.

It's beautiful.

I don't think

there's a series there.

I don't think

you can tell enough stories,

but I know you guys do

successful TV movies.

Write me a movie, Baywatch.

Add the words "panic"

to the title,

add "Malibu" to the title.

So we go off and we write

a script called

Baywatch:

Panic at Malibu Pier.

No panic, no pier,

but that was the title

because Brandon wanted that.

♪

So we write this script,

bring in all these actors

to audition.

Hasselhoff was

one of the actors

that came in to audition.

David was on a soap.

He's on The Young

and the Restless.

His first singing debut was on

The Merv Griffin Show in '77.

He sang The Young

and the Restless theme song.

Bright, shiny days ♪

Gone in a young ♪

And restless haze ♪

David Hasselhoff was

in a class of his own.

You know, he was Knight Rider.

Knight Rider was huge.

Like, who didn't love

that show?

Arm your oil jets.

Ready and waiting, Michael.

Just the thing

for the slick guy.

I got a lot of flak for doing

a show about a talking car.

I found out later that

Knight Rider had great ratings

and we were,

like, canceled because

it wasn't "cool" to NBC.

David had done so much TV.

He was a TV sensation,

like, full-blown famous

Hollywood actor,

you know what I mean?

And so we met David.

He was very impressive.

6'5". He comes in.

And I remember him

kind of playing down the show

and, "I don't know,

I'm not sure."

I was living the life

of a rock star in Germany

because I had

a top ten single.

It was number one

for eight weeks

called "Looking for Freedom."

I've been looking

for freedom ♪

I've been looking so long ♪

I told Grant Tinker,

why would I want

to do Baywatch?

They showed me

the sizzle reel.

And I went, oh, man.

So I talked to my manager.

She said, "What do you think?"

And I said, "I told him no,

but don't let it get away.

It's gonna be a monster hit."

And ultimately, he became

the star of the show.

And it was the right choice,

because David really was

the centerpiece of the show.

It's either, like,

go for the money

or go for the class.

I went for the money because

I knew it would be a hit.

And I thought

that it would be such a big hit

that I could use that

to parlay into something cool,

something "cooler."

We wrote it.

We produced it.

It became NBC's highest rated

movie of the year.

So we did 22 episodes for NBC.

We got Parker Stevenson.

I did a series

called The Hardy Boys

that ran a couple years

that did well.

And Baywatch came along.

And I had done a movie called

Lifeguard with Sam Elliott.

And when I walked

into the first meeting,

the producer said,

"God, you look like you could

be a lifeguard on the beach."

And I knew

they'd seen Lifeguard, so

but I'm actually

a New York kid.

We cast Billy Warlock

as Eddie

in the first year on NBC.

I had just left

Days of Our Lives

where I'd won an Emmy.

I don't have a darn thing

planned to say.

I didn't expect this, I swear.

Back then, there was a lot

of synergy with the networks.

So if youespecially

in the daytime world.

If you were on a soap,

you always got

a movie of the week.

That was part of your deal.

It was probably

the easiest process

in getting a job

that I ever had in my career.

My agent called me and said,

"They want you to come to LA

and do this beach show,

Baywatch."

Baywatch?

With David Hasselhoff,

the Knight Rider?

I mean, I was an actor.

I wanted my entrée

into Hollywood to be something

profound and important.

Right?

So, you know

but I gotta go do

this beach show, right?

I had no idea how much fun

I was gonna have.

There was so many

amazing athletic people

that were really, really good

in the water.

Amazing people.

It wasn't just

about the sexuality.

That was just highlighted.

♪

♪

We cast Erika Eleniak

as the beautiful blonde.

Like, if you're

a teenage boy, you're like

that's why she was perfect

for this show.

I was super insecure,

I mean, as a kid.

I'd have to say, you know,

no regrets in life,

but, honestly, if I had one,

my biggest regret would be

to be so fearful all the time,

because when you live your life

in fear,

you make decisions

based on that fear.

So I'm the girl

not on the dance floor,

afraid to look stupid.

I'm the girl sitting

on a bench not playing.

I had already been acting

since I was ten years old.

And I had a foot in the door.

I got to do this part in ET.

And that was pretty cool.

And basically, I just acted

a couple jobs a year

until high school.

And that's when

I hit the ground running

and I did Baywatch.

I hang out there.

I know the beach, and I know

all the inshore holes.

My friends are expecting me.

Billy and Erika,

in that first cast,

just popped

in the first readings.

I want to do

something for you.

What?

It's a new technique

in mouth-to-mouth.

Oh, really?

We had

a really fun relationship,

platonically flirtatious,

if you will,

but just great chemistry.

And it was a really

interesting situation

because Shauni and Eddie's

characters in real life

had gotten together.

We both were in

other relationships

in the first season on NBC.

She had a boyfriend.

I had a girlfriend.

It was a long, arduous season,

a lot of work,

a lot of time together,

a lot of time on the set.

And things just

kind of snowballed

into a lovely relationship.

It just really exploded,

I suppose.

And we started going out.

The thing that was

interesting about Erika was,

Erika had

just raw, innate ability.

She just was good.

So which headquarters

did you get?

- Baywatch.

-You did?

Oh, so did I.

I was so scared

You know, some people

have to be taught.

Some people have to learn.

She just was.

It just was natural for her.

So when you look as good

as she did

and you have talent,

you're gonna do all right.

I wasn't a water baby,

more of a lay-in-the-sun baby.

So that was not

without challenge, definitely.

I'm just gonna let it

all hang out now.

I know, right?

Shark-phobic.

Not a strong swimmer.

Erika Eleniak came in.

NBC said no.

She was in Playboy.

I did not need to do Playboy.

In fact,

I knew even at that age

that it would create

obstacles for me.

But I think at that age,

you feel invincible.

If a girl did Playboy,

they weren't gonna be

in an ad for something else.

They weren't gonna be

in a commercial or a film.

You do Playboy

as a celebrity,

it's steak tartare.

When you do it

as a flavor of the month,

it's nasty raw meat.

Right?

The bottom line is,

it's a hypocrisy.

When they found out

that Erika did Playboy,

the creators and producers

fought to keep her.

Hefner was

really appreciative.

And we got invited up there.

I began going to the mansion.

In the 1990s, Playboy becomes

a key feeder for Baywatch.

♪

A lot of girls

that made it onto the show

started with Playboy.

I had been asked

to do Playboy

I think the day that I walked

on Baywatch.

I had a cover of Playboy

after I was on Baywatch.

When I booked Baywatch,

I remember

Greg Bonann and the producer

saying to me,

"Did you get a call

for Playboy?

Are you gonna pose

for Playboy?"

And I said,

"Well, actually, yeah, I did."

Traci Bingham ended up being

the host

of Playboy's Babes of Baywatch.

Baywatch and Playboy

have two things in common.

Each has achieved

international success,

and each has introduced you

to the world's

most beautiful women.

Suddenly,

everybody was sh**ting Playboy.

It was so cool

to get in Playboy.

And all of a sudden, it pushed

you to another level.

Because you did Playboy,

you got even more TV shows

where, in the past,

you would lose your career.

Everybody on the show

had to be beautiful.

I mean, everybody was pretty.

You had to be pretty

to be on the show,

or you weren't gonna be

on the show.

I remember

a lot of people saying,

"Oh, I watch it

with the sound off."

And to be honest

Those montage scenes

were the best

because they would

highlight you

in the sexiest way

and everyone looked amazing.

It was like sh**ting

this music video.

Anything that went

wrong got better right away.

You know, there was never

so much tragedy.

It was always a happy ending

and a happy story.

The show was

really an innocent show,

if you look at the storylines.

Prettypretty idealistic,

even corny, I would say.

How can you marry someone

when you're in love

with someone else?

It wasn't, like, "cool,"

but everybody watched.

Anybody who's someone

watched Baywatch.

♪

I think the boys,

they saw an avenue,

what was working.

And it had to do with

beautiful people and the beach

because that's where

the money was.

♪

But after one year,

it was canceled.

So the show was

canceled on NBC.

And they really believed in it,

and they really wanted

to bring it back.

And syndication was

something newer on the scene.

Greg went back

to lifeguarding.

Hasselhoff went back

to touring.

Got a phone call one day

from a guy

who ran a distribution company

called Freemantle,

and he was distributing

Baywatch in foreign.

Baywatch.

And it was doing really well.

The rights

still belonged to Grant Tinker

and GTG Studios.

So Michael and I went

to see Grant Tinker,

and we offered him $10

for one year

to see if we can take the show

to syndication.

And if we can,

we would pay him a royalty.

And so Grant Tinker sold us

the rights to Baywatch for $10.

I got a call from one

of the producers that said,

"We think we can do the show

with a foreign financing,

but we have to do it with you."

And I went, "Bling!"

Luck is being prepared

for opportunity

when it presents itself.

And there have been times

when I have blown it.

I have blown my opportunity.

And there have been times

when I've said,

yes, yes, yes, I'm ready.

I walked off going,

I'm gonna get this.

And I got it.

And action.

I just do

what's in front of me, man.

I throw up a bunch of ba*ls,

and I make it work.

Make it work.

You got to make it work.

Action.

And then Baywatch came along.

And I knewI knew what to do.

I knew how to change Baywatch.

DIRECTOR: OK.

David Hasselhoff is no doubt

one of the most recognizable

names in the world.

You know, he taught me

a lot of great things.

He showed me how to be

a hustler, for sure.

I mean, that guy's a hustler.

David Hasselhoff was

a huge TV star at the time.

I didn't understand

that he was a musician

and had this whole pull

overseas.

Hasselhoff was, like,

a chart-topping artist.

The love of David Hasselhoff,

it goes deep.

In some countries,

he ishe's God.

And it's crazy.

♪

Without my performance

on the Berlin Wall,

without "Looking for Freedom,"

there'd be no Baywatch.

It was the number one

song in Germany at the time.

The Berlin Wall came down.

And that was a really big deal.

And David Hasselhoff,

he was like

the face of it, almost.

The phone rang.

And they said, "Would you like

to sing on the Berlin Wall?"

And I said,

"That'll never happen."

They called me back

and they said,

we have to get Helmut Kohl

and we have to get Honecker,

two prime ministers of East

and West Germany, to agree.

They agreed.

They called me back and said,

"How about we put you

in a crane,

"like a cherry picker,

above the people

of East and West Germany?"

And I went, oh, my God.

So I thought,

hey, I'll get the jacket.

That way,

everyone will see me.

And so I performed in 1989,

the first American to perform

on the free Berlin Wall.

I've been looking

for freedom ♪

I've been looking so long ♪

I've been looking

for freedom ♪

Still the search goes on ♪

The Hoff branded it.

I mean, that

I'm telling you, man,

he's a genius

when it comes to, "Hey, look,

what's going on over here."

In all of Europe,

it was really blowing up.

So I talked to the Germans,

the foreign distribution.

And they said to me,

quote unquote,

"Do you have

more Knight Riders?"

I said, no,

no more Knight Rider.

I said, well, I have

a new show called Baywatch.

"Is there a car?"

I said, no, there's not a car.

"But you're in it?

You're in it?"

I said, yes.

"OK, we buy it."

So we had a big chunk of money.

♪

We were out there doing a show

that entertained

1 billion people,

which is f*cking amazing.

Dave is the one that really

popped up from the show.

He became the center,

the anchor for the show

the whole time.

He embodied

the American dream.

I mean, I have German friends

that literally moved

to California

because of Baywatch

and because

of David Hasselhoff.

And they will tell you that.

We were delivering

a kind of a message

that was wholesomeness,

you know, for the family,

like Hasselhoff

and his son, you know,

and their relationship.

Sometimes we get lucky.

It wasn't luck, dad.

It was you.

You know, Jeremy Jackson.

I mean, Jeremy Jackson was

he was hired

because he was real,

because he made me cry.

Jeremy Jackson played

David Hasselhoff's son

on the show.

And he starts

as a very, very young kid.

He's probably about

seven or eight years old.

And we watch him

actually grow up on screen.

When I was a kid,

I wanted to be famous.

So I became totally obsessed

with performance.

I would come out

in the living room

and I would put on

a ballet show

or dress up as a cowboy.

Elvis Presley

and Michael Jackson

were kind of like my idols.

And I would watch them.

I would study them.

Jeremy's very exuberant

and vulnerable

and has the best heart

of anyone you could ever meet.

Oh, my poor mother.

She's a single mom.

She went to community college

because she had to take

community college classes

in order to keep getting

food stamps

and low income housing.

She had to do that

as a single parent.

And there was a number

on the board, and it said,

you know, child agent.

And she was like,

"Well, he sure is a ham.

You know, I guess I'll try."

We didn't know anything about

the entertainment industry.

And we called,

and, like, "Come on down."

And here I am.

And, you know,

Mr. People Pleaser.

He loved auditioning.

If that's all he ever got

to do was do the auditions

where the people say,

"Well, you did great,

thank you very much,"

that would have been fine.

We just started and,

wow, now we're making money.

And now we're like a team.

And this is cool.

And it was intense,

but it was like

her and I against the world.

So when Jeremy first

auditioned for Baywatch,

he had been doing commercials

for, like, five years.

And his agent said

they were looking

for pretty much exactly

they just described him to a T.

The Hobie character

is really interesting to me

because Hobie

and the relationship

was based after me and my son.

I was a single father

to, like, a kid

going through puberty.

So we decided to give

Hasselhoff's character,

Mitch, a son.

I think they had

looked at every kid

from, like, starting

at 14 years old

and went younger,

younger, younger

till they got to his age.

We were supposed

to go on a trip,

and then I said,

"Well, we can go,

but Knight Rider might be

at this audition."

And he thought about it

for two seconds

and he said, "OK, let's go

in case I can meet

the Knight Rider."

David Hasselhoff was, like,

my hero watching Knight Rider

since I was a little kid.

We were in the audition room,

and Hasselhoff walked in.

And then he looked over

and then it was like

this lightning bolt

went through just like that.

You just saw it in the air.

It was immediate.

And so I said,

"From a single family, huh?"

He goes, "Yeah."

And then Jeremy said to me

hope he's not mad about this

"I don't need a dad."

And that got me.

Like a

At that moment

When he said,

"I don't need a dad,"

it was so honest

that that's the moment

that he got, for me, the part.

And I fought for him.

There was a very extensive

audition process.

I think I auditioned

four times.

You know, it was

stiff competition for sure.

One of the actors

that came in

that we liked so much

was a 12-year-old

Leonardo DiCaprio.

So we had Leonardo DiCaprio

or Jeremy Jackson,

who was eight.

I remember it was down

to me and somebody else.

And I said,

"No, no, no, take the kid.

Take him."

When I got Baywatch,

you know,

I got to have

David Hasselhoff as my dad,

which was, like, my hero

since I was a little kid.

So this is my original

Knight Rider lunch pail.

I actually really had this

and used this.

And these are, like,

some Knight Rider stickers

that I had

before I got Baywatch,

when I idolized Knight Rider.

I learned

from his experience.

And he learned from mine.

So it was really kind of like

a father-son relationship.

Here's a note David gave me

on my 14th birthday.

"Dear Jeremy,

you're the son I never had.

"I know you need a CD.

I know you need a computer.

"I know you need a few things.

"I just don't know

what to get you.

So please, use this check

for whatever you want."

I think he gave me, like,

a $1,000 check or something.

For a 14-year-old,

that's kind of a big deal.

♪

♪

MATTHEW: Baywatch wanted

to show the world

what California

surf culture was.

♪

When you're actually

on the wave riding it,

there is no past

and there is no future.

Surf culture is just

it's so important

to California.

It's what California

has been built on.

And there was this young,

really good-looking kid

coming up who was

the best surfer in the world.

Kelly Slater was the hottest

surfer in the world,

was not an actor.

I remember when Kelly came

into the show, Kelly Slater.

And that was just

really interesting

because he was so revered,

especially in all the cast

and crew

that were surfing every day.

I won my first world title

the first year I did Baywatch.

♪

I had a manager who really

wanted me to be an actor.

And he said, "I got this

casting for you to go to."

And I did a reading.

And I felt like

I did a terrible job.

And then they loved me.

You know,

I wasn't trying to go

the acting route in my life.

At that point,

I was really trying to be

world champion in surfing.

He brought a little

bit of legitimacy to Baywatch.

And I feel he hated that

because, behind his back,

the surf world was

sort of laughing at him like,

"Thisdude, you're on

this corny-a*s show."

I just felt like

the writing was so nonsensical

in so many ways.

We were sh**ting this scene

where this cave is

known to collect surfboards.

And no one can understand

why they can never

find a surfboard in there.

When we go in, we realize that

there's an octopus

that's stealing the surfboards

and holding them

basically hostage.

Hold your breath

for 20 seconds.

One, two

It's pretty wild

looking back

that I got the chance

to be on that show.

I remember getting out

of there and thinking,

I hope the show just gets

bigger and bigger and bigger

and I'm forgotten about.

In the end,

I don't think it hurt him.

I think he didn't like it.

But the experience

on Baywatch really helped him

become the international

megastar that he is,

you know, on top of being

the best surfer

that ever lived.

We're rolling, and action.

The show,

it really wasn't good,

but we made it good.

We made it good

because we had passion.

We really tried hard.

When we went to work,

it was really fun.

It was like we were laughing

all the way to the water,

laughing

we were laughing

about everything.

Cut. Print.

Let's go.

Well, when I started the show,

it was, you know,

just coming back

from being canceled

off of a network.

And they were trying

this new syndicated,

you know, production.

The Baywatch budget

was so much smaller

than all the other shows

that were sh**ting at the time.

Hair, makeup, nails,

publicity, I mean promotion,

we did everything ourselves.

We did everything.

We were able to take the show,

which was 1.2 million

on the network,

and make it for 850.

We had budget restrictions.

And so we wrote short scripts.

And if the show came in

too short,

we would do a montage.

I think that's where

slow-motion came into play

because we were,

like, two minutes short.

It made everything

look so glamorous.

Nonstop t*ts and a*s

running in slow-motion

on the beach.

And, you know,

it was hot.

Let's enjoy this moment.

This is beautiful.

And I said, run that again.

And then it became a thing.

You go to the beach

and you have your drunk friends

like, "I'm gonna do

the Baywatch run!"

You see them going

I still run

in slow-motion for people.

It's become

this worldwide thing.

Carmen Electra would

actually show people

how to do the slow-motion run

on shows like Bravo's

Watch What Happens.

You run, and you breathe,

and you kind of

make it serious.

And I'm game. I love it.

And I teach people

how to do it.

There's a technique to it.

It's fun.

We were putting

the show back together,

the cast back together.

Erika and Billy,

they were making

a lot of money on the network,

so they had to take

huge pay cuts to come back.

Back then, what they were

offering everybody

is, like, $3,500 a show.

I mean, Friends,

at that point,

I think they were each making

$1 million an episode.

I actually remember

freaking out

seeing my first paycheck

after the taxes were taken out.

It was like, what?

What just happened?

You know, like,

how am I honestly

gonna live on this money?

Erika and I

were the only two

along with David, of course

we were the only two

that made the transition

from NBC to syndication.

In order for the show to go,

they wanted

they needed to have us.

I was like, all right, great.

I'm in, of course, thinking

that we're going back to do

the original type of Baywatch.

And I'm watching the camera

kind of going up the backside

of a girl's thong.

I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

What are we doing here?

And they were like,

"Uh, it's all good, man.

"We don't have

Big Brother anymore.

"We don't have

standards and practices.

We can do what we want."

For me, that's when

my comfort level went, shoo,

because I was

super focused the first year

on the seriousness of it.

And then the second year,

I feel like necklines plunged.

At the end of the season,

they were both talking

about leaving,

but we weren't getting

any more money.

The show still was on

a shoestring budget,

and we just couldn't afford

to pay them.

There's not one rich actor

on Baywatch, not one.

And that's kind of strange

because the wealth

is always shared

when you're on a hit TV show.

Baywatch made a lot of money,

just not for the actors.

They treated being on Baywatch

like you were

a college athlete.

"Oh, you'll make your money

down the road."

You'll make your money because

you became famous on Baywatch.

BILLY:

Everybody was disposable.

And if you didn't fit

into their brand

at the price they were

paying you, you were gone.

I was more surprised

that they didn't fight for her.

I mean, me, I'm a dude.

You can get 100 more

hard bodies,

especially harder than this.

But

So I left after season two.

Eddie and Shauni got married.

And they went off

to Australia.

And that was it.

And so the distributors

were freaked out.

Our hot young couple is gone.

We said, no, no, no.

We'll find somebody else.

Yeah, what was your big break?

My big break?

Um

We met a woman

through Playboy

Hugh Hefner introduced us to

named Pamela Anderson.

Well, I don't think

you really choose

to be famous.

I mean, I didn't choose it,

so it was just kind of

happening as it unfolded.

I wasn't trying to be

anything, to be famous.

Pamela!

to the left. To the left.

Pamela, to the left.

♪

Everyday reality

has hardships.

Everyday reality

has challenges.

This reality

♪

We definitely

exported the American dream

all across the world.

California is a character.

It's special.

It's like Baywatch

really amplified California

when it was airing

because we showed

the glamour of the beaches.

We showed what the life

would be like here.

We probably caused,

you know, a million people

to move from their small towns

to come to the beach

and have

Pamela Anderson's life

of running down the beach

in slow-motion.

The whole country

wanted to see sex,

but the whole country

didn't want to admit

that they wanted to see it.

And the creators

of Baywatch understood

how powerful it was.

And of course,

Pamela Anderson just

completely glamorized

being on the beach

and being a lifeguard.

Pamela just exploded

at the end of that first year.

I was a huge

Pamela Anderson fan.

Like, I would try to do

my hair like hers.

I tried to do

my makeup like hers.

Like, she was someone

that, like, I was like,

oh, she's so pretty.

I was discovered

in kind of a strange way.

I was in Vancouver.

And I went to a British

Columbia Lions football game

with some friends next door.

They had free tickets.

So they said, Pamela,

do you want to come?

And I said, sure, OK, I'll go.

And I was wearing

a Labatt's Beer T-shirt,

which is a popular beer

in Canada.

And the cameraman

zoomed in on me

and put me up

on where the scoreboard is

in front of, like,

60,000 people.

And there I was.

I had never seen myself

on anything.

And I looked up and I was like,

oh, my God, that's me.

They ended up pulling me down

to the 50-yard line

at halftime, interviewing me.

And they're like,

"What's your name, young lady?"

And I said, Pamela Anderson.

And they said,

"This is Pamela Anderson,

the blue zone girl,"

because I had blue zone

on my shirt too.

I was always inspired

by Pamela.

And I looked up to her.

I think she's awesome.

Like, one of the most

iconic blondes

next to Marilyn Monroe.

When I was growing up,

I think I

I had a great imagination.

My grandparents were very much

into fairy tales, mythology,

and so

I just kind of had this

fantasy kind of little life.

And I knew that I had to move

off the island

to kind of put myself

in a place of opportunity.

Pamela Anderson

had the light.

We saw the light

shining from her eyes,

shining from the smile.

No one has broken

her record of being

on the cover of Playboy

magazine as many times

as she's been on the cover.

I mean, look what

Playboy did for Pam Anderson.

Look what it did.

Those shots are iconic.

I remember standing next

to a bus ad on a bus stop

and someone coming up

to me saying,

"Would you like to pose

for Playboy?"

And I said, absolutely not.

And they asked me

a few more times.

And I finally asked my mother,

and my mother said,

"I would do it."

So she told me to go

and to never come back.

I sent her a picture.

She was like, you have arrived.

You're exactly

where you need to be.

Hefner used to tell me,

"You are the DNA of Playboy.

"You're the reason I made

a magazine like this.

This is about a girl like you."

She was stunning.

You know,

she didn't need anything.

She was a knockout

right then and there.

But most of all,

she had this energy.

It's something

that you can't really define.

It's a vibe.

It's a sense.

It's an aura.

Some people have it.

Pam happened to have it.

And I was just, like,

knocked out by her.

I was supposed

to go to Baywatch auditions

many, many times.

But I thought Marina del Rey

was really far away.

I'm not a very good driver.

And so I never went.

And so I was famous

before I got there

because I never showed up.

And so since she came in,

literally the last person

we had scheduled or anything,

I think it became

a special thing.

And I think that made them

look at her more carefully.

Especially when

we came in and said,

"oh, my God,

you need to hire this girl.

"We can't even believe

she showed up.

You have to hire her

right this second."

So she finally comes in,

and she was just wonderful.

She was bubbly

and she was beautiful

and charismatic and sexy.

And we said, look,

we've got bathing suits.

Do you mind

if you try on a bathing suit?

She said, "Oh, no,

I don't need a bathing suit.

"Look, you guys have seen me

naked in Playboy.

It doesn't matter."

And she starts

getting undressed.

And she's getting undressed

right in front of us.

She has a bathing suit on

under her clothes.

And everybody loves her.

And she leaves.

And we go, this is it.

And Hasselhoff says,

"I don't think so.

"If I'm in a scene with her,

"everybody's gonna be

staring at her t*ts

"and nobody's gonna watch

my performance.

They'll just be looking

at her."

I was dead against it

because she was on Playboy.

I didn't want

another Playboy girl.

We were already number one.

What do we need another girl

on the show for?

We're number one.

Doug, Greg, and I

said to David,

"David, at this point in time,

"you don't have

creative control.

"You have consultation.

"We'll listen to you

or whatever,

but no, we're gonna cast her."

We caught

more attention because of Pam.

Our ratings went

from 2.33 rating

all the way up to a 10 rating.

So we tripled our ratings.

And we realized that we had

something going here.

People watched her.

We all watched her.

This was a time

where people were obsessed

with Pam and Tommy.

We had several

big-a*s speed bumps,

things that weren't really,

you know,

nurturing to the relationship.

I was never really

an ambitious person.

And I didn't strive to be

an actress or to be famous.

This all just seemed

so surreal.

It just seemed like

one thing after another.

No matter where I went,

it just seemed like

that's what I was meant to do.

♪

♪ Some people stand

in the darkness ♪

♪ Afraid to step

into the light ♪

♪ Some people need

to help somebody ♪

♪ The edge of surrender's

in sight ♪

♪ Don't you worry ♪

♪ It's gonna be all right ♪

♪

♪ 'Cause I'm always ready ♪

♪ I won't let you

out of my sight ♪

♪

♪ I'll be ready ♪

♪ Oh, I'll be ready ♪

♪ Never you fear ♪

♪ No, don't you fear ♪

♪ I'll be ready ♪

♪ Oh, I'll be ready ♪

♪ Never you fear ♪

♪ Ooh, don't you fear ♪

♪ I'll be ready ♪

♪ Oh, I'll be ready ♪

♪ Never you fear ♪

♪ Oh, don't you fear ♪

♪ I'll be ready ♪

♪ Forever and always ♪

♪ Oh, forever and always ♪

♪ Forever and always ♪

♪ I'm always here ♪