As early as April 2023, it was reported that the production company Fremantle, belonging to the German media group Bertelsmann, wanted to release a new series about the lifeguards in red swimsuits and shorts to the world with its own brand ‘Baywatch’. But this required a financially strong partner and broadcaster. It has now been found. Such as the industry magazine reported, Fox is on the scheduled date Restarting “Baywatch”. stepped in and will probably get to work straight away.
The company has committed to developing the scripts for a first season. This obligation also involves a fine that is described as ‘significant’. This means: if Fox decides to pull out because they don’t like the scripts or because they change their minds, they will have to spend a lot of money as punishment. This makes it more likely that the series will actually be produced and that the ‘Baywatch’ reboot will happen and not fail.
The original producers of the cult ’90s series, Michael Berk, Gregory Bonann and Douglas Schwartz, return. This time, however, a woman takes the lead: The veteran TV writer and producer Lara Olsenwho was involved in series such as ‘90210’ or ‘Private Practice’, will develop and then direct the reboot as showrunner.
“Baywatch”: From a flop to the most successful series in the world
The original series ran for eleven seasons, from 1989 to 2001, and almost ended very quickly. Because After just one season, NBC, the network originally behind the action drama series, pulled the plug. And since there were no petitions from internet fans or streaming services to come to the rescue in 1990, this seemed like a sure bet.
But protagonist David Hasselhoff and the three series creators Berk, Bonann and Schwartz took a risk. With support from Germany in particular, they managed to continue the seriesalthough it was not broadcast on major TV networks in the US, but aired on many local stations.
The rest is history. “Baywatch” became a worldwide mega-success. At one point, more than 1.1 billion people worldwide are said to have watched “Baywatch” in one week. With this number, the then most successful series in the world even ended up in the Guinness Book of Records as the most viewed series.
Above all, ‘Baywatch’ became a cult phenomenon in which everyone could find something for themselves. In retrospect, the series is often reduced to the numerous female sex symbols in skimpy swimsuits, but ‘Baywatch’ was a thoroughly progressive series, especially in its portrayal of its female characters. Because the numerous heroines such as Shauni McClain (Erika Eleniak), CJ Parker (Pamela Anderson) or Summer Quinn (Nicole Eggert) were never beautiful accessories, but were given their own stories and saved lives on an equal footing with the men, or even stopped them. criminals (who often caused mischief on the beach of Malibu). In fact, the clear majority of the “Baywatch” audience was female; many young women in particular were happy that there was finally a TV series in which strong, independent women stood up for themselves.
Even more lifeguards: Fox is competing with itself
So the new series has big shoes to fill. It is not yet known when it will be released. Noisy However, Fox likely doesn’t plan to show it in the traditional fall-to-spring series season, but instead produce for the summer. For the classic season, Fox has already commissioned another series that is very similar to “Baywatch.”
‘Rescue: HI-Surf’ also focuses on lifeguards – only in Hawaii (where a ‘Baywatch’ spin-off also took place). Arielle Kebbel (“The Vampire Diaries”) was recently cast as the lead actress for the series. “Rescue: HI-Surf” will begin filming soon and will begin in the fall of 2024, so it’s already much further along. “Baywatch” could follow at the earliest in the summer of 2025 and will then have to prove itself against internal competition.