‘After Baywatch’ Documentary Reveals What It Was Really Like To Be Part Of A Cultural Phenomenon

It wasn’t supposed to be one, but Baywatch somehow became a cultural phenomenon, at one point watched by 1.2 billion viewers weekly.

Now, over thirty years later, the series, which is not only still frequently referenced in pop culture, has spawned a four-part behind-the-scenes documentary.

The series, created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz and Gregory J. Bonann, aired for one season on an actual television network (NBC) in 1989, before heading to syndication, where it ran until 2001.

Baywatch was known for its stunning looking, scantily clad lifeguards, who wore what’s now an iconic red bathing suit while running in slow motion on the beach, as well as gratuitous bikini shots and music videos popped right into each episode. The plots were often outrageous, and the character growth was non-existent. But the series did spurn a generation to learn CPR, understand that rip currents are very real and very dangerous, with some even taking up lifeguarding as a career.

Helmed by director/executive producer Matt Felker, the four-part documentary series After Baywatch: Moment in the Sunincludes interviews with more than 35 members of the original series cast and creators.

Felker, who clearly was deeply affect by the series, spent five years putting it together.

“I was inspired to be an actual lifeguard because of the show. That is true. And I was very inspired to move to California in my early 20s because of it as well,” admits Felker.

Using the interviews in which nothing was off the table, as well as never-before-seen footage and home videos, the series delves into the mythology of Baywatchhow it marketed the American dream, and its impact on its stars, all while leaving an indelible mark on society.

To make the series, Felker had to go to great lengths as he explains, “Greg Alan Williams [who played police officer Garner Ellerbee] had never done a Baywatch interview in 30 years. He made me write him an essay. He had to understand why I was doing this, how he was being positioned, and he really welcomed me with open arms. Michael Bergin [who starred as J. D. Darius] ghosted me for I don’t know how long. He’s a real estate agent so I showed up at a house that he was selling, and I ended up buying the house.”

Nicole Eggert, who portrayed Roberta ‘Summer’ Quinn for two seasons, served as a producer on the series, getting many of her cast mates to take part in the project.

The home videos came from Eggert, as well as Jeremy Jackson, who began on Baywatch as a child actor at age ten and remained with the series throughout its run, and David Chokachi, who played lifeguard Cody Madison for four seasons.

There is plenty revealed in the series, with a heavy focus on the actors’ struggles in their personal lives as the series became a worldwide sensation.

About this, Chokachi says, “I think we were always tagged as this superficial [show]and the actors were all these just good-looking people. But this documentary, I think, is going to be a chance for people to have access to our real lives without a filter. And once people see the journeys we’ve all been on in our own lives — the good and the bad — instead of stigmatizing the show when you hear the name, we’ll have a lot more respect for the name Baywatchand for the actors who worked on the show.”

Jackson agreed saying, “Respect and Baywatchtwo things you don’t expect to hear in the same conversation.”

Chokachi speaking directly with Forbes added, “Yeah there was a lot of flash in the series, but I do feel like there was a good deal of substance to go with that and let’s talk about both when we talk about Baywatchnot just that it was about people running around in bathing suits.”

More nuggets that were not included in the documentary but that were revealed to Forbes included some insight from Billy Warlock and Alexandra Paul.

Warlock, who played Eddie Kramer in the TV movie that started it all and the first few years of the series, explained that he had a complicated history with the show.

As an original cast member, he appearing in the first season that aired on NBC. The narrative of that season featured Warlock and as his real-life girlfriend at the time, Erika Eleniak, who played Eddie’s love interest, Shauni.

After the first season, word came that NBC had canceled the series, so Warlock, who’d previously been a regular on Days of Our Liveswent back to that series.

Then, Warlock recalls, “Greg Bonnan called and asked me and Erika to come. He said, ‘We have to have Shauni and Eddie.’ So I broke my contract with Days and went back to Baywatch. But what happened was that there was money there, in syndication, but it went to producers, and it wasn’t nearly on the scale of ‘network actor’ money, so I felt like I got screwed on the money part.”

After the second season, Warlock and Eleniak left Baywatchwith him going back to Daysafter apologizing for breaking his contract earlier.

However, even given this, Warlock, who prior to being cast was an award-winning swimmer, says that he was very happy doing Baywatch. “I loved being on set, I loved working with David Hasselhoff, all of it was great.”

Asked if the show were to be rebooted if he’d be open to participating, without a split second passing, Warlock said, with enthusiasm, “Absolutely 100%”

Paul, who played Lieutenant Stephanie Holden, says that she knew as soon as she was cast that she wasn’t like the other female lifeguard characters on the Baywatch.

“I did not have the body type that they did,” she said, “I was tall and, let’s just say it, I didn’t have a big chest. So I knew that I couldn’t be like the others, not only because I didn’t have the body they did, but because that whole look just wasn’t me. So I leaned into it and cut my hair and buffed up to that I just looked super strong.”

She says that she’s grateful that she was different than the others because, “At the time, all of that taught me to be who I was. And I think it was a really good life lesson for me to learn at that time.”

Speaking about time, and why now is the perfect time to revisit the series, and the profession of lifeguarding, says Felker, “I watch the lifeguards, how they work, and how they are, and it’s such a beautiful community of friendship. And, in a time where kids are suffering a lot because they’re just staring at their phones, to see some sort of positive messaging about, ‘oh, maybe this is a path for me, where I can be doing something outside. I can get into a pipeline where I’m learning about the ocean, and I’m part of a community,’ — what a better message to send to people in this day and age.”

‘After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun” is available for streaming on Hulu.