Like the top of a slo-mo music montage on the seashore, “Baywatch” reboot has discovered a house: Fox has closed on a script+penalty deal for a brand new model of the long-running surf-sand-and-saviors sequence from Fremantle.
Fox and Fremantle have tapped Lara Olsen (“Spinning Out”) to function showrunner for the brand new “Baywatch,” which was initially created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz and Gregory J. Bonann. Starring David Hasselhoff, “Baywatch” initially ran from 1989 to 1999 after which was retooled as “Baywatch” Hawaii” from 1999 to 2001.
Olsen, Berk, Bonann and Schwartz will function exec producers on the one-hour drama, which comes from each Fremantle and Fox Entertainment. Here’s the brand 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 go to to the lifeguard hut: The community additionally aired the TV reunion film “Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding” in 2003.
Besides Hasselhoff, the present’s forged over time included Pamela Anderson, Yasmine Bleeth, Alexandra Paul, Erika Eleniak, Nicole Eggert, Parker Stevenson and lots of others. Hasselhoff additionally starred in a by-product sequence, the non-public eye drama “Baywatch Nights,” which aired from 1995 to 1997. “Baywatch” was a syndication sensation, airing in additional than 145 nations at one level, greater than another TV present. The sequence’ PR firm even made up a stat, calling it the “No. 1 series in the world,” which was then reprinted as reality in publications.
The present was initially impressed by Bonann’s time as a Los Angeles County lifeguard. Bonann later turned an Olympics filmmaker and after years of pitching a present about lifeguards, finally assembly Berk and Schwartz. They initially developed “Baywatch” for Grant Tinker’s GTG shingle, which had a sequence dedication at CBS. When the Eye community handed, the pilot “Baywatch: Panic at Malibu Pier” was offered to NBC, which aired it as a film — and in success, picked up a 12-episode season.
“Baywatch” was a flop on NBC, and the producers managed to purchase again the rights to the present from GTG to be able to produce new first-run episodes in syndication. The producers recruited quite a lot of buyers, together with a small distributor, LBS, in addition to an earlier model of Fremantle (which had distributed the present internationally and noticed the recognition of Hasselhoff in Germany), UK outlet ITV and the Chris-Craft TV station group. All-American TV, run by Scotti Bros. Records, agreed to speculate because the present’s guarantor, after which took over as distributor when LBS went bankrupt. Pearson TV later purchased All-American; Pearson finally turned part of FremantleMedia, which was created through a sequence of mergers by Germany’s Bertelsmann in 2001. (FremantleMedia turned Fremantle in 2018.)
And that’s the lengthy highway to how “Baywatch” ended up a marquee title within the Fremantle library. A “Baywatch” reboot has been mentioned prior to now; most not too long ago a “Baywatch” movie starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron was launched in 2017. That film grossed $178 million globally.
As for Olsen, she’s very aware of rebooting traditional TV franchises, having labored on the revivals of “90210” and “Beauty and the Beast,” each at The CW. Her different credit embody “Blood and Treasure,” “Reign,” “Life Unexpected” and “Private Practice.”