Baywatch

Season 3 SonyMax 20:00 (weekdays)

Iconic song? Check! Iconic LA beaches? Check! Iconic Pam Anderson and other sexy lifeguards in their red swimsuits? Check! ’90s lifeguard drama Baywatch (1989-2001) is back, rescuing viewers’ weeknights with hot action and sexy beach bodies everywhere you look.

1 David Hasselhoff didn’t just play lead character Mitch Buchannon, he was an executive producer too.

2 The show’s first studio GTG went bankrupt – David Hasselhoff and three others bought the rights, which is why The Hoff is an exec producer.

3 The now-famous theme song I’m Always Here (by Jimi Jamison from rock band Survivor) was used for the syndicated series. Initially Baywatch was cancelled after a season, with the theme song Save Me by Peter Cetera.

4 From 1989 until 1999, Baywatch was shot in Santa Monica, LA, where the show was actually set. It moved to Hawaii from 1999 to 2001.

5 The Hawaii reboot almost didn’t happen. Rumour has it Australia was the original first-choice location but there was a backlash from Australians who didn’t want the show there. Michael “Newmie” Newman wasn’t

6 just a character – Michael Newman (his real name) was a real lifeguard who worked with Baywatch creator Gregory J Bonann, who was a lifeguard too.

7 How popular was it? By the mid’90s, Baywatch was syndicated to 148 countries and had over 1 billion viewers… 65% of whom were women.

8 It’s being rebooted in 2017 and so far it’ll feature Zac Efron from the High School Musical films (2006-2008), Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Ballers, 2015-current) and Kelly Rohrbach from The PET Squad Files (2013-2015) playing CJ Parker (Pam Anderson’s old role).