All language subtitles for After.Baywatch.Moment.in.the.Sun.S01E03.Almost.Famous.1080p.HULU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-playWEB_track4_[eng]

[waves breaking]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

PERSON:
Everybody set?

Action!

- There was a reference
to Baywatch

in almost everything
that was a hit.

- Run, Yasmine!
Run like the wind!

- ♪ I'll be ready ♪
- ♪ Oh, I'll be ready ♪

- Every year, we bring in new
people and exit other people.

- Jason Momoa is the one that
exploded off of Baywatch.

MATTHEW: That's something
the creators really had--

the knack of finding stars.

- It was a wild time,
and I was a wild chick.

What are you going to do
about the bad writing?

[laughter]

- I'm just going to do
what I'm going to do.

And I want chicks,
and I want fame.

MATTHEW: We went
from admiring these people

to, let's take you down.
[crowd cheering]

CARMEN: When people
are talking about you,

it destroyed
a lot of people.

MATTHEW: And Jason says
they literally hunted him

like an animal,
trying to out him.

- He's one of my closest
friends on the show.

So it was a secret
that we kept.

- I had so much anxiety
that she would have to take me

to therapy twice a week.

- This show was not designed
for someone who looks like me.

Primarily, it wasn't.

- I kept asking the producers
to please give me

a boyfriend who is of color.

GREGORY:
I was a sidekick.

Man, the sidekick
can't be sexy.

Sidekick got to be a clown.

And my beauty was
not celebrated.

- We made so many mistakes
back then in the '90s.

NICOLE:
I wasn't ready for that show.

What happened to her,
you know?

Well, life.
[laughs] Life happened.

And I bet life happened
to you, too.

- I'm really proud
of everything I've done--

almost.

[laughs]

[mellow music]

♪ ♪

- Going through puberty
on Baywatch was painful.

I was too young to hook up
with the chicks

but old enough to want to.

- There was, like, a slew
of bikini-clad girls.

And even though
he was, you know,

13, 14 years old,

they were already trying
to make eyes at him

and do things--

Like, I really tried to keep
him away from all of that

the best I could.

- And they would
definitely tease me,

like, give me a little
booby shot or whatever.

But I was too young
to, like, really

hook up with any of them.

And, you know, like I said,
I just wanted to be grown-up.

And I was like, ugh!
Just hang in there.

- He had to sit back and
kind of watch the rest of us

for quite a bit, which is
probably brutally tough,

because we just had a blast.

JEREMY: I mean, if you're
a kid in life, right,

you just, like,
want to be cool.

You want to hang out
with the cool people.

You want to be grown-up way
before you're grown-up, right?

And that's how
Baywatch was for me.

There was all these hot
chicks, and I would usually

sneak in their trailers after
they were done

and grab
their dirty bathing suits.

Let's just say I've smelled
every [bleep] on Baywatch.

[laughing]

And Nicole was
the big one, for sure.

We had a very intimate
moment, her and I,

that she never knew about.

- Well...
[chuckles]

I know Jeremy very well.

This surprises me not at all.

JEREMY: And Nicole was
the one that,

I guess you could say,
I looked up to.

She would come to work late
and not give a fuck

and say that out loud.

Like, I don't give a fuck.
I'd be like, what?

- There's nothing Jeremy could
say that would freak me out.

And I'm not even mad
at 14-year-old Jeremy.

I mean, puberty
on a show like that.

I love grown-up Jeremy
for being honest

about 14-year-old Jeremy.

- Arch your back.
Come on.

MATTHEW: Being a kid
around all adults,

it has to have
a negative effect.

We've seen
this child-star narrative

since the beginning of time.

There's always issues.
There's always problems.

DAVID: Baywatch was kind of
like, no matter what happened

in your personal life, and
there was some heavy stuff

that happened to Jeremy.

I said, I don't care.
Come here. Give me a hug.

It was awesome.

From probably 10 to 14,

I was just hoping that he
would fall in love with my mom

and be my dad, you know.

And I was probably
doing everything I could

to try to make that happen.

Now, looking back,
I'm like, I'm 39 now.

David must have been 30
when I started, you know?

And I'm like, hey, David,
we got to go surfing.

Hey, David, can you take me
for a ride in your car?

Hey, David.
Hey, David. Hey, David.

- It was really kind of like
a father-son relationship.

I was never the father
that I should have been,

that I could have been.

And I regret that
a little bit,

because I could have been
there a little bit more.

But I was too busy, too busy
being David Hasselhoff.

I had my own set of problems.

I had enough going on
in my own life, being a father

and going through a marriage

that was not the best
in the world.

It was just a real weird time.

I was 16 years old.

David surprised me with
this cake and this huge box.

In the box was a smaller box
and then a smaller box

and then a smaller box
and then a smaller box.

After I opened all the boxes,
in the box

was this key right here.

It says, "Happy 16th."

Then they pulled up this
phenomenal, outrageous,

amazing sports car.

That is the actual car--
Volkswagen Riot.

It's a kit car.
It's a $14,000 car.

But I never got the sports car.

And I haven't let it go.

And I refuse to let it go.

David, you still owe me
a frickin' car, okay?

[laughter]

- Even today, 30 years later,
Jeremy, obviously much,

much older,

is still in touch with David,
and they still have talks.

When things go wrong
in Jeremy's life

and he needs
someone to talk to,

he goes and talks to David
just like he did

talking to Mitch on the show.

Looking back today,

he's still kind of a mythical
figure, even after working

with him for so long.

- David would just, you know,
tour Germany at the same time

as shooting Baywatch.

And I think Jeremy may have
gone with him one time.

I know that Jeremy wanted
to be just like David.

He wanted to be a singer.

He wanted to be
a rock-and-roll star.

And I think David
encouraged him.

And so did we.

- And I'm going to
slide on my knees,

and then I'm going to run down
there and slide on my knees.

All right?

BERK:
He became a heartthrob.

- Jeremy Jackson
had a pop career.

He had two hits.
One of them was "French Kiss."

The other was "You Can Run."

- ♪ You can run, you can hide,
you can cheat, you can lie ♪

♪ But you can't
run away from me ♪

♪ No matter what the mission,
no matter what the time ♪

♪ That's how it's going to be ♪

- But you needed
a machine behind you.

You needed the machine
that gave us Britney Spears

and NSYNC and Backstreet Boys.

He didn't have a machine.

He just wanted to be
a pop star

like David Hasselhoff.

JEREMY: I ended up touring
all over the world with David

and performing and
doing two albums.

And I wanted that so bad.

And I envisioned it.
And I manifested it.

It happened.

So I was on Baywatch.

We'd go on tours.
I'd be in Europe.

And I'd get to the
place in the car.

And I'd think, oh, my gosh.

Like, all these screaming fans
are there for other people.

And it turns out they
were there for me.

I had to get 20 security
guards hand in hand

over the door of the car
so I could get out of the car.

And they're, like,
rocking the car, weeping.

I saw girls passing out.

I saw girls being carried away
by security guards.

I saw girls taking
their clothes off,

screaming, weeping.

And that was, like,
the coolest thing ever.

I was always...

wanting to be a troublemaker,

smoking cigarettes,
drinking beer,

you know, sneaking out
at night,

getting into trouble.

- I was in the way
of everything

he wanted to do at that point.

So that got pretty nasty.

JEREMY: So now was my
opportunity

to get whatever I wanted,

and I just took
full advantage of that.

I just started wielding
my power over my mom.

I'm just going to do
what I'm going to do,

and I want chicks,
and I want fame.

It was gnarly.

Every extreme that can
take place took place.

So those were the heights
that, you know,

once you hit that
and they're gone,

you got to re-create them

because that's
what's normal for you.

That's what's
comfortable for you.

MATTHEW: So Jeremy was,
you know, introduced to drugs

before most kids
are introduced to drugs.

He's introduced to sex
and pornography

and all these things way
earlier than normal kids are.

- He ended up
having a girlfriend

that was an extra on Baywatch.

- I was passionately in love
with a girl when I was 17.

And I gave up everything
basically for her.

I turned down movie deals
and quit the show.

And I just made my every
waking moment about her

and building a life with her.

And she was a drug addict,

and I jumped right down
the rabbit hole with her.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Last night was
the black-tie event, the gala.

And there's just,
like, this abundance

of, like, amazing-looking guys
in this country.

I don't know if it's
because of the race

or it's always like this,
but they're hot.

[chuckles] So, of course,

we had our room full
of them last night

and...

it made for an interesting,
interesting evening.

But my room is wrecked.

I woke up in my dress
and the door open.

Look.

Candy bars that I, like, stole.

[chuckles]

Heineken over there
under the curtain--I see it.

We'll try to catch up
with some of those guys later.

Make for some
interesting video.

[laughs]

I was born in Los Angeles, so
I spent a lot of my childhood

on the beach.

And Baywatch really,
really captured,

like, my childhood, too.

I was, like, the little girl
who dressed up as a princess

but never brushed her hair
and climbed trees.

That's who I was as a kid.

And my mother entered me
in this local beauty pageant

and I won.

And casting director
and an agent called.

And I immediately started
getting auditions.

I was an actress
since I was four years old.

I was the Coppertone kid,

Johnson's & Johnson's
Baby Shampoo.

My first acting gig was
an ABC Movie of the Week

called When She Was Bad.

It was about child abuse.

And from that, I booked
Charles in Charge

as a series regular.

- You know, you have
a major ego problem.

You think Alex is helping me
because she's in love with you?

You're the one who's obsessed.

God, you just won't be happy
until you destroy my life!

That's not true, Jamie.

NICOLE:
And then I got to Baywatch.

BERK: That season we cast
Pam and David Charvet,

we also cast Nicole Eggert
as Summer.

- Look, CJ, for the last time,
I do not have

an eating disorder, okay?

- Well, Nicole Eggert coming
on to Baywatch is a huge star.

She's from Charles in Charge.

She's on every young
adolescent's wall.

CHRIS: She takes that
unbelievably sexy photograph

for the Sugar Ray
record, you know,

that's one of those pictures
that people

remember from the 1990s.

Everybody knew who it
was in that picture.

So whatever she
was on Baywatch,

she was like an icon
of a certain type of sexuality

already in the mid '90s.

NICOLE:
I was 19, 20 years old.

I was much younger than
the rest of the cast.

When you're 19, 20 years old,
like, I didn't have to try.

I didn't work out.

You know, it just
was, like, natural.

And I show up on set,

and they've got
this red bathing suit.

And I've never worked out
a day in my life.

I, like, smoked cigarettes.
You know, I was a mess.

And I panicked.

I couldn't believe that that's
what I was going to be doing,

you know.

I didn't realize that
I was, like, considered

any kind of sex-symbol thing.

That hadn't occurred
to me at all.

I just focused
on what I was doing

and what I was looking at.

And I had blinders on
to the rest of the world

because I hated the attention.

Like, I hated it.

Stop it.

It made me so insecure
and just so uncomfortable.

It felt like such
an invasion of privacy.

And I didn't deal
with it well at all.

So I made the decision,
you know, to chop my hair off.

I think almost every producer
went into cardiac arrest

when I showed up on set with
with the short hair.

And I was like,
no, trust me, guys.

It's cool.

When I look back at it now,
it's like, wow.

You know, that's so cool.

But my instinct was flight.

And I said, I need to
get away from this.

So I quit after
the first season.

I wasn't ready for that show.

- And I think that women
have always been objectified.

So, you know--
especially modeling.

- People are always going
to be drawn to beauty.

That's not going to change.

MATTHEW:
Everything was about the body

in the '90s, everything.

KELLEY: And that was
definitely the decade

of supermodels.

♪ ♪

- You really started seeing the
evolution of the supermodel,

I think, in the '90s.

"Freedom! '90" is one
of George Michael's

most iconic music videos,

primarily because he had all
of the hottest supermodels

of the '90s in it.

- When you make
a living on camera,

visually, there's expectations.

- It really starts with women
having this impossible

social contract in which our
main value somehow

appears to be being pretty.

NICOLE: I was considered
curvy back then,

and there wasn't anything
I could do about it.

I just had a behind on me.

And everybody else was these,
like, teeny, tiny,

skinny things.

There was a clause
of, you couldn't gain,

couldn't lose five pounds.

You had to stay
within your weight.

The '90s was about beauty.

And beauty doesn't
need a résumé.

Baywatch actors talked
about strict diet rules

on "E! True Hollywood Story."

We're not allowed to get fat.

That's what says
in my contract.

So, of course, they have
fat-free Fig Newtons.

[laughs]

That's what we eat.

That's how we keep
the Baywatch figures.

Yeah, as vegetarians.

Sucking on a baloney.

You know, we had to stay fit.

We couldn't really get
cellulite because that's

going to show on camera.

So it's a lot of pressure.
It was a lot of pressure.

- You're going up
for a leading role,

there are certain expectations
about the way you have to look,

and that is it,
and that goes today.

PAULINA: Like,
the responsibility of beauty

is to stay that forever.

But unless you die at 25,
that's not going to happen.

NICOLE: To put me next
to 20-year-old me,

not only do I not want to be
that person or look like that,

it just is just ignorant.

What happened to her, you know?

Well, life.
[chuckles]

Life happened.

And I bet life happened
to you, too, you know.

I'm sure that
Baywatch definitely had

an influence in girls
wanting bigger lips,

bigger boobs, smaller waist.

When I was 20,
I modified my body,

and I put implants in my body.

- Plastic surgery
was just coming in.

I remember once when I went
back to my high-school reunion,

and one of my classmates
asked me,

is Pamela Anderson's--are
those breasts real?

- The whole look
was huge boobs.

Like, the bigger, the better.

I mean, everyone
was getting, like,

all kinds of things
done to their bodies

to look like Pamela.

That was the key to succeed
on a show such as Baywatch.

MATTHEW: I mean, Greg,
Michael, and Doug

figured out...

that people like to see fake
boobs on TV

before the rest of the world--
it's really that simple.

This is the suits being
sneaky and throwing in,

you know, very, you know,
low-key sexualization

into these family programs.

[upbeat music]

[people shouting]

It was pandemonium.

[crowd cheering, shouting]

We did signings.
We did every morning show.

And I was like, oh, my God.
This is insane.

- Those men and women
who produced that show

did their job.

It was an international hit.

DOUGLAS:
By 1993,

we had 158 countries
that were airing Baywatch

in 42 different languages
on every continent,

except Antarctica.

- There were villages that
would fire up a generator just

to watch the show.

REPORTER: Here at the edge
of the Brazilian jungle,

yes, folks, it's Baywatch.

[upbeat music plays]

- They ended up being
the most watched

television show in the world,
with over a billion viewers.

- It communicated globally
because you can dub it.

You can put it in
other languages,

and it's still beautiful.

It's still entertaining.
It's the California Dream.

♪ ♪

That's cute.

You girls in front,
you look great.

♪ ♪

TRACI: Everyone tuned in
to watch the show

because you knew you were
going to see someone sexy.

It wasn't just a sexy female.
It was a sexy male.

And it was fun to watch.

Everyone likes
to watch sexy things.

DOUGLAS: Every year
we'd bring in new people

and exit other people.

It was definitely something

that I dreamed
and aspired to do.

Once I saw the show,
I was like,

how can I get on that beach?

- Baywatch was a show
that was not character driven.

We were as interchangeable
as socks.

PERSON:
And then there were three--

24-year-old Stacy Kamano,
19-year-old Jason Momoa,

and 26-year-old Kala'i Miller
are officially

cast members
of Baywatch: Hawaii.

- I went to Hawaii
to do an open call.

And there were thousands.

It was lines out the door.

And the minute Jason
walked in...

it was like,
okay, we've got our guy.

He just was a perfect
Baywatch lifeguard.

And we hired him right away.

- He was 6'5"
and great physique,

was a terrific natural actor.

JEREMY:
Jason Momoa was--

God, what was he, 21 probably
back then.

Everybody loved him.

He was like a total
maniac but smiling and kind

the whole time but just
running around carefree.

Gosh, he was so young
back then.

So no beard but still an
anomaly, like a rare specimen,

even back then, you know.

- And that's something
that creators really had.

They had a knack
of finding stars.

GENA:
Jason Momoa, he is the--

the one that exploded
off of Baywatch.

He was just drop-dead gorgeous.

And he was just a kid.

And he was so nervous,
very raw,

very quiet, very shy,

and just sweet,
really, really sweet.

He's the biggest star today,

- I think Baywatch, they gave
us a lot of gifts.

They gave us a lot of beauty,
a lot of sex.

- It was a wild time,
and I was a wild chick.

Yes, I was the girl dancing
on tables, having a good time.

I was the number-one bad girl,

and Courtney Love
was number two.

And I thought, holy shit,
that's insane.

- Carmen Electra was
perfect on so many levels

for the '90s and for Baywatch.

I mean, she was a musician.

She was a dancer but also
super sexy on top of it.

CARMEN: I grew up in
Cincinnati, Ohio,

in the Midwest.

I started dancing at
five years old, and I went

to the School for Creative
and Performing Arts at nine.

Studied classical ballet.

I'm at heart a performer.

That's who I am.

I love to entertain.

- Carmen!
[people shouting]

- I auditioned for a band that
Prince was putting together.

- Prince was obviously the
most respected creator sort

of in the world of music
imaginable,

and he would create
these entire worlds.

And he could sort of
pluck you out of nowhere

and kind of turn
you into a star.

It was insane.

I couldn't even believe it.
I had to pinch myself.

Like, he really guided me
and taught me a lot.

I was born Tara Leigh Patrick.

And I remember
him saying to me,

you do not look like a Tara.

And once he gave me that
name, Carmen Electra,

it was like I had this
different persona.

- So on videos produced by his
Paisley Park record label,

Prince promoted Carmen Electra.

- ♪ Is it art, or is it just
a display of flesh? ♪

♪ Contained, slangin',
and bangin' to a bass drum ♪

♪ Silhouetted by lights,
caught up in the hype ♪

♪ I'm doing my own thing
night after night ♪

SINGER:
♪ Go, go, dancer ♪

- And it gave me the confidence
to push myself to get

out there and try new things.

I remember having this thought

that I wanted to be
my own boss.

That's when I decided
to take a chance

in LA and be on my own.

It was really hard.
I ended up being homeless.

I was sleeping on couches.

But I know
that struggling in LA

and going through
those hard times

is what gave me the drive.

- I can't hold them
in much longer,

so you better bring out
that man!

CHRIS: She eventually replaced
Jenny McCarthy

on Singled Out on MTV

and became
a real sort of personality

in that mold from there.

- Hi, I'm Carmen Electra,
and I'm standing here

with a hundred sea serpents,

and they're slithering
around just to find a date.

[crowd cheering]

MATTHEW: MTV was the barometer
that you would check in

of all things cool.

If it was on MTV, it was cool.

What are they wearing?
Who's the hot person?

That's who you're
going to be attracted to

because that's the prototype,
because MTV says so.

- And because, clearly,
the producers of Baywatch

are watching all things MTV,

they are like, we got to get
Carmen Electra on our show.

PERSON:
Carmen, that's good.

If you scoot a little bit
that way or just--

MATTHEW: Baywatch was stealing
other audiences

to bring to their audience.

She looks the part.
She's fun, she's cool.

We like her.

Let's bring her
and her MTV audience.

- My agents called
and said, Baywatch wants you

to come in and audition.

I auditioned with Hasselhoff.

He was right there
in front of me.

I was so nervous.

- Get out of there, Mike.
I'll kill you.

CARMEN: I knew Baywatch was
the number-one show

in the world,

and that was going to take me
to a different level

in the career I already had.

I remember getting
that call in my car.

"You got the job."

And I just turned
the music up so loud,

and I was driving
in Hollywood.

And I just felt like
I was on top of the world.

[upbeat rock music]

♪ ♪

So many girls wanted
to be a Baywatch babe,

and there's just
a little handful of us,

and that is so fucking dope.

I love it.
I'm proud. I'm proud of that.

Fuck, yeah, I'm a Baywatch
bitch, and I love it.

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

JAASON:
That's headquarters.

That's where we
shot right there.

Hello.

Good to see you.

I was at the beach most days.

You would drive up to set
in the morning,

and there would be, like,
50 or 60 people outside

with cameras already
outside the parking lot.

- Okay, folks, we got to move
some equipment.

So I got to ask everybody
to move this way.

- Back up, please.
Back up.

I'm Jaason Simmons.

I played Logan Fowler
on Baywatch.

- Are you as empowered a woman
as you are a lifeguard?

- Empowered enough to boot your
little butt back Down Under.

- I'd wager you're not.
- Not what?

- Not as tough to get
along with...

out of uniform.

[smooches]

♪ ♪

JAASON:
Growing up in Tasmania,

it's one of the most beautiful
places on the planet.

I arrived in LA when I was 20.

Came here, one-way ticket,
no money to call anybody,

didn't know anybody.

BERK: We always wanted this
bad-boy Australian character.

So there was a guy
named Jacko who

was doing battery commercials.

- In one of these
and in one of these.

BERK: You know, it was right
around when Crocodile Dundee

was coming out.

So Jaason Simmons came in.
He was terrific.

He had that accent.

He was great-looking.
He had the hair.

And we kind of were developing
the character around him.

MITCH: This year
our Rookie of the Year Award

goes to our exchange lifeguard
from Australia,

Logan Fowler.

[cheers and applause]

- He played the bad boy.
He was always seducing.

His character was
always seducing women.

And he did it so well.

Are you his GF?

- What?
- His girlfriend?

- [scoffs]
Matt and I are just friends.

- I've only been here
three days from Tasmania.

Just trying to figure out how
all the pieces fit together.

MATTHEW: So Jaason Simmons
was brought onto the show

to be this sort of, like,
womanizing lifeguard.

But the irony of Jaason
was he was pretty much

an openly gay man in his,
you know, private life.

So, because of the stigma,

it was a huge thing
to try to out actors

or musicians that were gay.

It was like a sport
for paparazzi.

- When people are talking about
you, it can take you down,

and it destroyed a lot
of people inside.

So it does take a very strong
person to make it through.

- The obsession
with celebrity had changed.

We went from admiring
these people

to, let's take you down.

[person chuckles]

MATTHEW: People that knew
Jaason would try

to sell stories to the press
that he was really a gay man.

He's not this womanizing
hunk on Baywatch.

And Jaason even says
they literally hunted him

like an animal,
trying to out him.

PERSON:
Kiss, kiss.

MATTHEW: It was anything
to show him in a relationship

kissing his boyfriend.

You sell one of those
pictures, and you can make

hundreds of thousands
of dollars with one photo.

- It was very
difficult for him.

[dramatic music]

[clears throat]

He's one of my closest
friends on the show, and...

So it was a secret
that we kept.

It was so dangerous for a man
to come out,

especially when you're
a handsome leading man,

because producers
wouldn't hire you

as a hetero guy, getting girls,

and that was the character
he was playing.

DAVID: If they found out
that he was gay at the time,

you know, it could have
blown up the show.

PERSON:
Can we have a word?

Just a simple little outfit,
this thing here.

Yes, it is.

PERSON:
Alexandra Paul knew,

and they pretended to be
boyfriend and girlfriend.

ALEXANDRA: There are pictures
in the National Enquirer

of him and I holding hands
and kissing

because he needed a beard.

We did a photo shoot
of both of us naked

that appeared on the cover
of a British newspaper.

We wanted to make sure
he was protected.

That's what he had to do then.

- I had so much anxiety
that she would have to take me

to therapy twice a week
when I was on the first season,

just to get through everything
that wasn't acting.

So our relationship
became very strong.

PERSON:
Jaason Simmons. Aah!

DAVID: At moments,
he really enjoyed the fame

because the show was just
exploding at the time.

PERSON: I'm selling
this to Hard Copy.

Quick, smooch.

DAVID: And Jaason, you know,
he's awkward a little bit,

especially around a bunch
of strangers.

And there's times where
I think he just felt like,

what the fuck am I doing here?

I don't belong here.
This isn't who I am.

- So you've got all
these straight people

doing dirty things in ads
with Calvin Klein.

You've got all these straight
people posing for Playboy.

But if you're gay,
you can't be on television

without getting sneaky.

- You can't judge an actor
on their sexuality.

They can be leading men.

Being gay doesn't make
you less masculine.

I just wanted to
show that gay people

can play straight characters.

Love is love,
and acting is acting.

- This new generation
of young people don't care,

and I love that.

And I wish that that had been
the case in the 1990s

because it would have...
[clears throat]

Been so much less painful...

[clears throat]
For Jaason.

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

- Hollywood since
the beginning of time

is portrayed
as this magical place,

that anything can happen.

ANGELICA: California's
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.

- To people who are not
from California,

this is the big dream--

sunsets and sunrises
and beautiful people.

MATTHEW: The thing that's
interesting about California,

specifically in the '90s,
is that on television,

we saw one thing.

On CNN, we saw
a different thing.

[helicopter blades thrumming]

- In the real world,
you had this racial dynamic

that was playing out.

MATTHEW: Before George Floyd,
we had Rodney King.

And this is when video cameras
were starting.

And now someone had videoed
complete and total

horrific police brutality
on a Black motorist.

And this just sparked outrage.

[crowd shouting]

REPORTER:
Very tense situation here.

Demonstrators now toe to toe
with the police officers.

- Hey, you two.
Come on.

- I'm an innocent victim.
- Let's go.

- We're burning down
our gas stations.

We're burning down
our supermarkets.

You know, it don't
make no sense.

- All of it was coming.
It was just a matter of time.

[siren wailing]

JAASON:
It was crazy.

There were fires
on every corner.

That's the first time
that I heard the word "curfew."

[indistinct shouting]

INGRID:
Everyone was on lockdown.

You couldn't leave
where you were.

- I was just like,
this is insane.

Like, where am I?

CHRIS: And yet the one
Black star on Baywatch

turns out to have a kind of
amazing real-life connection

to the riots in the wake
of the Rodney King verdict.

GREGORY: I was there,
and a man came

through the
intersection in a Bronco 2,

and several bricks
hit his window simultaneously.

His front window shattered.

REPORTER: That's Williams
in the red shorts.

GREGORY: You know, people
broke the windows

on the Bronco and began
beating him--you know, pipes,

rods, bricks, fists, bottles.

And I watched him slump forward
onto the steering wheel.

I'm saying to myself,
man, if you stand here

and let these people kill
this man in front of you,

you can't look yourself
in the eye ever again.

CHRIS:
It's a very tumultuous time,

particularly all the
conversation going on

about race.

None of that is touching
Baywatch.

ALEXANDRA: I kept asking
the producers

to please give me
a boyfriend who was of color.

And so they said,
Alexandra, we've written

in a couple of episodes
where you have a boyfriend.

And guess what.
He's Latin.

And I said, oh, that's great.

And then I read the script,
and he's a gang member.

And I went back to
the producers, and I said,

you cannot make him
a gang member.

So they made him
an ex-gang member.

You were in a gang?

- Let's just say it's kind
of hard to be a saint

growing up in the city.

- We made so many mistakes
back then in the '90s.

Greg Alan Williams was
the only person of color

who was a regular
for the first, what,

six years of the show?

[poignant music]

GREGORY:
I'm Greg Alan Williams.

I played
Sergeant Garner Ellerbee

on Baywatch
for about six, seven seasons.

I was born and raised
in Des Moines, Iowa,

child of a single mother
from Mississippi.

My mother was my acting coach.

She wasn't a stage mom,
but she did teach me

the magic of the written
and spoken word.

CHILD: What did you
do in the circus?

PERSON:
Fancy shooting, mostly.

Then I started my tricks--

flat spins,
all kinds of spins,

little tricks
that catch the eye.

GREGORY: Sammy Davis Jr.
was the first person of color

I'd seen playing
a cowboy on television.

He was in an episode
of The Rifleman

when I was eight or nine years
old, playing a gunslinger

and doing all these
tricks with guns.

[laughs]

I auditioned for Baywatch
in May of '89.

My agent called me and said,
they want you to come to LA

and do this beach show.

I had the absolute time
of my life.

I never imagined that
I'd be part of that mix,

running and jumping
and driving ATVs.

You know, 110 brothers
auditioned for that role,

my understanding is.

Why did I get it?

One of the reasons--
because I was kind of pudgy

and because I'm shorter
than Hasselhoff.

First season I came
into Baywatch,

I was a little heavy.

I do remember
getting a trainer.

And, I mean, I got fit.

I was looking good.

Somebody told me one day, now,
Greg Alan, don't get too fit.

Because I got wrapped up in,

right, this show
is about pretty people.

I need to get myself
together...

because I'm part
of these people.

No, you ain't.

That was another reminder.

You can't be as fit
as the lead guy.

I forgot my place on Baywatch,
my character's place.

My job wasn't to be sexy.

I was a sidekick, sidekick.

Man, the sidekick
can't be sexy.

Sidekick got to be a clown.

[growling]

- Okay. I got 'em, Jaws.
I got 'em! I got 'em!

- It's all
about the aesthetics, baby.

And my beauty
was not celebrated.

MATTHEW: So Baywatch did
these promotional tours.

The show was constantly
being promoted

and reminded to the consumer,
this is the show.

These are the cast.

These are the pretty people.

- In 1989, Greg Bonann called
me up one day, said,

they're going to do Christmas
promos for Baywatch.

Greg Alan, we want
you out there.

I went out to the beach...

was walking across that sand.

A woman began
walking toward me.

As I got halfway there,
she said,

Greg Alan, we don't need you
in these shots.

That walk back across that
sand was the longest walk

I've ever taken in my life.

I realized that I was not
what they were selling.

Baywatch was a show
that celebrated...

European beauty.

So, at that point,
I put up a wall

between myself and the show

and decided
I would have the fun...

And make the money...

But I wasn't going to let it
hurt me.

Those were Baywatch lessons.

Baywatch was
of great value to me.

It taught me.

It empowered me.

Every now and then, it hurt me.

♪ ♪

But so do the people
and the things we love.

I need to take a break, okay?

[sniffles]
Ah, Jesus.

Man, I really appreciate this,
you know.

[crying]
I really needed a chance

to work through this shit, man.

♪ ♪

[Jimi Jamison's
"I'm Always Here"]

♪ ♪

SINGER 1: ♪ Some people stand
in the darkness ♪

♪ Afraid to step
into the light ♪

♪ Some people need
to help somebody ♪

♪ When 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 ♪

♪ ♪

SINGERS:
♪ I'll be ready ♪

SINGER 1:
♪ Oh, I'll be ready ♪

SINGERS:
♪ Never you fear ♪

SINGER 2:
♪ Oh, don't you fear ♪

SINGERS:
♪ I'll be ready ♪

SINGER 2:
♪ I'll be ready ♪

SINGER 1:
♪ Forever and always ♪

SINGERS 1 AND 2:
♪ I'm always here ♪

♪ ♪

SINGER 1: ♪ I'm always here
by your side ♪

[singers vocalizing]

♪ I'm always here by your ♪

♪ By your side ♪

SINGERS 1 AND 2:
♪ 'Cause I'm always ready ♪

♪ I won't let you
out of my sight ♪

SINGER 1:
♪ Whoa, whoa ♪

SINGERS:
♪ I'll be ready ♪

SINGER 1:
♪ Oh, I'll be ready ♪

SINGERS:
♪ Never you fear ♪

SINGER 2:
♪ Don't you fear ♪

SINGERS:
♪ I'll be ready ♪

SINGER 1:
♪ Forever and always ♪

SINGER 2:
♪ Forever and always ♪

SINGER 1:
♪ Forever and always ♪

SINGER 2:
♪ Forever and always ♪

SINGER 1: ♪ Forever ♪
SINGERS 1 AND 2: ♪ And always ♪

♪ I'm always here ♪