It's a lovely sunny day outside but I'm here inside writing about Baywatch episodes from three decades ago. I've been falling behind in writing this too, so I need to speed this up. I am way more a head in episodes than the ones I'm writing about here. I've set a timer for half an hour, I must stop after that.
River of No Return, Part 2
I know I've spoken about this two part story so much but I still have a few more things to say. Firstly I know I didn't actually talk about the story, like the whole treasure hunt that Shauni, Eddie and co. go on. It was an alright story, I guess Shauni and Eddie leaving overshadowed the actual story for me.
Small correction - In an earlier post I think I said that Eddie only ever appears once more but that's not true, he also comes back for one episode of Baywatch Nights, a short-lived spin-off show. But 'River of No Return, Part 2' was Eddies final appearance on the series proper.
On Baywatch's fandom site, which I use a lot to double check stuff I'm writing on here, it says this - 'They reportedly left the series over salary problems, as they were paid a lot less for the syndicated series than they made during the initial NBC run.'
It's referring to the actors for Shauni and Eddie. It's the first I've heard of this but I reckon it's most likely the truth. I read some different reasons in interviews but this one seems the most likely. It's nothing special, nothing dramatic but quite likely. In other places I've read things like Erika Eleniak left because she didn't like were the show was going. Who knows what that actually means, it could be true as well as the reason above, there doesn't have to be only one reason. At first I was curious what she meant and I've been trying to figure it out, but who knows. It's hard to tell. I might talk about this more another time, even though it's not important.
Continuing My Thoughts on the New Season 3 Characters
Jimmy Slade
Slade doesn't appear until episode 3, he's a good looking young man who can surf and I don't think he's going to become a life guard, surprisingly. Now, the thing is with Slade is that the the guy playing as him is clearly an expert at surfing and that's why he was chosen to be on Baywatch. His acting is terrible but I'm not surprised, he's clearly spent most of his time honing his surfing craft. You quickly notice that it's him on the board, not a stunt double like the show normally uses. Not only that but he's far better than any of the stunt doubles they've used in the past, he puts them to shame. In real old episodes you might sometimes see a character doing a little bit of surfing but only briefly, I think Craig's actor could actually surf a little so they got a few full body shots of him. You see, especially in the earlier episodes, you could clearly see the stunt doubles in the HD Remasters of Baywatch, it's pretty funny. The stunt doubles are in far away shots or they have to be facing away from the camera. It's especially funny when you can see they're wearing a bad wig.
'Slade', as they cool him, which to be fair is pretty cool, turns out to be the love internet for Summer. As far as I've got, Matt Brody is simply portrayed as Summers friend. I was surprised because I thought Baywatch was going to do a whole love triangle with the three of them, but apparently not. Unless it happens later. Even if it does, Baywatch doesn't have much continuity, especially since the start of season 3. If they do a love triangle story, I wouldn't be surprised if it is for just one episode and then completely forgotten afterwards.
Summers Mum
I can't be bothered to look up her name. Shes pretty hot, very tall (I think I have a thing for tall women) and shes... a support character. I don't know if that's a proper term but she is literally supports Summer, shes just in the show to chat to Summer, be nice to her and sound board. Is that also a real term? I dunno. She's alright, there's nothing wrong with her. If this was any other show, I'd assume she'd be fleshed out later on but this is Baywatch so I doubt it. For that reason, I'm not investing much thought into her since she'll probably vanish before even Summer does.
Returning Old Characters
Mitch
Mitch is just Mitch, no change there. He's still fairly important to quite a lot of stories.
Hobie
He continues to be in it a fair amount, though he does vanish for some episodes. His acting improves a tiny bit in this season.
Garner Ellerbee
So far, Garner has appeared a lot more in season 3 than he has before, he even gets some stories. They aren't character building ones though, he just stays the same and that makes it pretty shallow. After quite some time, they bring back is main character trait which is that "I don't like sand, water, the heat.. I don't like the beach". It was basic and not funny in older seasons and it continues to be not funny here. It's not to see him get some more screen time but he's still pretty boring and I don't think he's had any serious stories yet.
Ben Edwards
He's not in the intro anymore but he does occasionally turn up, these times are even more brief than he did in the old seasons, though.
And sadly, that's all of the returning character I think. Besides that tall guy who gets a couple lines sometimes and was a life guard in real life.
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