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THE SPLASHY HIT WAS A CULTURAL PHENOMENON FOR 11 SEASONS. NOW A NEW DOCUMENTARY EXPLORES THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF THE SERIES AND ITS STARS

- ALEX ROSS

During a recent day at the beach Nicole Eggert watched a female lifeguard rescue someone in need and reflected on her days playing Baywatch's Summer Quinn. "She went out there and saved a guy," says Eggert, 52. "When you look back [at Baywatch], the part that was lost is that these are women doing the same job as men, getting paid the same as men, working just as hard and looking great doing it. There's a lot more empowerment in it than was ever recognized."

Baywatch, the TV phenomenon that netted more than a billion viewers around the globe at the peak of its run from 1989 to 1999, helped Eggert evolve from a teen actress on Charles in Charge to a swimsuit-wearing "Baywatch Babe," as the stars referred to themselves. It changed her castmates' lives too. David Hasselhoff was enjoying international success as a singer when the show launched him into another stratosphere as hunky Lt. Mitch Buchannon. In season 3 a young woman named Pamela Anderson, best known as a Playboy centerfold, landed the role of C.J. Parker and sent ratings skyrocketing-especially as her personal life with husband Tommy Lee made headlines. Now, three decades later, Eggert tracked down more than 35 cast members to reflect on their Baywatch days in a docuseries she produced, After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun (streaming Aug. 28 on Hulu). "The show really wasn't good," Hasselhoff, 72, admits in the documentary. "But we made it good because we had passion."