Baywatch is one of the most widely recognizable shows of all time, but the series almost ended after season 1. Baywatch was a cultural phenomenon throughout the entire run from 1989 to 2001, and it has remained a part of the zeitgeist ever since thanks to reruns, and a rebooted movie. However, despite being incredibly popular, the show always faced challenges, with negative or mixed reviews, and criticisms around the show’s central themes.

While the show ultimately ran for 11 seasons, with 242 episodes in the main show, and multiple spin-offs, the show faced challenges. Things could have ended before they’d ever really begun when the show was canceled by NBC after the first season. Fortunately, some insightful individuals had the foresight and vision for the project to bring it back, and the results were far better than anyone could have imagined.

Baywatch Was Canceled Due To Low Viewership & Studio Trouble

Season 1 Failed To Get A Good Response

When the first season began airing in 1989, the show was a hard sell for audiences who felt the story was thin, and the production lacked story. Regardless of the star power that David Hasselhoff, fresh from his stint as Michael Knight in Knight Rider, brought to the show, Baywatch was a bust. NBC was disappointed with the low numbers tuning in, and accordingly, they canceled the show.

However, the numbers were not the only deciding factor in NBC’s decision to cancel the show, as the network was going through an intense period of change. After more than 40 years serving as the home of Major League Baseball, the network lost the rights to CBS. They were also experimenting with several shows that they struggled to properly support, such as Baywatch and Seinfeld, which both had discussions regarding cancelation, but while Seinfeld was kept on, Baywatch was canceled in favor of other content (via Rolling Stone).

David Hasselhoff Was Instrumental In Bringing Baywatch Back

The Hoff Saved The Show

Once NBC canceled the show, it appeared as though the fate of Baywatch was sealed. However, Hasselhoff had a bigger vision for Baywatch and his character, Mitch, and with his own money, he bought the rights for Baywatch from NBC and syndicated the show (via The Guardian). With the Hoff having serious skin in the game, the stakes were high to get the show back up and running, and ensure that its second incarnation would become a success. And, somehow, against all odds, and in the face of constant negative reviews, Baywatch became a hit show.

The third season introduced Pamela Anderson, and at that point, the number of viewers skyrocketed, ensuring that the hit show was no longer struggling to keep studios happy. Regardless of any negative backlash, the show found its audience, and it continued to be an institution that grew in popularity for many years. Without Hasselhoff’s intervention at that early stage, the show would have disappeared into the dark dusty corners of TV archives, with no more than a handful of people to remember it, but instead, it grew to become something that no one could have accurately predicted.

Baywatch Ultimately Became A Huge Success After Returning

And to put that success into perspective, it’s important to note that this show about attractive lifeguards running around a beach grew to shatter viewing records that have yet to be repeated. In 1996, a few years later, when the show returned to TV, and once Anderson became an established figure on Baywatch, the show reached an incredible peak in popularity. At this point in time, Baywatch was being watched by 1.1 billion people worldwide in 144 countries (via Guinness World Records), and broadcast in dozens of languages. Literally airing in every continent barring Antarctica, at a time when the world’s total population was shy of 6 billion (via Worldometer).

To be clear, that is twice the number of people that tuned in to watch the moon landing in 1969. And in Baywatch’s case, this was not a one-off event, but a regular weekly show that was able to pull live viewing figures that have yet to be matched, and thanks to the rise of streaming over broadcast TV, they likely will never be beat. Regardless of the content, Baywatch is undeniably a cultural phenomenon. If NBC got their way, and Hasselhoff didn’t step in, one of the most popular shows of all time would have been forgotten and discarded.