Baywatch Nights (1995–1997) User Reviews (13)

Baywatch Frights, hokey, and d-uh! how d'ya spell embarrassingly bad?

[RavenGlamDVDCollector · 3/10 · 28 May 2014]

I am currently greatly disappointed by BAYWATCH NIGHTS. Imported from Amazon through a greedy, greedy shark that took a chunk out of me, and... Well, I knew David Hasselhoff is just too much and Gregalan Williams I won't even mention (king of the dorks?), but really, I've watched eight episodes so far, and the sex appeal is almost non-existent. Only the first episode, Pursuit, was worthy of being associated with BAYWATCH. Plus it's a really low-grade DVD with very weak graphics - I have those two with the dreary dark covers, not an inspiring sight to begin with. Avoid them. I have no idea if the even-more-expensive option available on Amazon has better resolution, but drivel in better resolution would remain just drivel.

It's more than enough that David Hasselhoff is in BAYWATCH. Allowing this poor excuse for a leading man into yet another series is a crime worthy of heinous torture, such as being forced to watch endless repeats of this drivel.

Lisa Stahl was cute in BAYWATCH, she is an all- time failure in BAYWATCH NIGHTS. She totally lost her sparkle. I can't quite make my mind up about Ryan McBride (Angie Harmon); she is at the very least the best part of the show, the only salvageable item, but I am not too fond of her either. Pretty soon I'll reach the Donna D'Errico episodes, but there's clearly not going to be any real magic in this show.

Amazon should reduce their price for this series considerably in the name of providing better value for money. It's worth about less than a tenth of their asking price.

ADDENDUM 20 June 2014. Watched the episode starting the new era of the First Season tonight, "Takeover" (coincidentally very aptly named), and Donna D'Errico graced my screen. Wow! New life breathed into a failing show. The episode was brighter, and I'm raising my score from 2 to 3. Pity this happened years and years ago, I'd have loved to send them a telegram (that long ago?) of congratulations!

By the way, last week I saw that messy tenth episode "Kind of a Drag". Storyline was absolutely ridiculous junk, but that girl in the underwater sequence, the bikini lovely, oh wow! How could they have NOT focused on her and instead opted for that drivel, a plethora of drag queens, David included? For shame!

But tonight, the outlook for the rest of the series looks much better.

ADDENDUM 13 October 2014. Finished watching Season 1 some weeks ago. The series did get more popular with me. So stick with it, just get past that dry spell. Be warned that this show is mostly aimed at schoolboys, I'd say. The kind of 'frights' and levels of suspense might affect toddlers, but the beauty of the actresses is what it is about for me. Season Two at ELectricLadyLand scheduled for South African Winter 2015.

ADDENDUM, 30 September 2015. Season 2 is very, very bad. What were these people thinking? Donna D'Errico mostly not there, not likely because of her limited acting abilities, because David cannot act for licking out old toffee wrappers, and he mugs it up the whole freaking, embarrassing time. Must have laughed all the way to the bank with his double income from the added show. Angie Harmon tries her damnedest best, but nothing can save this hokey junk. Some episodes are beneath contempt, like "Frozen Out Of Time", which scraped the very bottom of the lowly barrel. Still recovering from the corniness of "The Servant" as I sit here, I have yet to watch the rest, but there is very little hope. Though "Circle of Fear" did meet my approval, and brought a spark of hope early on in the season, see my separate review for that episode. One winner, of course, only proves that they COULD HAVE DONE BETTER THROUGHOUT.

Three stars, all for Angie Harmon, without her, like the name of that Brett Easton Ellis novel-turned- movie, LESS THAN ZERO. Donna might have been worth an extra star, but typically of BAYWATCH stars, she's AWOL almost always, and if not, kept on the sideline of the script.

Give this one a miss. BAYWATCH fans hungry for beach bodies will in any case be sorely disappointed. Even more so in Season 2, which is worse than pathetic, especially by 1996 standards. This is a series that should never have existed, Angie Harmon's time was just wasted, and what's seen of Donna D'Errico belonged on BAYWATCH. As for David, hammy old David, pack him up in an airplane, and toss him out over Germany. They'd lap him up. And keep him there. And spare us his dumb presence! Take the other unmentioned lot along too, they are beyond hopeless. Meanwhile, cast Donna in a part where she gets to be tickled silly while trying to hide coyly behind only the three stars I've given this undeserving drivel. :) yeah baby

"The nights will never be the same again!"

[einsijo · 3 July 2005]

Although there has been almost a decade since this show was aired it will always have a place in my heart as one of the most unintentionally (or not?) hilarious shows I've ever seen on TeeVee. At the time the Baywatch craze was at an all time high and the original show had scores of followers (Including my sister). yet, It just didn't seem to appeal to me as much. That changed with the spin-off. During it's first season it was a detective drama where the Big H and some chick cracked cases far away from the beach, the scantily clad women, idiot bathers and submerged nuclear bombs. It immediately hit home with my young naive soul, showing a tougher side of Mitch, being more "cool" and less "girly" in my opinion than the original was. Unfortunately it wasn't very unique and memorable so I don't remember much about that first season. That changed when the bizarre second season started. Tired of regular vanilla detective work (and low ratings from disinterested TV surfers) the Big H changed pace, switched chicks and started and upgraded from Private Eye to a Paranormal Eye. From there the episodes turned from the "Cliché detective show" to a more extreme "X-files on Crack", featuring several oddball episodes including "Hasselhoff and Paranormal-chick get chronologically cloned to save themselves from mutated Brazillian-body-snatching-snails" and "Frozen Viking who floats to LA and wreaks havoc when he thaws out" (this one gained extra publicity in my country as it incorporated a real incidence, the 1996 glacier-run of Vatnajökull glacier, to explain the origin of frozen Viking). At the time this show aired in Iceland it became one of my favourite shows, which is understandable since I was only about 11 at the time and had considerably lower standards than I have today. Of course, today I doubt this show, like many other TV failures of the same caliber, can still be found anywhere. But If I ever happened across a reasonably low-priced tape or DVD of the episodes I will probably buy it, if only to smirk at the outlandish plots and sub-par acting. And in the end, who doesn't love Mutant Brazillian Body-snatching Snails?

Horrible

[Apogee_ · 1/10 · 1 August 2002]

Simply horrible. This is a spin-off show from Baywatch with Mitch running around with his police officer friend, playing detective. Bah, it's simply horrible...no original plots, boring and uncreative acting and way too predictable stories.

Takes Away Everything Good About 'Baywatch'

[chow913 · 1/10 · 2 October 2013]

Some call 'Baywatch' the single worst series in TV history. I disagree.

The series was about much more than just silicone T and A, it was about... Well OK, that is what the show was all about.

'Baywatch Nights' IS the WORST series in TV history! The mere concept of this premise is insane. NO ONE watched 'Baywatch' for the story lines, compelling characters, and certainly not the acting. We watched it for the silicone! 'Baywatch Nights' revolves around Mitch Buchannon (David Hasselhoff) and Garner the token black cop who appeared on 'Baywatch' every once and a while starting their own private detective agency. What's next? 'Al Bundy MD?' 'Tour of Duty' joins the peace movement? Or Superman develops a fear of flying? They're joined by Mark Harmon's sister Angie, best known as the voice of Darth Vader in 'Star Wars,' and finally an over the hill dumb blonde. No... not the good type of dumb blondes we're used to from 'Baywatch,' the bad type of dumb blondes whom aren't sexy.

Since the detectives work at night that means on swimming at the beach. Which means no swim suits, which means no dumb blonde life guards' silicone bouncing along the beach in swim suits! So why did anyone expect this series to be popular? What 'Baywatch Nights' did have was really bad story lines and even worse acting. No, the mysteries weren't interesting in any way shape or form.

The show could have worked if the silicone blondes from 'Baywatch' solved crimes during the day still in their swim uniforms.

Actually the show could have worked if the silicone blondes from 'Baywatch' mowed lawns still in their swim uniforms.

Season 1 Top, Season 2 Flop!

[rsvideo · 8/10 · 22 February 2016]

I really like season 1. It's a cool entertaining crime show. And the main cast with David Hasselhoff, Angie Harmon and Gregory Alan Williams did a good job! It's a cool modern private investigators show! The stories are not very complex but they don't have to. The new job of a private investigator suits to Mitch Buchannon.

But it's too bad that they changed the character of the show for season 2 into a pseudo mystery show. And it's very confusing that Garner isn't longer a part of the show and they don't explain why. Season 2 is really bad and I just ignore it. For me only season 1 exists!

The show is a great supplement to its "mother show" Baywatch.

It has its moments, good character chemistry, and deserves a little more merit than it receives today. Great theme song (in Season 1), but had unfulfilled potential.

[willman85 · 6/10 · 1 October 2018]

Writing this review is difficult for me. This is because I want to give Baywatch Nights a break, and so I may end up being a little biased. I know it wasn't great, but I think it was a good idea:

An "adult" version of Baywatch that sees the city as it is after hours. Whether that means more action, an investigative procedural twist, or more a horror twist... the makers seem undecided. One thing it does mean though, is less sex. The name may imply the opposite, but that's besides the point.

Before I continue, I must state that the two seasons were of differing genres: Season 1 - Mystery, basic procedural/detective fiction; Season 2 - Mystery, supernatural horror.

The reason I believe it was a solid, worthwhile idea is that Season 1's title sequence perfectly encapsulates what I feel the spirit of the show should have been (especially the theme music). Neon and car chases and night-time sneaking around the marina. Sexy, but not in a bikini/muscle beach way, more in a Miami Vice way. But less gritty crime orientated than Miami Vice; more light-hearted.

To its merit, Season 1 was visually pretty good in my opinion. To have taken away the sand and sun of Baywatch completely would have been a mistake... enough does remain (just). Some people may say that narrowly limiting a series' setting will naturally limit the potential for plot ideas. But Bergerac was a crime drama with a somewhat similar setting, yet was able to keep putting out complex stories.

So the problem with Baywatch Nights was that the two seasons were too different in genre/tone from each other - and from the mother series. What I feel would have worked better would be to have kept the action-drama of Baywatch as its base, but continue with the Private Investigator premise (an episode that gets the balance right is Bad Blades S1E2), and to just reconcile the procedural/horror differences episode by episode. So there'd be some slightly supernatural episodes, some slightly horror episodes, some half-procedural action episodes, but all mixed up in the run rather than separated by season. And more references to the Baywatch universe, a couple more appearances by Baywatch characters.

So enough of what I think *should have* been done. What do I think of what *had been* done?

Each episode is self-contained - which I like - but despite this, too often plots are stretched out within individual episodes. However the character chemistry is great and the dialogue between the core leads (Mitch and Ryan) is amusing. The second season didn't take itself too seriously, and it had some entertaining moments; it just suffered from too much filler. Basically I feel that the show had a longer slot than it needed.

In conclusion: Baywatch Nights is to this day widely dismissed and ridiculed, but personally I believe it to be quite underrated (especially due to expectations following the demise of the massively popular Baywatch). But I'm not saying it was high quality or anything. It had unfulfilled potential.

The Best "Baywatch" Series!

[ReggieSantori · 22 February 2004]

This show was seriously too much. "Baywatch Nights" was like some brilliant combination of the original "Baywatch" and "The X Files" by way of Raymond Chandler. I only got to watch a little of it back in 1996 before they canceled it. Hasselhof would always be contending with aliens, mutants, or even demons! Man, I wish they still put stuff this crazy on television. It really beats the crap they have nowadays, like "Mutant X". They didn't know what a good thing they had. "Baywatch Nights" is probably the best thing to grace the small screen since "Playhouse 90" in the 50s! This is a great one, and you can quote Reggie on that.

Best Season One.

[superman752011 · 10/10 · 3 June 2021]

I am a fan of all the Baywatch shows & I also liked this show and the best season is season one cuz it was about chasing down the bad people & I didn't like season two cuz it was trying to much to be like the x files & in my opinion I think if they kept the show the same as in season one it could had lasted longer.

A show that had action that was sometimes at the beach or away from the beach

[Totallyrad80 · 13 October 2003]

I only watched the show when Eddie Cibrian joined and I liked it while it was around and seeing that Eddie was going to be the sidekick of the agency it was cool. But then they had the sci-fi stuff for its second season and the show was being focused mainly on David (which the show was his baby) and Angie and it was turning that Eddie was going to be the sidekick, because his character started from a photographer to a detective and instead of him carrying a camera he's carrying a gun, I wasn't enjoying it. That's how I started to lose interest. But it did have a good run. A shorter one than the actual "Baywatch".

more cheese from hasselhoff

[thebigeasy540_ · 21 June 2005]

Cheese is what David Hasselhoff does best and it is replicated here in all it's glory.The original Baywatch was good.It had a huge following worldwide and brought in a lot of dollars.But this lame spin off with x-file style situations?It's terrible and that's putting it mildly.How could anyone possibly take Hasselhoffs character Mitch Buchanan seriously?Or come to think off it,could anyone take anything Hasselhoff has ever starred in seriously?Every time this show came on it was a reach for the remote moment.Thankfully in the UK and Ireland it was consigned to a graveyard slot of about 1.00am.Most people wouldn't have even bothered checking the listings for this piece of self indulgent crap.Basically an ego trip for Hasselhoff

Next best thing to Hunter

[Øystein-3 · 2 July 2000]

This show is well done with a complex mix of action, suspense and finally action, all of wich is superbly done with mucho macho man David Hasselhoff in lead, wow that dude's just great he is actually producing this series ass well as he is the creator. He must surely be one of hollywoods astonishing geniouses.

This show has it all, plus good looking chicks.

Loved it

[kimmy2000_80 · 12 August 2003]

Even though it only lasted for about two years, I still liked it. It had two cast members from the original Baywatch show. Gregory Alan Williams and David Hasselhoff playing the same characters from Baywatch. Wish it would have lasted longer if the ratings didnt go bad, it wouldn't have gone off the air. People who hated this show and Baywatch it's self are just jealous and dont know what they are missing. I dont know what they even watch it if they dont like it and people from other countries that dont like it are jealous too because it's an American TV show and just jealous of the show cause it was taped in the USA and a lot of people anre anti-USA and it's shows. Well, those people are just jealous as well and dont know what the heck they are missing. Well, I give it a 10/10. Great show. Wish it could be back on.