Did y’all enjoy that Xuxa episode? Sure, ya did! See, I’ve gotta mention Xuxa a bit more so I can drum up my SEO, because I don’t feel like we got enough foreign engagement off that one. I mean, when a property has “International Appeal” you want to make sure that it’s making it outside these shores of ours, finding its intended audience. Today’s show has a similar thing going for it.
Before we get to today’s show, however, it’s Story Time. I’ve been in the social media streets for over 20 years, with the last 15 or so primarily on Twitter. When I finally found “my people”, most of them were somehow associated with a podcast called Nerd Lunch. For nine years, hosts CT, Pax, and Jeeg covered all manner of nerd topics, and a lot of my online friendships came from there. Also, I probably made more appearances on that show than any other podcast. The show came to a close during Covid, and I’ve got to admit that was a time when my podcast listening fell apart, as it usually happened during my work commute. This means there’s actually quite a swath of the final eps of Nerd Lunch, as well as the early episodes of its legacy spinoff, After Lunch, that I’ve never heard. I’ve been working my way back, but keep getting thwarted (Google Podcasts went away, and I moved to Stitcher…only for it to go away). Anyway, while at home the other day, I decided to take a trip back and listen to some of those “lost” episodes.
Nerd Lunch always featured a guest and, over time, those guests came to be known as members of “The Fourth Chair Army”. So, when news broke that the show was coming to an end, the acting “general” of the Army – and future host of After Lunch – Michael May recorded a retrospective where he interviewed a ton of the former members of the FCA. I actually remember being interviewed for it, at the height of the pandemic, but I’d never heard the finished episode. So, imagine my surprise when one of the first people interviewed was none other than my RTS? partner in crime, Adam. When asked what were some of his favorite episodes of Nerd Lunch, Adam said “For sure like, ya know, anytime William Bruce West is on, talking old sitcoms. I mean it’s just nice to know there’s somebody else who watched as much TV as I did.” I was doing some cleaning at that moment, and I just sort of stopped. This was recorded in 2020. I mean little did either of us realize that, 3 years later, we would be starting a show about all those old sitcoms. And I’ve mentioned before that I was always touched that he approached me with a pitch that never seemed like it was meant for anyone else. It wasn’t “I’m making a podcast about TV shows, and I need a partner.” It was always like “I have this idea that I think you’d be perfect for”, and to realize this had potentially been brewing that long? Well, I always love doing this show, but hearing that just made it that much more special. OK, enough sappy stuff. We’ve got a show to discuss!
Baywatch Nights was a spinoff of “The Most Popular Show in the World”, Baywatch, and launched in syndication in the Fall of 1995. By this point, the main show had that “International Appeal” I mentioned earlier, and SNL‘s Norm MacDonald loved to remind us that “Germans love David Hasselhoff!” The premise of the show was that, when the sun went down at the beach, the excitement was just getting started. While Baywatch focused on the sexiest women of the day, running down the beach in slow motion, Baywatch Nights focused on Hasselhoff’s Mitch Buchanan, who was now something of a debonair gentleman who tagged along with his friend Garner Ellerbee, who had opened a private investigation firm. Mitch was still a lifeguard during the day, but he helped solve crimes at night. A better description of the show was that he was basically reprising his role of Michael Knight, only he didn’t have a talking car to play against this time around. Well, everyone knows K.I.T.T. was the true star of Knight Rider, so Baywatch Nights was retooled for its second season.
During the first season Baywatch Nights was on the air, sci fi was really taking off, both on network and in syndication. The biggest success story would have been The X-Files on Fox, but in syndication shows like the reboot of The Outer Limits (which was also on Showtime) and Poltergeist: The Legacy were seeing a lot of success. I feel like Hasselhoff modeled his 90s career after that of another David, David Duchovny. Whereas season 1 of Baywatch Nights was like a watered down version of Red Shoe Diaries, season 2 was clearly taking its inspiration from The X-Files, by adopting a Monster of the Week formula. Gone were the PI cases involving hot models (as well as Garner himself, as the character was written off the show), and now Hasselhoff and original cast member Angie Harmon were chasing the paranormal. Because when there’s something strange in your neighborhood, of course you’re gonna call a middle aged lifeguard!
Anyway, if you want to run down the beach in slow motion with us, AT NIGHT (!), then you can listen here, or on all major podcast platforms.
