After the 2017 Baywatch reboot movie starring Dwayne Johnson, most of us assumed that the world of red trunks and form-fitting swimsuits would never be a TV series again. But now, Baywatch is going back to its roots. As revealed on September 23, Baywatch will once again return to TV, in a full reboot starting in late 2026.
But, if it’s been a while since you’ve watched the original show, you might have forgotten Baywatch’s unique blend of earnestness and soap-opera camp. The 2017 reboot movie tried to paint Baywatch as a self-aware comedy, but that’s not quite what the original series was about at all. Airing from 1989 to 1999, the original incarnation of Baywatch was an outgrowth of 80s cop shows, but with a single premise in terms of casting: What if everyone in the ensemble was super-attractive? Baywatch’s formula of showing human bodies in titillating slow-motion is, of course, a bit silly, and giggle-inducing now. That said, Pamela Anderson is then, and now, undeniably beautiful, and most men still wish they looked as good as David Hasselhoff. For all the flesh on display in Baywatch, there’s something a bit aspirational and PG about the show a kind-hearted dorky series that just happened to have all of its characters in bathing suits.
Baywatch may have been created with cynical intentions, but when you rewatch it now, the writing itself rarely feels craven or exploitive. The audience of the show was, according to some sources, 65 percent female, and relative to other adventure shows of the time, it had more leading women as heroes by a large margin.
Related: ‘Baywatch’ Reboot Greenlit at Fox for 2026-2027 Season
Is this the perfect time for Baywatch to return? Or the most complex? We tend to think of the 1990s as a simpler time in terms of pop culture, but at the time, nobody living in the 1990s thought that. So, ahead of the Baywatch reboot in 2026, now is a good time to binge the original, and decide for yourself: Did this show secretly have a sweet soul? Or was it just pretty people on the beach moving, in slow-motion, through half-baked soap opera plots? Here’s where to stream the original Baywatch and what to know.
Baywatch (1989-2001) streaming online for free
The easiest way to watch the original Baywatch right now is on Tubi, the free TV and movie streaming service. This includes all 9 seasons of the original show, as well as the soft reboot, Baywatch: Hawaii, which began in the year 2000 and ran for two seasons. So that’s 11 seasons overall, all streaming for free.
When did Pamela Anderson join Baywatch?
If you’re doing a retro binge of Baywatch, you may notice that Pamela Anderson’s famous character, C.J. Parker, is very much not in the opening episode. Or the second episode. Or the first two seasons! Don’t worry, your mind isn’t playing tricks on you. Pamela Anderson was very much in Baywatch, but she didn’t join until the beginning of Season 3, where she was credited as Pamela Denise Anderson.
Baywatchstreams on Tubi. The 2017 reboot film streams on Netflix.
Related: Pamela Anderson Turns Heads with Bold New Hairdo at Met Gala
