Baywatch is a popular  television series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards, their job to patrol the crowded beaches of Los Angeles County, California.

The show ran from 1989 to 2001. The Guinness Book of World Records has recorded that Baywatch is the most watched TV show in the world of all time, with over 1.1 billion viewers.

Baywatch premiered on NBC in 1989, but was cancelled after only one season because of the high cost of production and low ratings. Feeling the series still had potential, David Hasselhoff revived it in 1991, investing his own money and additionally functioning as executive producer. The show was a huge success, especially internationally and the show ran successfully for a further 11 seasons, from 1989 until 2001.

In 1999, an Australian version was planned and cast members travelled to Sydney for filming. The idea was to have the existing stars of the show appear in the pilot, interacting with a local life saving organisation in Australia, it was to be called  "Baywatch Downunder." A pilot was filmed but the series was stopped when residents of Avalon, a local village, put in strong objections, including potential damage to a fragile ecosystem. Avalon council permanently barred all future filming.

Eventually the location of the show was changed to Hawaii and the show's name was changed to Baywatch Hawaii.