There’s been a lot of hype building around the upcoming Baywatch reboot, which will see a new cast of young actors and influencers don the red swimsuits. Brooks Nader, Hassie Harrison, Livvy Dunne and the others have been practicing their slo-mo beach running — taking inspiration from Pamela Anderson, of course — but could they ever really replace the OG lifeguards? Carmen Electra shared some thoughts on what made the original series so special.
Carmen Electra was a ‘90s icon (she had the rhinestone belly button stickers to prove it), joining the Baywatch cast in 1997 for its eighth season. so she knows what it’s like to try to run in the sandy footprints of those who came before her. There was something about the original series that was unique for that time, as Electra told Fox News:
It's hard to replace Pamela [Anderson] and Yasmine [Bleeth] and all those people. And there was just a certain tone. I don't know how to explain it.
The Scary Movie actress said the original cast was part of something that hadn’t been done on television before.
It had a certain tone to it that it was just such a fantasy, and maybe it was the first time on television you could see so much skin because we really were playing lifeguards, right? So, we could be in these skimpy outfits.
Remember, this was back before the Internet, and all of the swimsuits, the slo-mo running and the CPR rescues that Baywatch was doing may have been a tad risqué, but it wasn’t like going out and buying a skin mag. This was just a show on regular television. It could be people’s guilty pleasure, Carmen Electra suggested, without having to feel too guilty.
They didn't have to sneak away and find a VHS tape to, like, sneak and put in. You can watch this. You can also learn something. Because we heard from a lot of people, a lot of fans out there, that they learned so much watching the show.
That’s right, kids. Pay real close attention to those CPR skills — Brooks Nader has worked hard on that mouth-to-mouth resuscitation — and you could save a life one day!
Replacing the OG lifeguards like Pam Anderson, Nicole Eggert, Yasmine Bleeth and Carmen Electra herself is going to be a big task for the new cast, so is there a chance we might see some of them drop in?
What we know: Kelly Packard is returning as April Giminski, while David Chokachi will reprise the role of Cody Madison — the love interest of Carmen Electra’s Lani McKenzie. Electra has expressed interest in returning to Baywatch, and she even donned the red swimsuit to prove she’s still got it.
We’ll have to see if a reunion between Cody and Lani is in the cards, but until then Carmen Electra is here to give advice to the new cast, because the OGs will tell you that filming the beach drama can get pretty grueling.
Will Brooks Nader, Jessica Belkin, Livvy Dunne and Hassie Harrison be the new Pamela Anderson and Yasmine Bleeth? We’ll have to tune in to find out when Baywatch hits Fox’s schedule in 2027.
