Baywatch premiered on NBC in 1989, but was cancelled after only one season due to low ratings and also because the studio, GTG, went out of business. Feeling the series still had potential, David Hasselhoff, creators and Executive Producers Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz and Greg Bonann revived it for the first-run syndication market in 1991. Hasselhoff was given the title of Executive Producer for his work on bringing the show back. The series was hugely successful, especially internationally. The show led to a spin-off: Baywatch Nights, and a reunion movie, Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding.

In 1999, with production costs rising in Los Angeles, and the syndication market shrinking, the plan was to move the show to Australia and launch Baywatch Down Under. A pilot was filmed but the series was stopped when residents of Avalon put forth strong objections, including potential damage to a fragile ecosystem. Avalon council permanently barred all future filming. The pilot finally aired as a two-part episode of Baywatch.

Hawaii offered the producers large financial incentives to move the show to the islands and in Season 10 Baywatch Hawaii was launched.

The show starred David Hasselhoff, of Knight Rider fame, as Mitch Buchannon, who was the only mainstay on the show, besides Michael Newman, for 10 of the 11 seasons. Baywatch was centered around the work of a team of lifeguards and their interpersonal relationships, with plots usually centering on dangers related to beach and other activities pertinent to the California (later Hawaii) beach lifestyle. Everything from earthquakes and shark attacks to serial killers, and even nuclear bombs, served as plot conflicts on the show. Saving people from drowning tended to be one of the most typical situations used in the shows. Thus a trademark of the show was slow motion shots of the lifeguards running, most notably done by Erika Eleniak, Pamela Anderson, Yasmine Bleeth, Alexandra Paul, and David Charvet along with Hasselhoff during the height of the show. Each show would feature one or two montages, often only superficially related to the plot.

In 2004, DreamWorks announced they had bought the rights to create a new theatrical Baywatch movie. Jessica Simpson was officially cast as C.J. Parker. The movie is slated for release in 2012.

The film version is reported to be a comedy, written and directed by Jeremy Garelick. Garelick's previous successes include the rewrite of The Hangover.

Australia: Seasons 1-4 have been released in collector's edition boxsets.

Finland: Seasons 1-3 have been released by Futurefilm.

Germany: Seasons 1 to 11 have been released. These releases are presented exactly as they originally aired, albeit with German language credits (These are also available in the U.K. from amazon as imports).

Italy: Seasons 1, 5 and 6 have been released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.