All 22 episodes of the original, first season of BAYWATCH, which aired on NBC, is coming out on DVD on Monday in England. A first season boxed set of BAYWATCH episodes is also coming out on the same day on these shores… only they are entirely different episodes. Confused? I know I was.
The first season that’s coming out on DVD here is actually season two, the first
syndicated season of the show. The U.S. boxed set reportedly has two episodes from the real first season, which they are calling "the lost pilot season." If that wasn’t bad enough, the episodes in the U.S. are also missing the original score. What were they thinking? The only reason I care at all about this debacle is because I wrote a bunch of first season BAYWATCH episodes on NBC and, as bad as they were, I wouldn’t mind having them on DVD… so I had to shell out $65 to get the Brit version which, by the way, will only work on a multi-standard player or on your computer.
I had to go through the whole multi-standard thing to get my favorite European crime movie to play on my TV. (I also had to order the DVD from Amazon France. Yes, I’m a little obsessive–just watching this one movie cost me something like $200. But it’s a great flick: http://journalscape.com/keithsnyder/2004-12-06-10:40 .)
If somebody in the US is thinking about trying to watch the Brit version, there’s actually a relatively affordable option, which is to buy a single-standard player that can become region-free with a secret code or key combination. There are web pages about what models these are, and how to unlock them. Sometimes it’s as easy as pointing the remote at it and thumbing in a few numbers.
FYI there was a thread on John August’s blog a while back about DVD players in which the Philips DVP-642 was recommended by several people, including, eventually, Mr. August himself:
http://johnaugust.com/archives/2006/i-want-a-cheap-slutty-dvd-player#comments
I actually own one, along with a JVC player I purchased from:
http://www.codefreedvd.com/dvd_dvdplayer_usa.htm
and the Philips plays more things better, IMO.
HTH – Mark
Hasselhoffed
My boxed set of the real first season episodes of BAYWATCH arrived from the UK this weekend. I’d forgotten how good the production values were and how truly awful the writing was (and yes, I am talking about my own