'Baywatch' Goes Bye-Bye

By Caitlin O'toole

Wednesday September 24, 1997 12:00 AM EDT

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"Baywatch," the beloved bikini show that catapulted Pamela Anderson, Yasmine Bleeth and Carmen Electra to fame and re-launched David Hasselhoff's career, is signing off after 11 years on the air, reports Reuters. "Things have a natural life, and in our view it has run a natural life," said Brian Harris, president and chief executive of Pearson Television North America, the show's producer. "It was still a successful show but getting tougher and tougher (to sell) by the minute." "Baywatch," or "Babe Watch," as it was dubbed by the public, was to the '90s what "Charlie's Angels" and "The Love Boat" were to the '70s and '80s -- pure entertainment, nothing more -- according to Robert Thompson, executive director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at New York's Syracuse University. "It could be understood and enjoyed if you were half asleep or even half dead. The scenery was pretty, the people were pretty, the action was pretty." "Baywatch" was viewed by people in more than 100 countries at various times, making it one of the most successful TV shows internationally. Its final episode is scheduled to air in May.