1990: BAYWATCH: PANIC AT MALIBU PIER UK VHS RELEASE

From 1990 (although it aired on NBC the previous year) the original BAYWATCH pilot movie PANIC AT MALIBU PIER.

This release was unusual because, as the cover suggests, this contains some scenes trimmed from the telecast. I'd assumed these were just scenes that ITV had snipped to fit the timeslot allocated to the movie (not an uncommon practice for broadcasters at the time) but its actually a couple of mildly racy topless female scenes (not involving any of the show's regular actresses) presumably shot by the production company to give the one-off a little more spice in the all-important overseas market. Neither scene is critical to the plot... and I doubt they were part of the original NBC outing.

This additional material was somewhat at odds with the family friendly flavour of the show itself, airing around 6pm Saturday nights on ITV, and must have come as a surprise to buyers who expected to leave their kids unsupervised and entertained for ninety-odd minutes.

I vaguely recall seeing this released again later with a PG certification, suggesting the 'rude bits' had been snipped.