By Sarah Osman

Like the iconic series it covers, After Baywatch is all gloss, an airbrushed look at a show about sexy lifeguards.

As a child of the ’90s, I am well aware of the slo-mo Baywatch run. My friends and I imitated the absurd saunter down the beach, tossing our hair and yelling at each other in stop-action imitation. But this is where my knowledge of the infamous bootylicious ’90s series stops. I never watched Baywatch. In fact, to this day, I’ve yet to sit through a single episode. Maybe it’s because I grew up going to southern California beaches, so they held no exotic attraction. Or maybe it’s because, as a kid, I pretty much preferred my cartoons animated. After watching After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun, Hulu’s new content-free docuseries about the program, I am confident that there is no need to catch up.

After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun is broken down into four 40-minute digestible episodes. We’re introduced to how the program came to be, its international success, the many “problems” the actors faced, and where the performers are now. Predictably, the docuseries comes across as a typical episode of Baywatch: formulaic and somewhat inane. As a non-Baywatch watcher I learned some interesting facts: the show was initially a movie, and star David Hasselhoff went on to have a surprisingly successful singing career in Germany. But I can’t imagine fans of the series learned anything new.

In addition to presenting fun trivia about Baywatch, such as how many Baywatch babes posed in Playboy, After Baywatch touches on the political. There are a few moments when the few actors of color on the show discuss the racism they faced. But they are fleeting: soon enough we are introduced to “real” trauma: such as how Jeremy Jackson (who played Hasselhoff’s son in the series) was promised a car for his 16th birthday but never received it. Actresses discuss having to put up with their skimpy swimsuits and strict diets, but then, a few minutes later, we take a deep dive into Pamela Anderson’s notorious sex tape. I was intrigued by After Baywatch‘s attempts to supply serious insights — and  lost interest when the series quickly became bored with the effort. The most poignant segment regarding race occurs at the end of episode three, when Gregory Allen Williams, one of the sole Black characters on the show, remarks, “Baywatch was a show that celebrated European beauty. At that point, I put up a wall between myself and the show.” Williams opens up a powerful opportunity for a discussion of race, physical attraction, and representation.  But the episode ends on that tantalizing note. The docuseries producers were aware of these provocative issues, but chose not to focus on them.

Naturally, the series dedicates an enormous amount of time to Pamela Anderson, the undeniable star of Baywatch. Various cast members recall her rise to fame, but we don’t hear from her. Older interviews with Anderson are featured, but nothing contemporary. Obviously, Anderson chose not to be a part of the docuseries; at this time of her life she’s probably in a different space. Of course, it’s not as though Anderson hasn’t opened up about her life — she has released her own memoir and documentary. So why does After Baywatch spend so much of its time spotlighting  her —  aren’t there other stories about Baywatch worth telling?

Like the iconic series it covers, After Baywatch is all gloss, an airbrushed look at a show about sexy lifeguards. If you are doing something that doesn’t take up any mental bandwidth, you might want to take a fleeting look. It is a nostalgic trip down a jiggly memory lane, as vapid as the original’s plotlines.

Sarah Mina Osman is based in Los Angeles. In addition to the Arts Fuse, her writing can be found in Huffington Post, Success Magazine, Matador Network, HelloGiggles, Business Insider, and WatchMojo. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and is working on her first novel. She has a deep appreciation for sloths and tacos. You can keep up with her on Instagram @SarahMinaOsman.