The BEST episodes of Baywatch

Every episode of Baywatch ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Baywatch!

This long-running series follows the adventures of a team of lifeguards on the crowded beaches of Los Angeles County. Veteran lifeguard Mitch Buchannon watches over the younger lifeguards that come and go with each passing season as they keep the beaches safe for vacationers. Frequently he must take action to save them from the raging seas and from the raging tempers that sometimes flare up between the young guards in this stressful job.

Last Updated: 5/15/2026Network: SyndicationStatus: Ended
Talk Show
star
8.31
52 votes

#1 - Talk Show

Season 7 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/17/1997

Mitch rescues the life of a talk show host, who then invites him to appear on her show. C.J. is convinced that a stray dog found by her and Caroline posseses the reincarted soul of the late Stephanie.

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The Red Knights
star
8.25
55 votes

#2 - The Red Knights

Season 4 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/24/1994

Some old lifeguards known as the Red Knights are having a reunion at Baywatch. Among the lifeguards are the legendary Bud Gates who was the first lifeguard ever to swim to Catalina and back in the nude. But after a couple of years he mysteriously disappeared from the beach. Later it's revealed that he is convinced he saw Marilyn Monroe on the beach one day. When he was about to make a move on her, he got a call that someone had seen sharks at Topanga Beach. Later when he got back, she was nowhere to be seen. When Marilyn Monroe died, he retired as a lifeguard and went back to Omaha and opened a hardware store. Meanwhile, Ben isn't to pleased about the reunion. All the other Knights are still in good shape, but Ben isn't because of his broken hip. Bud asks Mitch how Ben got injured and he tells Bud that a couple of years ago, Ben was hang-gliding and saw a surfer in trouble. Ben was the only one who could rescue him and then he jumped from 30 feet and rescued the surfer. But during the

Directors: Cliff Bole
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Liquid Assets
star
8.21
56 votes

#3 - Liquid Assets

Season 7 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/7/1996

C.J. befriends a homeless man, who then dies and leaves her a fortune in his will. Hobie helps aspiring lifeguard Manny make the Junior Lifeguard.

Directors: Reza Badiyi
Writer: Michael Berk
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Chance of a Lifetime
star
8.21
56 votes

#4 - Chance of a Lifetime

Season 7 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/10/1997

Stephanie and Tom decide to spend their honeymoon on a two masted sailing schooner named ""Chance of a Lifetime"" with Mitch, Neely and a bunch of teenagers. They think the trip will help the teenagers face their fears and problems, while teaching them some important life lessons. The teenagers are Benjamin who is very intelligent, Megan whose parents died when she was five, Trisha who has a sense of humor, Diana who has asthma and Randy and Terry who are stepbrothers. Randy and Terry fight all the time and during one fight, they break the only radio on board. This means they don't get the warning call about a storm heading their way from Baja. When the sail collapses and the ship starts sinking, they are forced to abandon the ship. Caroline, Cody and C.J. are back at headquarters worrying about them. When they head toward the lifeboat, Stephanie notices that Trisha is missing. She goes back in and finds her on the cabin floor. When Stephanie and Trisha are on the deck, lighting strikes

Directors: Douglas Schwartz
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Short Sighted
star
8.12
89 votes

#5 - Short Sighted

Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/5/1994

After Caroline and Logan complete rookie school, Logan is named ""Rookie of the Year"" and chooses to work at Baywatch. Caroline, still smarting from her break-up with Logan, tells Stephanie she won't be able to work with him. During her first shift, Caroline's distracted by Logan's presence. Despite Stephanie's warning to watch a little girl, Caroline can't keep her eyes off Logan and almost misses a rescue when the girl nearly drowns. After Steph comes to the girl's rescue, a guilty Caroline confesses she missed the rescue because of Logan. Stephanie then decides to transfer Logan to Zuma Beach. Caroline's upset by Stephanie's interference while Logan threatens to sue. Mitch advises Stephanie to not let her personal feelings about Logan interfere with his job ability. Stephanie reconsiders and apologizes to Caroline, saying she'll be her boss when she's on-duty, but her sister off-duty. Meanwhile, Hobie befriends a new junior lifeguard named Carter, who panics when he learns of an up

Directors: Douglas Schwartz
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Rescue Bay
star
8.10
58 votes

#6 - Rescue Bay

Season 4 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/28/1994

When TV-producer Don Brand visits the beach, he is delighted to discover that the actions that take place on the beach are perfect for a TV-series. He calls the TV-series ""Rescue Bay"". He gets inspired when he witness Stephanie, Matt and Summer rescue two men on a boat, and when Garner catches a bad guy with the help of a kid's kite. Brand is convinced that he has a number one show in his hand. Brand follows the lifeguards around interviewing them about their jobs and personal lives. Stephanie reveals her and Mitch's relationship to him. Matt and Summer are played by two network-deal ingenues. Stephanie wants to play herself but when C.J. returns from Hawaii unaware of the shooting of a TV-series, she rescues the victims not knowing they are only acting. Brand is immediately smitten and offers Stephanie's part to C.J. and Stephanie becomes real upset. When the two roommates argue over who is best suited to play the role, Mitch agrees to help them with a kissing scene, but that doesn't

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Western Exposure
star
8.07
57 votes

#7 - Western Exposure

Season 4 - Episode 19 - Aired 4/25/1994

Famous country-singer Jesse Lee Harris is at the top of his career and because he tours constantly, his wife Crystal left him with their son Jackson. The problem is that she didn't tell him where they went. But one day, Jesse receives a Venice Beach postcard from Jackson and he is determined to find them. Therefore he takes a detour to Los Angeles on his way to Las Vegas and hopes to find his family there and get the marriage back together again. When Jesse walks around on the beach, showing people a picture of Jackson, two girls recognize him and then he is surrounded by 20 girls. When they all end up in the water, C.J. and some other lifeguards have to rescue him. C.J.'s friend Sadie who was on the beach next to C.J.'s tower is a country singer herself, and she recognizes Jesse. When C.J. finds out about it, she escorts him to headquarters. She also convinces him to come to the Denim & Diamonds Dance Hall to hear Sadie sing. Jessie accepts the invitation, and is so impressed by Sadie

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Breath of Life
star
8.06
18 votes

#8 - Breath of Life

Season 10 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/21/2000

Jason, at the request of a young woman, goes to visit her father and reluctantly learns a craft from him. Sean's feelings about Jenna change abruptly when he finds out her plans for the future and how they will impact him directly.

Directors: Rick Jacobson
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Rendezvous
star
8.04
54 votes

#9 - Rendezvous

Season 7 - Episode 17 - Aired 4/7/1997

Cody encounters a mermaid during a rescue. Meanwhile, two teens form a suicide pact to be together when their disapproving parents try to keep them apart.

Directors: Gus Trikonis
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Hit and Run
star
8.02
57 votes

#10 - Hit and Run

Season 6 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/18/1995

From headquarters, Caroline sees that the local surfers are getting territorial again. When Mitch is forced to make a rescue, the locals and the victim's friend end up in a fight, but Logan breaks up the fight. Logan is still pursuing his business venture of Aussie swimwear and he has an important meeting with a major clothing manufacturer. But since his car is with a mechanic, he has to borrow one of the other lifeguards' cars. No one is willing to let Logan borrow their car, but Logan takes Cody's car without permission, when he has found out from Newmie that Cody is on a 24-hour-shift. Unfortunately for Logan, he gets involved in a collision which injures a pregnant woman. Logan quickly gets out of his car and tries to rescue the victim. When the police arrive, he tells them that the driver took off and that he saw the whole thing from the beach. The next morning, the police arrive at headquarters in order to take Cody down to the station. When he is about to leave for the police st

Directors: Gus Trikonis
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Big Island Heat
star
8.00
20 votes

#11 - Big Island Heat

Season 10 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/13/2000

As his trust in Jenna deepens, Sean decides to take a huge risk by sharing his most dark and emotional secret with her. He can only hope that Jenna will not betray his trust. Meanwhile, Allie struggles to keep up with a challenging day of rescues.

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Guys & Dolls
star
8.00
55 votes

#12 - Guys & Dolls

Season 4 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/16/1994

When Matt is out water-skiing, he sees a young woman being swept into the ocean. When he has rescued her, she tells him she lost all her money in the water and that she needed the money for her audition. She wants to become an actress. She introduces herself as Rachel Henderson, and Matt feels sorry for her and loans her $ 100. Meanwhile, when Mitch is running on the beach, he sees a man sleeping in the sand. Then he realizes that the man is about to be run over by a beach tractor. He rescues the man just in time and the man introduces himself as Henry Krebbs. He tells Mitch that he is looking for his runaway daughter Nancy. His description matches Rachel's exactly. Henry tells Mitch that he is dying of cancer and wants to meet his daughter before he dies. The next day when Rachel doesn't return to give Matt his money back, Matt finds a receipt in the dryer. The note leads him to the marina where he finds Rachel. She runs away and when he captures her and tells her that her father is d

Directors: Cliff Bole
Writer: David Braff
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Coronado Del Sol (1)
star
7.98
58 votes

#13 - Coronado Del Sol (1)

Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/31/1994

The gang stays at the Hotel Del Coronado where strange things start to happen to Summer in her hotel room.

Directors: Gus Trikonis
Writer: David Braff
Sea of Flames
star
7.97
38 votes

#14 - Sea of Flames

Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/17/1992

Mitch is trying to convince Captain Thorpe that wave runners would be an invaluable lifesaving aid for Baywatch. Despite a demonstration by Mitch, Newmie and Barnett, the county bureaucrats think they're too expensive. Meanwhile, a man that is high on a drug called Spice is lose on the beach playing with fire. He torches Eddie's tower and then keeps saying Sumo all the time. When Lyle Connors finds out about the incident, he tells Eddie about the drug and that they have been trying to arrest the dealers for a long time without any luck. The drug manufacturers have set up a floating drug laboratory offshore as an attempt to evade the police. The name of the boat is Sumo. Eddie and Connors along with the Coast Guard set out to investigate, but two speedboats try to escape. After a call for back-up, Mitch, Newmie and Barnett mount the wave runners and prove their worth by catching the villains. When Mitch has dived into the water to capture one of the bad guys, the other one almost runs o

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Old Friends
star
7.96
56 votes

#15 - Old Friends

Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 3/30/1990

Mitch, Craig and Garner take a weekend hang-gliding trip. While hang-gliding, Mitch has a terrible accident and crash-lands in some trees. When he falls down from the tree, he breaks his leg. Even more bad luck is to come. Mitch also gets bitten by a rattlesnake and falls down into a rock quarry. After a couple of minutes, Craig goes searching for him and finds him unconscious in the quarry. When Garner is about to get help, the jeep won't start. Then he is forced to use the hang-glider. He can't control it and crash-lands right next to Shauni's tower. When the Baywatch gang finds out about Mitch, they head for the mountains to rescue him. Eddie, Shauni and Garner drive there in a lifeguard truck, while Thorpe and Newmie take the helicopter, when the storm calms down. Meanwhile, Mitch doesn't show any gratitude whatsoever towards Craig. But when he is finally rescued by the Baywatch gang, he thanks Craig for all he's done. Meanwhile, while spending some time with a girl on a boat, Cort

Directors: Douglas Schwartz
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Leap of Faith
star
7.96
26 votes

#16 - Leap of Faith

Season 6 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/4/1995

C.J. returns from France without Matt. She, Stephanie and Caroline are training some Junior Lifeguards. In order to improve the girls' lifeguard skills, they separate them from the boys. During an exercise where the girls are supposed to rescue a dummy, they get distracted by the boys instead and no one even notices the dummy who sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Then they decide that the only way to teach the girls teamwork, is to take them to Catalina. Unfortunately for them, Neely invite herself and C.J. and Caroline become furious. But the two of them decide to give Neely a chance. When two of the girls, Erika and Taylor get caught in a strong current and ends up trapped in a cave, the girls have to act as a team in order to get them out. The rescue is a success and the girls learn what teamwork is. Mitch is surprised when he receives a letter from the Superior Court. They are requesting him to appear for the reading of a will. According to the letter, Mitch has been named benefici

Directors: Douglas Schwartz
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Trapped Beneath the Sea (2)
star
7.96
23 votes

#17 - Trapped Beneath the Sea (2)

Season 6 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/7/1995

As the crippled oil rig sinks and floods with water, Cody, Neely and Stephanie begin a desperate rescue effort to save the two young couples, and themselves, until the Baywatch lifeguards can arrive to help.

Writer: Michael Berk
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Shelter Me
star
7.95
62 votes

#18 - Shelter Me

Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/8/1989

The Baywatch crew prepare themselves for an on-coming tropical storm, when Garner gets shot under the pier by two robbers who thought he recognized them. Craig and Gina is having an argument about whose parents they visit the most. Gina also accuses Craig of being predictable. According to her, he never does anything spontaneously. Mitch totally agrees with Gina when he finds out about it. When Mitch and Craig go on patrol, they find an homeless man named Henry along with the two robbers Dick and Frank in a restroom. They bring them all back to headquarters. When Gina arrives to headquarters, she and Craig make up again. When Jill is about to call Eddie and Shauni, Frank thinks that she is calling the police, and pulls his gun on them. Meanwhile, Garner has been able to get himself to a tower. From there, he calls headquarters and Mitch lets him know that the bad guys are there. When Garner arrives at headquarters, he cuts the power and Jill and Dick head down-stairs to check it out. I

Directors: Scott Brazil
Writer: Terry Erwin
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The Big Spill
star
7.95
62 votes

#19 - The Big Spill

Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired 5/4/1992

Lane Brody, an environmentalist and former lifeguard has returned to Baywatch to investigate illegal chemical dumping. He suspects a company named Transicon Industries may be responsible and he wants Mitch's help breaking into the plant. Mitch refuses although he agrees with Lane. But Mitch doesn't want to break the law. When Hobie and his friend Brenda are out on their bikes, Brenda loses control over her bike and falls into a lagoon. Hobie has to rescue her. Later. when Hobie and Lane are driving go-carts, Hobie crashes. Mitch finds out that he has a very high temperature, and so does Brenda. Lane tells Mitch to bring Hobie to the hospital, because he has been poisoned by some chemicals. Meanwhile, Lane springs to action and meets with his contact Jeff, from Transicon. But Jeff is a bad guy himself, and he knocks Lane unconscious and he places Lane next to a bomb that is about to explode. Lane wakes up just in time to get away from there. After the explosion, a lot of toxic chemicals

Directors: Cliff Bole
Writer: David Braff
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Homecoming
star
7.95
55 votes

#20 - Homecoming

Season 5 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/11/1995

Stephanie returns to Baywatch only to become victim of an ultraradical eco-terrorist trying to destroy an offshore oil platform. Mitch makes waves in Garner's relationship with a new lifeguard.

Directors: Gus Trikonis
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Maui Xterra
star
7.94
17 votes

#21 - Maui Xterra

Season 10 - Episode 19 - Aired 4/24/2000

Jessie accepts an offer from her sister Dawn, who claims that she wants to help Jessie regain confidence by competing in a challenging triathlon. Sean and Allie worry about Jessie's health and wonder if Dawn might have darker motives behind her offer.

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Red Wind
star
7.94
63 votes

#22 - Red Wind

Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/26/1994

The Santa Ana Winds usher in some strange times for the lifeguards as Caroline helps an insane man who swears his daughter drowned in the ocean, while Mitch is tormented by a meek man, whose fiancée remains infatuated with Mitch from a years-ago rescue.

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Race Against Time (2)
star
7.92
64 votes

#23 - Race Against Time (2)

Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/20/1993

A dramatic plane crash finds Hobie and his mother trapped in the rapidly flooding fuselage beneath the sea while Mitch and the Baywatch lifeguards mount a massive rescue effort to save the trapped passengers and crew.

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Charlie
star
7.91
23 votes

#24 - Charlie

Season 8 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/20/1997

April's brother Charlie and her mother Paige are living with her in her small apartment. It's very hard for April to see Charlie so sick and that everyone is being nice to him out of pity. Everyone has been told that Charlie has a rare form of cancer and that he is getting treatment for it at UCLA. Later April tells Mitch that Charlie isn't being treated there, they just use him for research. A scientist is trying to find a way to detect this type of cancer. That means that Charlie doesn't have so much time left to live. She also tells Mitch that having Charlie around must be such a downer for everyone. But Mitch assures her that Charlie is really inspiring. All the lifeguards take care of Charlie and he has the time of his life with them. Mitch takes him out on a wind jet and he gets the opportunity to drive it. He also writes a song together with Hobie. Meanwhile, it's time for the annual Taplin dory race. Mitch and Newmie have won the event seven years in a row now, but this year, M

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Eel Niño
star
7.91
22 votes

#25 - Eel Niño

Season 8 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/10/1997

When Cody is driving on the beach in a lifeguard truck, he suddenly sees a huge hole in the sand. He alerts Mitch over the radio. When Mitch arrives, he tells everyone of the Santa Ana syndrome. It's a warm wind that comes in from the desert and it bring all weirdoes down to the beach. Mitch calls the county and lets someone fill up the hole with new sand. Max from the county arrives in his tractor. He tells Cody that the lifeguards get all the credit for everything that happens on the beach. Nobody cares about the guy watching the sand. Later, two jet skiers get into trouble when they collide into a sand bar. Lani goes out to rescue them and has to walk over the sand bar. Cody and Sheryl arrive in the call car and Cody walks over the sand bar too. They have now found the missing sand. Later, Mitch is surprised to find out that the lifeguard trucks are gone. Someone has stolen them from the garage at headquarters. On the beach, a man with a metal detector finds that something large is

Directors: Douglas Schwartz
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