The ninth season of Baywatch aired from 1998-1999.
New characters such as Alex Ryker, Jessie Owens and Allie Reese were introduced as well as the departure of Cody Madison, April Giminski and Manny Gutierrez.
Neely Capshaw was portrayed by another actress, Jennifer Campbell who had previously portrayed Jessie Majors in Season 3.
It was also the final season to be shot in the regular location of Los Angeles.
Main Cast[]
- David Hasselhoff as Mitch Buchannon
- Jeremy Jackson as Hobie Buchannon
- David Chokachi as Cody Madison
- Michael Bergin as Jack "J.D." Darius
- Kelly Packard as April Giminski
- Mitzi Kapture as Alexis "Alex" Ryker
- Brooke Burns as Jessica "Jessie" Owens
- Michael Newman as Mike "Newmie" Newman
Special Guest Stars[]
- Parker Stevenson as Craig Pomeroy
- Jennifer Campbell as Neely Capshaw
- José Solano as Manny Gutierrez
- Simmone Jade Mackinnon as Allie Reese
Episodes[]
- Crash, Part I - During the first week of autumn at Baywatch with Hobie gone away to college and heavy rainfall in the area, Mitch discovers that his shipboard marriage to Neely is invalid, which worsens things then Neely's ex-husband suddenly shows up with no knowledge of Neely's baby or anything else making Mitch realize that Neely lied to him all this time and she has fully reverted to her conniving and devious true self. Meanwhile, Cody decides to travel to New York City to visit the departed Lani, now a Broadway dancer, and April is on the same flight to visit a clothing designer for her fashions. All of that shatters when the plane crashes shortly after takeoff off the coast of Santa Monica due to engine failure, killing the pilots and some of the passengers, leaving Cody and some survivors floating in life rafts on the surface and April trapped with three survivors of the forward section under water.
- Crash, Part II - Mitch, Craig, Neely, J.D. and Newman cooperate with the Coast Guard in rescuing as many people as possible from the waters of the plane crash and fending off shark attacks as well. Meanwhile, April struggles to keep the three survivors with her, a pregnant woman, a injured steward, and a foreign tourist, alive in the submerged forward section of the plane long enough to await rescue. Also, Cody tries to organize the survivors on the waters surface while looking for a young boy that may have drowned.
- Sharks, Lies and Videotape - Mitch deals with Captain Alexis "Alex" Ryker, the conniving CEO of a private lifeguard company called Bayguard, who wants to take over the Baywatch lifeguard company to expand her company. When Mitch suspects Alex of setting up rescues to appease Chief Johnson, he resorts to having Cody spy on the Bayguard team to uncover any underhandedness. Meanwhile, April is approached by fellow lifeguard Bridget to pose for a visiting Italian designer for a new swimsuit line.
- Dolphin Quest - Cody accompanies Alex on a vacation to Hawaii where she wants to spend time with her autistic 10-year-old nephew, Todd, and to show him to swim with dolphins in the local lagoon, which the mute Todd is afraid to do so. Meanwhile, Cody spends the time being with Lani's sister, Callie, a local Hawaiian lifeguard, which is peaked when they make a rescue of a boy that falls off a seaside cliff and is sucked into an underwater cave.
- The Natural - A mysterious figure called "The Phantom Lifeguard," begins making rescues and disappears before being identified by anyone. While Mitch thinks the Phantom Lifeguard is an outsider, Cody and J.D. think the unseen hero of the day is getting his/her information from inside the department. Meanwhile, Ed Symes, the obnoxious and annoying medical supply salesman, returns and tries to get on the good side of Mitch and Alex by riding around with them for the week, and he causes nothing but trouble for everyone as usual. Also, Alex hires Jessica "Jessie" Owens, a new maintenance person and movie stunt woman for Baywatch headquarters. Jessie is inept at keeping things in order, but shows off her physical strength during workouts and it soon becomes apparent that she may or may not be the Phantom Lifeguard.
- Drop Zone - April mentally falls apart after losing a rescue, while Mitch and the grieving widow refuse to give up searching for the body. Meanwhile, Jessie runs into an old beau of hers, named Deke, who happens to be a convict that has escaped from a prison chain gang and asks her help to smuggle him to Mexico.
- Hot Summer Night - Hobie takes out his wild and crazy college friends for a boat trip while under the influence of alcohol and they all end up in a boating accident in which Hobie's girlfriend falls into a coma and leads to Hobie being arrested and facing charges of manslaughter. Meanwhile, Jesse begins to doubt her ability as a lifeguard after talking to April about her recent loss of a rescue which leads to Jessie having waking nightmares and freezing during rescues.
- Swept Away - Mitch befriends Tanner, an abused nine-year old boy who tries out for the junior lifeguards in order to get away from his ill-tempered, alcoholic, divorced father, Blake. But Mitch feels helpless in helping Tanner when everyone tells Mitch not to get involved in the boy's troubled home life and to mind his own business. But things turn chaotic when the bus that Mitch, Jessie and several junior lifeguards, including Tanner, are riding in falls off a bridge and lands in 20 feet of water. Meanwhile, Alex tries out for a spot on the TV game show 'Jeopardy', and finally wins one, but which changes when she saves the life of the host Alex Treibek himself. Also, Jessie tries to get J.D.'s attention by stealing his laundry and bringing it over to his place.
- The Swimmer - Mitch, feeling that his life has reached a midpoint from his failed marriage to the absent Neely, goes for a day-long tower swim along the beach and encounters various other problems which include, April and Craig's growing attraction for one another, and reluctant heroes Cody and J.D. refusing to take the credit for saving two girls and a pair of policemen after falling off a pier. Meanwhile, former medical supply salesman Ed Symes returns teaches Jessie the more important ropes of stunt working, and he nearly kills himself in doing so. Also, Newman tries wearing a variety of outrageous toupees to get a woman's attention who comes to his lifeguard tower every day.
- Friends Forever - Mitch takes in an orangutan, named Morton, that escapes from it's abusive dwarf owner which complicates Mitch's and Alex's plans for Baywatch's annual Special Olympics program, while Cody and Jessie deal with Morton's owner, Herbert Green. One of the Special Olympics participators, a hearing-impaired girl named Kara, takes a liking to Morton and when she tries to hide Morton from Herbert, they end up trapped in a cave with a rising tide that threatens to drown her and the orang-utan.
- The Edge - Cody puts his career (and life) on the line when he starts using a performance-enhancing supplement in hopes of making it to the 2000 Sydney Olympics, which soon begins affecting his lifeguarding job as well. Meanwhile, Newmie makes a play for Alex who's oblivious to his moves, while she quarrels with Mitch over running the Baywatch lifeguard program. But when Mitch spends more time with Alex, including getting stuck in a traffic jam and ending up in a lifeguard tower to spend the night, Newman becomes jealous.
- The Big Blue - Mitch becomes acquainted with some old armed service friends of an Army parachutist team where he tries to reunite one sky jumper, Tracy McComb, with her estranged Naval officer father who has a terminal illness. Jessie becomes intrigued with skydiving and persuades Mitch to go along with her for a jump, which takes a turn when they are forced to rescue some people from a boat wreck off Catalina. Meanwhile, Cody helps out Mehgan Hanley-Grier, a world famous, beautiful free-diver in training for a national deep dive competition.
- Come Fly with Me - Mitch finds himself on the wrong side of the law when he becomes reacquainted with Tanner, the abused nine-year-old boy, whom he snatches away from his abusive father, Blake, and lets the boy stay at his house while Alex becomes Mitch's co-conspirator in helping Tanner. Meanwhile, Jessie has a secret admirer that turns out of be a stunt pilot who is apparently sending her expensive gifts to her lifeguard tower, much to J.D. indifference. Also, Alex has other troubles when several swimmers show signs of food poisoning.
- Boys Will Be Boys - Craig tells Mitch a shocking secret that he has lymphoma when they become caught up in a high-risk adventure at sea starting when they get lost in a fog while paddle boarding and then get attacked by a shark. They manage to reach land only to end up as prisoners on a top secret military test range. Back at Baywatch, April cannot find the right time to tell Manny about her involvement with Craig. Meanwhile, Jessie tries to end J.D. and Cody's rivalry between them while they are in training for a triathlon by competing against both of them.
- Baywatch Grand Prix - Mitch gets the need for speed when Tanner's cousin Damon Lusk, a race car driver, visits for a race car competition, and who also has a meeting of the minds with Alex. But when Damon falls ill due to food poisoning, he asks Mitch to take his place for a major grand prix race, where Mitch comes up against an old rival from his own former race car days. Meanwhile, after the rescue of an obnoxious couple from the ocean that attracts a lot of media attention, Newman, Cody, April and the other lifeguards help to develop a new TV show about lifeguards, titled 'Beachside', which Newman's brother-in-law is going to sponsor.
- Baywatch Down Under, Part I - Mitch's Zuma Beach lifeguard friend, Jake Barnes, learns that his Australian ex-wife has suddenly died. So he, Mitch, Alex, April, Cody, and Jessie go on a trip to Australia where Jake is to meet the eight-year-old son, Terry, that he never knew. Upon arrival, Jake with Jessie in tow, travel to the Avalon Beach Resort Club where Jake meets with Terry and his ex-wife's friend Allie Reese, a helicopter pilot and lifeguard at the beach club, where Jake and Terry seem to hit it off. Meanwhile, Mitch meets with his Australian lifeguard friend/nemesis, Kip, who wants Mitch and his team for a Eco Race between Baywatch and the local Australian lifeguards, which sets the stage for a major feud between the Baywatch and Australian lifeguards.
- Baywatch Down Under, Part II - While Mitch, Alex, Cody, and April prepare for their race against the Australian lifeguards, Jake must choose between staying in Australia with Terry or returning home without him. But when Terry does not want to leave Australia, he goes missing which prompts Jake, Jessie, and Allie to look for him. Then Terry and his pet dog land in danger while sailing along the coast in a sailboat, while the Eco Race between Baywatch and Australia gets interrupted when they must rescue a girl pinned under a rock at a reef with a rising tide.
- Water Dance - Having received a Dear John-type letter from Lani saying that she has moved on and is now romantically involved with someone else in New York, Cody gets a lesson in love when he and Mitch help out a brilliant, but troubled, violinist named Ariana to get away from Lena, her dangerous and overbearing trainer with a secret agenda. Meanwhile, Alex sets out to prove her worth at Baywatch by retaking the rookie physical exams with Jessie.
- Double Jeopardy - While on her way to her grandmother's birthday party, Alex's day gets sidetracked when she tries to save a diamond runner, named Ben, whose partners, Lisa and Jason, want to silence him for good which leads to a standoff in an underwater cave with Alex and Ben trying to avoid the rising tide and the smugglers circling above in their motorboat. Meanwhile, Hobie and Mitch begin to get on each other's case over privacy in the house, which prompts Hobie to think about moving out. But when Hobie cannot get in with his friends, Neely Capshaw returns and gives Hobie an lucrative offer to move in with her for a while which makes Mitch angry knowing that Neely always has an agenda.
- Wave Rage - April tries to save Manny from himself after he suffers a life-altering back injury during a rescue. April then decides to take Manny's place with Hobie in a boat race with the other lifeguards from Baywatch. Meanwhile, Neely begins a new plan of revenge against Mitch first by taunting him and then bringing assault charges against him. Then Neely meets her match when she goes after Alex who tries to intervene in the feud between Neely and Mitch. When Neely tries to drug Alex with sleeping pills, Alex is forced to take time off and she finally stands up to Neely by firing her from Baywatch, and gives her a farewell punch to the face.
- Galaxy Girls - April and Jessie search for the perfect celebrity host the Miss Galaxy Beauty contest Baywatch is sponsoring, when they stumble across and get duped by a con artist impersonator, called Earl, who claims to be the real George Hamilton. Meanwhile, Manny tries to adjust to his new life of being a paraplegic and begins to feel more frustrated and angry at himself and others. Newman tries to get Alex's attention by throwing a beach side dinner while Alex asks Mitch to come to her rescue. Also, Newman is working with a film crew seeking to shoot the perfect lifeguard for a cable access commercial.
- Castles in the Sand - A frantic weekend begins for Alex when she begins tracking down the builder of several elaborate sand castles that appear every day at the beach, while she gets stuck entertaining her life-long childhood friend Sam's fiancée, Diana, who falls for Mitch, which prompts Mitch to asks Alex to pose as his girlfriend to keep Diana away. Meanwhile, Cody's new motorboat gets stolen by a pair of boat thieves while out scuba diving and he becomes determined to find the group before they strike again.
