ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 13, 1996 TAG: 9601160021
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
SOURCE: BOB THOMAS ASSOCIATED PRESS
David Hasselhoff takes a brief respite from his duties as chief lifeguard on ``Baywatch'' and leaps into New York City terror with ``Gridlock,'' an NBC movie this Sunday (airing at 9 p.m. on WSLS-Channel 10).
This is no cheap-jack TV movie, thrown together with stock footage. The executive producers of ``Gridlock'' are Mace Neufeld and Robert Rehme, the fellows who made ``The Hunt for Red October'' and other Tom Clancy thrillers.
``Neufeld and Rehme were what attracted me to the project,'' Hasselhoff remarked. ``It was a class act from beginning to end. It was an overly lucrative budget for a movie-of-the-week - $6 million - enough money to do it right.''
NBC provided $3 million, Hasselhoff reported, but that could have meant a potentially disastrous shortfall.
``That's where I come in to play because of the foreign sales,'' the actor explained. The rest of the financing came from TV outlets in Germany, Canada and other foreign countries where Hasselhoff and ``Baywatch'' are hot.
He says ``Baywatch'' now appears in 142 countries, including China and outer Mongolia, not bad for a series that was canceled in 1989 after its only network season.
``Gridlock'' was a script Neufeld-Rehme had developed before ``Die Hard,'' to which it bears a resemblance. A high-tech band of bank robbers pulls off a big heist in New York's financial district by causing a tie-up of all traffic. Hasselhoff, a maverick cop assigned to helicopter duty, takes matters into his own hands.
Kathy Ireland plays his girlfriend, a tour guide at the robbers' target: the Federal Reserve Bank.
``It's kind of a romantic comedy set within a superhigh action piece,'' Hasselhoff explained. ``The challenge for me was to do relationship lines as I'm jumping from one elevator to another.''
As is normal in today's TV world, the movie was shot not in New York but in low-budget Toronto. Like ``Baywatch,'' the movie required much physicality by Hasselhoff.
``I realize I'm not 23 anymore - I'm 43,'' he sighed. ``I come to work with gusto and energy and run between takes and have fun. Then I go to my motor home, close the door and go, `Oh, ...! Look at this cut over here!' Then I open the door and say, `Yes! Let's do it! No problem!'''
Hasselhoff is living proof of the value of TV syndication. He was a TV veteran, having served six years on the soaper ``The Young and the Restless'' and four years on the prime-time ``Knight Rider.'' Then NBC cast him in ``Baywatch'' in 1989.
The critics hooted at the Malibu-based series with its ample display of flesh, male and female. They called it ``Babewatch'' or ``Brawatch.'' The show was canceled after one season.
``I had been talking to the writers about the way the show was going,'' Hasselhoff said. ``I said it was getting way too violent, too dark and too formula-murder oriented and was not about people and heroes.
``When it was canceled I wasn't surprised, 'though it had the highest ratings in that time slot. `Knight Rider' had done the same thing.''
Greg Bonann, creator of ``Baywatch,'' suggested taking the show into syndication. Hasselhoff agreed, as long as he could be a partner and executive producer. The budget was pared down from $1.4 million per episode to $800,000. A network in Germany, where Hasselhoff is a big star for TV and records, came aboard for half the cost.
``We found a syndicator here in America,'' he continued, ``and I personally went around to all the advertising agencies and gave my song and dance: `Here's the show, I'm David Hasselhoff, and I will promote, promote and promote. Help us out.'
``We got the agencies to come in with us, then we went from city to city and tried to sell it for airtime. Then we took the airtime and traded it to Coca-Cola and companies like that.
``Not only do we make more than on the network. The best part is that you don't have to wait for the money. You get it right upfront. There's no licensing fee.
``The 22 episodes that we do are paid for. We don't have to pay anybody back. We sold seven years to USA Network for $38 million. That was after we did it in syndication. The whole package comes to about $100 million. That goes to all the partners. I'm now the highest-paid guy in syndication.''
No wonder. He is executive producer, part owner and star of ``Baywatch,'' and he also serves in the same capacities for the spinoff ``Baywatch Nights.''
How long can he continue at this pace?
``I don't know. The paycheck is so amazing it's hard to think. It's really fun, you know. But doing two series at once is really a lot.
``I have 22 more `Baywatch Nights' to do if we get picked up, and it looks like we are. Then maybe just half of the `Baywatches,' and then I'll probably punt. At that point I'll have enough money to cruise for a while.''
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: David Hasselhoff and Kathy Ireland star in ``Gridlock,''by CNBairing Sunday night at 9 on WSLS-Channel 10. color.