Son of the Beach, a Baywatch parody which aired on the FX cable network from 2000 to 2002, is one of the most hilariously vulgar television series ever produced. But you probably guessed as much, as soon as you saw that one of the executive producers is Howard Stern.
Tim Stack, now a writer and occasional co-star on My Name is Earl (playing a drunken, washed-up version of himself) stars as Notch Johnson, the balding, flabby, semi-competent head lifeguard in Malibu Adjacent, California. His team, known as "SPF-30" (get it?) includes a German Arnold Schwarzenegger lookalike who provides many opportunities for Nazi jokes, and a comely blonde named B.J. Cummings. Ahem.
The plots are even sillier than those featured on Baywatch, if such a thing is imaginable. Production values are close to nonexistent, and the guest stars (including Todd Bridges and Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf) are described as "E-list" by Stack and his co-producers on a commentary track.
But Son of the Beach features so many double entendres, racial and sexual jokes, and silly slapstick gags, in such quick succession, that every viewer should find something funny — even if he or she is ashamed to admit it afterward. Personally, I'm not at all ashamed to admit I laughed throughout each episode.
It has been five years since the last Son of the Beach DVD release, and this Shout! Factory three-DVD set — featuring 21 episodes from seasons two and three — contains a decent amount of special features, including some audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes footage and, perhaps most importantly, highlights from the "sexy montages" which appear in nearly every episode. Son of the Beach, bless it, is the kind of series in which characters would abruptly start daydreaming about pole dancing or lesbian slumber parties at the slightest provocation.
Did I mention that the series was produced by Howard Stern?
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