Two Degrees Of Separation From "The Last Showgirl" To "Deliverance"

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​Two Degrees Of Separation From "The Last Showgirl" To "Deliverance"

       I don't know if I altogether subscribe to the theory of Six Degrees of Separation; you know, the idea that everybody is six or fewer social connections away from everybody else.
       Still, sometimes that sort of thing does happen. Like the time years ago when I was at a parents' meeting at my children's school here in Columbus, Ohio, and I heard in the row behind me a voice that had such an intensely familiar nasal intonation that I knew I was in close proximity to a fellow native Philadelphian. 
         I was to learn that the owner of that voice grew up in Northeast Philadelphia a few blocks from where I did and was best friends with one of my friends from Girl Scouts whose family later sold their house to my brother. 
​          So, you know, that kind of thing.
          Anyway, it so happens that I observed the Six Degrees of Separation phenomenon again last week. Well, in this case it was more of a Two Degrees of Separation thing. And it was between not two people, but, well, two movies. 
          I went to see "The Last Showgirl, "

...a terrific, emotionally gripping film starring Pamela Anderson, who knocks it out of the park as an aging Las Vegas showgirl whose stage career is about to end,

...and who has no idea how to face the future.
       Jamie Lee Curtis likewise gives a stellar performance as a pitiful former showgirl who now works as an over-the-hill casino cocktail waitress whose days are likewise numbered in an industry that banks on the appeal and illusion of youth, beauty, and sex.

        Now, Jamie Lee Curtis has always been one of my favorite actresses. Pamela Anderson, on the other hand, I previously associated only with the old TV series "Baywatch," which, though I'd never seen an episode, I assumed to be a vacuous cheesecakey beach fantasy, the main draw of which were the actors' body parts,

...in particular Ms. Anderson's.

      But after watching "The Last Showgirl" I found myself interested in Pamela Anderson's other work, the quintessence of which, I learned online, was in fact her  role in "Baywatch."
      However, what did come as a surprise to me was that "Baywatch" holds the record for the most watched TV show. In its prime the show had a weekly viewership of 1.1 billion viewers in 142 countries, covering every continent except Antarctica. It has been translated into 44 languages. 
         Mayhaps there was more to "Baywatch" than I knew. I figured I had to watch at least one episode to find out.
​          I learned that Pamela  Anderson joined the "Baywatch" cast in the first episode of the third season, so I pulled up that episode on Amazon Prime. To my kind-of-but-not-complete-surprise (after all, 1.1 billion people can't be all wrong) the show was not bad. Not stupendous, but definitely watchable, sort of an action/adventure soap opera (I used to be quite the fan of soap operas) with several subplots, the characters involved in their personal issues in the midst of danger and/or menace. 
           In the episode I saw, several of the Baywatch lifeguards traveled to the white water rapids country of northern California where they happened to run into Ms. Anderson's character, named C.J. Parker, who, no mere beauty in a bathing suit, is an outdoorsy, athletic, saxophone-playing (that's right!),

 ...former life guard rafting guide who can - and does - take on level-5 white water rapids with the greatest of ease. 
              In this episode C.J. takes the Baywatch crew on a canoe trip down a        rapids-laden river deep in the woods where they are soon being pursued by a couple of scrofulous hillbilly-esque locals whose intentions go beyond some friendly interactions with the tourists.
              Does this storyline ring a bell for anyone? Like, anyone who was kicking around the planet in 1972 when the blockbuster movie hit of the year was a  story of a group of city guys who go on a  canoe trip down a rapids-laden river deep in the woods where they are soon being pursued by a couple of scrofulous  hillbilly-esque locals whose intentions go beyond some friendly interactions with the tourists? ​

      OMG, I thought as I watched the Baywatchers run, paddle, and swim for their lives against the evil hill folk, they've ripped off  "Deliverance!"  
          It actually was more like "Deliverance" lite. Nobody got hurt very much. And Pamela Anderson's intrepid character pretty much saved the day. It was, as I said, not bad. Pretty good, even. But right after watching that episode I just had to watch "Deliverance" again. So I did.
           Anyway, so Pamela Anderson, star of "The Last Showgirl,"                      

...also stars in a TV episode,

...that is a knock-off of "Deliverance."

     I now wonder if perhaps "Baywatch" snitched other iconic story lines for its shows, and if these great borrowed story lines might have contributed to it's vast popularity.
      But then (sigh), there are some subjects that life is just too short to bother pursuing.

Reference:
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/66933-largest-tv-audience-series