I could go on and on about everything that I love about Hulu’s Pam & Tommy, from its surprising moments of surrealism (which are especially unexpected for a biographical series) in one awkward, penis-based scene, to Lily James’ transformative performance as Pamela Anderson. However, one of the more essential and prominent takeaways for me is how little I really knew about the Canadian-born model and actress.
To clarify, I realize that I should not expect to take everything as genuine fact in this controversial fact-based series. What I mean is that there is now much more to the blonde bombshell’s acting career that I have become interested in exploring since watching the series. If you feel the same the way, the following is a list of some Pamela Anderson movies and TV shows that should be on any fan or soon-to-be fan’s watchlist, such as the iconic series that made her a star.
Baywatch (Hulu)
A team of highly skilled and highly attractive lifeguards, led by Lt. Mitch Buchanan (David Hasselhoff), protect and serve the innocent bystanders at a popular public beach in Los Angeles, California.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Pamela Anderson: In 1992, Pamela Anderson began her five-year stint in the original Baywatch cast as C.J. Parker, who is easily her most iconic role to date and one she would later pay tribute to with a brief appearance (extended by “super slow-motion”) in the 2017 feature-length reboot.
Stream Baywatch on Hulu.
Buy Baywatch on Amazon.
Borat (Hulu, Amazon Prime)
A rude, sex-crazed, and bigoted Kazakh journalist (Academy Award-nominated co-writer Sacha Baron Cohen) travels to the United States to gain a deeper understanding of America, but his own bumbling qualities and vast cultural differences tend to get him in trouble wherever he goes.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Pamela Anderson: It is actually Pamela Anderson’s role as C.J. Parker on Baywatch that would cause her to catch the eye and capture the heart of prankster Sacha Baron Cohen’s title character in 2006’s Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, which leads to her also brief, but memorably hilarious, cameo at the shocking climax of this uproarious, Academy Award-nominated mockumentary.
Stream Borat on Hulu.
Stream Borat on Amazon Prime.
Rent/Buy Borat on Amazon.
Home Improvement (Amazon Purchase)
The accident-prone host (Tim Allen) of a TV show about cars, carpentry, and all things do-it-yourself often finds more valuable lessons to learn about life from raising his three sons (Zachary Ty Bryan, Taran Noah Smith, and Jonathan Taylor Thomas) with his wife (Patricia Richardson).
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Pamela Anderson: Before her fame skyrocketed after joining the Baywatch cast, Pamela Anderson’s first major TV gig was in the Home Improvement cast as the original Tool Time girl, Lisa, for the first two seasons of the long-running, Emmy Award-winning family sitcom, before she later reprised the character with a special guest appearance in 1997.
Buy Home Improvement on Amazon.
V.I.P. (Tubi, Crackle)
After saving the life of a celebrity purely by chance, a hot dog stand employee (Pamela Anderson) is assumed to be a professional bodyguard and takes advantage of the mistake by creating her own elite agency that offers protection for famous people in Beverly Hills, California.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Pamela Anderson: After she left the cast of Baywatch in 1997, Pamela Anderson returned to TV the following year as the lead of V.I.P. - yet another deliciously campy, Emmy-nominated action-comedy series which was created by Pretty Woman screenwriter J.F. Lawton.
Stream V.I.P. on Tubi.
Stream V.I.P. on Crackle.
Snapdragon (Tubi)
When a detective (Chelsea Field) is transferred from vice to homicide to investigate the murders of two different men that each occurred during sexual intercourse, she consults her psychologist boyfriend (Steven Bauer) who soon crosses paths with an amnesiac (Pamela Anderson) whose desirable looks distract him from evidence that she may be involved with the crime.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Pamela Anderson: For her first major role in a feature film, Pamela Anderson plays a femme fatale straight out of a classic film noir in 1993’s Snapdragon - a psycho-sexual mystery thriller with the same sort of campiness you might expect from a Pamela Anderson film, from director Worth Keeter, who is also known for helming multiple episodes Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and many of its subsequent iterations.
Stream Snapdragon on Tubi.
Rent/Buy Snapdragon on Amazon.
Barb Wire (Amazon Rental)
In the wake of the United States’ second Civil War, a beautiful night club owner who also moonlights as a bounty hunter (Pamela Anderson) is confronted by her former lover (future The Book of Boba Fett star Temuera Morrison) to help him and his new girlfriend (Victoria Rowell) make an escape to Canada.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Pamela Anderson: For her first lead role in a feature film, Pamela Anderson plays the title role of 1996’s Barb Wire - an action-packed (and, of course, endearingly campy) adaptation of the popular Dark Horse comic book series by Chris Warner, that feels a lot like a dystopian, gender-swapped reimagining of the plot of Casablanca.
Stan Lee’s Stripperella (Amazon Purchase)
A beautiful exotic dancer named Erotica Jones (Pamela Anderson) moonlights as a secret agent and masked vigilante who takes on eccentric master criminals with bizarre and innuendo-filled plots against humanity.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Pamela Anderson: For her second time playing a comic book character (years before the character actually got her own comic book), Pamela Anderson leant her voice to the title role of Stripperella - an action-packed and very adult-oriented animated superhero series that was co-created by the legendary Stan Lee.
Buy Stan Lee’s Stripperella on Amazon.
Superhero Movie (Tubi, IMDb TV)
After he is bitten by a radioactive dragonfly, a teenage boy (Drake Bell) accepts the responsibility to protect his city with his new extraordinary abilities - none of which, ironically, include the ability to fly.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Pamela Anderson: For her third time playing a comic book character, Pamela Anderson technically became the second actress to play the Fantastic Four’s Invisible Woman in a theatrical feature film with her appearance in 2008’s Superhero Movie - a ridiculous send-up of comic book movies released right before the genre was really about to take off - that also stars the late spoof movie legend, Leslie Nielsen.
Stream Superhero Movie on Tubi.
Stream Superhero Movie on IMDb TV.
Rent/Buy Superhero Movie on Amazon.
Scary Movie 3 (Pluto TV)
A news reporter (Anna Faris) who previously survived a bloody killing spree and a stay in a haunted mansion investigates a string of deaths mysteriously related to a creepy video tape and a series of crop circles appearing at a local farm, eventually uncovering evidence that suggests both phenomena are somehow linked.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Pamela Anderson: Before appearing in Superhero Movie, Pamela Anderson made her spoof movie debut in the cold open of 2003’s Scary Movie 3 - Airplane! director David Zucker’s installment of the franchise of horror parodies - in which she and fellow blonde model and future The Masked Singer judge, Jenny McCarthy, poke fun at the opening scene from The Ring, as well as themselves.
Stream Scary Movie 3 on Pluto TV.
Rent/Buy Scary Movie 3 on Amazon.
Stacked (Tubi)
Fed up with her party girl reputation and long streak of horrible ex-boyfriends, a woman (Pamela Anderson) aspires to reinvent herself by pursuing a job at a small, family-run bookstore, much to the chagrin of some of its more cynical, mild-mannered employees.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Pamela Anderson: In 2005, Pamela Anderson made her return to the lead position of a TV series with her role in Stacked - a short-lived, but well-liked, Emmy-nominated sitcom from Just Shoot Me! creator Steve Levitan - which also stars Back to the Future cast member and sitcom veteran Christopher Lloyd.
Stream Stacked on Tubi.
Buy Stacked on Amazon.
The People Garden (Tubi)
An American woman (Dree Hemingway) travels to Japan to break up with her rock star boyfriend (Fraçois Arnaud), only to discover that he is missing and, after further investigating the matter herself, discovers he was last known to be filming a music video with a famous ‘90s sex symbol (Pamela Anderson) in a wooded area that is notorious for being the last place many people have been seen alive.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Pamela Anderson: Pamela Anderson, sort of, plays a fictionalized version of herself in the bizarre 2016 drama The People Garden - truly one of the most unique and bizarre films of the actress’ career - written and directed by fellow Canadian, Nadia Litz.
Stream The People Garden on Tubi.
Rent/Buy The People Garden on Amazon.
Pamela Anderson has also appeared in a few music videos - such as Aerosmith’s “Blind Man” and Morrissey’s “Earth is the Loneliest Planet” - and has played herself in countless movies and TV shows, from Futurama to the coming-of-age drama SPF-18 in 2017. She is currently working on a star-studded quarantine horror movie called 18 & Over and recently announced that she is working on a documentary about her own life for Netflix.
