For Pamela Anderson, fame came in increments. First as a model for the Canadian beer brand Labatt Blue. Then in the pages of Playboy magazine. “Baywatch” was the project that brought her to life in three dimensions, even if the show’s producers treated her character as yet more scenery — there to be looked at — and that’s how audiences responded in turn. The consumption of her image soured and turned gleefully cruel when a sexually intimate home video of her and then-husband Tommy Lee was stolen from their home. The tape transformed their private moments into a public bootleg cash machine — and without their consent. Anderson looks back on all of it in the Netflix documentary “Pamela, a Love Story,” which functions as a corrective to the Hulu limited series “Pam & Tommy,” which came out a year ago.
Anderson had no involvement in the Hulu show, by her own choice. She would have preferred it hadn’t been made at all. Why dredge up one of the ugliest periods in her life? Who does it serve? Hint: Those who stood to gain financially.
Many people not named Anderson and Lee made several millions from that tape. Thirty years after the fact, the Hulu project ensured an entirely new group of people not named Anderson and Lee would again profit from this saga. That includes the show’s creators, as well as stars Lily James and Sebastian Stan in the title roles.
