Pam Beached for More "Baywatch"

The hepatitis C-stricken blonde bombshell has agreed to get jiggly with it one last time and appear in Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding, Fox's two-hour TV movie that will reunite Baywatch beauties both old and new with series star David Hasselhoff.

Anderson's participation in the project had been seen as key for producers. She was easily the show's most popular character, but, according to various published reports, she was demanding big bucks to head back to the beach for the reunion.

Between those purportedly outrageous salary demands and her health issues (she's planning to put her career on hold in December to begin aggressive treatment for her hepatitis), it seemed unlikely the 35-year-old would reprise her career-launching role as the barely bikini'd C.J. Parker, a part she played for five years on the sun-lovin' series.

Somehow, though, Fox execs were reportedly able to persuade the show's other stars to take pay cuts in order to bring the former Playboy pinup aboard. It's not known how much Anderson will receive, but it's likely to be a plus-size paycheck. Of course, Anderson had time on her hand since the cancellation of her post-Baywatch syndicated series, V.I.P., earlier this year.

With Anderson on board, and fellow stars Hasselhoff and Yamine Bleeth cleaned up after respective stints in rehab battling substance abuse, the long-delayed Baywatch telefilm was back on.

(A thong-alicious reunion flick had been in the works last summer under the Beach Party Bingo-esque title Baywatch Blast but was delayed after Fox had trouble corralling enough key lifesavers.)

In addition to Anderson, Hasselhoff and Bleeth, the reunion movie will feature more than a dozen returning hard bodies, among them starlets Gena Lee Nolin, Carmen Electra, Nicole Eggert, Alexandra Paul, Brande Boderick, Angelica Bridges and Stacy Kamano, as well as the hunky likes of Billy Warlock, John Allen Nelson, Jeremy Jackson, Michael Bergin and Jason Momoa.

Noticeably MIA are onetime stars Parker Stevenson and Donna D'Errico, along with former cast stalwarts David Charvet and David Chokachi, all of whom apparently couldn't come to terms on contracts.

"They're bringing back cast members from each era," Paul explains to USA Today. Paul's character, Stephanie, was killed off in an explosion in 1997, but in a Twin Peaks-like twist, she will be magically resurrected for the reunion.

Another character back from the dead is Hasselhoff's hairy-chested lead lifeguard Mitch Buchannon, who was seemingly blown to bits in 2000's season-ending episode of Baywatch Hawaii.

The skimpy plot of the reunion flick goes something like this: Anderson's C.J. opens up a beachside bar-restaurant and her old buddy Mitch plans on tying the knot with Neely (Nolin). But trouble washes up when a woman named Allison (Paul)--who underwent cosmetic surgery to look like Stephanie--vies with Neely for Mitch's attention.

"I punch her, then it gets wet and crazy," Nolin tells USA Today.

Adds Paul: "We go down a slide during the fight. It's the Joan Collins-Linda Evans catfight of the 21st century."

(Sounds like they better start working on those Emmy speeches now.)

Former Big Kahuna Hasselhoff tells Entertainment Weekly that he and his swimsuit-clad cohorts are flab-free despite years off the beach patrol.

"Everyone looks better," Hasselhoff says. "They're thin and cut. In fact, I'm already on my second workout today."

Hasselhoff helped create Baywatch as an NBC series in 1989. The show didn't find an audience until it shifted into syndication, where it made stars of Anderson, Electra and Bleeth. Producers even touted the series, once broadcast in more than 140 countries, as the most popular show in the world. Nielsens began sagging, and after a move from Malibu to Hawaii failed to juice ratings, the show folded for good in 2001.

Baywatch: Hawaii Wedding is currently shooting in Hawaii and expected to wrap later this week, is set to air on Fox during February sweeps.