Neely Capshaw

Neely Capshaw
Baywatch character
First appearance	Series 5 Episode 22 (1995)
Last appearance	Series 9 Episode 20 (1999)
Portrayed by	Heather Campbell Gena Lee Nolin Jennifer Campbell
Information
Nickname(s)	Neely
Gender	Female
Occupation	Lifeguard
Nationality	United States

Neely Capshaw is a fictional character from the TV series Baywatch. She was played by three different actresses during the character's run on the series – Heather Campbell, Gena Lee Nolin and Jennifer Campbell.

Neely's introduction

Neely, initially played by Heather Campbell, was introduced as a one-off character in the fifth season finale, "Wet and Wild", a young rookie lifeguard who tried to make romantic advances toward fellow lifeguard Matt Brody (David Charvet), who turned her down since he was already dating C.J. Parker (Pamela Anderson). Stung by both Matt's rejection and by his later discovering her drinking on duty while performing a rescue (he found the smell of alcohol on her breath as they performed CPR on a child) and reporting her for the violation, the vindictive Neely sought revenge by falsely accusing Matt of sexual harassment and, after he was suspended pending an investigation, filing a restraining order against him (due to an incident between Matt and Neely's then-boyfriend, stunt performer Johnny Danger, when Matt attempted to confront Neely about her hand in his suspension) and threatening to sue him, Baywatch and the County of Los Angeles. Matt, seeking to clear his name, then teamed up with C.J. to expose Neely's duplicity when C.J., under the pretense of having a fight with Matt, met with Neely at a café to discuss the case and secretly tape recorded Neely revealing the truth about her revenge scheme against Matt (which included Neely telling C.J. to lie about him as she had done, then admitting that he did not sexually harass her). Matt arrived on the scene moments later as he and C.J. revealed the incriminating recording and later brought it to county officials, who subsequently fired Neely from Baywatch for her actions and cleared Matt of all charges and returned him to duty.^[1]

The Gena Lee Nolin years

Neely returned as a regular character (now played by Nolin) beginning with the sixth season premiere, "Trapped Beneath the Sea, Part I". Her return to the show was explained by Neely being rehired by a reluctant Stephanie Holden (Alexandra Paul) under orders from the county, which had opted to reinstate Neely to her lifeguard duties in exchange for her dropping the lawsuit she had earlier filed against the county, stemming from the events of "Wet and Wild".

Nolin went on to play Neely for three seasons (1995-1998). During her first full season as a regular character, Neely was the show's resident bad girl, being in constant conflict with her fellow employees and her boss, Mitch Buchannon (David Hasselhoff), about as often as she went out saving lives while on the job; in one early incident, she got into a fight with C.J., who was upset about Neely's rehiring and blamed her for Matt leaving Baywatch to move to France.^[2]

During the seventh season, however, the Baywatch writers gave her a personality makeover as she was reformed and made into a good character, a move which did not sit well with some of the show's fans, who liked the bad-girl edge that Neely originally had. Neely also appeared in only a few episodes of that season due to Nolin's real-life pregnancy, which later led writers to make the character a mother as well. Neely's absence was later explained by having her recover from a skiing accident, and when she was persuaded to return to work and get her lifeguard recertification after Mitch and Donna (Donna D'Errico) learn of her saving an elderly heart attack victim with CPR following a botched drugstore robbery in the episode "Homecoming", she begged off of doing a necessary blood test, leading to the discovery that she had become hooked on painkillers during her recovery.^[3]

During the eighth season, the third and final season of her portrayal by Nolin, Neely became romantically involved with Mitch and they got married in a season-ending three-episode arc, "Bon Voyage" and "White Thunder at Glacier Bay, Part I & II"

Post-Nolin portrayal

Neely was recast following Nolin's departure from the show to star in her own series, Sheena, with Jennifer Campbell taking over the role. By this time, however, the character had been downgraded to a recurring role, appearing in only four episodes in the ninth season. The character was once more retooled to her "bad girl" roots as it was revealed she'd been lying for a long time about being separated from her baby's father; in truth, the man had no idea Neely had been pregnant. It was shown that a desperate Neely had seduced Mitch into marrying her for some stability (their marriage technically was never legal) but still worked on the beach. Neely becomes more conniving, even making it seem like Mitch hit her and trying to lace Alex Ryker's medication, causing her to nearly have a seizure. Realizing how dangerous Neely is, Alex (with the entire Baywatch team in tow) confronts her on the beach, fires her and then punches Neely out. Her final appearance in the series was in the episode "Wave Rage", on May 3, 1999. Jennifer Campbell previous appeared on Baywatch in season three as one of Matt Brody's love interests.

Neely returned in the 2003 TV movie Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding, once again portrayed by Nolin. In the movie, Neely, who had thought herself widowed when Mitch was presumed dead after a boat explosion in Hawaii in the tenth season finale "The Killing Machine", learns that Mitch is alive and plans to marry Allison Ford (Alexandra Paul), a dead ringer for Mitch's now-deceased one-time girlfriend Stephanie Holden. Discovering that Allison is secretly in league with an old enemy of Mitch's, Mason Sato (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), Neely teams with the rest of the old Baywatch crew to try to stop the wedding, as well as to rekindle her relationship with Mitch.

References

1. ^ Wet and Wild at TV.com
2. ^ Trapped Beneath the Sea (1) at TV.com
3. ^ Homecoming at TV.com

External links

• Baywatch.com
• Baywatch at the Internet Movie Database
• Baywatch at TV.com