Soon, however, the producers ran into obstacles. Officials from the county Beaches and Harbors Department and the California Coastal Commission told them they couldn't park their trucks overnight, light fires or drive on the sand. "We're a lifeguard show," "Baywatch" co-creator Greg Bonann remembers saying. "What do you mean we can't drive a truck on the beach?" Suddenly the show was at risk of becoming the wrong kind of symbol: this one, a victim of California's tangle of regulations. No one in power " not Newsom or L.A. Mayor Karen Bass " wanted to read the headline about "Baywatch" bailing out of Los Angeles. When elected leaders were summoned to the Fox lot to smooth things over, the show held all the leverage. "After a while, you have to sit down with the right people and say, Guys, do we want to have this show here or not?'" Bonann says.