Davis In The Media

From talk shows to magazines, the media loves Davis. Check out some of the places Davis has been in the news and broacast fiction:

• 2017 May 27 - Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update mentions the Plan B vending machines at UC Davis.
• 2015 February 2 - The painting of swastikas on the Jewish fraternity house Alpha Epsilon Pi,  on the heels of ASUCD's vote asking the UC regents to divest from businesses with connections to Israel, is reported in the New York Times, the Associated Press, and other national news outlets.
• 2014 November 9th - The animated television series American Dad wraps the episode "Big Stan on Campus" around a [November 18, 2011 UC Davis Police Response to Occupy UC Davis familiar series of events] when the titular character is furloughed and takes a job as a campus security officer. Plot summary.

• 2013 January 3 - Studieren in Kalifornien Die coolste Uni Amerikas German, world famous magazine Der Spiegel declaring Davis, California coolest University City of the United States!

• 2012 July 23 - Tour de Cluck covered by the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/25/dining/tour-de-cluck-boomlet-a-survey-of-chicken-coops.html?pagewanted=1&src=twr

• 2012 April 9 - Bob Dunning and his family appeared on the Anderson Cooper show, which earned them a second feature on KCRA for spending the month of February without spending any money (story here — can anyone find the Anderson Cooper video online?).

• 2012 April - Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum made the utterly false assertion, "I was just reading something last night from the state of California. And that the California universities – I think it’s seven or eight of the California system of universities don’t even teach an American history course. It’s not even available to be taught." As part of satirical response from Stephen Colbert, Colbert stated, "At UC Davis you get an 'F' if you're not gay." Rachel Maddow responded more directly, reading out of UC Davis's course catalog to debunk Santorum's claim.

• 2012 January 17 - Some of the characters of the TV show "Parenthood" visit the UC Davis campus (Season 3, Episode 14, "It Is What It Is"), although the actual visit does not appear to have been filmed on campus. Also notable is a mention of the restaurant El Coyote, perhaps a mashup of Dos Coyotes and El Mariachi.

• 2011 November 18-30. Essentially every news outlet in the country, and many outside of it, commented on the UC Davis Students Pepper-Sprayed incident that resulted from Occupy UC Davis putting tents on The Quad.

• 2011 August 26- Davis was mentioned in Forbes recent article, which was posted on Yahoo's main page, as part of "America's Top 25 Suburbs for Retirement" http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-top-suburbs-for-retirees.html

• 2011, April 14 - Lynne Sundstrom (a teacher librarian at Birch Lane Elementary School) and her students went on a monthlong campaign to respond to a New York Times article declaring the death of the picture book, culminating in having a letter to the editor published in the NYT, along with a note from the editor and a picture of the scroll on which the letter was written. According to the letter, the students read 4,590 picture books over the course of "Love a Picture Book Month." The Davis Enterprise also ran a story on the NYT letter.

• 2010, October 14 - After searching for cryptid "yowies" in Australia, the Destination Truth team sent some mysterious tree bark samples to the UC Davis animal genetics lab for review. Lead investigator Josh Gates then traveled to Davis to learn that four hair samples were found in the bark, but further results were inconclusive.

• 2010, July 15 - USA's Royal Pains "In Vino Veritas" episode features a student attending the wine making program at UC Davis.

SNL sketch contained this letter from fictitious UC Davis student Mike D'Agostino SNL sketch contained this letter from fictitious UC Davis student Mike D'Agostino SNL sketch contained this letter from fictitious UC Davis student Mike D'Agostino

• 2010, March 6 - NBC's Saturday Night Live sketch satirizing CNN's Situation Room includes a letter response to the recent campus protests from fictitious UC Davis student Mike D'Agostino: "I think the real problem on campus is the food. Why I got to eat turkey burgers every day? And why they don't serve dinner at 3 a.m. when I hungry. And where my Frisbee at?"

• 2009, October - Davis is featured in a Sunset Magazine article titled "The 20-Minute Good Life." Photos include a local family (the Wrights) enjoying parks and biking, the Farmers Market, the Davis Food Coop, the train station, and Burgers and Brew. Noted in the article for the city's "pattern of smart growth and commitment to quality of life" are the developments of Village Homes and Aggie Village, and a large bike population and "dynamic and compact downtown."

• 2008, November 25 - Season 1, Episode 8 of The Mentalist. The CBI team investigates a double homicide. They work with the Davis Police who are portrayed as a bunch of sexist pigs. The Davis PD also has a homicide unit. The Motel 6 on Chiles Road supposedly makes a cameo appearance as the "Davis Motor Inn."

• 2008, July 22 - The New York Times features Davis as one of the Towns They Don’t Want to Leave, a story about former students that live in college towns post-graduation.

• 2007 - Huell Howser hosts a tour of UC Davis and visits quite a few places. He gets really excited about the Arboretum, bicycles, and other stuff we all take for granted. It is definitely worth a watch.

• 2007 - Season 4 Episode 12 of Beauty and the Geek. First male beauty, actor Sam Horrigan, takes his geek partner to his hometown and shows her around. They visit The Graduate, the place where Sam's parents first met.

• 2005, August - Outside Magazine Article calls Davis one of the "The New American Dream Towns."

• 2005, August 24 - Davis makes The Drudge Report over the public meeting where protesters revolted, took over, and ran the meeting themselves. The meeting was regarding mosquito spraying to try to prevent the spread of West Nile Virus.

  • AP Article Quote, "About 30 minutes into the session, audience members revolted against the format, arguing that residents should be able to speak. Asmundson abruptly halted the session and directed the panel to leave the City Hall dais. Opponents of the spraying took over the meeting and quickly restored order. They elected as their leader a local woman who had caught the virus."

• 2002 - The first season of MTV's Sorority Life recorded the exploits of Davis' very own Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi sorority.

• 2001, May 8 - Season 4 Episode 22 of Dharma & Greg. Greg receives visits from a UC Davis botanist for soil analysis and fertilizer advice on his community garden plot.

• 2000, April - Maxim Magazine did an article on Davis Police Department Trading Cards.

• 1999, April 27 - The Daily Show rebroadcasts Stephen Colbert's special report about Davis' Toad Tunnel. Originally from June 11, 1998 before Jon Stewart took over for Craig Kilborn.

• 1998, December 1 - DAVIS Ein Leben wie auf Hoher See World famous German magazine Der Spiegel talking about Davis with a lot of facts and tidbits!

• Davis has been on The Daily Show at least a couple of times.

• A stabbing at Picnic Day was the subject of a Judge Judy segment.

• Rumor has it that the moniker the People's Republic of Davis dates back to the 1970s, and has been used by Rush Limbaugh on his radio talk show. Limbaugh was a Sacramento talk show host in the 1980s.

Et Cetera

The Davis Wiki has had its own media mentions, and some Davisites create their own buzz by posting videos online.

Davis Community Television is also television even though it's not national.