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MTV now taping at local sorority at UC Davis
MTV peeks at UCD sorority life
By J. Freedom du Lac -- Bee Pop Culture Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Wednesday, April 17, 2002
Is Davis ready for its MTV close-up?
Dylan Stone Warner isn't so sure.
Warner sees quite a bit from behind the counter at Armadillo Music, the small record shop he manages in downtown Davis.
In recent days, he's spotted the MTV camera crews crawling along F Street on foot, and he's watched the MTV van driving by with its side door swung open so the cameraman can capture exterior images of Armadillo and its neighbors.
He's also noticed the men and women of MTV spending time and money in his store because, he said, they stand out by looking "like snowboarders with Secret Service gear -- you know, earpieces and walkie-talkies."
But there's one thing Warner doesn't see.
He doesn't see why MTV -- the rather raucous pop-culture cable network -- has decided to invade Davis, the quiet college town across the causeway from Sacramento.
"Part of me wonders why they're here," Warner said. "Why didn't they go to Chico or Santa Barbara? I mean, I like Davis. But it's Davis."
The denizens of Davis have been wondering the same thing ever since MTV set up shop and, on April 1, began taping a new program called "Sorority Life" -- a weekly series whose creator and executive producer, Sergio Myers, says will make "Davis famous, for better or worse."
Like "The Real World" and the recent runaway hit "The Osbournes," "Sorority Life" is MTV's latest attempt to present entertainment in the form of reality television -- closely edited for dramatic impact and good taste, of course.
Scheduled to begin airing on MTV in late June, the show will follow a group of University of California, Davis, students for 10 weeks as they pledge Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi, a 4-year-old Jewish sorority that was previously little known on its own campus but now will achieve instant celebrity.
And nervously riding shotgun in the bullet train to mass exposure will be the university and the city of Davis itself.
"Some people here think we're going to get a huge jump in applications in the fall after this show airs," said Lisa Lapin, a UC Davis spokeswoman. "But there are also people who are really worried about it."
Said Bob Bowen, the city's promotions manager: "There's been some trepidation in some quarters (about) what type of people it might draw to Davis. Ultimately, we just hope the message that's portrayed is Davis is a great place to visit and spend money.
"Not that Davis is the spring break town of the future."
Bowen laughs, because he knows Davis is far from becoming the Fort Lauderdale of the West. In fact, according to Myers, that's exactly why Davis was selected for the show. "We're trying to get past the party-school image to focus on the girls and their stories," he said.
But Bowen is also laughing all the way to the bank, because the immediate economic impact of "Sorority Life" could be profound, with the production crew of 30 living and working in town until mid-June, when filming is finished.
Though Bowen says he doesn't have any economic estimates, "anecdotally," he said, "I know they've hired local contractors, they're eating and purchasing equipment and supplies in the community, they're renting office space and residences, and the staff -- most of them are on six-day shifts, but on their seventh day, some are even taking lessons at a local music store.
"I can't say how many hundreds of thousands of dollars, but it's been a positive impact."
For the production, MTV has rented, redecorated, lit and wired a four-bedroom home at the end of a quiet north Davis cul-de-sac, where six of the 14 Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi pledges are living.
So far, MTV has done its best to keep secret the location of the pledge house, which is filled with Ikea furniture and camera crews and has a heated pool and Jacuzzi spa out back.
Good thing, too: After word about the show got out, a streaker stopped by the sorority's main house on Russell Boulevard, near the UC Davis campus. (Taping is taking place around the clock at both houses.)
"That (streaker) really put the girls on edge," said Myers, who scoured the country's campuses and its sororities to find the right fit for the show. "We have a security guard there every night now."
For the most part, though, the 35 women and 14 pledges of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi say they are enjoying the experience and exposure that Myers is making possible -- even if the members' vote on whether to accept his offer was relatively close.
"There were a lot of concerns," said Becca, the Sigma pledge master and social chair who, like all of the main players on "Sorority Life," is prohibited by MTV from releasing her last name to the media.
But, said Rachel, the rush chair and past president, "The publicity benefits will be great."
"Most people didn't know who we were before," said Leslie, the vice president. "They do now."
And, added Becca: "What an experience; what a thing to talk about at a party 15 years from now."
Of course, on the UC Davis campus the show is already the topic of constant conversation.
Isaac Sanchez, a freshman studying biological science, says "people are excited" -- even if they don't know exactly what the show is about, or where the camera crews are.
The cameras only have been on the Davis campus once, according to the university spokeswoman Lapin.
Said Sanchez: "People are asking around to see if anybody has seen MTV. You don't see them much. So people that I know want to go to their parties so they can get on camera."
Erin Briggs, a senior communications major, has had better luck spotting MTV; she says she knows somebody on the show.
"It's really weird," she said. "Something you see on TV is all up in your mix now. ... I don't know what to think of it.
"Things like this don't go on in Davis."
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