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David Duchovny's X-Files co-star Gillian Anderson often wondered and even publicly questioned Duchovny about why she was never asked to be a guest on Californication. She often mentions how she would have been glad to appear on the show even for free and how fun it would have been if her appearance was an in-joke. As an example of this, she jokingly mentioned the idea of playing a stripper dressed for Duchovny's character, Hank Moody, as Scully.
Red Hot Chili Peppers filed a lawsuit on November 19, 2007 against Showtime Networks over the name of the series, which is also the name of the band's 1999 album and hit single. They state in the lawsuit that the series "constitutes a false designation of origin, and has caused, and continues to cause, a likelihood of confusion, mistake, and deception as to source, sponsorship, affiliation, and/or connection in the minds of the public." Showtime Networks argued that the band did not in fact create the term Californication. They point out that the term appeared in print in Time magazine in 1972, while show producer, Tom Kapinos, cites the inspiration as coming from a bumper sticker he saw in the '70s that read, "Don't Californicate Oregon." The lawsuit was settled out of court.
White Famous (2017), a TV series that premiered in October 2017 and was co-created by Californication's creator Tom Kapinos, features some secondary characters first introduced on Californication, such as Stu Beggs (played by Stephen Tobolowsky) and Kali (played by Meagan Good).
In Australia there was a backlash from conservative groups who opposed the explicit nature of the program. Conservative columnist Andrew Bolt criticised the program in the Australian newspaper the Herald Sun for the pilot's opening dream scene, in which a nun performs oral sex on Hank Moody in a church.
In 2014, GQ magazine listed Eva Amurri's stripper scene as the 3rd most underrated nude moment in TV history. They also pointed out how they love that she carried on the tradition of showing off her impressive natural breasts started by her mom Susan Sarandon.
Simon Spotlight Entertainment published the book God Hates Us All, which is sold with Hank Moody as author, on the 15th of September 2009