Daria

It amazing to see what MTV airs now, and to see Daria. Daria is a twisted view of what MTV portrays now: Skinny, white, girls that only talk about fashion, sex, and boys. Daria shows our world through the eyes of a jaded girl who doesn't give a crap for anything.

It is a comedy that, give it time, and you'll be cracking up. Daria's delivery of all her lines is still hilarious today. Quinn's voice might get to you, but soon it doesn't matter. Every character is interesting, and it is just a show. Funny show.

It lost its steam when Daria got a boyfriend, but don't watch those episodes. Just keep to seasons 1-3 and you'll be laughing your ass off.

Back in the 1990s MTV used to be a driving force in world wide subculture. This show is a timeless container for the spirit of grunge, early internet, high school-horror and teenage angst. The characters are so well-crafted, it is actually shoking and surprising throughout the whole series. Many cartoons tried character development, more mature narratives and reoccuring themes but in Daria it feels unforced and fits so well. I would not even describe the cartoon with a "serious tone", its simply not a quirky kids show. The relationship between Daria and Jane, which has its ups and downs, is beautifully displayed and closer to real human experience than I have seen in almost anything. Daria is the cynical teenage proto-hipster that might have inspired many after her (when College Humor made a fake real-action-trailer Aubrey Plaza was an unsurprising casting) but has moments that make her more vivid, self-reflecting and plastic than most of the Simpsons. Even the stereotypes like Quinn show depth at times that catches you by surprise and make you forget you're watching a teenage cartoon.

Entertaining, serious, poetic, rewatchable, funny, cool - Daria has it all.

I'm 34 years old as of this writing, so why do I like this spin-off of Beavis and Butt-head? The sarcasm of Tracy Grandstaff will sting you with laughter, not to mention Miss Morgendorffer's refusal to go along with the "conform-or-die" mentality that's forced upon teenagers, whether it's from her elders, the popular creeps, or the various counter-cultures. Imagine a girl like her in previous decades of teen-dom. Her attitude toward peer pressure is close to the one I had when I was in high school (..and now feel even stronger about), as is her Dad's seething resentment toward the people who robbed him of the "joy of youth."

Long live Daria. If the show doesn't last, may it's legacy do so.

Most of what should be said about Daria has already been (in previous reviews) so let me just add a few things.

First, contrary to what everyone keeps saying Daria was NOT canceled by MTV. Glenn Eicler, the creator & exec producer, decided to stop at five seasons (actually five 13-episode half seasons & two 90 min episodes). MTV would have ordered a sixth, but he felt the show had run its course. And to MTV's credit they didn't hand the show over to someone else just to try and milk some more money out of it with what would have undoubtedly been inferior episodes.

Not to MTV's credit however, Daria reruns were yanked from the schedule almost immediately after the series finale. I guess its just the nature of the beast. MTV just doesn't 'do' reruns. They're so last season...

What really annoys me though is that they decided to rerun Daria on Noggin', a cable channel which is a joint venture between PBS & Nickelodeon. Nickelodeon is owned by Viacom which also owns MTV. Which means Daria reruns were essentially 'dumped' there (i.e. since they own Noggin' they didn't sell it to them and since Noggin' is non-commercial it isn't generating any revenue for them). A very indignant way to treat a show that was both a critical and ratings success, to essentially treat it as worthless filler material.

And to really add insult to injury Noggin' is absolutely the wrong place for Daria. Yes it features a very smart, semi-realistic, teenage girl lead character, but again contrary to what others have said, Daria is not and never was a show for teenage girls (let alone pre-teens)!! It was always aimed at a 20-something and up audience. And not just female. Its true that most of the main characters were women (and a lot of the male characters had 'interesting' eccentricities) but the show never, EVER pushed any kind of feminist agenda (or any other kind of agenda except for maybe 'damn what others think, just be yourself').

And since Noggin' IS aimed at pre-teen girls Daria episodes have not just been edited, they've been emasculated. They've been stripped of all the adult wit and gritty, biting satire that was the essence of the series. Airing them this way is, IMO, worse than not showing them at all. In fact at least a half dozen episodes are so adult that Noggin' has never shown them. Please, PLEASE Viacom sell the series to Cartoon Network. They'd buy & air it (unedited) in a heartbeat!

If you've never seen Daria I beg you, don't watch it on Noggin'! A few episodes are out on video & DVD (search for 'daria DVD' on eBay).

Network: MTV; Genre: Animated Comedy; Average Content Rating: TV-PG; Classification: contemporary (star range: 1 - 4);

Season Reviewed: Completed series

'Daria' was a show that I didn't like for a long time. At some point during that time it attached to my unsuspecting self and grew on me like a leech. I found that it is a show that is unable to fully articulate itself in isolated episodes. Instead, 'Daria' is more about it's tone and an attitude that works more than any story it can come up with. It throws together a small world of conflicting characters and lets the sparks fly. As all their adventures begin to pile up the show's real vision comes together. I wonder if even MTV got it. 'Daria' mocked fads & shallow teenagers (and the culture that feeds off them), regularly taking aim at the heart of everything the network makes a living on.

The world around Daria Morgendorffer is filled with ditsy cheerleaders, brain-dead jocks, zit-faced nerds, miserable artists, touchy-feely teachers, favorite siblings, condescending or aloof parents and teenage garage bands trying to hit it big. If your willing to buy that Daria and the show share the same vision (not a big leap at all) you're one step closer to getting the show's great, subversive running gag: that the show is depicting what it believes are real teenagers, and that teenagers have been influenced and conditioned by the culture into acting out the stereotypes that come with their position in the high school caste system. It's art imitating life imitating art.

And in the middle of it all is Daria - our central axis to call everybody out. She knows her place in the world and stands outside it all. Daria herself is as daring a lead as TV gets. So (intentionally) abjectly dull that she sucks the air out of every room she enters. She rarely changes the bland expression on her face or raises the pitch of that monotone voice. It's not entirely clear if she has a low self-esteem or thinks she is above everybody. Even the most exciting weekend adventures are a nuisance to Daria. Everything just gets in her way and keeps her from lying around on the couch watching 'Sick Sad World' (a show within the show apparently based on the idea that there is an entire untapped niche of Daria Morgendorffers around the world).

The best and most admirable thing about this show is its unflinching guts to let Daria be Daria - in all her faceless, bland, monotone, personality devoid glory. It is also the only show in my memory (apart from occasionally 'Seinfeld') that was content to reduce it's leads to taking the role of spectators to the story. They never grew, they never learned a lesson, they never swoop in and save the day, they rarely even impacted the world around them. The show was not worried with contriving phony problems and solutions. Whether it was being dragged to camp or dragged to the mall with her sister Quinn, Daria and Jane where content to spend entire episodes hanging on the sidelines watching everyone else makes fools of themselves.

Picking up the slack where our heroine can't was a well constructed cast of supporting characters. Jane's deadbeat brother Trent, would-be Casanova Charles Ruttheimer the 3rd & Daria's rage-filled father Jake (who longs for his hippie days) all walk off with the biggest laughs.

'Daria' was a sharp, sardonic, timely, funny and substantive series that dared to bite the hand of it's own demographic on a network that is to dumb to know the difference. It had a learning curve, but if you can get over that hump it can be rather addicting. A contemporary classic that ranks with 'The Sifl and Olly Show' as one of the few really great MTV offerings.

* * * ½ / 4