| Daria | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | |
| Created by | |
| Based on | Daria Morgendorffer fromBeavis and Butt-Head byMike Judge |
| Voices of |
|
| Theme music composer | Splendora |
| Opening theme | "You're Standing on My Neck" by Splendora |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 65(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Producers |
|
| Editor | Neil Lawrence |
| Running time | 21–22 minutes |
| Production companies |
|
| Original release | |
| Network | MTV |
| Release | March 3, 1997 (1997-03-03) – January 21, 2002 (2002-01-21) |
Daria is an American teenanimated sitcom[6] created byGlenn Eichler andSusie Lewis Lynn. The series ran from March 3, 1997, to January 21, 2002, onMTV. It centers on the titular character,Daria Morgendorffer, an intelligent,cynical high school student, voiced byTracy Grandstaff, who had voiced the character inMike Judge's earlier animated series,Beavis and Butt-Head.
It is aspin-off ofBeavis and Butt-Head, in which Daria appeared as a recurring character.[7][8] Although Judge allowed the character to star in a spin-off, he had no involvement in the production ofDaria himself, as he was busy working onKing of the Hill.
The series centers onDaria Morgendorffer, a smart, acerbic, and cynical teenage girl who, along with her best friend, aspiring artistJane Lane, observes the world around her. The show is set in the fictionalsuburban American town of Lawndale, and is a satire of high school life, full of allusions to and criticisms of popular culture and social classes. As the show's eponymous protagonist, Daria, appears in most scenes withher immediate family (mother Helen, father Jake, and younger sister Quinn) and/or Jane.
The show is set during Daria's high school days and ends with her graduation and acceptance into college. The principal location used for the show (outside of the Morgendorffer home) is Lawndale High School, a public-education institution filled with flamboyant and dysfunctional characters.
The dynamics among the two lead characters changed during season four, when Jane began a relationship with Tom Sloane. Though Daria is hesitant to accept Tom at first, fearing she will lose her best friend, she and Tom find themselves becoming closer, culminating in a kiss in the season finale. The emotional and comedic turmoil among Jane, Tom, and Daria was the centerpiece of the TV movieIs It Fall Yet?, and the relationship between Tom and Daria fueled several of season five's plotlines.
The plots ofDaria largely concern a juxtaposition between the focal character's blunted, sardonic cynicism and the values/preoccupations of hersuburban hometown of Lawndale. In a 2005 interview, series co-creator Glenn Eichler described the otherwise unspecified locale as "a mid-Atlantic suburb, outside somewhere likeBaltimore orWashington, D.C. They could have lived inPennsylvania near theMain Line, though".[9] For comedic and illustrative purposes, the show's depiction of suburban American life was a deliberately exaggerated one.[10] InThe New York Times, the protagonist was described as "a blend ofDorothy Parker,Fran Lebowitz, andJaneane Garofalo, wearingCarrie Donovan's glasses. Daria Morgendorffer, 16 and cursed with a functioning brain, has the misfortune to see high school, her family, and her life for exactly what they are and the temerity to comment on it."[11]
Daria Morgendorffer, the show's titular character, first appeared on MTV as a recurring character in Mike Judge'sBeavis and Butt-Head. MTV senior vice president and creative director Abby Terkuhle explained that when that show "became successful, we ... created Daria's character because we wanted a smart female who could serve as thefoil".[17] Daria's original design was created by Bill Peckmann while working for J.J. Sedelmaier Productions duringBeavis and Butt-Head's first season. During production ofBeavis and Butt-Head's final seasons, MTV representatives, wanting to bring in a higher female demographic to the channel, approachedstory editor Glenn Eichler, offering a spin-off series for Daria. In 1995, a five-minutepilot, "Sealed with a Kick", was created by Eichler andBeavis and Butt-Head stafferSusie Lewis (although written bySam Johnson and Chris Marcil). Among 4 other animated pilots pitched to the channel, Daria performed the strongest in focus groups, especially among middle-school-aged participants—a fact that bothered MTV initially, as they felt their core audience at the time was instead 18- to 24-year-olds.[18] But after show staff argued that college students don't really watch much television, MTV approved a series order of 13 episodes; both Eichler and Lewis were signed onto the series asexecutive producers.[19][20]
The voice of Daria,Tracy Grandstaff, originally got her start on MTV as a writer, and later was cast as a housemate on theunaired pilot ofThe Real World.[21] Following that experience, Grandstaff got to know the head of development at the network and from there, got a job as a staff writer forBeavis and Butt-Head.[21]
"The beauty of MTV back in the day was that it had no money. Everything was done really cheap. I was one of a few writers, and the only female writer, on staff," Grandstaff explained.[21]
"...So I was the default choice [for Daria].Janeane Garofalo fromThe Ben Stiller Show [was a Daria influence] for sure, as well as my own personal inner dialogue from junior high and high school in Kalamazoo, Michigan—andSara Gilbert fromRoseanne, probably more than anyone."[22]
The first episode ofDaria aired on March 3, 1997,[7] roughly nine months beforeBeavis and Butt-Head ended its original run. Titled "Esteemsters", the episode where established 16-year-old Texan Daria and her family's move from fictional Highland, the setting ofBeavis and Butt-Head, to the new series' equally fictional locale of Lawndale. As well as introducing Daria's parents and younger sister, Quinn, as primary supporting characters, the first episode also introducedJane Lane, Daria's best friend and confidante. Other than a brief mention of Highland,Daria did not contain any references toBeavis and Butt-Head.
The series ran for five seasons, with 13 episodes each in five years, as well as twoTV movies and twoTV specials. The first movie,Is It Fall Yet?, aired on August 27, 2000, and took place between seasons four and five. MTV planned an abbreviated six-episode sixth season, but, at Eichler's request, this project was cut down to a second movie,Is It College Yet?, which served as theseries finale on January 21, 2002.[23]
No other characters fromBeavis and Butt-Head appeared onDaria; the only direct reference to them was in promotions. Co-creatorGlenn Eichler, in an interview conducted after the series' run, stated:
B&B were very strong characters, with a very specific type of humor and very loyal fans, and of course they were instantly identifiable. I felt that referencing them inDaria, while we were trying to establish the new characters and the different type of humor, ran the risk of setting up false expectations and disappointment in the viewers – which could lead to a negative reaction to the new show and its different tone. So we steered clear of B&B in the early going, and once the new show was established, there was really no need to harken back to the old one.[24]
In the TV movieIs It Fall Yet?, several celebrities provided guest voices. MTV hostCarson Daly played Quinn's summer tutor, Canadianpop punk songstressBif Naked played Jane's art camp companion, androck musicianDave Grohl played Jane's pretentious art camp host. Several songs by the bandFoo Fighters (in which Grohl is frontman) were featured in the series.[25]
DuringDaria's production, Grandstaff, Eichler, and Lewis had intentions of making a show where women appeared to be smarter and have it directed toward its female viewers, along with giving a voice to individuals who did not feel like they fit in. In contrast to audience belief,Daria had less planning and the show was left to develop more naturally, especially regarding the types of relationships the main character,Daria Morgendorffer, would have. In addition to this, the creators wanted to capture and represent what high school was like during the time the show was made, while portraying the different cliques typically seen in TV shows with a high school setting.[26]
The first realization of how much the crew became attached to makingDaria was after a five-minute pilot was created, showing how realistic the main character seemed despite being a digital creation. The animation style aided with production by having an uncomplicated form of filming that made the angles and movements appear natural. Lewis recalled letting the storyboards in the early stages of mappingDaria out aid on how the show would look with animation. Each episode was set to have a processing and completion time be nine months in order to fit making scripts, recording voice actors, and creating storyboards.
When describing why the show took longer than expected to be released on DVD afterDaria's debut, Eichler recalls:
That’s how long it took to clear all the music rights. It also had a lot to do with MTV. Every time they began working on the rights, they had another loopy hit, so their small home-entertainment division had to put their resources on getting that show out. I guess we sort of got under the wire right beforeJersey Shore![27]
Daria saw a resurgence in viewership in 2020 once the show became available onParamount+. However, neitherIs It Fall Yet? norIs It College Yet? became available on Paramount+ or MTV's website, despite both films being crucial to the show's plot progression.[28]
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| Pilot | Unaired | |||
| 1 | 13 | March 3, 1997 (1997-03-03) | July 21, 1997 (1997-07-21) | |
| 2 | 13 | February 16, 1998 (1998-02-16) | August 3, 1998 (1998-08-03) | |
| 3 | 13 | February 17, 1999 (1999-02-17) | August 18, 1999 (1999-08-18) | |
| 4 | 13 | February 25, 2000 (2000-02-25) | August 2, 2000 (2000-08-02) | |
| 5 | 13 | February 19, 2001 (2001-02-19) | June 25, 2001 (2001-06-25) | |
| Films | 2 | August 27, 2000 (2000-08-27) | January 21, 2002 (2002-01-21) | |
| Specials | 2 | February 18, 2000 (2000-02-18) | January 14, 2002 (2002-01-14) | |
There have been 65 episodes ofDaria, spanning five seasons, each with thirteen episodes. The series first went into production with an unfinished pilot episode, titled "Sealed with a Kick". The first season was broadcast between March 3 and July 21, 1997, while season two was aired from February 16 to August 2, 1998; season three was shown from February 17 to August 18, 1999; season four from February 25 to August 2, 2000, and finally, season five between February 19 and June 25, 2001.
The series also includes two feature-length television films; the first,Is It Fall Yet?, which aired between seasons four and five, and chronicles the lives of the characters during summer break, and the second film,Is It College Yet?, which followed the fifth season, serving as the official finale to the series.
Two specials were also aired;Daria: Behind the Scenes was hosted byJaneane Garofalo and aired on February 18, 2000, one week prior to the season four premiere, and featured how the show was created, the making of the show, and the voices behind the characters. The second special,Look Back in Annoyance, aired on January 14, 2002, and is a retrospective hosted by Daria and Jane and highlights all the major events from the series before the lead-up to the television film finale, which was aired one week later.
Daria's theme song is "You're Standing on My Neck", written and performed by female rock groupSplendora.[29][30] The band later created original themes for the twoDaria TV movies, "Turn the Sun Down" (forIs It Fall Yet?) and "College Try (Gives Me Blisters)" (forIs It College Yet?), along with some background music.
The show itself had no original score. Though elements from Splendora's theme were used on occasion,Daria's incidental music was taken frompop music songs. Most of these were contemporary, inserted over exterior shots and some scenes, with rarely any story relevance or awareness from the characters. For example, one episode depicts characters dancing toWill Smith's "Gettin' Jiggy wit It" mere weeks after the song's release, whereas the sequence itself was designed and animated months earlier.
Some story points were built around specific songs, such as in "Legends of the Mall", whereCyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" became a major plot point for a fantasy sequence. The closing credits also featured a licensed song on all but a few occasions, the lyrics or concept of which often reflected some aspect of the preceding episode.
For the 1998 and 1999VHS releases of someDaria episodes,incidental music was replaced, and "You're Standing on My Neck" was only played over the closing credits. However, for the bonus episodes included on theDVD releases of the twoTV movies, the music was removed almost entirely.
In the DVD releaseDaria: The Complete Series, creator Glenn Eichler mentions in the notes that "99 percent of the music has been changed, because the cost of licensing the many music bites we used would have made it impossible to release the collection (and for many years did)." He compared it toan episode ofThe Twilight Zone where the astronaut comes home, and his wife can't figure out what's different about him, "... until it dawns on her that instead of a cool song from 1997 playing ... it's some tune she's never heard. Yeah, it's just like that."
The song "Heart's on Fire" by38 Special also enjoyed a brief comeback on some late 1990s radio stations because of the popularity of the series as well as theAmy Grant b-side hit "I Love You" (from her popular crossover albumUnguarded), "Silent Running" byMike and the Mechanics, and "Stand and Deliver" byMr. Mister.
Daria premiered to positive reviews, withJohn J. O'Connor ofThe New York Times writing in March 1997, "As far as MTV andBeavis and Butt-Head are concerned,Daria is an indispensable blast of fresh air."[31]Daria continued to receive positive reviews during the course of its run and was one of MTV's highest rated shows, with the network's manager Van Toffler viewing the character as "a good spokesperson for MTV, intelligent but subversive".[32]
During the program's run on MTV, Daria was part of the Cool Crap Auction, giving an overview of the goods for auction and talking "live" to the winner of one prize.[33] Daria and Jane also hosted MTV'sTop Ten Animated Videos Countdown, poking fun at MTV's cheap animation. At the end of the series run, she had an "interview" on theCBS Early Show withJane Clayson.[34]Daria received a ratings share between 1 and 2 percent, about 1 to 2 million viewers.
G.J. Donnelly ofTV Guide, writing about the series' finale, lamented, "I already miss that monotone. I already miss those boots. ... Even at its most far-fetched, this animated film approaches the teenage experience much more realistically than shows likeDawson's Creek."[35] On the same occasion,Emily Nussbaum wrote atSlate that "the show is biting the dust without ever getting the credit it deserved: for social satire, witty writing, and most of all, for a truly original main character". She particularly singled out for praise that all the characters were heading "to very different paths in life, based on their economic prospects," giving the show an ambiguous end; "[the finale is] a bit of a classic: a sharply funny exploration of social class most teen films would render, well, cartoonish."[36]
In 2002,TV Guide ranked Daria number 41 on its "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time" list.[37] In December 2013, the newspaperThe Daily Telegraph included Daria in its list of "best female cartoon characters".[38] In November 2018,IndieWire namedDaria as the fourth-best animated series of all time.[39] In December 2023,Variety rankedDaria #91 on its list of the 100 greatest TV shows of all time.[40]
In April 2017, in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the series, co-creatorSusie Lewis and character designerKaren Disher were contacted by theEntertainment Weekly magazine to reimagine the lives of the main characters 20 years after the events of the series. During that interview, Lewis admitted that she would "love to bring Daria back to TV".[41]
The 2021 studio albumDariacore byJane Remover was named after the series as the artist was a fan of it. Screenshots of the series were used as album covers.[42] The album and its sequels have given rise to a musicmicrogenre known asDariacore.[43]
On June 21, 2018, it was announced that a revived series titledDaria & Jodie was one of many revival projects in development at MTV Studios (later calledMTV Entertainment Studios), a production studio which intends to sell new series toover-the-top media services.[44][45] The title was later changed toJodie.[46] In May 2022, it was announced thatJodie would instead be an animated film that will air onComedy Central and be animated byAwesome Inc.[47][48] By March 2024, MTV Entertainment Studios dropped the completed film and indicated the producers may try to find a new studio to sell it to for distribution.[49]
Daria ran from March 3, 1997, to January 21, 2002, onMTV. In August 1, 2016 (coinciding MTV's 35th anniversary of its original launch date), MTV's new, rebranded, nostalgia-themed, music video-aimed sister channel (formerly known as "VH1 Classic") aired reruns.
On May 28, 2002,Noggin issued a press release stating thatDaria (and the TV filmIs It Fall Yet?) would begin airing as part of Noggin's primetime block for teenagers,The N, in July 2002.[50] The series' Noggin run began on July 2, 2002,[50] and ended on June 17, 2006.[51]
On October 21, 1997,Sony Music releasedDaria onVHS, and on August 31, 1999, it also releasedDaria: Disfranchised also on VHS.
In July 2004, co-creator Glenn Eichler said of possible DVD releases, "There's no distributor and no release date, but what there is is very strong interest from MTV in puttingDaria out, and steady activity toward making that a reality".[52]
By July 2009, a DVD release for the series was planned for 2010.[53] In January 2010, MTV released ateaser trailer on its website forDaria's 2010 release.[54] That May 11,Daria: The Complete Animated Series was released on DVD in North America byParamount Home Entertainment. All 65 episodes and both TV movies are included in the set (Is It Fall Yet? is the full uncut version, whileIs It College Yet? is a shorter TV edit; these were the versions that were released on their respective standalone DVDs in earlier years). Extras include the pilot episode, the music video "Freakin' Friends" byMystik Spiral, "Daria Day" introductions as well as an animated top 10 music video countdown on MTV by Jane and Daria, cast and crew interviews, and a script for an unproduced Mystik Spiral spin-off show.[55] The set, with all special features intact, was released on Region 4 PAL DVD on June 1, 2011. The Region 4 set was found to be encoded region free.[56]
In June 2018,Hulu acquired rights to streamDaria.[57] Because of Disney's acquisition, the show was removed from Hulu at the end of September 2020 before it became available for streaming onCBS All Access (now known as Paramount+) in November 2020.[58]
In late 2010, following the DVD release,Daria was licensed as a voice forGarmin andTomTom GPS systems; original putdowns and jokes were recorded.[59]
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