The glasses. The boots. The sardonic quips and monotone voice. You either get it — or you don’t, which is core to what made Daria, Daria. The adult animated sitcom premiered in 1997 on MTV and went on to deliver five seasons of sneers, satire, and plenty of spin-offs.
The efficient pilot introduces us to the lead (if you didn’t already know her from Beavis and Butt-Head ) Daria Morgendorffer, who along with her ‘90s TV comrades Buffy Summers , Angela Chase, Moesha , Lisa Simpson and Topanga Lawrence , was part of what was — for that decade — a feminist take. She was unapologetically intelligent, and while animated, covered everything from class, race and gender to selfhood and philosophy. Heavy stuff for a cartoon that resonated well with middle-schoolers.During the 65 episodes Daria was on air, she (voiced by Tracy Grandstaff) spent the majority of it dealing with her family and her peers at Lawndale High. Well, as much as she saw them as peers, which she didn’t. In the efficient pilot episode “Esteemsters,” the Morgendorffers have just moved to the fictional suburban town of Lawndale and we’re quickly caught up to the fact that Daria’s younger sister Quinn is vapidly popular, her career-obsessed parents Jake (Julian Rebolledo) and Helen don’t see Daria for who she is, the teachers are odd caricatures, and everyone except Daria’s new friend Jane Lane (Wendy Hoopes, who ironically also voices the other women in Daria’s life, Helen and Quinn) is pretty much a waste of Daria’s time; consumed with all the wrong things. Yet, it’s Daria that’s singled out for being different because she doesn’t care about anything superficial. And thus, one has a strong series set-up for the comedic tragedy that is being a high school student — especially if you’re “different.”
Daria is pessimistic (or is it realistic?), sarcastic, extremely smart, and entirely (by Lawndale standards) unfashionable — while her sister is literally part of the fashion club. And that’s the genius in the show: she’s the only one in her world who sees things for what they are beyond the ultracolorful pop culture of the ‘90s.
Daria the character was originally created by then-MTV senior vice president and creative director Abby Terkuhle to “put Beavis and Butt-Head in their place” as the New York Times once stated. The misanthropic teenage girl premiered on Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head before getting her own show from Glenn Eichler (Beavis and Butt-Head, The Colbert Report) and Susie Lewis Lynn (Beavis and Butt-Head, Sea Rescue).
During her five-season run on MTV, she also received two TV movies: Is It Fall Yet?, which chronicled summer vacation and a series finale TV movie Is It College Yet?, which sees the characters head off their separate ways. Much like the show, the movies dealt with rather adult issues in a cartoon format: nihilism, cheating partners, identity crisis, and sexuality, among others. In Is It Fall Yet?, a bisexual character (voiced by Bif Naked) is introduced to give Jane a few things to think about. For its era, the encounter felt huge, dare I say even groundbreaking. Especially for Daria’s world, which always favored less in-your-face sexuality.
In 2019, MTV announced that Daria character Jodie (then voiced by Jessica Cydnee Jackson) would be getting her own animated spin-off series Jodie, set to air on Comedy Central. Helming the Daria offshoot is Emmy®-winner Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish, Girlfriends) as co-executive producer and Jodie’s new voice, with creator Grace Edwards (Insecure, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt). While Daria focused on high school, Jodie will be examining Gen Z struggles encompassing that all-important first job, the social media beast, and everything else youths have to deal with now that Daria didn’t 20 years ago.
It’s entirely unsurprising in the current landscape of re-makes and revivals that Daria is being mined for a spin-off. That, and Daria was an excellent example of smart comedy in an appealing animated package. What is it about adult animation that captures an audience?
The medium itself is a playground for screenwriters, unhindered by locations and other restrictions of live action. Animation offers a certain kind of freedom (BoJack Horseman is another prime example of this in particular) to explore a range of subjects while simultaneously offering comfort in its very presentation. Saturday morning cartoons bring back a happy memory for anyone else out there? The comfort in familiarity also shines through in the animated characters, who are often more archetypal than their live-action TV show counterparts. While they do go through a character arc, they more often than not remain true to their core.
Daria also presents various mature themes that are applicable at every age: sense of self, social hierarchy, relationships, and an examination of popular culture. These are things that will never go out of style, even if they pivot from decade to decade, which is why Daria’s adventures and encounters, though in high school, resonate with a wide audience as much then as they do now.
My biggest question is what would Daria do with social media in 2021? The girl that always accurately called out everyone’s bluff would no doubt navigate that abyss with her signature insight and wit. We’ll just have to wait and see what Jodie has to say instead... Meanwhile, we could learn a thing or two on a re-watch about crafting an appealing multi-generational animated show.
And with that, “There is no aspect, no facet, no moment of life that can’t be improved with pizza.”
Fact.