‘Daria’ brings sarcasm back to DVD stands
By Devon McReynolds
May 19, 2010 9:00 p.m.
Sitting around on the couch Sunday night in a post-“Pretty Wild” stupor, my friends and I surfed channels as we discussed the full-frontal nudity in the episode, the mother’s attempt at pole dancing in front of her daughter’s date and the hit band Wicker, when something on TeenNick stopped us dead in our tracks. It’s hard to imagine something more compelling than “Pretty Wild” possessing the capacity to halt conversation, but keep reading, for something does exist.
“La-la-la-la-la,” the dead-pan, grungy monotone chimed. My favorite green-jacketed, combat-booted, bespectacled sourpuss had replaced the centerfold felons of “Pretty Wild”: It was “Daria”!
I’ll bet many of you watched “Daria” when you were younger, but I’m certain that you didn’t understand the myriad of sophisticated cultural references peppered throughout the show that made it so unique. Did you know what the Khmer Rouge was at age 12? I sure hope not, and if you did, you probably lived in Cambodia yourself, and I’m really sorry.
For those of you who haven’t seen “Daria,” allow me to enlighten you: Daria Morgendorffer is a sarcastic, overly pessimistic, brainy high school student who lives with her popular sister Quinn and two high-strung parents in the painfully suburban suburb of Lawndale. Her misery in this situation is somewhat softened by her friendship with “the artsy one,” Jane Lane, and her hottie of an older brother, Trent, who fronts a band called Mystik Spiral. Daria must face her idiotic peers and authority figures, armed with sharp comebacks via befuddling literary and philosophical references.
If you missed out on “Daria” the first time around, you do have another chance to hop aboard the hilarious, sardonic, high-school-teenager cartoon train. To promote the recent DVD box set release of “Daria,” MTV2 and TeenNick have been re-airing episodes of the show, and while TeenNick censors some of the “heavier” issues like, um, realistic sarcasm in the face of idiocy, it’s impossible to entirely censor hilarity. I guess it’s OK to air the “real life” dramas of drug overdoses, school shootings and teen pregnancies on “Degrassi,” but heaven forbid broadcasting the negativity and pessimism that comes from not fitting in with your peppy, clean-cut peers.
It’s been eight years since “Daria” has gone off the air, but last week it was released on DVD, originally retailing for a whopping $72.99. Although you can now order it on Amazon.com for $43.99, it’s a high price to pay for a 22-minute dose of mordant medicine, especially when it can be seen for free on YouTube by searching “Dar1a.” (But beware ““ there are rare, yet wholly bizarre instances when it’s overdubbed in Russian.)
What took so long for this show to be reintroduced to We the People? Granted, shows like the “Real World/Road Rules Challenge” and “My Super Sweet Sixteen” have presented viewers with cartoonish qualities, but self-importance and ‘roid rage lack the underhanded wit and substance that “Daria” had. I don’t care how much Tonya was disrespectin’ Tina in Santa Fe; it just can’t be as funny as Daria mad schooling her own teacher on existentialism.
The writing was razor sharp ““ there were more cultural allusions per minute than in “The West Wing””“ the soundtrack was cutting edge, and it had a hugely cultish following. It was somewhat popular then, but we all know that once a TV show goes off the air, its level of legitimacy skyrockets, and “Daria” is a prime example of this.
However, part of what made it so awesome is also what has held back its resurgence for so long. MTV owned the rights to the music while it was on TV but not for the show’s DVD releases, which is crazy expensive to acquire. This is the same reason why another classic from our youth, “The Wonder Years,” has yet to be released on DVD.
MTV is commonly chastised today for having nothing to do with the “M” in its name, and it goes without saying that the overall quality of the channel is at, I don’t know, negative a-milli? And while “Daria” is certainly an early example of non-music programming, music did play a prominent role in the show: Playing grungy music was a way to separate Daria, the outcast title character, from the popular kids, and so forth. It’s a shame new viewers won’t be able to experience the show in the same way.
Now, instead of hearing the band Garbage playing, you’ll hear generic Garbage-y sounding music. It’s a shame, since good music was such a draw of “Daria” originally. But while the music was a great part of the show, the other stellar aspects of the show more than make up for the lack of authentic alterative jams, Garbage or not.
“Tuned In” runs every other Thursday. E-mail McReynolds at [email protected]
