Shark Bytes

I've been watching Daria since I was about 10 or so, and even then I loved it. I remember my friends were like, "EVERY TIME I WATCH DARIA, I FEEL LIKE I'M AT SCHOOL!" They clearly had no sense of humor.

Daria never, ever jumped. It's one of those shows I can watch in a seriously crappy mood and it would make me feel so much better. It's humor is incredibly dry, witty, and cynical, which is the best part of the show. The characters were so different, compared to most characters in American fiction, but seemed so sane and normal in comparison. Trent was the best.


I the proud owner of a Daria t-shirt.

Never, ever jumped. Both Tom and Trent were plausible crushes, her relationship with Jane was as flawed as both characters, ancillary characters were portrayed perfectly through the protagonist's lens (think Fashion Club, Jakie, just about every male character), and even the "looked up to role model adult" didn't turn Mary Sue (Aunt Amy). Perfect characters, perfect story-arc (both in-episode and overall), perfect everything. It even ended on time. A "Daria goes to College" would have been the shark.

"...unless the bar is set so high that an averagely attractive female character fails to get past and is therefore rated "ugly"... "

The guy who wrote this is a Brit, so I'll assume he just doesn't realize that in America the bar of superficiality has been set so high these days that even above-average-looking people are regarded as "ugly" and you just about have to literally be perfect-looking to be considered worthy of being alive.

"I worshipped Daria! Recently purchased complete series and I find myself laughing uncontrollably and fondly remembering my youth and how ridiculous it was."

It's finally on DVD now?! It's about time!!!

It's almost as if for years pop culture, led by MTV of course, tried to not only bury Daria, but pretend it never existed to begin with because, how do I put this, what the show was about is...a bit different than what today's pop culture is about now. Just a little.

what the hell is it with these people and their hellbent ways of copying beavis and butthead? daria was an idiotic character to have, hell lets give the character who was lets face it good for nothing but telling beavis and butthead what to do, her own tv show...theres no humor in the show.

I worshipped Daria! Recently purchased complete series and I find myself laughing uncontrollably and fondly remembering my youth and how ridiculous it was.
Daria gets a job at the mll ith Kevin in the Nut Shop...Daria & Jane crash Britney's party...The paintball class trip...Daria gets her bellybutton pierced while Trent holds her hand!!!! And don't forget the musical episode... This show is a classic. As for Tom- I just ignored him then and I don't watch "his" episodes now.
La La, La, La, La

BTW- I know the French~Fry needs to learn how to edit his posts better!

[;{P>(Nyah!)

McGINLEY IS GOD!!!!!!!

Daria was definetly one of the few,if only gem that MTV had to offer post '93(When the {not so} Real world premiered, a definite jump in it's own wrong, follow me here,)
I graduated in the late 80's and the range of cast and characters very well represented most of the airheads I knew 10 years before this show premired. I loved the acidic with that Daria had to offer (I'll admit I was the Male-version of Jane artsy-fartsy, non-functioning family and all.)It did very much remind me of those days, my friends and I got good grades, but were by far no goodie-goodie's for that matter, How can one be on the NHS roster and be under a 2 week suspension?
(I can tell you but that's not what I am here for...) and on the TOM Thing, I thought he was dull as C-SpanII myself, but, I felt really sorry for him, especially the way Daria would keep shutting him out of her life. But that how life was and is in those wretched halcyon years we call high-school. It hasa been said once you go in, you never leave. Nothing truer has ever been spoken.

It jumped with Tom. He was entirely too perfect (rich, handsome, smart, and witty enough to hit it off with Jane and Daria?) and that made him boring. He only seemed to be in the show to show Daria the "error of her ways." It was also hard for me to believe that Daria would do that to Jane. You would think someone as cynical and wary of the world like her would know better than to kiss her best friend's boyfriend while they are still together and then get with him after they break up...? Daria wasn't the same after that.

People excuse it with "it's realistic to see characters grow like that." This would be a good excuse if it didn't 1.) take away the one thing that drew most viewers to the show (Daria's cynicism) 2.) did that from the start. It was tacked on at the end. The show was mainly a social satire and they turned it into a full-on drama.

I think Tom was a pretty good match for Daria, actually: both intelligent and with similar sense of humor. The fact that he came from a wealthier backround helped, because Daria had to reexamine her beliefs about rich people's lofty attitudes. The show only jumped with Tom's arrival because Daria became more vulnerable, and viewers had always counted on lots of Daria' smartass comments for laughs. I would have liked Daria to make friends with Andrea the Goth, so she could have appeared in more episodes. Or maybe Ms. Barch and Mr. O'Neill getting into a stormy relationship, and Daria being their reluctant confidante or something. But anyway, Daria was the best thing ever on MTV!

This is mostly yo Kathleen, not that she'll read it:

Daria is not a jerk. She's someone who doesn't put up with the banality and BS of typical high school life. Good for her. More people should be like that, because high school is just high school. Daria and Jane didn't WANT to fit in, and they didn't want to pretend to like the BS they saw around them (Kevin, Brittney, Principal Li, etc.), so they stayed outside of it as best they could.


As far as giving up on Trent, it wasn't because of one late English paper...it was because HIS priorities and attitude towards relationships would never have been the same as hers. Did you see the episode where Daria imagined a future with Trent? It was somewhat exaggerated for humour, but still pretty accurate to his personality. Lazy, unmotivated, and disconnected with reality to a great extent. Also, Trent NEVER showed signs of being open to a relationship with Daria.

As far as Tom: He gets a lot of crap that he doesn't deserve. I thought he was a good fit for Daria personality-wise, and overall a good character. Besides, they pretty much broke it off in the movie "Is It College Yet?" so that's that "problem" fixed.

This was a great show, and I wish they would put it out on DVD, UNCUT. The original MTV version, not the censored The N! version. Ah well, a man can dream.

ok, the show never technically 'jumped', but they were definitely approaching some sharky waters when trent was out and tom was in.. even my dad hated tom.. now what does that tell you...

Love this show.

My only two complains :

1 - Tom, what a pain in the ass really.

Ok, a Trent and Daria couple would have probably not worked, but why on earth this moron ?

2 - some episodes were damn boring, a few but hell, that's a fact.

Show never jumped. I will admit that there were a couple of forgettable episodes, but overall the series was strong. The last episode "Boxing Daria" was a solid strong way to finish. The "movie" "Is it College Yet" was pretty good. It was a nice way to wrap the series up.

Let's face it. Daria is a jerk. She is totally unlikeable except for her embarrassing, painful, hopeless unrequited love for the dashing rogue Trent. You can't hate someone who is in such a pitiful situation. I am convinced that all of Daria's problems were self-induced except for the fact that she couldn't make Trent love her. But that problem was so devastating that I totally rooted for her. But then for no logical reason she suddenly gets over Trent. You don't just get over something like that. And no one would get over someone at the exact moment when he started hinting that he may be open to a romance. It was just bad writing. And it really destroyed the one likable quality about Daria. So I think getting over Trent (I especially hated it that she decided that she couldn't date him because he was late turning in a portion of an English assignment. Jesus, get some priorities Daria. True Love is much, much more important than a grade on a single English assignment in your junior year of high school. And she got a good grade anyway so what the hell was the problem? I guess this makes me more angry than it should.) was the JTS moment. Of course, the nail in the coffin was Tom. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. And I think even if I didn't want to see Daria and Trent get together with all of my heart I would still hate Tom. He's just so boring. And wears a stupid turtleneck. And he isn't funny. And he never did anything useful or even slightly interesting once. And when Tom was in every episode and Trent rarely appeared the show was done.