This is Long Past Due

If I may hearken back to high school for a moment: Finally... "Daria" HAS COME TO DVD!  OK, my apologies.  I know that was terrible.  But it took eight years (eight!) for one of my all-time favorite shows to come to DVD, so I had to channel The Rock there.  We all did it back then.  Yes, we were single.

What were we talking about?

Ah, yes, "Daria."  Anyway, if you know me at all, you know of my profound love of this show, as well as my fascination with its existence.  We had a show on MTV-MTfreakingV- that was as razor-sharp a satire of high school life and pop culture that you'll see.  It skewered everything MTV and those who marketed to my generation stood for.  And it did so with unparalleled skill and verve.   What's most amazing is that it was a spin-off of "Beavis and Butthead," of all things. It left the air in 2002, the same year I graduated high school, and we've yet to see anything that can compare on American TV.  Accidental?  Consider me a skeptic.

Then, and now, I identified with the title character.  She considered herself above her peers, untouchable and uncompromising.  She mercilessly reconstructed the hypocrisies around her while simultaneously taking the scorn of her antisocial behavior.  Like me, she thought she was immune to it and refused to admit she was all too vulnerable.

Rather than write an essay on the series (which I absolutely could do), I'll encourage you to give the series a look if you never have.  As I touched on before, its wit is top-notch.  The humor is smart and biting.  It gives you a sense satisfying opposition to the world.  Most of all, it's one of the few cartoons that meaningfully challenges its characters.  They are not static; they transform and evolve.  Relationships take on new dynamics over the course of five seasons.  It's very satisfying to see where they end up and look back on where they began.  There is, of course, a fair amount of absurdity mixed in with the satire and culture critiques.

Best of all, the DVD set has an introductory price of $50 and includes a T-shirt.  For 26 hours of excellent TV, this is a more than reasonable price.  I'll leave you with this piece from Salon.  It does the spirit of the show justice.