50 Fun Facts About Daria

Daria Morgendorffer began as a brainy classmate on which earlier MTV cartoon before her own series?

Beavis and Butt-Head needed a smart foil, so MTV added Daria to put the two boys in their place. Her own series never mentions them.

What color is the jacket Daria Morgendorffer wears over an orange T-shirt as her everyday outfit?

Green it is, finished off with a black skirt and black boots. Her round black-framed glasses complete a look built to ignore every trend at Lawndale High.

Which fictional tabloid TV show do Daria and Jane love to watch together in MTV's Daria?

Sick, Sad World is the tabloid show the two bond over from the day they meet. An all-night marathon of it later leaves them sleeping through a school fundraiser cruise.

Which actress played Daria in CollegeHumor's 2013 parody trailer for a live-action film?

Aubrey Plaza starred in the spoof, a trailer for a Daria film that was never made. It arrived more than a decade after the series ended in 2002.

Which food do Daria and Jane share at their regular hangout, right up to the finale's last scene?

Pizza gets the last word twice in the finale: Daria's graduation speech ends by singing its praises, then she and Jane go out for a slice.

Which lead guitarist is the object of Daria's unspoken crush through the first three seasons?

Trent is the older brother of her best friend, which makes the crush harder to hide. The show's co-creator said a real romance between them was never on the cards.

Which MTV host voiced David, the tutor Quinn falls for in the Daria TV movie Is It Fall Yet?

Carson Daly was hosting MTV's Total Request Live when he played the no-nonsense tutor. David turns Quinn down, telling her she is not his type.

What kind of episode is "Daria!", the season three opener in which a hurricane nears Lawndale?

A musical, with the cast singing their way through the storm. It sat seventh in the season's production order, yet it was the episode chosen to open the run.

A 2000 PC game drops Daria into a nightmare drawn from a poem by which writer?

Dante is being read aloud in English class when Daria nods off in the game Daria's Inferno. In her dream she must recover five items stolen from the school, or every student gets detention.

In 2010, Daria's deadpan voice and freshly recorded put-downs were licensed for which gadget?

GPS navigation units from Garmin and TomTom offered her as a voice once the complete series reached DVD, so drivers could take directions with a side of sarcasm.

What does Jane Lane, Daria's sardonic best friend and fellow outcast, aspire to become?

An artist in the making, Jane is the youngest of five siblings and far more athletic and at ease with people than her best friend.

Which position does dim-witted Kevin Thompson play for the Lawndale High football team in Daria?

Quarterback Kevin is the team's star, yet his grades are so dismal that the finale leaves him repeating his senior year.

What role does bubbly Brittany Taylor, girlfriend of football star Kevin, hold in MTV's Daria?

Head cheerleader Brittany gets into a local state university in the finale while Kevin is held back. She promises to stay with him, fingers secretly crossed.

What job does the corrupt, security-obsessed Angela Li hold at Lawndale High in MTV's Daria?

Principal Li will do anything for the school's budget and image. She once spent the library roof fund on a polygraph machine of her own.

By which nickname is sleazy, red-haired flirt Charles Ruttheimer III known in MTV's Daria?

Upchuck is what everyone calls the school's most persistent flirt. In season five his sleight of hand wins over Stacy, who assists in his magic show.

Which band, featuring Jane Lane's older brother, lands in jail over an unpaid traffic fine in Daria?

Mystik Spiral nearly got a show of their own: a script for an unproduced spin-off about the band was tucked into the complete-series DVD as an extra.

Which Lawndale High teacher in Daria takes out a bitter divorce on her male students and colleagues?

Ms. Barch despises men until she falls for the school's gentle English teacher, then spends the rest of the series pursuing him at school functions.

Mr. DeMartino, the teacher whose eye bulges when he rages, teaches which subject in MTV's Daria?

History is his subject, and his students' feeble grasp of it is what sets him off. He is also a Vietnam War veteran and a lifelong bachelor.

Where does Daria first meet Jane Lane after a school psychologist misreads her sarcasm?

In a self-esteem class, where Lawndale High sends Daria after a psychological exam. She insists the real problem is her opinion of everyone around her.

What is the profession of workaholic Helen Morgendorffer, the family's main earner in Daria?

Corporate attorney Helen is so driven that the whole family once spent a weekend being evaluated at a mental-health spa because she was up for promotion.

Which Fashion Club president loses her voice as the group falls apart in the Daria finale movie?

Sandi Griffin rules the club and undermines Quinn out of jealousy. When she tries to punish timid Stacy, Stacy finally stands up to her and the club disbands.

Before Lawndale, Daria's family lived in the fictional town of Highland in which state?

Texas was home until the first episode, when the family swaps Highland for Lawndale, a suburb whose own state is never named.

Which new look does Daria try in season three and find physically and philosophically uncomfortable?

Contact lenses are something Daria has to be persuaded to try, and she finds them as awkward socially as they are on her eyes.

Daria and Jane both end the series bound for colleges in which American city?

Boston awaits them both. Jane nearly skips college altogether, until Daria talks her into applying to her first-choice school there.

Which animator, credited as Daria Morgendorffer's creator, named her after a girl he knew at school?

Mike Judge borrowed the name from a schoolmate who, like the character, was saddled with an unkind rhyming nickname. He took no part in making her spin-off.

Quinn's three near-identical football-team admirers in Daria are Joey, Jeffy and which third boy?

Jamie completes the trio known as the Three J's, who compete for Quinn's affection and once tried jousting against a teacher at a school fair.

Which rock star voiced the pompous host of Jane's summer retreat in the first Daria TV movie?

Dave Grohl played the pretentious mentor, and several songs by his band Foo Fighters turn up on the show's soundtrack.

Where do Daria and Tom Sloane share the first kiss that upends her friendship with Jane?

In his car, at the end of a heated argument in the season four finale. Tom was still Jane's boyfriend, and the fallout drives the first TV movie.

Football captain Mack in Daria carries the first and middle names of which basketball legend?

Michael Jordan Mackenzie is his full name, though everyone calls him Mack. He is the only sharp mind on the team and wins a college scholarship.

Which MTV writer became the voice of Daria Morgendorffer as the only woman on the writing team?

Tracy Grandstaff called herself the default choice for the part. She based the voice on her own inner monologue from junior high and high school in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

While helping Jane's brother pick out a birthday present, Daria is talked into getting what?

A navel piercing is the result, a rare case of her crush overruling her judgment. The show's co-creator called such episodes a treat for romance-minded fans.

Which comedian, an influence on Daria's deadpan voice, hosted the special Daria: Behind the Scenes?

Janeane Garofalo fronted the making-of special, which aired a week before season four began and put faces to the voice cast.

Which summer job does Helen force on Daria in the TV movie Is It Fall Yet?

Camp counselor it is, at a summer day camp run by her English teacher, where a disillusioned young camper named Link reminds her of herself.

Which New York rock band, five women strong, performed Daria's theme song and both TV movie themes?

Splendora landed the job because their cellist was a producer on the show and passed the band's only album to its co-creator.

Where does Daria choose to study after elite Bromwell University waitlists and then rejects her?

Raft College is her second choice, and her campus tour goes badly: she arrives after the admissions office has closed. She gets in anyway.

MTV approved the Daria spin-off because it wanted an animated show aimed at which audience?

Female viewers were the target, yet in focus groups the pilot scored best with middle schoolers, which bothered a network that saw its core audience as 18 to 24.

Which actress voiced three of Daria's main characters, Jane Lane, Quinn and Helen Morgendorffer?

Wendy Hoopes gave the best friend, the sister and the mother three distinct voices, and later voiced Mona Sax in the Max Payne video games.

Which future Grey's Anatomy star voiced Stacy Rowe on Daria while still in high school?

Sarah Drew took the role in 1997 and kept it through both TV movies, years before she joined the hospital drama as Dr. April Kepner.

What kind of business strikes a runaway sponsorship deal with Lawndale High in Daria's fifth season?

A soda company gets the contract over the protests of Daria and Jane, in a season opener punningly titled Fizz Ed.

Daria co-creator Glenn Eichler went on to write for which late-night host across two different shows?

Stephen Colbert hired him for The Colbert Report and kept him on at The Late Show. Eichler had started out as an editor at National Lampoon magazine.

Daria's graduation prize for top grades despite her dislike of people honors which researcher?

Dian Fossey spent nearly two decades studying mountain gorillas in Rwanda's forests, which makes her a pointed namesake. Daria improvises her acceptance speech on the spot.

Which pattern does Jane ask Daria to dye into her hair in the season four finale of Daria?

Tiger stripes are the plan, but Daria botches the dye job and lands in hot water with Jane, on the same day as a far bigger mistake.

At cousin Erin's wedding in Daria, which relative turns out to be a kindred spirit for Daria?

Aunt Amy is the younger sister of Daria's mother and shares her niece's dry outlook. Years later Daria calls her in to referee a family feud, and she gets dragged into it.

Which activity is the Lawndale High field trip built around in the Daria episode The Daria Hunter?

Paintball brings out everyone's savage side, parents and teachers included, while Daria and Jane sneak off to a roadside museum devoted to a great white shark.

Which British holiday walks around in human form beside Christmas and Halloween in Daria?

Guy Fawkes Day has left Holiday Island with the other two in Depth Takes a Holiday, so Cupid and a leprechaun recruit Daria to bring the truants home.

Which everyday object revives painful childhood memories for Daria in the season five finale?

A refrigerator box recalls the one she crawled into at age six after her parents fought about her, and she wonders if being herself made her a burden on them.

The voice of Daria has said which sitcom's teenage daughter shaped the character more than anyone?

Roseanne gave her Sara Gilbert's deadpan Darlene, the influence she ranks above all the others she has named.

In Daria's Legends of the Mall, a teacher's new dentures force him to sing a hit by which pop star?

Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Want to Have Fun is the tune, in one of three suburban legends the Fashion Club swap while stranded in a rough part of town.

What does Daria sell at a mall stand beside co-worker Kevin after her parents make her get a job?

Nuts are the product, and the job comes with a catch: if she fails to smile, customers eat free and the cost comes out of her paycheck.

Which Lawndale High sports team does Jane Lane join in season two, leaving Daria talking to herself?

Track takes Jane away for practice and leaves Daria so isolated that she starts holding conversations with herself.