“Daria” Was MTV's Answer to “Beavis and Butt-Head”, Designed to Bring Female Viewers into the Animation Fold 29 Years Ago
“Daria” Was MTV's Answer to “Beavis and Butt-Head”, Designed to Bring Female Viewers into the Animation Fold 29 Years Ago
Angela AndaloroTue, March 3, 2026 at 9:25 PM UTC
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"Daria"Credit: MTV -
Daria aired from 1997 to 2002 on MTV
The series, which was based on a recurring character in Beavis and Butt-Head, was meant to draw female fans into MTV's audience
The show became one of MTV Animation's most successful and is still beloved by viewers nearly 30 years later
Daria went from being a punchline to the star of the show.
Three years before Daria Morgendorffer became the subject of her own animated universe, creator Mike Judge introduced her on Beavis and Butt-Head. The May 1993 episode has the duo paired with Daria, whom they call "diarrhea" instead, for a science project.
Daria's dry and sarcastic manner drew viewers in and she became a recurring character, appearing in over 20 episodes of the series before she was given her own spin-off.
John Garrett Andrews, a supervising producer on Daria, explained that when MTV was looking for a way to draw in a female audience, he suggested centering a series on Daria. According to Andrews, Judge gave his blessing, but couldn't commit himself to the project because of his obligations with both Beavis and Butt-Head and King of the Hill.
"With what I thought was Mike's blessing, I assembled a writer's meeting to discuss how to approach creating a show around Daria that would appeal to boys and girls, but with a particular emphasis on bringing in the female audience B&B lacked," he wrote about the show's history for HuffPost in 2017.
Addressing the reports from recent years since Judge indicated he was annoyed that MTV made a hit out of Daria without his involvement, Andrews added, "I can honestly say I was oblivious at the time to the fact that Mike was displeased with the show we developed. He claims to have never watched it to this day, although I believe he was shown the pilot. There can be no doubt that what we came up with was original, had terrific writing and resonated with its audience. In focus groups, the Daria pilot did very well with junior high kids and they became the core of the audience."
Ironically, a 1998 New York Times article on the show noted that Daria rated lowest among Beavis & Butt-Head‘s most popular demographic, 18- to 24-year-old males.
Andrews also advocated for Tracy Grandstaff, who voiced the character on Beavis and Butt-Head, to continue in the role.
"At some point, Glenn and Susie got it in their head that Tracy wasn’t deadpan enough, and that they really wanted to push this sort of depressed sound. They started giving me cassettes with alternative voices that they thought were better, but I thought that Tracy was it. So we found her a vocal coach who worked with Broadway actors," he told Vice in a different lookback.
For Grandstaff, who transitioned to Daria full-time after being the only female writer on Beavis and Butt-head, she loved bringing Daria's genre of girlhood to the world.
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"The topicality of it was what I found to be pretty refreshing, even at the time. They’re talking about corporate sponsorship in public schools when the vending machine pops up, or the Jane Magazine takeoff where this hipster 30-something is trying to go into high school and establish trends for all the girls, and trying to co-opt stuff that young people are doing as her own trend-setting," she shared.
"They weren’t obvious topics in some cases, but they scratched the surface. They went a little deeper than, 'Let’s just make Jane and Daria decide to go to a concert and meet guys.' "
Jane and DariaCredit: Cinematic / Alamy
Daria devotees did have thoughts about the character's growth, particularly where her romantic life was concerned. Wendy Hoopes, voice of Jane Lane, as well as Helen and Quinn Morgendorffer, noted, "As the show went on, Daria became less defensive. And I think that was part of the nature of the show — when you’re in high school, you do go through so many changes emotionally and physically."
Glenn Eichler, co-executive producer, told Vice, "When the show first aired in the first year, there were a lot of rabid fans. The minute Daria showed any vulnerability, some people declared that she jumped the shark."
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Eichler pointed to the example of Daria moving on from her crush on Trent to dating Tom, pointing out, "The audience really did not like when she got a boyfriend, Tom."
"There was at least one guy who used to write really long, detailed reviews on a website. He was super complimentary, but one day he just started hating us. Daria was echoing a place a lot of the viewers were in emotionally, but some of them just didn’t keep going with her."
DariaCredit: Cinematic / Alamy
After five seasons and two TV movies, Daria came to an end in 2002, as MTV began its shift away from animated programming. In 2024, both Grandstaff and Hoopes discussed the possibility of checking in with Daria, Jane and more.
"Daria would be writing on The Daily Show. She’d be writing for someone who is the voice of reason and sanity in what is otherwise literally happening right now," Grandstaff told The Guardian.
"Of course we’d come back!” Hoopes shared. “We were peaking right when we ended. So I think a follow-up would be super fun.”
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