Survey reply

Hi folks,

I finally got around to sending in my survey response:

• Age

33

• female or male

Male

• Are you in school? What grade are you in?

Graduated HS in 83.

• How would you characterize your involvement in Daria:

c) tape them all & watch them over and over

• Have you ever purchased any Daria themed merchandise? If so, what?

Yes, the Daria video.

6) Do you search Daria web sites often, or run such a site yourself? If so, how much time do you spend doing so? What is your favorite site?

I've only recently begun to dredge the web for Daria stuff. No more than a couple of hours a week, but it is gradually increasing. I would like to add a modest Daria tribute page to my web site sometime in the near future. So far, my favorite pages are Planet Daria and alt.lawndale.com, although I've only seen a small handful of pages.

• Do you identify with a specific character on the show, and if so, whom?

I identify with both Daria and Jane a little, but only because I was on the fringe when I was in school as well. I also tend to identify with Jake, a bit overwhelmed by life in general, and trying to draw peace from fond childhood memories only to realize that there arent that many.

• Does Daria accurately portray life at you high school?

Well, granting a little artistic license, I'd say that the core social structure is fairly accurate.

• What's your favorite episode and why?

It would be a two-way tie between "I Don't" and "The New Kid". Both were incredibly funny, but beyond that, I liked "I Don't" because I got to see what Daria would be like if she were closer to my age (her Aunt Amy), and "The New Kid" because we got to see Daria let her guard down just a bit when she warmed up to Ted. (I just new that moron would blow it, too. Grr.)

• Are there any other TV shows you like as much? Which ones?

As odd as it may seem, Daria is far and away my favorite show right now. But these are my other favorites:

"Serious" TV: Babylon 5, Millennium, X-Files

"Fun" TV: Ally McBeal, Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast, King of the Hill, Beavis and Butt-Head (almost any good cartoon, really). I was really into South Park, but it's really becoming awful.

• (long answer) Just what makes you like Daria so much?

The show or the character?

Oh, where to begin! I wish I had known a Daria in high school, instead of so many Quinns. I wish I had been as articulate and clever as Daria in high school. Almost everyone on Daria reminds me of someone I went to school with. High school was dreadful for me, and I'm glad to see someone holding their ground instead of letting their brain and soul get ground into paste by their peers and by "the system". I am envious of Daria and Jane's friendship, both as I recall high school and today. And just for good measure, I probably enjoy Jane's character as much as Daria's. Maybe even a little more when Jane's sense of humor is really rolling.

• any other comments that would be useful.

I really hope that this show can keep it together. It has a witty edge that's just delicious. I go through withdrawal when I don't see an episode for a few days. (Okay, so maybe that's not very useful.)

Funny, Your answers are very much like what mine would be, just a little more articulate. (I Just a Dum Mechanic) : ) Anyway I'm also 33 and a Daria fan. In fact I'd have to say Daria is my hero, for the same reasons you put down. My soul was also ground to paste during those years, so I find myself cheering for her as she fights the good fight. Warren http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Garage/6927/

Scott A. Withrow wrote in message ...

Hmm. I wonder how high the correlation is between fondness for Daria and Babylon 5. There are only three shows on TV right now that I would miss a lot: those two, and Diagnosis Murder.

Oh, and going into the recent past, Relativity. I haven't forgiven ABC for shuffling that show around from one weird time slot to another, pulling it in the middle of the season, putting it back, and then cancelling it because it wasn't attracting enough viewers. - - Jonathan Sachs Sand River Software, Inc. To email me, replace the 'x' with an 'a'.

In article , [email] wrote:

What, no King Of The Hill? I'd be very surprised if any Daria fan couldn't find a lot to like about that show as well.

As to you other choices...well, I think the common thread among members of this newsgroup might be that they are likely to have other favorite television shows. Yeah, I know that sounds like a pretty dumb -- or at least painfully obvious and self-evident -- observation, but what I mean is that a) Daria airs on a cable channel (meaning that viewers are those people who are already interested enough in television to shell out every month for a black coaxial line that runs programming into their homes) and b) we're interested enough in at least one program to read a newsgroup devoted to it (meaning we're the sort of people who actively watch programs, rather than just leaving the set on all the time as background noise). These two factors mean we're likely to be a bit more *engaged* in television viewing than most people. I hope it doesn't sound like I'm overintellectualizing here, it's just a thought that occurred to me.

That's television networks for you, eh? I'm glad MTV has been a little more reliable about Daria, and has also committed to backing it for a third season even though it apparently hasn't been pulling in massive advertising dollars or spawning a lot of merchandising tie-ins.

RAB

That's certainly so. I can barely stand to have my TV on when I'm offline, much less on. Sorry, but you-feed-me media pales in comparison to even the cheapest Mac/486PC.

As for the possible parallel fandom with "King of the Hill," count me in as one who likes both shows. A lot, maybe more than is healthy. Babylon 5, not as much, though given the choice between that and a syndie series revival of "LostInSpace", I'd choose the former.

And now Mr Gates wants to bring us WebTV on a TV-tray. Too little too late, I say.

Steve Wright