Cricket chirps again! (LOOOONG message!)

WARNING: The following post is VERY LONG and contains references to "Is It Fall Yet?" and Season 5. Reader discretion is advised.

SHORT SPOILER SPACE. . . .

Hey, y'all - I'm back!

It's been a while since I've posted more than a few lines here. With 2 other people at home using this computer, I've had to practically beg for time just to glance at my e-mail. Throw in recent surgery, family crises, and working overtime for the last several weeks, & I've barely had either time or energy to even lurk. It drove me nuts, more than a week at a time without a.t.d. because 1) I really missed you guys {J} and 2) I still hadn't heard about any decision regarding Season 6.

Well, my life has settled down some since I posted my last plea to write those letters. <g> (To sum up: I've recovered from my surgery; the family crises have cooled down - for now, anyway; and my job is . . . well, as I post this, I still have a job for now.) For the last month, there have been two major questions on my mind: 1) will I have my current job for much longer? And 2) will my favorite TV show continue past this season?

It's been said, "no news is good news" - meaning that the longer you go without having an update on a situation, the more likely that the situation will have a positive outcome. Well, that may be true in some cases, but when it comes to employment prospects & TV show productions, that "no news is good news" deal is a steaming load of kukae.

Over the last 7 months, I've sent out letters containing resumes & lasagna boxes (not in the same letter - duh!), and hoping, praying, BEGGING for some sort of response whether it be good, bad, or indifferent. And after week after week of checking my snail mail & e-mail and this n.g. and Daria websites, I was getting a little frustrated. But I remained patient as Thanksgiving came and went without any answers. Then Christmas came and went. Then New Year's. Then Martin Luther King Jr. Day. By Groundhog Day, it was approaching unbearable - no replies form employers, no updates on the n.g. or the Daria sites, no Issue # 24 of 'TOON Magazine or big fat check from Ed McMahon in my mailbox.

So, in the meantime, I reanalyze and rewrite my resumes. I work overtime at my current "temp" job (which I've had for almost TWO YEARS). I rewatch "Is It Fall Yet" and reread "Diaries" and "Database" and ponder the Daria time-space continuum. (Let's see, Season 1 was spring and summer . . . .) I start working out to take off these extra 40+ pounds. I bide my time until I get a job interview and Season 5 premieres and surf job websites and tape the Sarcastathon.

On Monday evening, Feb. 19, I made myself some popcorn (lite, with no butter), settled down in front of my TV, turned on the VCR, and watched and taped Daria Episode # 501. The topic of school funding is relevant - only a couple weeks earlier the governor of AL made front -page headlines when he announced a proration of the state's public education budget. And when I saw that Lawndale newspaper headline about school funding cuts, and the sideline story with the governor saying "Crap!" I found it hilarious! (Unfortunately, that's about where the hilarity ended for me.)

OK, I thought that #501 was going to give me some insight into the Daria timeline - at first. The public meeting that Ms. Li had scheduled for Sunday evening the 30th, which tuned out to be Super Bowl Sunday. FYI: Super Bowl XXXIV was played on Sunday, January 30, 2000. (No. I don't remember where the game was held or what the final score was, but IIRC the Oakland Raiders beat the Tennessee Titans.) So, that would mean that the events of "Daria" take place about one year before they air in the US - which makes sense. OK. THEN . . . you've got this whole deal with the Lawndale Lions forfeiting a football game because all the players (except Mack) drank too much of that dang soda. OK, the point is made - school needs $, Ms. Li enters into contract with Satan - I mean, a soda company; the company heavily promotes the soda at LHS, students are "encouraged" by Ms. Li to drink more soda, the football team drinks too much, gets sick & forfeits the game. Ha, ha, funny. Except it all raises one little question: Is Lawndale High in a school system that has year-round football? In my neck of the woods, H.S. football season is over with by mid- December - WEEKS before the Super Bowl. Do some school systems have a spring -semester football schedule? Is there a public school equivalent of the USFL/XFL someplace? Otherwise, that little football team subplot winds up being less realistic than DTAH. Overall, "Fizz Ed" was very slapsticky and predictable - not Daria's best season premiere. I come away hoping that the rest of S. 5 improves, but with a lame start to S. 5 and no word on S. 6, things do not bode well.

I go to work the next day and work through lunch and work overtime and try not to think about how the Ultra Cola cans resemble the old Mello Yello packaging. I wonder if there will be a song for the closing credits of "Sappy Anniversary," and Vitamin C's "Unhappy Anniversary" is stuck in my head for about 5 days.

I watched and taped Episode # 502. The whole" 6-month anniversary" thing gave me a warm-and-fuzzy yet made me cringe at the same time. (I've only had one relationship in my whole life that lasted more than 6 weeks, much less 6 months. And, I thought I was the only one who went on a date that involved reading greeting cards at the drug store. I thought that was a cute touch to the whole episode. And Daria as a chair - priceless! But Tom really does need to get a clue & take Daria out in public once in a while.) As for Jake & the whole dot.com thing - I know people who are so perplexed about computers and the Internet that they make Jake look like Steve Wozniak or Bill Gates. In the end, SA was better than FE - but still not a GREAT episode. Meanwhile, it seems the answer to the show's fate lies in an upcoming issue of 'TOON, which has yet to grace my mailbox a month after I ordered it through the mail. Will the news be good or bad? Are the first 2 eps of S. 5 indicative of the show's future? And what's this I'm hearing about another Daria movie? (And why has MTV changed up the closing credits on all its shows, not just Daria?)

A little over a week ago, I'm called into my boss' office. The gist of the conversation is this: the company is making changes, there will be no new hires, and my job may vanish in the near future. That definitely puts a damper on my weekend as I await the airing of "Fat Like Me."

In Episode # 503, I get to see:

1) Sandi FINALLY get what's coming to her - although she broke her leg instead of her neck (ooh, Cheryl, that's CRUEL - shame on you!);

2) Quinn choosing NOT to sink to Sandi's level and actually HELPING Sandi instead of stabbing her in the back (the changes Quinn made in IIFY are really starting to bear good fruit);

3) Tiffany make a witty remark ("long live the Quinn!"): a glimmer of hope - she's not that empty-headed after all; and

4) Stacy, at long last, stops being a doormat and shows the backbone we all believed she had: making a strong (albeit unsuccessful) attempt at keeping the Fashion Club alive, telling off Tiffany for her stupidity (turn off the glimmer, she IS that empty-headed), agreeing with Quinn on a point and not cowering to Sandi's glare.

Bottom line, the FC as we've known it is history.

The only downside to FLM: Daria & Jane seemed pissed at each other the whole time (I'm right/no I'm right/let's make a bet), and Tom wasn't even MENTIONED at all. (BTW: where did Jane get $80 anyway?) I make a quick post to the n.g. regarding Stacy and get ready for work the next day.

Although #503 was the best of S.5 thus far, it seemed to portend the beginning of the end for the show. After all, this season marks Daria & Jane's senior year, and some of the show's major conflicts (Helen/Jake, Daria/Jane and now Quinn/Sandi) are headed toward some resolution, if not already resolved. Also, S.4 seemed to cover an entire school year (from Homecoming in the fall to the whole Jane-Tom-Daria deal in May (according to SA, Daria & Tom first kissed in May - placing their 6-month anniversary in November); that led into the summer portrayed in IIFY, which was the bridge to the next school year in S. 5. So, I figured, unless Glenn Eichler et al. Revert to the "2 seasons = 1 year" formula, S.5 could just go through the whole school year in one season and wrap up Daria's high school days.

This past week, I finally started getting responses to my recent job inquiries. The responses have all been the same: NO. Of course, I am disappointed, but not discouraged. At least one of my 2 questions has been answered. And then yesterday (March 10), I finally get a chance to check out a.t.d. After 7 months, I get the answer to my second question. Once again, for the second time this week, the answer is NO.

There will be no Season 6 for Daria.

Again, I am disappointed, but not discouraged. Once I learned the reasons why Daria wouldn't be renewed, I had to agree with Glenn and Abby: it would be much better to end the series as a high-quality program, rather than let it deteriorate into unwatchable dreck (like much of what's on TV right now).

I don't see our recent letter-writing campaign as a failure at all. In fact, it may have influenced the decision to quit while they were ahead. They owed it to the fans - and to themselves - to keep the show as innovative and intelligent as possible, and end it before it could become an embarrassment even to MTV (if that's possible). And let's face it - how could they really top Season 4? So, for those of you who wrote those letters and sent those lasagna boxes to Mr. Graden, take heart: we will at least get to see Our Heroine go out in style and dignity, and not watch the show die a slow, merciless death like other quality shows (e.g., Designing Women, Cheers, MASH, Moonlighting, to name a few). And I am confident that the show won't degrade rapidly like, say, Red Dwarf. (BTW: could someone tell me what the f**k happened with THAT show? I was a loyal viewer in the beginning, but those later eps that PBS aired were just awful. I remember watching one episode for the first five minutes, then abandoning it and never looking back again - not even to watch the reruns.) So, when you think of what Daria's fate could very well have been, I have to believe that we did SAVE DARIA after all.

In about 5 or 6 months from now, we in the US will watch Daria leave Lawndale High and enter the world of young adulthood. Around that same time, I will turn 35 and enter the world of middle-aged adulthood. In the meantime, there are many questions for me to ponder, such as:

1) Will I finally have a better job by the time Episode #513 hits the air? 2) Will I have any job at all by then? 3) What will happen to this newsgroup after #513 and the next Daria movie have aired? 4) How long will MTV keep the Daria site up after the last new episode? 5) What happens to all the fan-based Daria websites? Will folks still create new fanfics? 6) Will we actually see all the eps released on VHS/DVD sometime before they enter the public domain around 2092? 7) Will there FINALLY be a Daria soundtrack? 8) What did Brian Graden do with all those lasagna boxes?

For now, I go back to job-searching, letter-writing, and resume-faxing. Until my job situation is resolved, the letters must continue.

Daria's situation is pretty much resolved, but I'll probably send one more letter to MTV - to thank them for five seasons of a great show that might never have seen the light of day on a non-cable network.

See y'all again in about a week.

Chirping through the night (& wondering which local channel will pick up Daria in syndication),

Cricket

Cheryl said:

I agree -- it went flat.

That was one of the best scenes :)

Pity Tom -- part of the reason Daria fell in love with him was because he's not conventional; he may not yet have figured out that there are a lot of ways in which Daria _is_ conventional, and they're not necessarily the ones he would have expected :)

Did you notice how surprised and then touched Sandi was when Quinn was nice to her? Quinn really reached Sandi's better side, and I think that Sandi really sees Quinn as a _friend_ now, not just a competitor for popularity.

Quinn increased her status with all three FC members -- and she did it in a way that made all of them _like_ her more, and that _helped_ them all become better people. And she did it by following the decency at her own core, not by doing something horribly manipulative.

Yep. They're still the FC, but now they're _really_ friends.

Just a game, really.

Well, now see talking about Tom with each other a lot wouldn't be a _good_ idea for them!

Some job? Her mom? The Lanes are flaky, but they're not really _poor_.

much

I'm sad, but ...

Hey, if Daria ends on a high note, more chance of a spin-off someday. Think postiive :)

And at least we won't have to deal with crappy seasons we'll want to forget ...

If he hasn't figured it out, he's being a bit slow. The argument they had in IIFY over his not inviting Daria to the charity ball, and not introducing Daria to his parents, should have provided a BIG clue. And her "cape over the mud puddle" remark in ILAP should have told him that this girl has a seriously romantic side.

Note to Tom: Daria's not just an un-artistic Jane with eyeglasses.

I don't think Sandi seriously believed she had any real friends until this (and she was probably right) - she felt she had to intimidate people into pretending to be her friends. (Makes you wonder how she got dates.)

Stacy and Tiffany were openly happy to NOT have Sandi around - and overjoyed when they heard she'd resigned. Tiffany's "oh, well" sounded like she's taken sarcasm lessons from Daria (perhaps in exchange for the social skills counseling she gave Daria in "It Happened One Nut"? :-) )

It looks that way. In the last scene it looked like Sandi was realizing she just can't intimidate the other three any more - yet the sky did not fall, nor did hell freeze over.

M Man

MMan said:

Daria

Well, remember that Daria goes out of her ways to downplay it -- and that Tom doesn't get to see her daydreams like we do. But I suspect that usually he gets things right ...

Of course, _Jane's_ probably more romantic than she usually lets on, too.

To the FC, "dating" and "friendship" are two totally separate spheres of activity. "Dating" isn't about love, liking, or even simple sexual attraction -- kissing and whatever other liberties one permits are simply the price one pays to keep a high-status male in one's company, and hence enhancing one's own status.

We know that Quinn has _once_ truly liked a guy -- her tutor Dave, from IIFY. We also know that Stacy is bitterly hurt by rejection, but we don't know if this is because she really likes her dates or because she resents the imputation of lowered social status.

Sandi has probably never really liked anyone, or if she has she's probably been very nastily rejected by them. I wouldn't be surprised if Quinn _is_ the first real friend Sandi's ever had, of either sex.

Tiffany's so self-absorbed I'm not sure that she even really notices that anyone else exists, save on a very minimal level.

I caught that too. Quinn was the only one genuinely glad to have Sandi back.

Sar ... cas ... mm ... can ... be ... ve-ry ...  ;-)

Well, true enough that she downplays it. And I only mentioned things Tom had an opportunity to see, not Daria's daydreams.

Even though, unlike Tom, I live outside the TV screen and DO get to see Daria's daydreams, I was still struck by Daria's "cape over the mud puddle" remark in ILAP. And since Tom basically knew Daria, at that point, only as Jane's anti-social best friend, I think it would have struck him too.

She could scarcely be less romantic than she lets on.

Referring again to ILAP: When Tom thanked Daria for "sharing the moment" I remember thinking at the time that the significance of those words would have been lost on Jane - she probably would have thought them corny, if she attached any significance to them at all.

Daria's eyes got wide and she replied "you're welcome" very solemnly and questioningly.

The only really romantic moment I can remember between Tom and Jane was the swingset scene in DDMD - when it was too late for them.

I think it's because she believes every negative thing anyone else says or implies - or that she thinks someone has said or implied. And she puts the worst possible spin on it. In IIFY, David just frowned at her "carpetbagger/saddlebagger" remark, but it was enough for her to declare that she'd never amount to anything and go into a full-fledged crying jag.

Let's hope that the change we saw in FLM is permanent and that's all in the past.

It's scenes like that (in IIFY) that made some of us feel like standing up and cheering - hell, I actually did - when Stacy told Tiffany off in FLM.

Almost certainly she is, at least since early childhood.

<Tiffany>

Do you think I'd look pretty on a minimal level?

</Tiffany>

:-)

That's true - I take it you're referring to the last scene where Sandi is back. But I was really referring to the earlier scene where Sandi calls in by speakerphone. Stacy and Tiffany seemed quite happy talking with Quinn. When Sandi called, their shoulders slumped and their faces dropped.

Purple? Useful? Hard to spell? Let me read that myself ...

:-)

M Man

On 11 Mar 2001 22:24:34 GMT, [email] (Cricket) wrote:

Welcome back, counsellor.

<snippage>

Yes.

Yes. It'll be that better one you've worked hard to find. (You ARE working hard, aren't you?) ;-)

Thanks to the inertia that is USENET, this group will be around well after people start to ask, "what is TV?" and laugh at the idea of entertainment coming through a wire that isn't already implanted in your brain.

Considering that the last time I checked, the "Downtown" site was still up, I'd say it'll be up for a while.

I don't know, and yes. Websites are work. Webmeisters/mistresses burn out. There'll always be some turnover. But people are still writing old ST fics. As long as people still stumble across the show, they'll still start writing fics. Now, whether they *finish* them... ;-)

No, but we will have those mudflaps I've been begging for for all these years.

I think there are already a few underground versions floating around...

He didn't do anything with them. He had his assistant recycle 'em ages ago. ;-)

Keep circulating the resumes!

Probably a very good idea. I'll do it m'self one o' these days... hopefully before all of the show's staff disappear for whereabouts unknown. ;-)

I hope they all get to ride off into the sunset. It's such a lovely way to end a story, don'cha think? ;-)

Rich, who is now on Spring Break, taking a rest from his 70-80 hour/week schedule so that he can catch up on "SportsNight."

Mr. O'Neill: Let's pledge to make Daria's dream a reality!

Daria: You mean the one where people walking down the street burst into flames?

Mr. O'Neill: The coffeehouse!

In article , Cricket wrote:

It never really got any better than the third and fourth series. Briefly,

1. The various members were stuck on a Starbug chasing Red Dwarf which was lost for some reason never sufficiently explored.

2. They finally realised that Red Dwarf had been disassembled by Krytens' nanobots (his repair kit, effectively) and that they had been chasing a shadow all this time.

3. Rimmer leaves Red Dwarf to become the latest incarnation of Ace. He is replaced by a version of Kochanski from another dimension.

4. The dimension connects via a bridge as a result of the explosion when the future Starbug which was created by a badly installed time drive was negated after Rimmer blew the time drive up.

5. The nanobots reconstruct the Red Dwarf, complete with the entire crew. Lister then has to explain his "borrowing" of a Starbug, it's destruction on arrival and various other rule breakings. And that is before getting onto the subject of why they are 3 million light years from Earth.

6. To aid him in his trial, Lister enlists the aid of Rimmer (as in the reconstructed Rimmer, who was originally responsible for blowing up the ship).

7. Lister, Rimmer, Kryten, Cat and Kochanski end up in the prison level. They become part of a suicide force used as a reconnaisance group.

8. The eighth series ends there. There is a film planned, but after that the various folk involved have decided to stop further work on the series. Heard nothing since then.

9. You are absolutely correct; the later series became increasingly boring. The BBC did release a couple of outtake tapes though...

I'm still coming to terms with Daria's demise, although I'll probably not see series 5 for at least a year, so death is suspended for a while. If I was honest, however, I'm glad that I won't see Daria wrestle with student life and subside into adult complacency. I just hope that no Hollyweird idiot then tries to turn the series into a cynical real life version...

And will I go to hell because I like mushrooms on my pizza?

Hmmm.

Chika Miyuka said:

I don't know that Daria's going to be a particularly "complacent" adult. Someone like her has a very good chance of accomplishing something unique and special in life.

I _would_ be sad if someone else took over the concept and didn't realize this, though.

In article , Jordan S.

I really hope she does (suspending the obvious). Trouble is that I well recall the days when I was the iconoclastic intellectual. When I remember all the things I did and said, then life took over and ground it out of me, and here I am now, and you can have it. Then I look around and see how many other people are similarly afflicted... there are so many Darias in the world.

I get the feeling that this is the very reason why cutting off here would be a good idea. Whichever way the inmates of Lawndale went, and there are plenty of options beyond high school, someone would hate it. Mind you, it also allows us all to imagine the future for ourselves, adjusting the gloom to suit personal tastes. Or that is what I hope.

Yeah. I'll still miss _Daria_ (and Daria, and Jane, and Helen, and ...), but it's probably best they stop while the promise is high and the premise is intact. And I remember all too well what happened to my previous favorite show -- Buffy -- when *they* all left high school.

And maybe I'll finally wean myself from the idiot box. (Keeping my VCR and DVD player, of course ...)