Pinch Sitter

“Pinch Sitter” was the eighth episode of the first season of Daria. It first aired on MTV on June 9, 1997.

"Pinch Sitter" was written by Anne D. Bernstein.

Plot
Mr. DeMartino's history class is studying the effects of cults on human behavior, with term papers on the subject due by the end of the week. Daria has bigger problems than that, though, as Quinn is pestering her to take over her Saturday night babysitting job (she booked a date for the night without realizing it). Daria is prepared to refuse, until Helen reminds them of the couples workshop being held at their house that night; the decision is easy after that. Quinn, meanwhile, lets it slip that she blew off her babysitting job to go on a date, causing Helen to book an appointment for her with Helen's time management consultant. Quinn is reluctant at first, but dives into the concept head first when she sees the fashionable teen life planners that are available. When Saturday night rolls around, Daria and Quinn head off for their perspective appointments: Quinn with her date to Chez Pierre, and Daria to the Guptys to babysit. Arriving at the Guptys, Daria discovers that they're a family that's so sweet it's sickening, with the children even moreso. They don't watch television (it rots your brain), they don't eat junk food (it rots your teeth), and they don't question authority (it rots your obedience). After several hours of this, Daria can stand it no longer and calls Jane to bail her out. When Jane finally arrives, she and Daria get to work on "deprogramming" the kids. Thanks to some straight talk, classic fairy tales (told as only Daria and Jane can), and a disabled parental lockout on the cable box, both kids start on the road to independent thought. Meanwhile, Quinn's date with Skyler seems to be going well -- he's scoring high on her "date rating system" -- but falls apart at the end of the night when Skyler finds out that she was only dating him because his parents own a boat (she planned on dumping him come wintertime for his best friend, whose parents own a ski house). And at school, Daria gets an "A" on her history paper: "A Real-Life Experiment in Mind Control Deprogramming: My Night at the Guptys."