Daria Behind The Scenes Special

MTV's Daria Behind The Scenes Special was as its name sounds: a pre-S4 (after Amir Williams was cast as Mack) behind-the-scenes episode about how Daria was made, hosted by Janeane Garofalo ("no, I am not Daria! Geez, asshole!") and directed by Amy Palker. Facts include:

• Daria was redesigned to be, in Karen Disher's words, a "little more attractive... little taller, little slimmer" than on Beavis and Butt-head.

• Brittany Taylor's voice is based on Loretta from Cheers and her design on Jenny McCarthy in Singled Out. Timothy O'Neill's voice was based on one of Marc Thompson's own teachers. Wendy Hoopes says Jane is "most close to me" in tone.

• A cheerful Julian Rebolledo says Jake and Helen's marriage is "falling apart".

• Glenn Eichler says near the end of each season, he and writers will discuss "what we did badly this year and not do that again next year".

• Daria voice acting was all done solo in booths, never in groups (a norm for the industry).

• Character designs are often taken from contemporary teen media. An example given by design supervisor Olivia Ward is the Lawndale High School cheerleaders: Angie is based on Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicky on Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Lisa on Katy Holmes.

• It's said that in the "upcoming season, Daria embarks on a relationship with someone, kind of showing that Daria is growing as a character". They don't say who with and the Special evilly shows a clip of Trent talking to Daria.

• Karen Disher says the show has gradually moved on from Daria being an outcast as other students now "respect her... because she respects herself."

During all of this, Eichler constantly sounds like Daria in tone and word.

Links

The special on Youtube