Hail Dariaholics,

First, the news.  Two rumours of interest going around.  One is good, one isn't.  The good first:  "Esteemsters" is going to be re-run Sunday evening at 9 (presumably EST, since that's the time on MTV's site... I think).  This is good for all of you out there who, like me, have yet to see the inaugural episode of the best cartoon on TV.  Now for the bad:  Nickelodeon is picking up Daria.  This one really puzzles me.  Do they expect it to appeal to their normal audience?  I mean, who is going to say "Oh, look, Daria is on between Inspector Gadget and Rugrats, let's watch!"?  This would be a bad move for MTV producers, as it would give them a black mark on their record when it inevitably fails.  If some idiotic move on the part of network execs kills this show (hmm, where have we seen that before?), I'm going to be rather pissed.  Well, we can always hold a letter writing campaign, a-la-Star Trek.

Now, for the one major bone of contention I have to pick with this otherwise superior show.  It has one huge, glaring, fault that annoys me to no end.  Where are the smart, decent guys?  Every single guy in the show is either a moron or a jerk (well, Mack doesn't count.  He's a minority).  Frankly, this white-male bashing bugs me (well, I am a white male, afterall).  However, since it's the PC think to do, I doubt it'll change soon.  Trent is the closest we get, and he's... well, he's Trent.  I daresay I'll be getting some nasty e-mail about this.  Go ahead.  Mail me.  If I find your comments and/or opinions interesting, I'll post them here, along with a possible rebuttal.  If you send some mindless insults (sadly, this seems to be the mainstay of the times) you will be ignored, or if I'm in a bad mood, flamed.  Now, on with my rant (which may stray from the topic of Daria, but I"ll try to keep on track).  I am 20, smart, creative (well, I think so.  Sometimes), white and male.  While Mrs. (Mss?  Miss?) Barch is a parody of the standard white-male basher, they have yet to break the mold themselves.  White males in the show:  Upchuck - probably smart (he did the maze project by himself) but an obnoxious twerp; Kevin - Star of the football team and brain-dead twerp; Jake Morgendorffer - kind but essentially clueless father of Daria, dominated by his wife; Mr. O'Niel - kind, sensitive, but a bit of a burk; Mr. DiMartino - not sure about this guy, he's kinda got the whole 'disgruntled postal employee' thing going with the way he talks; Trent - slacker guitarist who seems a few twinkles short of a glimmer.  When do we get the male version of Daria or Jane?  I was very much like Daria in High School (I suspect most Dariaholics identify with her, gee wonder why ;), but not nearly as outspoken.  Not all guys are stupid and/or complete twits.  Don't bother mailing me about discrimination in the school systems, or how girls have low-self esteem.  Let me throw a few factoids out now, so I don't have to answer everyone separately.

C:  Girls have lower test scores in science and math, so the teacher must be biased towards boys.
A:  Perhaps, but boys get lower scores in english and related subjects, in about the same ratio.  Perhaps it's not (just) the teachers.

C:  More girls attempt suicide (4:1 ratio)
A: More buys succeed (4-5:1 ratio)

C:  Women get paid less than men in the same positions (bad choice of words... make that jobs)
A:  Last report I saw had women paid around 90% of men in many fields, and more then men in many others

There, those are three of the biggest gender-bias arguments perpetrated by the media and women's (sorry, womyn's) libbers and their counters.  Now, back to Daria:  we've got minorities, a female lead, and assorted dips.  Is it too much to ask that there's a realistic male figure?  (I happen to think that Daria and Jane are two of the best portrayed teens on TV)  Anyway, this brings up one other point:  Where are Mack and Jodie?  So far, they've had very minor roles, when they show up at all.  I'd like to find out more about them.  Daria writers, if you guys ever bother to check the Daria Webring pages, USE THEM MORE!  You already have the character art and (presumably) character bios, so where are they?

I guess that's about it for now.  Long rants will not be normal for this section, but it's been bugging me (besides, I need to save other topics for some other time ;).  This section should be updated weekly or so, but no promises.

Wraith