Nowadays, MTV is best-known for its reality shows such as The Hills. But back in the 1990s, many of their best shows were scripted animation. Specifically, Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head and Daria were the two biggies that many fans wish would be given a revamp or continuation today. While Beavis and Butt-Head was extremely successful, MTV really needed a show that targeted a slightly different fanbase. This is one of the main reasons why Daria was created. Although Beavis and Butt-Head was far more influential on the show than even Daria's biggest fans may know...
Beavis And Butt-Head Were LOATHED By Women
Mike Judge is a genius. His HBO show, Silicon Valley, and Fox show, the criminally underappreciated King of The Hill, are two of his most notable series. But Beavis and Butt-Head was what really made this showrunner a household name. But the show was only popular among boys. In fact, according to a fascinating article by Vice, the show tested VERY low with girls. This is why the character of Daria Morgendorffer was created on the series. And this young woman eventually became the star of her very own animated spin-off. Daria was created by Susie Lewis and Glenn Eichler, a writer on Beavis and Butt-Head who was responsible for birthing the character. Mike Judge, apparently, wanted nothing to do with the spin-off as he was already involved with other projects. Even without him, Daria became the longest-running animated show on the MTV network. But that wouldn't have happened without the two metal-loving doofuses, Beavis and Butt-Head.
According to Beavis and Butt-Head writer, David Felton, and the founder of MTV Animation, Abby Terkuhle, people constantly criticized Mike's show as it didn't have any smart characters nor any women to speak of. In fact, Beavis and Butt-Head were called 'sexist'.
"Beavis and Butt-Head were very sexist," David Felton admitted. "Women didn't like the show because all they talked about were boobs—even though [the characters] were so naive that they never had sex at all. I don't think they would've known what to do if they had the chance [to have sex]."
Not even Susie Lewis (the co-creator of Daria) said she would've watched Beavis and Butt-Head had she not done some work for it. There were even female animators who refused to work on the show because they thought it was over-the-line or in poor taste.
The Creation Of Daria Morgendorffer
"At that point, Mike Judge wasn't overly confident about drawing female characters," producer John Garrett Andrews said. "One day, we were having a meeting with the studio and I drew a version of Daria on a paper plate."
"I was the only female writer on the Beavis staff at the time, so I was the default choice [for Daria]," Tracy Grandstaff, the eventual voice of Daria Morgendorffer, said. "Janeane Garofalo from the Ben Stiller Show [was a Daria influence] for sure, as well as my own personal inner dialogue from junior high and high school in Kalamazoo, Michigan—and Sara Gilbert from Roseanne, probably more than anyone."
For Daria's role on Beavis and Butt-Head, David Felton wrote her as though she wasn't a sexual object for the two boys to ogle. Instead, she was assigned to work with them on a science project and the two boys would use her as an encyclopedia of sorts... Mostly for sex. But she herself wasn't objectified by them.
Around 1994/1995, MTV was really getting a lot of criticism for a lack of female representation in their shows. This caused them to put some money into developing ideas for female-led shows.
"We did five pilots with female leads," John said. "There was one called Sneeze Louise, which was a girl who would sneeze when people were lying. There was another one called Dracworld, which was kind of pre-Twilight. There was one called Missy the Two-Headed Girl, who was two personalities in one body—and one just called Cartoon Girl. We were down to almost no more pilot money after the first four were shot, and I said to Abby Terkuhle, 'Why don't we spin Daria off to her own series?' He was open to it, so I called Mike Judge, who said, 'I don't mind as long as I don't have to do anything.' We had money left for a storyboard shot to a track, which was enough to get the point across."
The Daria pilot tested the highest out of all of MTV's pilots that year, but they were concerned that the show appealed to a younger fanbase than they had intended. But their decision to keep it on eventually paid off.