‘Daria’ Offers Counterpoint To ‘Beavis And Butt-Head’

Yes, it’s true: A flower can blossom in the most unlikely places. So, from the duh-duh-duh dung heap of “Beavis and Butt-head” there now emerges “Daria,” a new animated MTV series on Mondays at 10:30 p.m.

Daria, a 16-year-old with the wisdom of the ages, is as sharp as Beavis and Butt-head are dimwitted. She’s the whiz kid who hung around B&B because she found their moronic ways diverting.

They, on the other hand, insisted on calling her “Diarrhea” (heh, heh, heh). With this new series, Daria triumphantly gets the last laugh.

Daria Morgendorffer and her family have moved to the quintessential suburban town of Lawndale. Daria’s ever-so-cute and empty-headed younger sister, Quinn, is an instant star at Lawndale High, followed by panting admirers and spending most of her time hanging out at the school’s Fashion Club.

Casting a withering eye on her schoolmates (“There are some interesting idiots in the class,” she allows), Daria finds a best friend in Jane Lane, who is into creating post-modern art. Their absolutely favorite daytime soap is “Sick, Sad World.”

Daria first meets Jane in a special class for students suspected of having low self-esteem. Daria warns: “It’s a mistake. I have low esteem for everyone else.” But she kind of enjoys being around Jane, who, having taken the course six times, confides: “I like having low self-esteem. It makes me feel special.”

Successfully completing the class, Daria bestows on a school assembly a dedication to her sister, Quinn, “who has forgotten more about self-esteem than I’ll ever know.”

In short, Daria is the perfect anti-Barbie doll. Merchants of fashion and cosmetics are beneath her contempt. Her refusal to be Miss Goody Consumer borders on the truly subversive. She is every glorious misfit I ever knew.

When an art teacher compliments her on creating the illusion of depth, Daria ever so sweetly replies, “I was thinking of going into politics.” And in the school cafeteria, when Brittany the cheerleader whines that she hates it when the trays are wet, Daria observes, without missing a beat: “That which doesn’t kill us makes us strong.”