Populated by a variety of memorable characters, Daria: Is It Fall Yet? packs more intelligent humor into 75 minutes than most sitcoms manage in a full season. With its diva of the disaffected in the title role, MTV's animated series moved into Ghost World territory with this enlightening look at summer vacation, beginning with Daria's dilemma about dating her best friend Jane's ex-boyfriend. Jane's tolerating pretentious bohemians at an artists' retreat, and while Daria's playing "prison guard" at a touchy-feely summer camp, her fashion-drone sister Quinn is getting tutored to compensate for dismal PSAT scores. The razor-sharp script uses Daria's ultra-dry wit and too-cool irony (at times excessive) to skewer everything from upper-crust snobbery to the hazards of adolescent romance. It turns out Daria's outer shell protects a likable adult-in-the-making as she learns lessons that feed her heart as well as her head. --Jeff Shannon
