Original subtitles

- I'm telling you, puppets make anything funny.

Give me something that isn't funny.

- A plane crash into a nuclear power plant.

- Okay.

Now picture the same plane crash,

only the cabin is full of screaming puppets

flailing their skinny little puppet arms.

Funny, right?

- Mm, maybe.

Are they on fire?

- Hmm.

- Hey, lawndale high.

Are you ready to par-tay cra-zay?

- What the hell is that?

- If it's an ice cream truck,

that better be some damn good ice cream.

- Wow! - Yeah!

- Oh, my god!

Look at his hair.

- I'm bing.

- And I'm the spatula man.

We're mental in the morning.

- 'Cause you've got to be crazy to make it through high school.

- Yeah!

- All right! - Whoo-hoo!

- Great, you guys.

- Good grief.

- It's lame DJs, Charlie brown.

- Whoo-hoo!

Gah!

- This is so exciting.

Imagine, real-life celebrities

broadcasting all week live from lawndale high.

- They're not celebrities.

- They're DJs.

- Wacky DJs.

And their hilarious antics will soon silence

those naysayers who would have us believe

that lawndale high is a place of gloom.

- Of course, getting rid of the hidden cameras

and bomb sniffing dogs would accomplish the same goal.

- You girls should be thanking me

for caring so much about student morale.

- I don't suppose the school would be receiving a large fee

from the radio station for participating in this stunt.

- Ms. Morgendorffer,

those bomb sniffing dogs have to eat.

- Could puppets make them funny?

- Mm, I withdraw my theory.

- Well, actually, Eric,

would you mind if we wrap this up tomorrow?

Oh, no, that's okay.

No, fine.

It's just that my family was just--

- no, yes, sure, of course.

Not at all.

Anyt-- never.

- Nothing like taco Tuesday, eh, girls?

- If I recall correctly,

taco Thursday was pretty similar.

- I was on the radio today.

Bing and the spatula man invited the fashion club

to critique the outfits of some less stylish students.

- Marconi would be so proud.

- That spatula man is funny.

- As are most men named for kitchen utensils.

- Helen, you're gonna miss out on all the guacamole.

♪ Mom's gonna miss the guacamole ♪

♪ mom's gonna miss the guacamole ♪

- Enough with the guacamole!

No, not you, Eric.

- I think bing has a crush on me.

Daddy, you're using all the cheese!

- Hey, what did the doctor tell you about cheese?

No, not you, Eric.

How would I know what the doctor told you about cheese?

Why, sure.

I'd love to hear what the doctor told you about cheese.

- "What did the doctor tell you about cheese, Jake?"

"What did the doctor tell you about cheese, Jake?"

Why can't a man come home from hard day's work

and enjoy a lousy taco without it turning into--

hey, you know, it's the darndest thing.

I can't feel my arm.

- Yes, I can probably put together a--

- Dad?

- Blerg.

- Daddy?

- ♪ Mom's gonna miss the guacamole ♪

- Jakey!

- We'll have to wait for the test results,

but so far it looks like a very mild heart attack.

- Oh, no.

- A heart attack?

- A very mild heart attack.

- Was there much damage to his heart?

- I don't think so.

If he adopts the right diet, exercise, and attitude,

he should be fine.

I hope you don't mind the question,

but is there anything in your father's home life

that might be causing him stress?

- Are bats sneaking into your neighborhood

disguised as cute flying squirrels?

Rabid rodent rip-off, tonight on sick, sad world.

The bats of death!

They've come for me!

- Don't worry, dad.

It's just the bats of bad TV.

- Oh, jakey.

I promise the girls and I

will take good care of you from now on.

- What's the catch?

- There's no catch, Jake.

That's just your medication talking.

- Assuming he's on any medication.

- This book will tell us what we need to do

now that we have a heart attack survivor in the family.

- And guess what, daddy.

I'm gonna study to be a doctor.

- Hey, that's great.

- Dr. Quinn, medicine moron.

- A heart doctor.

If dad had died,

I would have been freaked out for, like, years.

- That's the spirit, sweetie.

Avenge my death.

- You're not dying, dad.

- Avenge me!

- Jake, you're gonna give yourself a--

never mind.

Honey, is there anything we can get for you?

- Yipe!

- I want my mommy.

- So my grandmother Ruth will be staying with us

while my dad recovers.

- Is this the grandmother who said

she'd give you a hundred bucks if you changed your hair?

- Both my grandmothers said that.

- Spatula man, I see a couple of ladies here

who I bet know how to par-tay.

- We really should start driving between classes.

- Girls, we've got a treasure chest

full of z93 prizes here,

and all you have to do for the key

is tell us on the air

where you love to get mental in the morning.

- I think they have stage fright, spatula man.

- Come on, girls.

Nothing to fear but winning.

Just tell us which station plays the hits

high schoolers love to hear.

- Note to self,

stop by courthouse on way home and pick up restraining order.

- Well, no problemo.

We'll just find some other mental morning party people.

- This will get worse before it gets better.

- I can't believe they gave us free key chains

with a z93 thingy.

- And look, it's a flashlight too.

- Wow, how do they do that?

- They must be made with computers.

- Ruth, it's wonderful to see you.

- Hey.

- Hi, grandma Ruth.

- Yeah, hi.

- Helen, girls.

Still haven't settled on a decorator, I see.

- Well, if you remember, Ruth,

I decided to decorate the house myself.

- Oh, marvelous.

I look forward to seeing it once you get started.

- As a matter of fact, it's already--

- and how are my little granddaughters?

Daria, you look--

you haven't changed a bit.

- Actually, I've had a number of bionic limbs installed.

- Well, I don't know what that means.

But as long as you don't get a tattoo, I'll be happy.

- You mean another tattoo.

- And how's my beautiful little Quinn?

Is that a stethoscope?

- I need to get used

to coordinating outfits around it.

I'm studying to be a heart doctor.

So the next time my dad collapses,

I can save him.

- Quinn, girls as pretty as you don't need to become doctors.

- I know.

But it's like, you know, a calling.

- Where's my jakey?

- Mom, is that you?

- Jakey, you shouldn't be yelling.

Didn't you give him a bell?

- We were just about to, of course.

- Really.

- This doesn't say anything about a bell.

- ♪ La, la-la, la-la la-la ♪

♪ la-la, la-la, la-la ♪

- "Oh, it offends me to the soul

"to hear a robustious periweg-pated fellow

"tear a passion to taters, to very rags,

to split the ears of the groundlings"--

- coming up, our raunch-a-riffic list

of 101 words for sex!

- So the stories were right.

People really do use these peculiar rooms to prepare food.

- Welcome home, dear.

I'm just teaching your mother how to cook.

- Oh, nonsense.

I cook all the time.

Don't I, daria?

- Well--

- what exactly are you making, Helen?

- Chinese chicken with pea pods.

- Mm-hmm.

You do realize that's a piece of fish.

- Ugh, this is so frustrating.

Daria, have you ever read this book?

Thrombocytopenic complications after stent placement

post coronary artery angioplasty.

Maybe you should start off with something easier.

Many coloring books feature hearts and rainbows.

- Come on, jakey.

You've got to eat something.

- But I don't like oatmeal.

- If you eat it, I'll give you some apple juice.

- With a straw?

- Pretend the spoon is an airplane.

Works every time.

Daria, could you feed your father for a minute?

- I'm sure he can--

- thanks, dear.

- Daria, my eldest, my heir.

- Well, if I manage to bump off mom

and make it look like an accident.

- This is serious, daria.

I may not be long for this earth.

And when I go, it could well fall on you

to put things in order.

Your mother, of course, will be so stricken with grief

she'll be unable to function.

And Quinn, she's just so very young.

Oh, god, my little Quinn!

- Dad, you're not dying.

The doctor said you'd be fine after some rest.

- To think I promised to walk you down the aisle one day.

- Now there's a request

I definitely don't remember making.

- Daria, you don't get it.

The reaper could walk into this room at any moment.

- Time for someone's sponge bath.

- Hey, spatula man.

Let's remind our audience

what we're doing here this morning.

- It's simple, bing.

We're gonna make a love match for this young man

live on the air.

What's your name, chief?

- Charles is my name.

Exploring the dark underbelly of passion is my game.

Okay, Charles.

The first girl out here in our audience

to agree to a date with you

is gonna get a free mental in the morning

bumper sticker.

- What do you say, ladies?

- Ew! - Upchuck?

- No way.

- A date for a bumper sticker?

- Even upchuck doesn't deserve this much humiliation.

- Think how the bumper sticker must feel.

- Well, Charles, looks like the response is underwhelming,

to say the least.

- No, no.

They're always shy at first.

It makes them more mysterious.

- Hey, if they won't come to you, Carlos,

the spatula man ain't too proud to go to them.

- Hey!

- Ow.

- Watch it, spatula geek.

- Hey, chick-a-ritas, which one of you lovelies

wants to go out for a night on the town

with my man Charles

and win a free bumper sticker on z93?

- Tiffany dear,

would you please explain to the spatula man

why a bumper sticker cannot possible compensate

for the shame and permanent reputation damage

involved with a single date with Charles ruttheimer?

- Upchuck?

Ew.

- Well done.

- Hey, how about you?

Up for a date with our Don Juan de lawndale?

- No thanks.

- Don't you want to hear your voice on the radio?

Come on.

You look like you could use a date.

- Climb on up here, kitten.

Let me be your ball of yarn.

- Okay, you talked me into it.

- You hear that, everybody?

- I'll just run home first and take a ten-year shower.

- Bed, come on.

I need lumbar support, lumbar support!

- Jake, calm down.

Your father never used to carry on like this.

- Of course not.

Expressing emotion requires a soul.

- What's that supposed to mean?

Dad was a decent, caring man.

- Oh, sure he was.

Caring enough to ship me off to military school

first chance he got.

- But you asked for more structure in your life.

- All I said was I might want to go to tennis camp.

- Oh, that's right.

- But dad twisted my words around,

the same way he twisted my entire adolescence

into a bitter hangman's noose of resentment and isolation.

He wouldn't even teach me to shave.

- Now, Jake.

You know your father had a razor phobia.

- I had to learn behind the munitions hut

from corporal ellenbogen.

- That man with one thumb?

- Daria, what do you think of this pattern?

Your grandmother seems to think our current drapes

aren't cheery enough.

I'll show her cheery.

- This might not be the best time for you to be working

near large panes of glass.

- Oh, darn it.

I thought this surgery thing would be a lot easier.

- Don't worry.

When you operate on real people,

their noses don't light up.

- Can you believe the stomach on this patient guy?

No wonder he has to get all this stuff removed.

- Um, Quinn.

That is the phone, isn't it?

- Sorry, I'm studying.

- Hello?

Mom, it's Mary Anne at the office.

- I'll just have to call her back.

Use the message pad.

- Message pad?

She'll have to get back to you when she regains her sanity.

No, I don't know when that will be.

Okay, bye.

Hello?

Yes, Quinn's here, but she's studying.

Studying.

No, this isn't a prank call.

You called me.

Okay, I'll tell her.

That was--

- message pad.

Darn gall bladder.

- No matter what I did,

he'd always done it better.

- He gave me $50 a month for my allowance.

Allowance!

As if keeping his house spotless and raising his children

was only worth the price of a couple of girdles.

- Tried to mold me into a soldier,

but did he ever let me have a g.I. Joe?

Didn't want his boys playing with dolls, he said.

- Oh, Jake.

I wanted you to have that doll.

- It was an action figure.

- I'm sorry, jakey.

If I could do it all over,

I'd stand up for you against your father.

As a matter of fact,

I'd do a lot of things differently.

Oh, oh, my.

Feel a little faint.

My chest.

- Mommy?

See what you've done, old man?

How many more lives, dad?

How many more lives?

- Daria, what's going on up there?

- I think we may have another patient on our hands.

Anyway, the doctor checked her out,

and she's okay.

It was just gas from my mother's heart-smart Lima bean cupcakes.

- She collapsed right next to your dad?

That's so sweet.

I mean, in a twisted, horrible sort of way.

- I guess.

- They're not still in bed together, are they?

- Heart disease, borderline psychosis:

I shudder to think what lies behind door number three

in the morgendorffer genetic code.

- It could be worse.

You could come from a family of wacky morning DJs.

- Don't remind me.

Between dad and the party Van,

life's become a living hell at home and at school.

- Don't worry.

The Van will move on soon

or be destroyed in a mysterious bombing.

I haven't decided yet.

- There's no place left for me to hide.

- You could always dive into a wooded thicket.

Hey, it works for bunnies.

- Z93 makes me mental in the morning!

- Whoo-hoo!

- Yeah!

- I've seen more people collapse this week.

- That was pretty good.

But good enough to win a t-shirt?

I don't think so.

- There must be some other students out there

who can tell us on the air why z93

makes them mental in the morning.

- Me, me!

- You there, in the green.

Yeah, you!

- Once again,

I'm being personally addressed by a morning dj.

- That's it.

I want your autograph.

- You've been avoiding us all week long.

Why not come up here

and tell us why z93 makes you mental in the morning?

- Free t-shirt.

- It's two sizes too large and tissue thin.

How can you resist?

- I'd finally have a decent outfit for the auto show.

- But are you mental in the morning?

- You know, I think I am.

A few days ago, my father had a heart attack,

forcing me to admit his mortality to myself

for the first time.

Accepting this grim new knowledge

has been especially difficult,

as I've been under constant yammering assault

by two utterly brainless and talentless

so-called radio personalities.

And so for these reasons, i, daria morgendorffer,

am mental in the morning.

- What do you think?

It's basically your chili recipe

but with half the fat.

- Jake will know the difference.

He grew up with my chili.

- And now he's had a heart attack.

- I'm sure you did the best you could.

Chili's not easy for someone who so rarely

gets to cook for her family.

Now, Ruth--

Quinn?

- Did you know the heart can take blue blood and make it red?

- Quinn, if you don't take your nose out of that book

from time to time, you're going to get wrinkles.

- I thought of that.

But the lady at the makeup counter said reading is okay

as long as I pace myself.

- Wouldn't it just be easier just to marry a nice doctor?

Then you could stay home with your children

and have dinner on the table for your husband every night.

- Just what are you getting at, Ruth?

- She wants you both to model your lives after hers.

And who could blame her?

After all, you were just telling dad yesterday

how you made all the right decisions in your life.

Right, grandma?

- I--well--

I need to check on the laundry.

- You both owe me.

- How does she do that?

- You got me.

- How are you feeling, jakey?

- Oh, better, I guess.

It's just a little difficult when your first major organ

decides to betray you.

- Just be thankful your pancreas is still on your side.

- Daria, how am I doing as a dad?

- Um, I'm not sure what you mean.

- My father always had to point out how I was screwing up.

And that screwed me up.

I just want to make sure I never make you girls feel that way,

less worthwhile or intelligent than your old man.

- Here, I did the hard parts of the crossword for you.

Thanks, kiddo.

- Don't worry, dad.

I'm sure you're doing better than your father did.

For starters, wasn't he dead at your age?

- Hey!

- Do doctors in operating rooms have to wear these masks?

Because they can't be good for your pores.

- Not now, Quinn!

I mixed up the sugar and the salt again.

- Yahoo!

I'm better than him, better than him at living.

He was dead at my age.

Wahoo!

- Was that jakey?

- Mom, does this mean that daddy isn't going to die?

- I think it's safe to say that daddy's better now, honey.

- Where's that message pad?

- You can use this phone.

I'll use my cellular.

- Yay!

Hello, front lawn.

Hello, garbage truck!

Merry Christmas,

you wonderful old garden gnome.

- So grandma Ruth just took off?

- She finally realized she was doing more harm than good.

- And did you perhaps help her realize that?

- I may have had a hand in her epiphany.

- Hope you washed it thoroughly.

So with the party Van gone,

I guess your life is back to normal

at school and at home.

- You know, as stupid as both places are,

I see now that they could be a lot worse.

- Why, daria, are you becoming an optimist?

- Hmm, I'm not sure.

Hold up your glass.

- Nope, still half empty.

- Guess it was just a phase.

- Although the half that's there looks delightfully refreshing.

- All right, party pizza people.

This is the z93 party Van,

and we'll be broadcasting live all week from right here

at the best pizza place in town.

Now, who here digs DJs?