Beavis and Butt-Head are back

Mike Judge has made his mark with two very different animated series -- "Beavis and Butt-Head," MTV's self-satirizing ode to adolescent stupidity, and "King of the Hill," Fox's long-running paragon of down-home values. Even without them, Judge, 49, would be remembered for writing and directing the live-action "Office Space" (1999), a box-office flop whose rueful observations on workplace life have made it a massive home-video hit and a cultural touchstone.

Tomorrow night at 10, MTV brings "Beavis and Butt-Head" back for a new generation. But the soft-spoken Judge assures us they're still the same old "high" schoolers.

It's been 14 years since "Beavis and Butt-Head" went off the air. Why revive the series now?

You know, I don't know. For me it started with Van Toffler calling and saying he wanted to bring the show back, which he had wanted to do before. They do market research occasionally and they'll find that there's a high awareness, and a lot of people still like it. So I don't know if there's any specific thing other than the usual research that they do.

The title's slightly different. Now, it's "Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head." So are you now like Jackie Collins and Stephen King?

When bought the characters, they said it's going to be called "MTV's Beavis and Butt-Head," and I just thought: "Really? You got to rub it in like that?" So anyway, my manager a while back, when he was going over what I would want if I were to do another movie , said, "Do you want them to call it 'Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head'?" And I said, "Yeah, sure, ask for that."

Daria Morgendorffer was a breakout character spun off into her own very popular, much-beloved show. Any chance Daria will visit the series locale of Highland, Texas, for a guest appearance?

I've been getting asked that so much that I think I'm going to have to make that happen. I really liked that character. When they spun it off, some very underhanded, backstabbing things happened that I wasn't crazy about. But I think the character's great . . . and I really like her with Beavis and Butt-Head. It was kind of nice having one girl who would actually talk to them. I might have to bring her back.