Amy made her first appearance on the show Daria, in the episode "I Don't", which premiered March 1998. As Daria's "Aunt" Amy, she quickly made an impression as the only cynical, level-headed adult at what turned out to be a sorry mess of a wedding. It was in this episode that Amy would utter some memorable lines, like "Sarcasm: it's a great way to deal," and "What's the point of a senseless tragedy if you can't find a little humor in it?"

Needless to say, she and Daria bonded right away.

Amy's second appearance came via a brief phone conversation with Daria in the Third Season premiere, "Through a Lens Darkly." After Daria shared her concerns about getting contact lenses, Amy advised her to not worry about becoming vain, because contacts can't change one's personality. (Never mind that her personality did a 180 after her glasses got written out of Abruptly Amy.)

Amy's most recent appearance on Daria came in Episode 510, "Aunt Nauseam," which premiered June 4, 2001... a year after Abruptly Amy's debut. Sources close to the show state that A.A.'s producers had lobbied furiously to get a "special guest" episode for Amy and Rita in order to better promote the floundering spinoff. Unfortunately, that also meant reprising their old roles. After growing accustomed to the limelight, Amy chaffed at having to squeeze back into her role as Daria's wise aunt. Reportedly she stormed off the set at one point, shouting: "I'm the STAR, dammit! And I don't even show up until the third act! And Rita has more lines than me?! What the HELL is going on?!"

Rita, herself, found it less difficult to reprise her role as the ne'er-do-well Barksdale sister. As she explained: "Rita doesn't have a drinking problem, but she has many, many other problems. I like playing troubled women." Her only quibble was with having a daughter who was almost as old as her character on A.A. "She's twenty-four and I'm twenty-eight? That's... creepy."

Tensions ran high throughout much of the shoot, making the tension in the episode itself seem negligible. The Daria cast resented having to surrender control for what was little more than a crossover episode. Jane Lane has reportedly sued the producers of Daria, claiming she was only allowed to say one line, when her contract clearly specified a three line minimum per episode.

In spite of the fact that Amy had to put on a more restrained persona for her guest appearance, some of her show's trademark chaos filtered through. Most notably in the scene where Amy fails to stop her sisters' fight and instead becomes just as emotional as they.

By the final shots, everyone was happy it was over, especially Helen and Amy. Both reportedly had to be prevented from strangling each other during the hugging scene.