Degrassi

There has been a lot of posting lately about television and what we watch, and I’m here to say I am a big fan of “Degrassi: The Next Generation”. Entertainment Weekly loves Degrassi, and why not? It’s a great show! It’s a continuation of the late 80s/early 90s Canadian teen dramas “Degrassi Junior High” and “Degrassi High School”.

Before you say, “It’s been done”, keep in mind that, yes, it’s been done- by Degrassi. That is, they have inspired tons of other teen melodramas including the OC. (Not that I’ve ever watched that show- it’s such fantasy. Although I’m guilty of having watched 90210, which was just as bad.) Degrassi alums from the 80s are now adults who have their own kids or stepkids and we get to follow those new young lives in the Next Generation.

My favorite storyline was the love triangle in which Manny, 14, steals the boyfriend of 16-year-old Ashley, who won’t sleep with him (Craig, 16). I loved the way Manny went after what she wanted. They had gone out once but Craig thought she was too young. Well, that was in 2001 so in this new 2002 story she was dressing to get attention- with low-rise jeans and peek-a-boo thongs. Craig was too busy having a relationship, though, and planning a “special night” with Ashley, only he blew it by confiding in class punk Spinner, who at a party throws an inflated condom at Craig and Ashley is furious. “We haven’t even had sex yet and you’re already bragging to your friends!” she bellows. She ends up slapping him and leaving. Manny is watching. She follows him and they go to his place. She asks him to play the song he wrote for Ashley, saying if someone did that for her…well she takes his guitar away and then…BIG TROUBLE FOR THE NEXT SEASON. Manny ends up pregnant and she gets an abortion. The abortion episode has not (and will not?) air in the U.S. and I am dying to see it! I love Manny although this season she is kind of lame, wanting to be an actress and getting drunk and flashing the new guy at school while his camcorder rolled. The guy ends up e-mailing everyone the video, calling it “Degrassi Girls Gone Wild!” (But then he gets in trouble with his mom- the principal.)

Abortion had been tackled in the old Degrassi too but I have not seen that either. Some of the situations are repeated, yes, but it’s all brand new and modern at the same time. Though the original Degrassi was way ahead of their time as well, doing shows from the points of view of the kids living it and not having an easy resolution to anything. In one season one episode, an 8th grader, Stephanie Kaye, has her plans to sleep with her date busted by her mom, and at the end of the episode as she is telling her friend that she is grounded, the friend asks, “You weren’t really going to have sex with him, were you?” and Stephanie just smiles and shrugs. So, lesson not learned!
I guess I have to go out and get the DVDs of the old shows now. Unless someone wants to get them for me for Christmas?