The story began with a few youngsters on De Grassi Street. Eventually junior high school started, followed by high school. Then, school was out. Ten years after that, Degrassi: The Next Generation picked up where everything left off, and the story progressed even further, told over the span of three hundred eighty-five episodes. The Canadian television franchise had its humble beginnings back in 1979, and another story began after in 2016, but none were as relevant as the fourteen seasons of the ‘next generation’. Degrassi became one of the most watched teen shows ever, and its impact has yet to dissipate.
Degrassi: The Next Generation became one of the most watched teen shows ever, and its impact has yet to dissipate.
Pre-teens, teenagers, and young adults all deal with something – Home life, siblings, keeping up with school, extra-curricular activities, parent relationships, and maintaining friendships. What’s not as often discussed, is the dangers they are occasionally subject to – alcohol, drugs, depression, bullying, peer pressure, assault and other forms of violence, eating disorders, mental health issues, and dysfunctional families. These problems are the premise of Degrassi. The above stated are all very concerning and very real things that adolescents struggle with, many times going unnoticed. The show, though at times criticized for its subject matter, is a genuine characterization of how young people go through life facing issues that adults seldom want to talk or even think about.
The show was such a popular watch in Canada that it ended up running from 2001 to 2015, eventually also syndicating in the US. Many characters have come and gone, some staying for nearly all of the series, and some even taking part that were leads in the original Degrassi shows. The writing, mostly where it concerns the situations and character circumstances, is what kept the show on the air for so long. The producers and the writing team were not afraid to touch on topics that are considered taboo or off limits. The actors on the series stand out as some of the best on TV at the time, a few of them even soaring onto electrifying careers in either music or TV (namely that of Nina Dobrev, and obviously, Drake). With long spanning plot lines, impressive character arcs, and stories that even sometimes come back around to the present, Degrassi was a show that pushed the boundaries effectively without going over the line in how it was dispensed to the public. From the beginning to its eventual end, this show provided a powerful narrative that fosters a massive amount of much needed public awareness.
Degrassi was bold but tame. It was provocative, yet understandable. There may not be another teen show like it for years to come, and if anyone attempts to produce one, they’ll have their work cut out for them. Though it has since ended, there are still ways to view the series. The full collection of seasons can be purchased online. Otherwise, YouTube has the entire fourteen seasons on a playlist for no fee to stream. Most episodes are under thirty minutes, so binging is definitely an option.
