NO MESSAGE: South of Nowhere is even more sex-centric than Degrassi. |
Degrassi’s franchise on teen angst has its roots in 1980, long before the advent of Comcast. Back then, Schuyler teamed up with Kit Hood, a video editor and former child actor, to produce a new mini-series called The Kids of Degrassi Street. It spun off into the Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High series; both aired in the US on PBS, and a 1991 TV movie, School’s Out, followed several Degrassi characters after they graduated. A documentary series, Degrassi Talks, appeared to be the final stage in the Degrassi evolution. Nearly a decade later, in 2001, Degrassi was given the digital version of a pre-prom makeover. Stripped of its ’80s pallor, vamped up with a fresh cast and ultra-provocative plots, the show was resurrected as Degrassi: The Next Generation. Schuyler still has the helm as executive producer. Several of the original Degrassi kids, now adult actors, have minor roles on the new show. (Amanda Stepto, who played Christine a/k/a Spike Nelson on Degrassi Junior High, a punk-rocker who got pregnant with Emma, now plays Emma’s mother.)Degrassi: TNG has plenty of critics who deem it offensive, demoralizing, and immature — and it’s true that the show addresses issues by seizing on extremes. The acting is nowhere near perfect, either, particularly in earlier seasons. But according to Nielsen ratings from Season Five, Degrassi ranked #1 with female teens on all cable and broadcast networks, and the show in its various forms has now been around for more than 25 years. People are still getting pissed at Madonna for trying to crucify herself on her last tour, and she still sells a lot of tickets. Degrassi has reinvented its image much in the same way. Taking things a little over the edge comes with the territory.
Shit continues to hit the proverbial fan on Season Six. Several of Degrassi’s graduates have moved on to college, and a few former students, such as bad-ass Sean and moody Ashley, who left the show during Season Five, will return. Last year’s juniors are running the place as seniors, ratcheting up the drama as relationships among the gang get even more incestuous. But thank God this isn’t The OC, with a mere four major players to boff and break up. Degrassi: TNG has a principal cast of 11 and a supporting cast of nine; five adult cast members dealing with their own bullshit and baggage round out the student-body and parental units to 25. There are plenty of surprise transformations, too: horrifically gawky Emma has blossomed from an anorectic Save the Earth fiend into a A-list hottie, born-again Christian goody-goody Darcy has started taking naughty pics of the Spirit Squad, and the supposedly reformed Sean is running from the law again. And again. It seems the Degrassi catch phrase “100 percent intense” doesn’t actually have a saturation point.
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