Whatever it takes, I know I can make it through.
Degrassi is a long-running Canadian television franchise, created by Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood, that focuses on the lives of teenagers attending the eponymous secondary school. Named after (and originally set in) the real De Grassi Street in Toronto, Ontario, it is one of the most iconic and internationally successful TV franchises in Canadian history, and serves as the Trope Maker for the modern Teen Drama. Most if not all the installments have been run in a Dramatic Half-Hour format.
There is no real consensus on how to define the eras of the franchise. Objectively, it can be split into two periods, which aren't really used in discourse but are very convenient; the first is the Playing With Time era (1979–1992), in which Schuyler and Hood were the showrunners and which was marked by its low budget, usage of untrained actors and entirely on-location filming. This era of the series comprises The Kids of Degrassi Street, Degrassi Junior High, and Degrassi High, and was broadcast on the CBC in Canada and PBS (in the case of Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High). The second is the Epitome Pictures era (2001–2017), in which Schuyler and Stephen Stohn were the showrunners, and which was marked by its higher budget, usage of trained actors, and studio filming. This era of the series comprises Degrassi: The Next Generation and Degrassi: Next Class, and was broadcast on a variety of networks in North America.
The Degrassi franchise includes the following series:
- The Kids of Degrassi Street (1979-1986): The first series of the franchise, which began life as Ida Makes A Movie, a scrappy self-funded short film based on a children's book. This was originally a standalone work, but its success in Canada inspired the production of sequels, each focusing on another character. It was officially serialized and named The Kids Of Degrassi Street by 1982, but episodes were still fairly sporadic (although increasingly frequent) until its end in 1986. It is the Oddball in the Series as it is the the only one to focus on children instead of teens, and apart from sharing some of the same actors, is entirely unrelated to the rest of the franchise. Among the issues the series dealt with included bad luck chain letters, babysitting, rumours, playing in construction sites, and yes, even death (of an adult, namely their crossing guard).
- Degrassi Junior High (1987-1989): The first true Degrassi series and the Trope Maker of the Teen Drama. This was the series that established Degrassi as we know it: it was the first to focus on teenagers, it introduced the eponymous school as the main setting, and most importantly it established the canon that is shared by every series onwards, introducing characters that returned as adults when the franchise was revived. It dealt with a wide range of topics, including notably Teen Pregnancy, drug use, racism, homophobia, abuse (physical and sexual), and drunk driving, while also focusing on the innocent and mundane aspects of teen life, such as first dates and passing exams. Seasons one and two are set in the first and second semesters of one year, while season three takes place in the following year: in that season, the ninth grade (typically the first year of high school in North America) is appended to the junior high school because of high school overpopulation, and the series ends with the school burning down at their graduation dance.
- Degrassi High (1989-1991): Covers the high school years of the Degrassi Junior High cast. It is officially recognized as a standalone series but is essentially just an extension and rebranding of Junior High. It began with a well-regarded episode on abortion, which was edited by PBS in the United States, and also notably tackled HIV, racism, sexism, abuse, cheating, and suicide. The final episode sees the school need to be shut down for structural repairs, and its students dispersed to other schools around the area for their senior year.
- Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001-2015, later shortened to simply Degrassi): The Revival and the
best-known version, just as much for the careers that it helped spawn as it is for its success. It is the longest running series in the franchise, clocking in at 14 seasons and 385 episodes, and was notably very popular in America, a fact that helped save it from cancellation when the Canadian ratings dried up.- Degrassi: Next Class (2016-2017), a "soft reboot" of Degrassi: The Next Generation that was an attempt to aim at Generation Z. Similar to Degrassi High, it is officially recognized as a standalone series, but is essentially just an extension and rebranding of The Next Generation. It was a Netflix original and ran for four ten-episode seasons before its quiet cancellation, which was only made public two years after it happened.
There was an untitled HBO Max series planned for 2023, but this was eventually cancelled amidst Warner Bros. Discovery's restructuring.
See also The L.A. Complex, a What Might Have Been series originally conceived as a Spin-Off of The Next Generation, but was later made a freestanding franchise, presumably so it could be sold to a US network outside the Viacom group.
A more detailed history of the Degrassi franchise:
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The Kids Of Degrassi Street (1979–1986)
In the late '70s, a schoolteacher from Toronto named Linda Schuyler had been incorporating film into her curriculum when she decided to get into filmmaking to create material to show her class. To that end, she met a freelance editor named Kit Hood, who was then spending most of his time editing television commercials, and the two joined forces, founding a small company called Playing With Time. The company spent its early years producing educational and documentary films, such as one about a marathon piano player from New Zealand playing for four days straight at the Canadian National Exhibition.
By 1979, Schuyler was becoming more serious about making films, and enlisted her colleague and school librarian Bruce Mackey to procure her some books on the subject. By mistake, one of the books he returned with was a children's picture book, Ida Makes A Movie by Kay Chorao, which was about an anthropomorphic cat who makes a short film and wins a local film contest for the wrong reasons. Schuyler was fascinated with the moral dilemma posed in the story and decided that it would form a perfect basis for a short film. After flying to New York and meeting Kay Chorao herself, she returned with the rights, and she and Hood made the film on a shoestring budget, shooting entirely on-location, including inside the house of Bruce Mackey, the librarian who inadvertently made it all happen. The anthropomorphic cats were replaced with human children, and the story was largely repurposed, although the core idea - Ida makes a movie and wins a local film contest despite her movie being misinterpreted - remained.
Ida was a success when it premiered in late 1979.note This inspired Schuyler and Hood to continue making films with the same characters, funded entirely out of their own pockets. By 1982, the CBC had it turned into a proper series with the title of The Kids Of Degrassi Street, and although episodes remained sporadic, they increased in frequency as time went on. It was popular with critics for its unique portrayal of children, tackling issues ranging from bad luck chain letters to the death of a crossing guard, and was broadcast worldwide, including in the United Kingdom on the BBC and in the United States on Disney Channel. In 1985 it won an International Emmy Award. Towards the end of production, Schuyler became enthralled by the series Hill Street Blues and its storytelling approach, and decided to apply it to the final six episodes of The Kids Of Degrassi Street, which featured the running thread of the kids putting together the school yearbook before they graduate.
By 1979, Schuyler was becoming more serious about making films, and enlisted her colleague and school librarian Bruce Mackey to procure her some books on the subject. By mistake, one of the books he returned with was a children's picture book, Ida Makes A Movie by Kay Chorao, which was about an anthropomorphic cat who makes a short film and wins a local film contest for the wrong reasons. Schuyler was fascinated with the moral dilemma posed in the story and decided that it would form a perfect basis for a short film. After flying to New York and meeting Kay Chorao herself, she returned with the rights, and she and Hood made the film on a shoestring budget, shooting entirely on-location, including inside the house of Bruce Mackey, the librarian who inadvertently made it all happen. The anthropomorphic cats were replaced with human children, and the story was largely repurposed, although the core idea - Ida makes a movie and wins a local film contest despite her movie being misinterpreted - remained.
Ida was a success when it premiered in late 1979.note This inspired Schuyler and Hood to continue making films with the same characters, funded entirely out of their own pockets. By 1982, the CBC had it turned into a proper series with the title of The Kids Of Degrassi Street, and although episodes remained sporadic, they increased in frequency as time went on. It was popular with critics for its unique portrayal of children, tackling issues ranging from bad luck chain letters to the death of a crossing guard, and was broadcast worldwide, including in the United Kingdom on the BBC and in the United States on Disney Channel. In 1985 it won an International Emmy Award. Towards the end of production, Schuyler became enthralled by the series Hill Street Blues and its storytelling approach, and decided to apply it to the final six episodes of The Kids Of Degrassi Street, which featured the running thread of the kids putting together the school yearbook before they graduate.
Degrassi Junior High (1987–1989) and Degrassi High (1989–1991)
Even in the era of John Hughes, teenage representation on television was mediocre. Teenagers were usually a part of sitcoms and soap operas, but they were not the focus, and when these shows dealt with teenage issues, it tended to be very heavy-handed or relegated to one-off Very Special Episodes whose events are forgotten about in the show afterwards. With the exception of the British series Grange Hill, a teen-oriented soap opera which had been on the air for nearly a decade by that point, television shows exclusively about teenagers were virtually non-existent. Schuyler and Hood noticed this, and even before The Kids Of Degrassi Street ended production, they had been planning their next step for quite some time.
In January 1984, Linda Schuyler told
the Toronto Star that she and Hood were "negotiating seriously" with the CBC about a follow-up to The Kids Of Degrassi Street, called Degrassi Junior High. She mentioned it again in November 1985, as The Kids Of Degrassi Street was nearing its end, implying that it would continue where it left off. They held a talk with the cast, which was virtually completely unrecognizable from the days of Ida, and gave them a choice between reprising their original roles, or playing new roles instead. Everyone, with the exception of one, opted for the latter, making Degrassi Junior High a spin-off of The Kids Of Degrassi Street, and not a direct sequel as Schuyler's November 1985 statement had implied. From there, they began auditions, this time on a wider scale than The Kids Of Degrassi Street, which advertised auditions on a sandwich board outside the Playing With Time offices. This time, they scouted public schools across the city of Toronto. 300 kids auditioned, and roughly 50-60 were selected and put through a three-week acting workshop. Much like The Kids Of Degrassi Street, the cast of Degrassi Junior High were mostly amateurs who had never before appeared on-camera or even acted in any capacity before.
On January 18, 1987, Degrassi Junior High made its premiere on the CBC. Initially, it was a critical hit, but suffered from a bad time slot and did moderate ratings, but soon it became a local phenomenon and cemented Degrassi as a Canadian institution. It was Darker and Edgier than the series that preceded it, tackling Teen Pregnancy, child abuse, eating disorders, the death of parents, and many other complex topics in ways no other television shows had really done prior, while also paying attention to the mundane and more innocent aspects of teenage life, like first dates and passing exams. The Teen Pregnancy storyline, which is centred on the character Spike (Amanda Stepto) and begins towards the end of the first season, was particularly notable and won the series an International Emmy, which inspired the name of Spike's daughter, Emma. What made it stick out from its contemporaries was that the characters were played by actual teenagers and not actors in their twenties, episodes didn't end with the problems magically solved and wrapped in a bow and consequences lasted throughout multiple episodes, there were no perfect happy families and parents were not perfect, and most importantly; it portrayed kids making their own decisions, for better or worse.
Helping its case commercially was the fact that the CBC were themselves big fans of the show thanks to the goodwill Schuyler and Hood had built with The Kids Of Degrassi Street. Its original Sunday afternoon timeslot was not translating much into good ratings and even drew complaints from critics who were otherwise great fans of the show and felt it deserved to be seen by many more people. Partly because of this, the CBC decided to move it to a prime time spot, where it was sandwiched in between the US sitcoms Kate & Allie and Newhart. Despite Schuyler's reservations, this turned out to be a good decision: its viewership and popularity increased significantly during these re-runs, rising up to over a million viewers a week (a big success for 1980s Canadian television standards), and the show built enough momentum and hype to ensure that by the time it returned with season two, it had become one of biggest shows in the entire country, turning its cast from regular public school kids into national celebrities and role models. In 1988, it won four Gemini Awards (Canada's equivalent of the Emmynote ). Actor Pat Mastroianni notably won Best Actor, beating out much older and established competition, and the show won the country's inaugural Multiculturalism Award; a large contingent of cast members took the stage and thanked everyone in their native tongues.
By 1989, Degrassi Junior High had become massive in Canada, and was also very popular in Australia and parts of Europe. After some deliberation, Schuyler and Hood decided to continue following the Degrassi Junior High cast as they advanced to high school, and in 1989 the series was rebranded Degrassi High. With the series opener tackling the subject of abortion,note the show made a grand return with guns blazing, and from there Degrassi High tackled more serious fare such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, and suicide to sustained acclaim and success. Remarkably, the series was not showing any signs of decline, critically or commercially, but behind the scenes, a series of mounting creative and financial problems ultimately brought it all down. For starters, Kit Hood was feeling burnt out by the grind of television and was becoming increasingly irritable and difficult to work with. This was worsened by the fact Degrassi High was renewed for a second season, which he really didn't want to do. Financially, the aging cast meant that their primary financial backer, WGBH, became unable to get money from the children's department of PBS, and so they were forced to pull out, leaving the show with no funding. the cast themselves had mostly graduated and were eager to move on, and Schuyler and Hood felt like the show had run its course, so they decided to call it a day. But though Degrassi High officially ended on February 18, 1991, after a little over four years, it wasn't over just yet.
When breaking the news to the CBC that they would no longer be able to produce more of Degrassi High, Schuyler suggested a feature-length finale as a compromise. The network were enthusiastic about the idea and offered to fund it themselves. This post-graduation summer film, shot in the summer of 1991, was controversially Darker and Edgier than the television series, centred mostly on one of the show's major couples, Joey Jeremiah and Caitlin Ryan, whose relationship is destroyed when he cheats on her with Tessa Campanelli, and another fan favourite character, Wheels, becoming an alcoholic who drives drunk and kills a child and severely injures another fan favourite character, Lucy, and is subsequently incarcerated; in short, a massive Downer Ending of a film. In addition, to drive the point home that these kids were no longer kids, it was Hotter and Sexier and featured a lot of Fanservice. School's Out aired on January 5, 1992 to 2.4 million Canadian viewers (double the average of the show) and became iconic for its climactic use of "fuck", when Caitlin learns of Joey's infidelity. The film continues to be quite controversial, with many believing it to be too dark and depressing and too overly focused on the Joey and Caitlin relationship at the expense of other characters. A month after School's Out saw the airing of a six-part documentary series titled Degrassi Talks, where actors from the series spoke to teens across Canada about the issues they dealt with on the show; the conceit being that the show had spoken to a generation of youth, and now it was the youth's turn to talk. It was popular with critics and spawned a book series, but the reaction from viewers was mixed, ultimately ending (for now) the Degrassi franchise and its tumultuous 13-year rollercoaster of a history on a middling note.
In January 1984, Linda Schuyler told
the Toronto Star that she and Hood were "negotiating seriously" with the CBC about a follow-up to The Kids Of Degrassi Street, called Degrassi Junior High. She mentioned it again in November 1985, as The Kids Of Degrassi Street was nearing its end, implying that it would continue where it left off. They held a talk with the cast, which was virtually completely unrecognizable from the days of Ida, and gave them a choice between reprising their original roles, or playing new roles instead. Everyone, with the exception of one, opted for the latter, making Degrassi Junior High a spin-off of The Kids Of Degrassi Street, and not a direct sequel as Schuyler's November 1985 statement had implied. From there, they began auditions, this time on a wider scale than The Kids Of Degrassi Street, which advertised auditions on a sandwich board outside the Playing With Time offices. This time, they scouted public schools across the city of Toronto. 300 kids auditioned, and roughly 50-60 were selected and put through a three-week acting workshop. Much like The Kids Of Degrassi Street, the cast of Degrassi Junior High were mostly amateurs who had never before appeared on-camera or even acted in any capacity before.On January 18, 1987, Degrassi Junior High made its premiere on the CBC. Initially, it was a critical hit, but suffered from a bad time slot and did moderate ratings, but soon it became a local phenomenon and cemented Degrassi as a Canadian institution. It was Darker and Edgier than the series that preceded it, tackling Teen Pregnancy, child abuse, eating disorders, the death of parents, and many other complex topics in ways no other television shows had really done prior, while also paying attention to the mundane and more innocent aspects of teenage life, like first dates and passing exams. The Teen Pregnancy storyline, which is centred on the character Spike (Amanda Stepto) and begins towards the end of the first season, was particularly notable and won the series an International Emmy, which inspired the name of Spike's daughter, Emma. What made it stick out from its contemporaries was that the characters were played by actual teenagers and not actors in their twenties, episodes didn't end with the problems magically solved and wrapped in a bow and consequences lasted throughout multiple episodes, there were no perfect happy families and parents were not perfect, and most importantly; it portrayed kids making their own decisions, for better or worse.
Helping its case commercially was the fact that the CBC were themselves big fans of the show thanks to the goodwill Schuyler and Hood had built with The Kids Of Degrassi Street. Its original Sunday afternoon timeslot was not translating much into good ratings and even drew complaints from critics who were otherwise great fans of the show and felt it deserved to be seen by many more people. Partly because of this, the CBC decided to move it to a prime time spot, where it was sandwiched in between the US sitcoms Kate & Allie and Newhart. Despite Schuyler's reservations, this turned out to be a good decision: its viewership and popularity increased significantly during these re-runs, rising up to over a million viewers a week (a big success for 1980s Canadian television standards), and the show built enough momentum and hype to ensure that by the time it returned with season two, it had become one of biggest shows in the entire country, turning its cast from regular public school kids into national celebrities and role models. In 1988, it won four Gemini Awards (Canada's equivalent of the Emmynote ). Actor Pat Mastroianni notably won Best Actor, beating out much older and established competition, and the show won the country's inaugural Multiculturalism Award; a large contingent of cast members took the stage and thanked everyone in their native tongues.
By 1989, Degrassi Junior High had become massive in Canada, and was also very popular in Australia and parts of Europe. After some deliberation, Schuyler and Hood decided to continue following the Degrassi Junior High cast as they advanced to high school, and in 1989 the series was rebranded Degrassi High. With the series opener tackling the subject of abortion,note the show made a grand return with guns blazing, and from there Degrassi High tackled more serious fare such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, and suicide to sustained acclaim and success. Remarkably, the series was not showing any signs of decline, critically or commercially, but behind the scenes, a series of mounting creative and financial problems ultimately brought it all down. For starters, Kit Hood was feeling burnt out by the grind of television and was becoming increasingly irritable and difficult to work with. This was worsened by the fact Degrassi High was renewed for a second season, which he really didn't want to do. Financially, the aging cast meant that their primary financial backer, WGBH, became unable to get money from the children's department of PBS, and so they were forced to pull out, leaving the show with no funding. the cast themselves had mostly graduated and were eager to move on, and Schuyler and Hood felt like the show had run its course, so they decided to call it a day. But though Degrassi High officially ended on February 18, 1991, after a little over four years, it wasn't over just yet.
When breaking the news to the CBC that they would no longer be able to produce more of Degrassi High, Schuyler suggested a feature-length finale as a compromise. The network were enthusiastic about the idea and offered to fund it themselves. This post-graduation summer film, shot in the summer of 1991, was controversially Darker and Edgier than the television series, centred mostly on one of the show's major couples, Joey Jeremiah and Caitlin Ryan, whose relationship is destroyed when he cheats on her with Tessa Campanelli, and another fan favourite character, Wheels, becoming an alcoholic who drives drunk and kills a child and severely injures another fan favourite character, Lucy, and is subsequently incarcerated; in short, a massive Downer Ending of a film. In addition, to drive the point home that these kids were no longer kids, it was Hotter and Sexier and featured a lot of Fanservice. School's Out aired on January 5, 1992 to 2.4 million Canadian viewers (double the average of the show) and became iconic for its climactic use of "fuck", when Caitlin learns of Joey's infidelity. The film continues to be quite controversial, with many believing it to be too dark and depressing and too overly focused on the Joey and Caitlin relationship at the expense of other characters. A month after School's Out saw the airing of a six-part documentary series titled Degrassi Talks, where actors from the series spoke to teens across Canada about the issues they dealt with on the show; the conceit being that the show had spoken to a generation of youth, and now it was the youth's turn to talk. It was popular with critics and spawned a book series, but the reaction from viewers was mixed, ultimately ending (for now) the Degrassi franchise and its tumultuous 13-year rollercoaster of a history on a middling note.
Hiatus and Degrassi: The Next Generation/Next Class (2001–2017)
As detailed in her memoir, Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood split acrimoniously in the early Nineties. A short while later, Schuyler became reacquainted with Stephen Stohn, an entertainment lawyer and music industry figure who she met when seeking legal advice for buying the rights to Ida Makes A Movie, and in 1992 they founded Epitome Pictures. Kit Hood reluctantly inherited Playing With Time, though as a production company it became dormant. He continued to own the company's office, which he turned into a battered women and refugee shelter, and oversaw the company's affairs outside of film. He directed a few underground films and served the local community before retiring in 1998 to Nova Scotia, where he lived quietly for the rest of his life. Epitome Pictures' next major project was the 1994 television film X-Rated, which centred around a group of young adults living in an apartment complex, and was an attempt to apply the Degrassi concept to that demographic. It starred Stacie Mistysyn, who played Caitlin Ryan in DJH/DH and Lisa Canard in The Kids Of Degrassi Street. It was picked up as a series in 1995, now named Liberty Street, which didn't feature Mistysyn, but instead featured Pat Mastroianni, who played Joey Jeremiah. It ran for two seasons before being cancelled.
Epitome's next project was a standard soap opera with an adult cast, Riverdale (of no relation to that Riverdale), which aired from 1997 until 2000; critical reception was mixed but by its second season it had gained traction, but network politics, funding issues, and a change of head at the CBC led to its cancellation; the backlot they purchased to film the series in becomes important later. As for the actors, many of them continued pursuing a career in acting, but were badly Typecast and would never repeat the success they had with Degrassi, although some of them found guest and bit roles in other shows and movies; others found steady careers behind the scenes and outside of the media industry, and some dropped out of the public eye, never to be heard from again.
Meanwhile, Degrassi was over, but it cast a huge shadow. Replacing Degrassi High in its time slot was a new teen drama called Northwood, about the lives of teens in North Vancouver; actor Lochlyn Munro declared it to be more mature and relevant than Degrassi, and though it did gain a fanbase, many critics viewed as an inferior Degrassi knockoff but with none of its virtues, and it was dumped in 1994; ironically, Pat Mastroianni guest-starred in a late episode. Re-runs of Degrassi in Canada and other parts of the world commenced even before the airing of School's Out, and continued on and off right through The '90s. In addition, the ensuing years following the end of the series coincided with the rise of The Internet, and online websites and newsgroups began sprouting up all over the web, including those that tracked public sightings of actors from the show. In December 1999, comedian Jonathan Torrens hosted a reunion of the Degrassi Junior High cast on his CBC show Jonovision, bringing back many of the major players, many of whom hadn't seen each other since the show ended; it became Jonovision's highest-rated episode, and Torrens stated that fans from as far as the West Coast came to attend the taping.
This wasn't lost on Linda Schuyler and original Degrassi head writer Yan Moore, who were then in the early stages of developing a new teen series titled Ready, Willing, And Wired, which would have been centred on the students of a STEM school. Observing the continued nostalgia for Degrassi, Yan Moore came to the realization that Emma Nelson, the daughter of Spike, would be old enough to be on the cusp of junior high school by the new millennium. They were to integrate Emma into Ready, Willing, And Wired, before they scrapped that idea and decided to revive Degrassi for a new generation, with Emma and her friends attending what was now called Degrassi Community School, which would be built on the large backlot that Epitome Pictures had purchased to film Riverdale, as it was no longer feasible to film on-location like the original series. From there, they brought back four of the major characters from DJH/DH, including Spike (Emma's mother) to augment the cast. CTV was chosen to be new home for Degrassi primarily because its CEO was previously the programming director for the CBC during its original run and the same man who moved Degrassi Junior High; in addition, the network were willing to fund the show's tie-in interactive website, described by Schuyler as a "virtual school where our fans could enroll and engage in various school activities".
On October 14, 2001, Degrassi: The Next Generation made its premiere on CTV. In Canada, it was initially met with some skepticism from critics and fans who were apprehensive about its 'slicker' look, but it was generally viewed as a more than worthy revival that managed to be as hard-hitting and authentic as the original. The story was a bit different in America, however. In its original incarnation, Degrassi gained a cult following in the United States through its airing on PBS, gaining famous fans such as Kevin Smith (who referenced it in many of his iconic films), but it was still generally very obscure and unknown on the other side of the border. Degrassi: The Next Generation, through its airing on The N, a Noggin-owned network aimed at the teen demographic, became many an American's introduction to the franchise and soon became extremely popular there, more so than in its home country and consequently overshadowing the original. Most notably, Degrassi: The Next Generation launched the careers of Drake, whose character was famously paralyzed by a school shooter in one of the series' most infamous episodes, Nina Dobrev (later of The Vampire Diaries fame), and Shenae Grimes (later of the reboot of 90210 fame).
By the late 2000s, The Next Generation was declining in popularity in Canada. By season eight, it had a fraction of the viewership it commanded at its season four/five peak, even as it continued to get strong ratings Stateside. Because of this, CTV cancelled it in 2009, a fact that remained unknown to the public until Stephen Stohn revealed it in his 2018 memoir, Whatever It Takes. Around the same time that the show was cancelled, Stohn was developing a teen soap opera pitch for TeenNick. This was ultimately retooled into a revitalization of Degrassi: TNG. This brought a wave of changes to the series, including a rebranding to the Officially Shortened Title Degrassi, and a shift to a telenovela-style structure, with each episode being a two-parter. The rebrand fared very well, and the promotional film created for Season 10, set to "Shark In The Water" by V.V. Brown, became iconic to a generation of TeenNick viewers.
After a few more seasons, Degrassi: The Next Generation was finally cancelled in 2015 after 14 seasons and 385 episodes, making it the longest-running series in the franchise. A fifteenth season was already planned, but following the cancellation, it was instead pitched elsewhere, and after finding a new home in Netflix, it was retooled into Degrassi: Next Class, a soft reboot of Degrassi: The Next Generation that shifted its focus toward the emerging Generation Z, to mixed results. Many of the characters that were left off from The Next Generation returned, augmented by newer and younger cast members. Reception of Next Class was mixed; many fans of The Next Generation felt it was a misguided attempt to appeal to the current generation in a way that felt uncharacteristically out of touch, and that lacked the soul and depth of the previous series. Four seasons were released until July 2017; afterwards, nothing was ever heard about it again.
Epitome's next project was a standard soap opera with an adult cast, Riverdale (of no relation to that Riverdale), which aired from 1997 until 2000; critical reception was mixed but by its second season it had gained traction, but network politics, funding issues, and a change of head at the CBC led to its cancellation; the backlot they purchased to film the series in becomes important later. As for the actors, many of them continued pursuing a career in acting, but were badly Typecast and would never repeat the success they had with Degrassi, although some of them found guest and bit roles in other shows and movies; others found steady careers behind the scenes and outside of the media industry, and some dropped out of the public eye, never to be heard from again.
Meanwhile, Degrassi was over, but it cast a huge shadow. Replacing Degrassi High in its time slot was a new teen drama called Northwood, about the lives of teens in North Vancouver; actor Lochlyn Munro declared it to be more mature and relevant than Degrassi, and though it did gain a fanbase, many critics viewed as an inferior Degrassi knockoff but with none of its virtues, and it was dumped in 1994; ironically, Pat Mastroianni guest-starred in a late episode. Re-runs of Degrassi in Canada and other parts of the world commenced even before the airing of School's Out, and continued on and off right through The '90s. In addition, the ensuing years following the end of the series coincided with the rise of The Internet, and online websites and newsgroups began sprouting up all over the web, including those that tracked public sightings of actors from the show
. In December 1999, comedian Jonathan Torrens hosted a reunion of the Degrassi Junior High cast on his CBC show Jonovision, bringing back many of the major players, many of whom hadn't seen each other since the show ended; it became Jonovision's highest-rated episode, and Torrens stated that fans from as far as the West Coast came to attend the taping.This wasn't lost on Linda Schuyler and original Degrassi head writer Yan Moore, who were then in the early stages of developing a new teen series titled Ready, Willing, And Wired, which would have been centred on the students of a STEM school. Observing the continued nostalgia for Degrassi, Yan Moore came to the realization that Emma Nelson, the daughter of Spike, would be old enough to be on the cusp of junior high school by the new millennium. They were to integrate Emma into Ready, Willing, And Wired, before they scrapped that idea and decided to revive Degrassi for a new generation, with Emma and her friends attending what was now called Degrassi Community School, which would be built on the large backlot that Epitome Pictures had purchased to film Riverdale, as it was no longer feasible to film on-location like the original series. From there, they brought back four of the major characters from DJH/DH, including Spike (Emma's mother) to augment the cast. CTV was chosen to be new home for Degrassi primarily because its CEO was previously the programming director for the CBC during its original run and the same man who moved Degrassi Junior High; in addition, the network were willing to fund the show's tie-in interactive website, described by Schuyler as a "virtual school where our fans could enroll and engage in various school activities".
On October 14, 2001, Degrassi: The Next Generation made its premiere on CTV. In Canada, it was initially met with some skepticism from critics and fans who were apprehensive about its 'slicker' look, but it was generally viewed as a more than worthy revival that managed to be as hard-hitting and authentic as the original. The story was a bit different in America, however. In its original incarnation, Degrassi gained a cult following in the United States through its airing on PBS, gaining famous fans such as Kevin Smith (who referenced it in many of his iconic films), but it was still generally very obscure and unknown on the other side of the border. Degrassi: The Next Generation, through its airing on The N, a Noggin-owned network aimed at the teen demographic, became many an American's introduction to the franchise and soon became extremely popular there, more so than in its home country and consequently overshadowing the original. Most notably, Degrassi: The Next Generation launched the careers of Drake, whose character was famously paralyzed by a school shooter in one of the series' most infamous episodes, Nina Dobrev (later of The Vampire Diaries fame), and Shenae Grimes (later of the reboot of 90210 fame).
By the late 2000s, The Next Generation was declining in popularity in Canada. By season eight, it had a fraction of the viewership it commanded at its season four/five peak, even as it continued to get strong ratings Stateside. Because of this, CTV cancelled it in 2009, a fact that remained unknown to the public until Stephen Stohn revealed it in his 2018 memoir, Whatever It Takes. Around the same time that the show was cancelled, Stohn was developing a teen soap opera pitch for TeenNick. This was ultimately retooled into a revitalization of Degrassi: TNG. This brought a wave of changes to the series, including a rebranding to the Officially Shortened Title Degrassi, and a shift to a telenovela-style structure, with each episode being a two-parter. The rebrand fared very well, and the promotional film created for Season 10, set to "Shark In The Water" by V.V. Brown, became iconic to a generation of TeenNick viewers.
After a few more seasons, Degrassi: The Next Generation was finally cancelled in 2015 after 14 seasons and 385 episodes, making it the longest-running series in the franchise. A fifteenth season was already planned, but following the cancellation, it was instead pitched elsewhere, and after finding a new home in Netflix, it was retooled into Degrassi: Next Class, a soft reboot of Degrassi: The Next Generation that shifted its focus toward the emerging Generation Z, to mixed results. Many of the characters that were left off from The Next Generation returned, augmented by newer and younger cast members. Reception of Next Class was mixed; many fans of The Next Generation felt it was a misguided attempt to appeal to the current generation in a way that felt uncharacteristically out of touch, and that lacked the soul and depth of the previous series. Four seasons were released until July 2017; afterwards, nothing was ever heard about it again.
Second hiatus and planned return (2017–present)
In March 2019, Stefan Brogren casually alluded to the cancellation of Degrassi: Next Class on Twitter, confirming its fate. The Degrassi fandom still chugged along, however, aided by official YouTube uploads of Junior High, High, and Next Generation; Pat Mastroianni (Joey Jeremiah) continued to commemorate the original series with public events, including 2019's Degrassi Palooza, which reunited many of the major original players, many of whom hadn't seen each other in years, maybe even since the show; the event is notable for featuring the final public appearance of Kit Hood, before his death from a brain aneurysm on January 20, 2020.
By The New '20s, the millennials who grew up with The Next Generation were becoming nostalgic for it, resulting in a bit of a resurgence in popularity for the franchise. While the original series remains frequently overlooked, it too experienced a bit of renewed attention via the resurgence of The Next Generation. In January 2022, it was announced that there would be a new Degrassi series. This would have been produced for HBO and by a different creative team (Lara Azzopardi and Julia Cohen, who had previously written an episode of The Next Generation), and would have been released in January 2023. The news was met with mixed reactions; while many were happy that Degrassi was back, the HBO association and the aesthetic of the (quite bare-bones) teaser poster provoked concerns that it would try and mimic the then-popular teen drama Euphoria, which is regarded as the total polar opposite of what Degrassi stands for. Speculation continued about the progress of the new Degrassi, but as the year drew on, no new updates or details were coming out; all fans had to go by was the teaser poster, a casting call, and a leaked part of the audition script. Then, in April 2022, the controversial merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery into Warner Bros. Discovery was completed, sparking concerns that the new Degrassi may not actually go ahead.
In November 2022, an article by the Wall Street Journal confirmed the cancellation of Degrassi 2023, to the shock of no-one. So far, however, this doesn't appear to be the end; in a press release immediately following the cancellation announcement, WildBrain said that they were "still committed" to the future of Degrassi, and Linda Schuyler has referred to the failed HBO deal as a "false start". In August 2023, Schuyler said in a podcast that there was a writer working on a new pitch, but mentioned the then-ongoing Hollywood strikes as a significant barrier, meaning that while the new Degrassi is not actually cancelled, it is in Development Hell. In December 2023, the franchise was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame, and days later it was announced that a three-part documentary series is currently in the works.
By The New '20s, the millennials who grew up with The Next Generation were becoming nostalgic for it, resulting in a bit of a resurgence in popularity for the franchise. While the original series remains frequently overlooked, it too experienced a bit of renewed attention via the resurgence of The Next Generation. In January 2022, it was announced that there would be a new Degrassi series. This would have been produced for HBO and by a different creative team (Lara Azzopardi and Julia Cohen, who had previously written an episode of The Next Generation), and would have been released in January 2023. The news was met with mixed reactions; while many were happy that Degrassi was back, the HBO association and the aesthetic of the (quite bare-bones) teaser poster provoked concerns that it would try and mimic the then-popular teen drama Euphoria, which is regarded as the total polar opposite of what Degrassi stands for. Speculation continued about the progress of the new Degrassi, but as the year drew on, no new updates or details were coming out; all fans had to go by was the teaser poster, a casting call, and a leaked part of the audition script. Then, in April 2022, the controversial merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery into Warner Bros. Discovery was completed, sparking concerns that the new Degrassi may not actually go ahead.
In November 2022, an article by the Wall Street Journal confirmed the cancellation of Degrassi 2023, to the shock of no-one. So far, however, this doesn't appear to be the end; in a press release immediately following the cancellation announcement, WildBrain said that they were "still committed" to the future of Degrassi, and Linda Schuyler has referred to the failed HBO deal as a "false start
". In August 2023, Schuyler said in a podcast that there was a writer working on a new pitch, but mentioned the then-ongoing Hollywood strikes as a significant barrier, meaning that while the new Degrassi is not actually cancelled, it is in Development Hell. In December 2023, the franchise was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame, and days later it was announced that a three-part documentary series is currently in the works.The Degrassi franchise includes examples of the following tropes:
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Amateur Cast: The majority of the Degrassi Junior High/Degrassi High cast consisted of schoolkids who had never acted or been involved with the industry in any capacity prior to the show, although some had arts school backgrounds, had minor roles in obscure works, or starred in The Kids Of Degrassi Street as different characters beforehand. This was because at this stage, Degrassi was a non-union show. Degrassi: The Next Generation was a union show, and thus employed union actors, including the returning legacy cast members who had (presumably) since joined unions. - Canada Does Not Exist: Despite being regarded as a quintessentially Canadian show, it has always had American involvement and tried to appeal to a generic North American audience. Many will be surprised to learn that press materials for Degrassi Junior High state it takes place in an "unnamed North American city". The American version also replaces scenes of Canadian money with American money. Degrassi: The Next Generation is a lot more open with showing Canadian symbols and mentioning Canadian places, but in later seasons, coinciding with the increasing influence of TeenNick, start moving into Eagleland Osmosis territory with the frequent mentioning of American universities as well as many other "Americanized" aspects of the show.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: So frequent throughout the franchise do recurring characters suddenly disappear without context that it has become a Running Gag among fans. It became so egregious in the Next Generation era that fans gave the phenomenon a nickname: the "Degrassi Black Hole". If a character became a victim of this trope, they were "blackholed". Although acknowledged as a phenomenon by TNG fans, this is something the franchise is guilty of doing from the very start: Ida Lucas of The Kids Of Degrassi Street, the first ever Degrassi character, is arguably an early victim. In Degrassi Junior High, we have Voula disappear after the first season and Rick and Suzie disappear after the second season with no context.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The Kids Of Degrassi Street is a children's show, not a teen drama, nor do its characters attend a school named "Degrassi".
- Expy: Much of the initial Degrassi: The Next Generation cast are expies of characters from the Junior High/High era, such as JT, a class clown in the vein of Joey Jeremiah.
- Fleeting Demographic Rule: The franchise has commonly recycled various subjects overtime, the most frequent being teen pregnancy, which is dealt a total of seven times between Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi: Next Class. Suicide was visited in 1991 and 2012. This is also the case with the less serious plots: Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi: TNG both feature an early episode where a character gets drunk before going to the school dance, and both feature a second season episode where a character joyrides a vehicle.
- Genre Shift: From children's series (The Kids Of Degrassi Street) to Teen Drama (Degrassi Junior High). There are also varying opinions as to whether the differences between the original series (basically a serialized after-school special) and the post-2001 series (which gradually embraced the more popular post-90210 style of teen drama as it progressed) constitute this as well.
- Line-of-Sight Name: The name "Degrassi" came from the real-life Toronto street the first series was set in, which is actually called De Grassi Street after Italian-Canadian soldier Filippo De Grassi. When naming The Kids Of Degrassi Street, they decided to make it one word because it looked sleeker. In 1979, Toronto used all-caps stamped street signs, leaving it ambiguous whether the name was one word or two; newer mixed-case screen-printed ones appeared well after the producers had committed to "Degrassi" as one word.
- Mood Whiplash: Degrassi has a history of cutting from dramatic moments to its jaunty motivational theme songs, and the same occurs with the ending credits: in one instance, Degrassi Junior High ended with the namesake school in flames as its perky theme plays on. Perhaps the only time this was truly subverted was with latter-day TNG,note which uses a quiet and shortened solo acoustic rendition of its theme song, "Whatever It Takes" .
- Most Writers Are Adults: This wasn't lost on the writers of Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High, who let the cast scrutinize and critique the scripts and suggest changes specifically to combat this trope. Many people have different opinions as to how successful they avoided this.
- Oddball in the Series: The Kids of Degrassi Street is the only series that isn't connected to the rest, save for several actors who went on to play better-known roles in Junior High and beyond. In addition, it's a children's show, and the main setting is the street itself, rather than a school bearing its name.
- Officially Shortened Title: Degrassi: The Next Generation is renamed just Degrassi for seasons 10 to 14, when the titular next generation had long graduated.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: Frequently employed throughout the franchise: many of the storylines in Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High were influenced by real events in the actors' lives, whether for better or worse. Other storylines throughout the franchise in general were directly influenced by recent real life events and tragedies.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Starting from Degrassi Junior High, each series has an upbeat theme song with motivational lyrics, which leads to Mood Whiplash and unintentional hilarity if it follows, precedes, or accompanies an extremely dramatic scene.
- Teen Drama: The Trope Maker with Degrassi Junior High. It wasn't the first teen show ever made (Grange Hill predates it by nine years), but it was the first to make a point of reflecting the lives of its target audience without resorting to the moralism of family sitcoms or the sensationalism of regular soap operas, essentially doing for television what John Hughes did for film; it virtually pioneered modern teen television. However, in this context, it is usually overshadowed by its later, glitzier Stateside counterpart, Beverly Hills, 90210, which tweaked and popularized the genre on a much bigger scale.
- Teen Pregnancy: As noted above in Fleeting Demographic Rule, this is a frequently revisited storyline in each generation. Most notably, Spike gives birth to future protagonist Emma in Degrassi Junior High. After this was Erica in Degrassi High who had an abortion, Manny in Degrassi: The Next Generation who had an abortion, Mia from The Next Generation whose daughter was already a few years old when she was introduced, Clare in 2010s Degrassi who had a miscarriage, and Lola in Degrassi: Next Class who had an abortion.
- Unbuilt Trope: Degrassi Junior High pioneered the Teen Drama, yet it predates many of the standard hallmarks that Beverly Hills, 90210 popularized and are now expected and lampooned of the genre. Its focus on being more authentic and direct than the sitcoms and soap operas it shared airtime with, combined with its age-appropriate Amateur Cast and scrappy production values, would have made it a Deconstruction had it come after 90210.
- Very Special Episode: The series has always been issue-based; a more apt descriptor would be "very special franchise". Degrassi Junior High, despite being in part a reaction against very special episodes, is frequently likened to them, usually in a negative light, because of its emphasis on issues. However, this comparison only works on a surface level.
- Vox Pops: In Degrassi Talks, the actors talk to people on the street about issues like sex, drugs, and abuse.