With Degrassi: Next Class set to premiere in 2016, how about a thread discussing the franchise as a whole?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ec/DegrassiNextClassLogo2.png

WARNING:  SPOILER ALERTS!
though if you haven't watched Degrassi up to now, that's your fault lol

Degrassi is one of the most beloved Canadian exports.  What are your favourite episodes, favourite characters?

One of my all time favorite guilty pleasures.

I think Degrassi high is my fave. Kids of Degrassi street my least fave. Not that I hate on kids...it was just a little too saccharine for me. It started getting gritty in. Jr high and nailed it with DH.

It's been awhile since ive watched an entire run of the series so I can't pick a fave ep right now.

Fave character Joey and Lucy (not a whole lotta black people on tv for me so tootsie and Lucy were the only real school age roles I identified with)

Remember when Caitlin was  Lisa Canard. I learned that car bard means duck in French. Lol. Or when wheels was Griff.  I think because the high school characters were more defined and more relatable I really preferred this.

Oh and spike. Dude spike was awesome.

In 2001 (I think) when I found out Degrassi was getting a reboot and spikes daughter Emma was going to be the newest student to enter Degrassi I was like...

Fvck I'm old!!!!  Then I was like YAY!!!!

I enjoyed the first ep of Next Gen because of the high school reunion although there wasn't nearly enough focus placed on the old characters but I liked the glimpses we got.  I realized I never saw the Degrassi movie schools out because I didn't know it had happened. It took place between bad blood which (if not mistaken) was Degrassi High's last ep and one of the more
Important ones cuz....AIDS

Anyway I still agent seen schools out because I decided I wanted to watch the entire series from kids of to D high.  It took me years to get all the Degrassi eps
On vhs....

Yep.....up until a month ago I owned every single ep on vhs...cost me several hundred dollars and hours and hours on eBay. (I just donated the entire collection to goodwill because I have it on DVD now and it takes up way less space.  What a waste of money. I never finished. I got midway thru Jr. high then stopped for some reason. Also I had a few duplicates because I'd find a tape I needed but they were selling it as set with one I already owned. Seriously if I'd know the DVDs were coming a few years later
I woulda never started the vhs

But I digress. Anyway. I look forward to watching the entire run of the series soon.

I liked how they used spike and Joey and snake and, eventually Caitlin, next gen. I was sad to see the focus shift  but I watched every ep of next gen originally and will ewatch the new class as well

I'm excited about the new class but I'm hesitant too because I'm not as fond of the characters who are left.

I detest Tristan and maya can be grating sometimes. Not a fan of Zoey or
Whatever her name is...the former tv actress turned HS student turned sexual assault survivor

Hopefully they get some new characters to balance them out.

My fave season was the season holly j graduated. The 3 core characters (holly j, Anya & Fiona) they really found a rhythm and their chemistry was so strong they made the acting look effortless. I cannot think of a stronger cast in all the season not even Marco, spinner, Paige and jimmy who were pretty good in their own right.

One cannot deny the correlation between Claude DH & Rick DNG....


omg JT!!! I still cry when I think about JT getting stabbed and Adam in the car accident. Probably two of the most traumatic tv deaths for me because I loved the characters so damn much.



Okay maybe I'm a little obsessed...WD I need
To rewatch the old series to better discuss this but I can talk about next gen for days and days lol

I never really got into The Kids of Degrassi Street.  I was 2 when it first aired and I never recall it in reruns.  My Degrassi experience started with DJH.

I loved how TNG made references to music as (almost) every episode title was a famous song.  One of my favourite references was a Season 14 episode where Jay and Manny are in the garage fooling around.  He wants more and quips "So we're here for a good time, not a long time?" and she replies "You're my little trooper".  One of the best loved (and still played) Canadian songs ever is the 1977 hit We're Here For A Good Time (Not a Long Time) by Trooper.

On the old DH series, I liked Michelle the best.  I thought she was better looking than Caitlin


The DJH episode where Lucy gets caught stealing always makes me a little nostalgic because the store she is in is called Towers, which at one time was a chain of nationwide Department Stores that I loved shopping at.

Trivia:  That same store that Lucy was in, you can see the exterior of it in the movie Police Academy when the punks are hauling Leslie Barbara away in the photo booth

More Trivia:  Degrassi: The Next Generation spawned out of a Degrassi reunion that happened on a 2000 episode of a CBC Talk Show called Jonovision.  The show's host Jonathan Torrens also appeared as Shane McKay in a 2 part TNG episode from 2003

I started watching Degrassi: The Next Generation when I was in junior high and I continued watching it throughout high school. I lost interest in it a couple of years ago and haven't been keeping up with the latest storylines and characters.

I've watched some episodes of DJH and DH, but those were kind of before my time.  ::)

I guess my favorite character from the older incarnations was Spike because I enjoyed her pregnancy storyline, and because she's Emma's mother, who is another one of my favorite characters (even though Emma started to annoy me with her bitchiness in later seasons).

Ellie is another favorite of mine because I found her to be so relatable.

As for storylines, some that really stand out in my mind are Erica's abortion and the AIDS crisis in DHS; Ellie's cutting, the shooting, and Emma's many medical problems (gonorrhea and anorexia) in TNG.

I've watched only a few episodes of Degrassi: The Next Generation, since back then I would love their closing logos in the mid 2000s.