Everyone has a weakness, everyone has a guilty pleasure. For me, it’s Degrassi. The ORIGINAL Degrassi (like most purists, I have a small issue with The Next Generation). Now they are coming out with Degrassi on DVD. I am now the proud owner of both Season 1 and Season 2 of Degrassi Junior High! Yay!
Ok, so why do I love Degrassi? There is just something beautifully charming about it. None of acting is s
pectacular, the clothes are so funny, and some of the characters are darn near annoying (who doesn’t Kathleen irk?!?), yet I love it. I started watching it years ago, not even much when it first came out I don’t think, mostly after school when it was being re-run. I just got into the stories. Being a pop culture junkie, I just ate up this little piece of Canadian work. I became a Degrassi fan.
I mean, afterall, there is a lot of meat in these stories. Imagine writing about teen pregnancy, wet dreams, divorce, alcoholic parents, shoplifting, inappropriate approaches by adults towards kids, depression, and more in just the first two seasons of Junior High! There is something very honest and direct in the work that Kit Hood and Linda Schuyler did for teens in the late 80′s early 90′s. They weren’t afraid to talk about the issues or even have moments that were a little contrived at times so that kids would have something to talk about with their parents. I mean, really, Degrassi talks (pun FULLY intended).
The staying power for me, and I think for some of my fellow fans, is the utter campiness of the show, and the endearing qualities of the characters. Like any good show, you begin to feel that you know who they are. Joey Jeremiah will always be at my service, and Caitlin will always be fighting for the cause of the week. Another good challenge is testing my skills at how much I actually remember about the characters! These trivia are just off the top of my head:
- What kinda of car did Clutch drive? (Trans Am, but this might be wrong)
- What was Spike’s real name (Christine Nelson)
- What does Lucy try convince Voula to steal? (A sweater)
- What does she get caught for shoplifting? (A scarf)
- What is LD’s first name? (Lorraine)
- What happens to Wheel’s parents before he moves in with his grandparents? (They die in a car accident)
- What nickname did Joey give Michelle? (Mouse)
- What did Claude send to Caitlin right before he killed himself? (Roses)
Hmm…if you like this trivia stuff, check out more on the Degrassi Online website. There is even a list from the Queen’s University Degrassi Club - a club that I was a member of – and that yes, really exits.
Actually, to tell you the truth, I love that club, and still have stuff from it – a sweatshirt that says “Zit Remedy Road Crew” and a mug that says “Everybody wants something”. We are crazy bunch at Queen’s, and some friends of mine started The QUDC, and it was so great. We would meet on Monday evenings, watch episodes of Degrassi (usually a Junior High one then a High) then we would talk about them. We had a great Family Feud kinda thing based on the top answers on a survey done in the club. We had trivia. We even had guest speakers – one of which was a Queen’s film professor Clarke Mackey who directed a few episodes. Oh can we ever handle the Degrassi goodness!
The crowing success would have to be our Degrassi party though, we all got assigned characters, and we had to show up fully in character for the party. It was sooo 
much fun. You can see the pics on the website, but I’ve got a couple of my favs to add here. They feature me as Stephanie Kaye (I did everyone proud, came dressed as a prep and changed when I got there), my friend Neilson at Derek Wheeler a.k.a. Wheels, my friend Eric at Joey Jeremiah, and my friend Mark as Archie Simpson a.k.a. Snake.
Aren’t we just so cute?
