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==Kevin Smith==
==Kevin Smith==
The most notable booster of the Degrassi series is popular director [[Kevin Smith]]. His first exposure to the Degrassi series came when he worked at a [[Clerks|Quick Stop]] in [[Leonardo, New Jersey]] around 1990. His friend, actor [[Jason Mewes]], who was also his co-worker at the time, became a fan after being introduced to the series by Smith. Every Sunday morning at work, Smith and Mewes watched re-broadcasts of ''Degrassi Junior High'' and ''Degrassi High.'' Drawn by the drama of the Degrassi series, Smith became an obsessed fan. The climax of his Degrassi obsession was realized when he landed guest appearances on ''Degrassi: The Next Generation'' while writing all his dialogue for the shows he appeared in. He first appeared in a three episode story arc to conclude season four. In those episodes, Smith, portraying himself, visited the school to work on the (fictional) film ''Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh!''. Smith re-appeared in a two episode arc in season five when the film premiered in theatres. Mewes also landed guest appearances with Smith in four of those episodes, three of them as their characters, [[Jay and Silent Bob]]. [[Alanis Morissette]], a friend of Smith and co-star in two of his previous films also made a cameo appearance in one episode. Smith was originally slated to play the part of Caitlin's fiance in the original pilot episode, but, due to filming commitments, the role was recast with Canadian director [[Don McKellar]]. A fan of both the original and current shows, Kevin Smith pays homage to Degrassi by making reference to it in several of his films. An example of this is when he named [[Caitlin Bree]] from the movie ''[[Clerks (movie)|Clerks]]'' after his favorite Degrassi character, [[Caitlin Ryan]]. He also had [[Shannen Doherty]]'s character Rene wear a Degrassi jacket throughout his [[Mallrats]] film and had [[Jason Lee]]'s character in [[Chasing Amy]] specifically mention Degrassi Junior High as an TV show he would rather watch than go out.
The most notable booster of the Degrassi series is popular director [[Kevin Smith]]. His first exposure to the Degrassi series came when he worked at a [[Clerks|Quick Stop]] in [[Leonardo, New Jersey]] around 1990. His friend, actor [[Jason Mewes]], who was also his co-worker at the time, became a fan after being introduced to the series by Smith. Every Sunday morning at work, Smith and Mewes watched re-broadcasts of ''Degrassi Junior High'' and ''Degrassi High.'' Drawn by the drama of the Degrassi series, Smith became an obsessed fan. The climax of his Degrassi obsession was realized when he landed guest appearances on ''Degrassi: The Next Generation'' while writing all his dialogue for the shows he appeared in. He first appeared in a three episode story arc to conclude season four. In those episodes, Smith, portraying himself, visited the school to work on the (fictional) film ''Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh!''. Smith re-appeared in a two episode arc in season five when the film premiered in theatres. Mewes also landed guest appearances with Smith in four of those episodes, three of them as their characters, [[Jay and Silent Bob]]. [[Alanis Morissette]], a friend of Smith and co-star in two of his previous films also made a cameo appearance in one episode. Smith was originally slated to play the part of Caitlin's fiance in the original pilot episode, but, due to filming commitments, the role was recast with Canadian director [[Don McKellar]]. A fan of both the original and current shows, Kevin Smith pays homage to Degrassi by making reference to it in several of his films. An example of this is when he named [[Caitlin Bree]] from the movie ''[[Clerks (movie)|Clerks]]'' after his favorite Degrassi character, [[Caitlin Ryan]]. He also had [[Shannen Doherty]]'s character Rene wear a Degrassi jacket throughout his [[Mallrats]] film and had [[Jason Lee]]'s character in [[Chasing Amy]] specifically mention Degrassi Junior High as a TV show he would rather watch than go out.


==Soundtrack==
==Soundtrack==

Revision as of 23:29, 9 October 2007

Degrassi: The Next Generation
File:Degrassi TNG Season 7 Title Screen.jpg
Cast of Season 7
Created byYan Moore
Linda Schuyler
Developed byYan Moore
Linda Schuyler
Opening theme"Degrassi Theme" Children's chorus
(Seasons 1-3)
"Degrassi Theme" Jakalope
(Seasons 4-5)
"Degrassi Theme" (remix) Jakalope
(Season 6-present)
Country of originCanada
United States
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes122 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersLinda Schuyler
Stephen Stohn
ProducerDavid Lowe
Running time22 min. (approx)
44 min. (approx)
Original release
NetworkCanada CTV
United States The N
ReleaseOctober 14, 2001 Canada
July 1, 2002 United States –
Present

Template:Infobox TV ratings

Degrassi: The Next Generation (sometimes abbreviated DTNG or D:TNG) is a Canadian television series, produced by Linda Schuyler and Stephen Stohn, which follows the lives of a group of high school students. The show is more commonly known as simply Degrassi.

Degrassi: The Next Generation continues the popular Degrassi series, and is preceded by Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High, as well as The Kids of Degrassi Street. Rather than do a show focusing on the (now adult) characters, the creators decided to stay true to the original series and retain its focus on the issues and challenges of real teen life, bringing in a slew of new teen actors to star in the show. Several characters from the earlier series reprise their roles on DTNG as parents or teachers of the new students, and have plot lines of their own which tend to intermix with the stories of the younger generation.

Degrassi: The Next Generation details the lives of many different characters as they go through their junior high and high school years, and since the first season the characters have grown in many different ways. The show has dealt with many issues familiar to teenagers (a complete list can be found at List of issues addressed in Degrassi: The Next Generation).

In the first three seasons, the show's theme song was sung by a children's chorus. In seasons four and five, the theme song was performed by Canadian industrial/pop group Jakalope. For seasons six and seven, the theme song was remixed, and stripped of the vocals. For season seven, its the same as season six only the instrumental starts faster and is sped up just a little bit.

Taglines

The following taglines have been used by The N:

Seasons 1-2: If your life was a TV show, this would be it.
Season 3: Degrassi, 100% intense.
Seasons 4-6: Degrassi, it goes there.
Season 6.5: You won't believe who goes there.
Season 7: Look who goes there now

Cast and characters

Main article: Degrassi: The Next Generation characters

Starring (in current credits order)

Regulars, but not in current credits

Recurring

Main article: List of minor Degrassi: The Next Generation characters

Formerly starring

Episodes

Main article: List of Degrassi: The Next Generation episodes

This is the US episode list:

Season Ep # First Airdate Last Airdate
Season 1 15 July 1, 2002 October 21, 2002
Season 2 22 October 7, 2002 August 29, 2003
Season 3 22 October 3, 2003 August 6, 2004
Season 4 22 October 1, 2004 August 26, 2005
Season 5 19 October 7, 2005 June 9, 2006
Season 6 19 September 29, 2006 August 3, 2007
Season 7 24 October 5, 2007 2008

Rise in popularity

In the United States, Degrassi: The Next Generation airs on cable channel The N. Nickelodeon at one time aired Degrassi in their TEENick block.
In Australia it is aired by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) as part of its "ABC Kids" lineup. Before some episodes are shown in Australia, a warning is broadcast that the program may not be suitable for younger children. Repeat episodes have also screened on Nickelodeon Australia. Starting October 52007 season four will air on the Seven Network and will screen until the end of season six. No other information is available

Several factors, including Degrassi:TNG's award-winning writing and heavy exposure on The N have made it surprisingly popular in the United States. A March 2005 article on this growing "south of the border" popularity in the Ottawa Sun notes that it is by far the most popular show on The-N and has outperformed U.S. youth-oriented non-cable prime-time shows like Joan of Arcadia and 8 Simple Rules (both shows have since been canceled) which is about four to five million viewers, even though only a relatively small portion of the U.S. has access to The N cable channel (which in many areas is only available via satellite dish or premium/digital cable tiers).[citation needed] This is even more remarkable considering how few TV shows from other English-speaking countries -- besides those geared towards young children such as Thomas the Tank Engine, Teletubbies, or The Wiggles -- have succeeded with a U.S. audience. Other successful English-language shows from outside the U.S. have generally been from the United Kingdom rebroadcast on PBS or BBC America; despite the close proximity, Canadian television is almost never rebroadcast to the U.S., allowing Degrassi:TNG to be one of the most successful Canadian TV shows ever in America. Many American fans are only aware of the new Degrassi series, having never been exposed to the original (PBS briefly showed the original Degrassi series in the late 1980s and early 1990s). This success has caused The N to begin broadcasting episodes of Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High in October 2005. These episodes were rebranded as Degrassi, Old School.

American actor and film director Kevin Smith made a three-episode story arc guest appearance at the very end of Season four (West End Girls, Goin' Down The Road) and re-appeared in a two-episode arc (Lexicon of Love) in Season five. A fan of both the original and current shows , Kevin Smith named a character in Clerks Caitlin for the character of the same name in Degrassi.

Critical response

In July 2005, Degrassi: The Next Generation won the award for "Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming" at the Television Critics Association (TCA) Awards in Los Angeles. It was only the second time that a non-American series has won an award in this category (the first time was Degrassi Junior High, which won in 1988). Three weeks later, Degrassi: The Next Generation won the Teen Choice surfboard as "Choice Summer Series" at the Teen Choice Awards. That was the first time a Canadian series had ever been nominated — and won — in that category.[1]

However, while some media outlets have praised Degrassi, others have criticized the show for over-dramatizing teenage life. One article for example, believes the show is irresponsible by scandalizing high school life in exaggerated terms, and that it does not teach life lessons. It has been compared to teen soap operas such as Beverly Hills 90210.

Broadcast history

While the earlier Degrassi series all aired in Canada on CBC, Degrassi: The Next Generation airs on CTV. In the States, the orignal Degrassi series aired on PBS, Degrassi: The Next Generation airs on digital cable network The N.

Degrassi: The Next Generation is currently broadcast in over seventy countries across the globe including MTV Latinoamérica (Latin America), ZIGZAP (Poland) and Ketnet (Flanders). The DVDs are distributed in the US by Funimation Entertainment in unedited and uncut format.

The first half of the sixth season of the show was aired in the The N before CTV after twelve episodes the show was put on a hiatus in November when CTV started to air the season. On February 162007 The-N aired the thirteenth episode of the sixth season as part of a special for the premiere of the third season of Instant Star before taking a break. The rest of the sixth season began airing on June 292007 in the United States.

When Degrassi returned to The N on June 292007, with the episode "Free Fallin'" Part 1 as the premiere. While this may confuse some fans to think this is the premiere of the seventh season, this is actually the premiere for the second half of the season. Since airing season one, The N has always split a season of Degrassi into two different seasons, a fall season and a summer season. The fall season is usually promoted as the correct season while the summer season may state 'season premiere'. The N refers to the summer seasons as season and the year it aired. (An example would be the Summer 2004 season was the second half of season three.)

The N premiered season seven with two back-to-back episodes on October 52007.[2] After eight new episodes have aired, there will be a hiatus until early 2008, at which point another group of eight new episodes will air. The remaining eight episodes of the season will be shown in summer 2008. CTV's tentative premiere date for season seven is December 42007.[3]

Syndicated repeats in the United States

In the United States, first-run rights are exclusively owned by The N. On September 252006 an American company Program Partners, a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Television, announced that they have acquired the syndication rights to the show, which began stripping daily on local stations in the US, beginning in September 2007.[4]

The program has been cleared in nearly eighty percent of the country in advance of its September 2007 syndicated debut.

The show meets the criteria to be listed as E/I programming. While the syndicator preferred that the show be scheduled in the late-afternoon hours (5pm to 7pm), some stations treat E/I shows differently, and Degrassi is no exception. For example:

  • WPHL-TV in Philadelphia is using a three hour block of Degrassi to fulfill E/I requirements, replacing the DiC Kids Network block.
  • WMOR-TV, an independent station in the Tampa Bay market, shows Degrassi weekdays. However, the show has been scheduled for 9:30AM, when its target audience is at school. E/I programming must be scheduled anytime between 7AM and 10PM local time; because of this rule, along with the restrictions on commercial time during E/I programming, some stations, such as WMOR, schedule E/I shows when very few people, especially school-aged children, are watching, as a way to conform with the rule without affecting the more-lucrative dayparts of the schedule.
  • WZMY-TV,the Boston area affiliate of MyNetworkTV airs the show weekdays at 4pm and Saturday morning at 7:30am. The E/I logo is small and in the peer left corner.
  • WPIX-TV the New York City affiliate of The CW marathon runs the show Sundays 10:30am-1:00pm.
  • WTXX-TV the Hartford affiliate of The CW runs the show weekdays at 7:00am and Sundays at 7:30am. Most of the other programming on WTXX between 4am and 9am weekdays are either infomercial or religious based.

DVD releases

Season Episodes Originally aired DVD release date
1 15 2001 – 2002 September 282004
2 22 2002 – 2003 June 212005
3 22 2003 – 2004 March 282006
4 22 2004 – 2005 October 242006 (United States)
April 32007 (Canada)
5 19 2005 – 2006 July 32007
6 19 2006 – 2007
7 24 2007 – 2008

Television ratings

Degrassi: The Next Generation is one of Canada's most-watched domestic drama series. It has been hosting a constantly growing audience; its fifth season saw a 24% increase in the number of viewers, sending its audience count past one million for the first time. After premiering in the United States on The N on April 1, 2002, it soon became the network's most-watched series.[5] With characters from preceding Degrassi series being featured in The Next Generation (i.e. Spike, Snake, Joey, and Caitlin), viewers of the older series now in their 20s and 30s make up a dedicated fan base. Approximately 40% of the show’s average number of viewers are outside of The Next Generation's 12-17 year-old target audience.[6]

Cast member departures

Christina Schmidt played character Terri MacGregor from the show's beginning until the end of season three. In season three, her character got in an abusive relationship and was put in a coma. She was no longer in the show post-season three, with her disappearance never fully explained on the show. According to degrassi.tv, her character was sent to a private school by her dad due to some slight brain damage and to get away from Rick. It is mentioned that Paige still communicates with her via instant messaging. In real life, Christina wanted to leave so she could become a plus-sized model for Torrid.

Daniel Clark played Sean Cameron from the show's beginning in 2001. However, Clark planned on attending college full time during the fall 2004 year of Degrassi, which was the show's fourth season. Daniel Clark kept his plan on college and left the show after the third season 2003-2004. So, during the show's fourth season, (2004-2005) the character of Sean had gone through a severely traumatic stage, in which he unintentionally killed student Rick Murray (Ephraim Ellis), and this storyline was used to write Clark out of the show, creating a script that sends Sean back to Wasaga Beach, his hometown, and live with his parents.

His exit episode was intended to be the season three finale, however, the producers wanted to include a school shooting issue during the fourth season, so this was used as an excuse to bump Clark off the show. His exit episode was in "Back in Black". Years went by and Daniel Clark had an offer to return to the show's sixth season, which is indeed what he did. Clark was brought back in Degrassi, and was a part of the cast as of season six. It was recently announced that Daniel Clark will not be returning in the seventh season. It is unknown how they will address his absence, the most likely choice being that he enlisted in the army.

Melissa McIntyre played Ashley Kerwin on the show. Her character left to go to England in the season four finale, due to the fact that in real life, Melissa wanted to go to college. In the season five premiere, it was stated that her character wanted to stay in England. She returned in the season five finale and is a recurring cast member on the show as of season six (Due to her busy college workload.)

Ryan Cooley played J.T. Yorke on the show. He was murdered in season six episode "Rock This Town" by being stabbed in the aorta by students from Degrassi's rival school Lakehurst. He is the only departed main character in the series that was murdered, making his death the second to be visually shown on Degrassi (Rick, and JT). Ryan Cooley left the show to focus on his studies at the University of Toronto but is still pursuing his acting career.

Unexplained absences

  • Terri MacGregor (Christina Schmidt) - She was introduced in the second episode of season one and was a series regular throughout seasons one and two but in season three, she was put into a coma and absent from the series for some time. Then, in "I Want Candy", Ashley, Paige, and Spinner skip school and visit Terri. Ashley talks to her and then leaves. Terri was only mentioned a few times after that episode. In Paige's fictitious journal entry on the official Degrassi: The Next Generation website, it was confirmed that Terri had transferred to a private school.

(In the Season four deleted scenes section, Marco and Alex confront the principal of Degrassi regarding the return of Rick, they later remind the principal that Terri's absence was due to the transfer to another school based on fear.)

  • Kendra Mason (Katie Lai) - the younger sister of Spinner, was introduced in season two, as a recurring character. Although Kendra was Toby's girlfriend for a while, she was never seen after "I Want Candy". The last reference to Kendra was made by Toby in season four, when he mentioned that they broke up the previous summer. Concurrent with Kendra, the character Nadia was never seen again.
  • Chris Sharpe (Daniel Morrison) - introduced in season three as Emma's new boyfriend. He made his last appearance in "Secret" never to be seen or mentioned thereafter. In fact, when we first see Peter Stone in the season five premiere, Emma says he's the first guy she's liked since Sean, even though she dated Chris after breaking up with Sean.
  • Chester Hosoda (Philip Nozuka), Emma's new neighbor, appeared in two season four episodes. He seemingly disappeared afterwards.
  • Hazel Aden (Andrea Lewis), Paige's best friend, appeared during seasons one to five. After graduation, she is only mentioned once in "Can't Hardly Wait" when Ashley sees a portrait of Hazel in Jimmy's sketchbook.

Some characters have been discussed on screen, but are never mentioned or seen in later episodes. For example, JT says he has a sister in "Secrets and Lies" and Manny claims she has an younger brother in "Family Politics", but neither are ever seen on screen and are never mentioned again. Paige says in "Secrets & Lies" that her 'oldest' brother, Dylan is gay, indicating that there was at least one other brother born between her and Dylan, but no brothers other than Dylan were ever seen or mentioned in later episodes; and in the episode "Careless Whisper", the line was changed to her 'older' brother.

Kevin Smith

The most notable booster of the Degrassi series is popular director Kevin Smith. His first exposure to the Degrassi series came when he worked at a Quick Stop in Leonardo, New Jersey around 1990. His friend, actor Jason Mewes, who was also his co-worker at the time, became a fan after being introduced to the series by Smith. Every Sunday morning at work, Smith and Mewes watched re-broadcasts of Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High. Drawn by the drama of the Degrassi series, Smith became an obsessed fan. The climax of his Degrassi obsession was realized when he landed guest appearances on Degrassi: The Next Generation while writing all his dialogue for the shows he appeared in. He first appeared in a three episode story arc to conclude season four. In those episodes, Smith, portraying himself, visited the school to work on the (fictional) film Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh!. Smith re-appeared in a two episode arc in season five when the film premiered in theatres. Mewes also landed guest appearances with Smith in four of those episodes, three of them as their characters, Jay and Silent Bob. Alanis Morissette, a friend of Smith and co-star in two of his previous films also made a cameo appearance in one episode. Smith was originally slated to play the part of Caitlin's fiance in the original pilot episode, but, due to filming commitments, the role was recast with Canadian director Don McKellar. A fan of both the original and current shows, Kevin Smith pays homage to Degrassi by making reference to it in several of his films. An example of this is when he named Caitlin Bree from the movie Clerks after his favorite Degrassi character, Caitlin Ryan. He also had Shannen Doherty's character Rene wear a Degrassi jacket throughout his Mallrats film and had Jason Lee's character in Chasing Amy specifically mention Degrassi Junior High as a TV show he would rather watch than go out.

Soundtrack

Main articles: Songs from Degrassi: The Next Generation and The N Soundtrack (D:TNG)

In November 2005, a soundtrack for the show was released by Orange Records Canada. It was entitled Songs from Degrassi: The Next Generation. The N released their own version in the summer of 2006 with Nick Records, entitled The N Soundtrack, which includes songs from other The N series.

Trivia

  • Five characters from Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High have made regular appearances on the show: Snake, Spike, Joey, Caitlin and Mr. Raditch. Others have made guest appearances or cameos when circumstances have called for it.
  • In Canada, eight episodes have viewer discretions warnings on them, Shout (Parts 1 & 2), Time Stands Still (Part 2), Secret (Parts 1 & 2), Rock This Town, and Don't You Want Me (Parts 1 & 2) However, in the United States, only "Shout" came with a viewer discretion warning.
  • In the episode "White Wedding", Snake's speech to his class starts off: "Love: exciting and new..." which are the lyrics to the theme song to The Love Boat (1977).
  • Kevin Smith wrote his own dialogue for his three episode guest appearance as himself.
  • As of 2007 there have been three deaths: Albert Manning (car wreck), Rick Murray(school shooting), J.T. Yorke (murdered by Lakehurst's Drake Lempke)
  • In the episode "Love My Way", Paige Michalchuk makes a comment "Move over Antonio Banderas" a nod to Lauren Collins' movie, Take the Lead, (2006) in which Antonio is her dance teacher.
  • The senior year of the main characters has been split into two seasons, similar to the senior year of the main characters of The CW teen drama One Tree Hill, also, the total amount of episodes of both seasons, on both shows, is fourty three. Also, both shows named each episode of these seasons after a song.
  • The episode "Accidents Will Happen," in which Manny becomes pregnant and decides to have an abortion, was not originally aired in the United States. In 2006, The-N aired this episode in a Degrassi Marathon, calling it the episode that viewers had never seen.
  • Seasons six and seven aired on The-N before their Canadian premiere.

References

  1. ^ "Degrassi:TNG Awards". Retrieved 2006-10-07.
  2. ^ "THE DEGRASSI PREMIERE IS MOVED TO OCTOBER 5TH!". Retrieved 2007-09-14.
  3. ^ "Degrassi Season 7 Airing Info:". Livejournal.com. Retrieved 2007-08-23.
  4. ^ "Broadcasting & Cable Breaking News". Retrieved 2006-10-07.
  5. ^ "Degrassi: The Next Generation Graduates to the Century Club". Retrieved 2006-10-07.
  6. ^ "Channel Surfing for Nostalgia". Retrieved 2006-10-07.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Degrassi: The Next Generation.
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