Degrassi: The Next Generation (season 1)

The first season of Degrassi: The Next Generation, a Canadian serial teen drama television series, commenced airing in Canada on 14 October 2001 and concluded on 3 March 2002, consisting of fifteen episodes. The series introduces a group of seventh and eighth grade school children, and follows their lives as they deal with some of the challenges and issues teenagers face such as online predators, body image, dysfunctional families, sex, puberty, rumours, peer pressure, stress, and drug use.

Degrassi: The Next Generation
Season 1
Degrassi: The Next Generation Season 1 DVD
Country of originCanada
No. of episodes15
Release
Original networkCTV
Original release14 October 2001 (2001-10-14) –
3 March 2002 (2002-03-03)
Season chronology

The first season was broadcast on the Canadian terrestrial television network CTV, on Sundays at 7:00 p.m. It debuted with a one-hour movie of the week special, "Mother and Child Reunion", which form the first two episodes of season one. In the United States, it was broadcast on The N, a digital cable network aimed at teenagers and young adults. The season was released domestically on DVD as a three disc boxed set on 19 October 2004 by Alliance Atlantis Home Entertainment, although it was released to the US market almost a month earlier, on 28 September 2004. Registered users of the Canadian and US iTunes Stores are also able purchase and download the season for playback on home computers and certain iPods.[1]

The reception for Degrassi: The Next Generation's first season was mixed. It had earned itself 365,000 Canadian viewers aged 18 to 49, while its accompanying website was attracting 28 million hits per month, but press reviews were not as complimentary. The season picked up nominations at the Directors Guild of Canada Awards, the Gemini Awards and the Young Artist Awards.

Cast

For the new generation of students, the producers kept the same model that had been used during the casting of the previous series, Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High and chose 11 children out of 600 auditionees,[2] hoping to provide a group of characters the target audience of kids and teenagers could relate to, rather than the typical gorgeous actors in their twenties pretending to be teenagers, something that some of the other shows of the same period, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dawson's Creek which were targeting the same audience, were and still are continually doing to this day.[3] Providing ties to the previous series in the Degrassi universe, Stefan Brogren, Dan Woods, and Amanda Stepto were hired to reprise their original roles, being featured throughout the season while the first episode served as a reunion for many of the previous cast members of the franchise.[4]

See also: List of Degrassi: The Next Generation characters

Crew

The season was produced by Epitome Pictures and CTV. The executive producers are Epitome Pictures' CEO and Degrassi: The Next Generation co-creator Linda Schuyler, and her husband, Epitome president Stephen Stohn. Degrassi: The Next Generation co-creator Yan Moore served as the creative consultant and David Lowe was the line producer. Aaron Martin was hired as the story editor and was promoted to senior story editor mid-season. James Hurst then became the story editor. The season's writers are Tassie Cameron, Myra Fried, James Hurst, Aaron Martin, Yan Moore, and Susin Nielsen. The directors throughout the season are James Allodi, Anthony Browne, Paul Fox, Laurie Lynd, Bruce McDonald, Eleanor Lindo, and Stefan Scaini.[6][7]

Reception

Degrassi: The Next Generation received mixed reviews about its first season. Based on the pilot episode, Stephanie McGrath of Canoe.ca's AllPop acknowledged Miriam McDonald's portrayal of Emma Nelson as "stellar acting abilities in a super creepy storyline ... high on tension, low on cheese [and] top-notch". She criticized the reunion sub-plot, though, saying it was marred by "wooden, stilted and over-rehearsed acting; the young actors actually showed up their classic Degrassi counter-parts in the pilot episode. Their acting was solid, believable and age-appropriate [in a story-line which] demonstrates that the creative forces behind The Next Generation haven't lost touch with teens yet ... One installment of Degrassi: The Next Generation is worth 20 episodes of Dawson's Creek".[8] Towards the end of the season, the Canadian issue of TV Guide summed up the run as "Not just Canadian TV - It's great Canadian TV! Degrassi offers a gritty look into the lives of real teens complete with acne and bad dye jobs. It has something for everyone because we've all been there."[9]

Other critics were less enthusiastic about the season, though. The Seattle Times' Melanie McFarland was unsure whether the series' success in Canada would follow when it began airing in the US. "As popular as 'Degrassi' was, it was still a mere cult hit in the United States; the crowd that had access to it initially on PBS might not be able to tune into [The N]. Soft-pedaling through the issues might work for today's family of viewers, but what's gentle enough for Mom and Dad's peace of mind might not be enough to hook Junior or the original Degrassi's older fans". She was, however, "happy [The N] chose Degrassi students to navigate teen perils instead of digging up Screech and the gang for another nauseating go-round".[10] Tony Atherton of the Ottawa Citizen had mixed feelings of the new incarnation, saying it "has a cleaner, more polished look, has lost its edge [and offers] nothing new to viewers familiar with the groundbreaking preceding series, nor to anyone else who has watched the deluge of teen dramas since", adding that because there is "little ground left to break in teen drama there is a sense of déjà vu with regards to the plots and characters". He did, however, praise the show for having "the same simple narrative told from a kid's viewpoint, and the same regard for unvarnished reality [as Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High, making it] light years from far-fetched high-school melodramas like Boston Public and Dawson's Creek [and for that] is every bit as good as its beloved predecessor. In fact, in some respects it is even better".[11] After watching nearly seventy hours of twenty-one Canadian-produced programs, the Simon Fraser University cited Degrassi: The Next Generation in their report as one of the Canadian television programmes that is "too Caucasian".[12][13]

Despite the mixed reviews and controversy over the storylines,[14] the first season was still watched by 365,000 18- to 49-year-old Canadians, making it Canada's top-rated domestic drama at the time,[15] while its accompanying website was attracting 28 million hits per month. [16]

The pilot was nominated for two Directors Guild of Canada Awards, winning in the "Outstanding Achievement in a Television Series - Children's" category,[17] and picked up Gemini Award nominations in the categories for "Best Photography in a Dramatic Program or Series" and "Best Short Dramatic Program".[18] Actors Jake Goldsbie and Ryan Cooley were nominated for their portrayals of Toby Isaacs and J.T. Yorke respectively at the Young Artist Awards.[19] Five episodes were given a total of six awards by The National Council on Family Relations at its 34th Annual Awards ceremony.[20]

Episodes

In the US the series' broadcaster, The N, aired episode three, "Family Politics", as the series premiere;[21] "Mother and Child Reunion" was held back and aired as the season finale. This caused continuity problems for viewers as the episode depicted Toby being introduced to Manny and Emma for the first time, and was set before the school year began. The final episode of the season, "Jagged Little Pill", was also held back while The N decided whether its subject about ecstasy abuse was too controversial.[22] When an edited version was made available, The N aired it as part of season two.[14] In reruns however, the episodes have aired in the original order intended by the show's producers. Most of the episodes are named after songs and films from the 1950s, 70s, 80s and 90s.

This list is by order of production, as they appear on the DVD.

No. in
season		 No. in
series		 Title Original airdate Production code
1–21–2"Mother and Child Reunion"[23]14 October 2001 (2001-10-14)101 & 102

Spike Nelson's 12 year old daughter Emma has spent the year communicating with her boyfriend "Jordan" over the internet and finally makes plans to meet him in person, even though her friends warn her about the potential dangers in doing so. Degrassi High's classes of 1992 and 1993 return for their high school reunion. Recently widowed, Joey is unsure if he even wants to go, especially after finding out that his ex-girlfriend Caitlin is bringing her fiancée Keith to the event.

Note: Part 1 marks the first appearances of Ryan Cooley, Jake Goldsbie, Miriam McDonald and Cassie Steele as J.T. Yorke, Toby Issacs, Emma Nelson and Manny Santos. Part 2 marks the first appearances of Melissa McIntyre and Christina Schmidt as Ashley Kerwin and Terri MacGregor.
33"Family Politics"4 November 2001 (2001-11-04)103

It's the first day of school at Degrassi Community School, and eighth-grader Ashley already has her sights set on becoming the school's newest student council president. Her seemingly sure win is soon threatened when her stepbrother, Toby, becomes frustrated by her unchallenged status and convinces his friend J.T. to run against her. Meanwhile, Emma and Manny deal with eighth-grader Spinner's bullying.

Note: This episode marks the first appearances of Sarah Barrable-Tishauer, Lauren Collins, Aubrey Graham, and Shane Kippel as Liberty Van Zandt, Paige Michalchuk, Jimmy Brooks, and Spinner Mason.
44"Eye of the Beholder"11 November 2001 (2001-11-11)104

Terri doesn't want to attend Degrassi's first nighttime dance because she thinks she's too fat for any guy to like her. Spinner likes her, but Paige wants him for herself and, by playing on her insecurities, gets Terri drunk before her date with Spinner. Meanwhile, Emma is puzzled by the new kid's behavior and J.T. and Toby skip the dance to look at Internet pornography.

Note: This episode marks the first appearance of Daniel Clark as Sean Cameron.
55"Parents' Day"18 November 2001 (2001-11-18)105
With Parents' Day fast approaching, Toby tries to convince his divorced parents that the event is canceled in order to avoid an ugly, public spat between them. Meanwhile, Ashley and Paige vie for the attention of Toby's mom, who happens to be a casting agent. Emma is annoyed by the NAK (News About Kids) morning-announcements program, believing it to be biased. She then writes an opinionated paper about NAK, and gets into an argument with Sean and his brother about it.
66"The Mating Game"25 November 2001 (2001-11-25)106
Jimmy and Ashley's eight-month anniversary comes up but with Paige playing Juliet to Jimmy's Romeo for their English class assignment, Ashley contemplates having sex with him to keep him interested. Meanwhile, Toby attempts to get closer to Emma when the seventh-graders are given an assignment on endangered animals.
77"Basketball Diaries"2 December 2001 (2001-12-02)107
Jimmy wants to make the basketball team, but due to practice, his schoolwork suffers. To get an energy boost, he convinces Spinner to skip a Ritalin pill and give it to him instead, resulting in Spinner, off his medication, mooning the audience during halftime. Jimmy, under the influence of the Ritalin, gets himself into trouble when he hurts Sean in attempt to take the winning shot. Meanwhile, Liberty is tired of writing Ashley's video announcement speeches and not getting any credit for it. Ashley then gives her a chance at doing the announcements, with disastrous results.
88"Secrets & Lies"9 December 2001 (2001-12-09)108
Ashley's dad is coming home from Europe, and she's happy, until she finds out he's gay and cuts him out of her life. Meanwhile, Liberty has the biggest crush on J.T., but he's not interested. When he hears about Ashley's father, he tells Liberty he, too, is a homosexual.
99"Coming of Age"16 December 2001 (2001-12-16)109
With his parents working constantly, Jimmy starts to spend all his time at Ashley's, which leaves her feeling smothered. Meanwhile, Emma learns her mood swings are not just because of stress when she gets her first period.
1010"Rumours and Reputations"6 January 2002 (2002-01-06)110

Emma accidentally starts a hurtful rumor about Liberty dating Mr. Armstrong, when in fact she is getting extra tutoring with him for her dyscalculia. Meanwhile, Spinner finds a bug in his school lunch, but no one will believe his story. Determined to prove himself right, he puts bugs in Ashley's food, and is forced to take a job in the school's cafeteria as punishment.

Note: This episode marks the first appearance of Andrea Lewis as Hazel Aden.
1111"Friday Night"27 January 2002 (2002-01-27)111
Sean asks Emma out on a date, but the night turns into one disaster after another. Meanwhile, when Jimmy and Spinner are given detention by a stressed Ms. Kwan, they vow revenge by pulling pranks on her. The pranks are fun at first, but quickly turn cruel when Spinner decides to egg Ms. Kwan's car.
1212"Wannabe"3 February 2002 (2002-02-03)112
Paige starts a Spirit Squad at school. Manny, who desperately wants to join, starts to hang out with the "it crowd," and begins to question her friendship with an unsupportive Emma. Meanwhile, Spinner, Liberty, J.T., and Toby team up to win a contest.
1313"Cabaret"17 February 2002 (2002-02-17)113
Ashley writes a song she plans to perform with Terri at the Degrassi Lunchtime Cabaret, but when Terri adds Paige, she grows annoyed when Paige takes control. Terri attempts to use her recent project on tarot card readings to convince Ashley to go with Paige's ideas, but Ashley refuses, upsetting Terri and Paige. Meanwhile, Emma performs a interpretive dance to advocate anti-poaching, and when Sean refuses to join, Toby steps up.
1414"Under Pressure"24 February 2002 (2002-02-24)114
With exams approaching at Degrassi, the last thing Sean wants is to repeat Grade 7 for a second time. When he doesn't finish his Media Immersions exam on time, he is convinced he has failed again. Stressed to a boiling point, Sean releases his frustrations in a violent way. Meanwhile, Spinner attempts to get sick to avoid taking his English exam, but ultimately gets help from an unlikely source.
1515"Jagged Little Pill"3 March 2002 (2002-03-03)115
Ashley is tired of being a perfectionist and turns her end-of-the-year slumber party into an out-of-control rager. Meanwhile, J.T. brings an ecstasy pill for Toby, Sean, and himself, but when Ashley consumes it, things go from bad to worse. Also, Sean wants to make up with Emma, but Emma is still angry at Sean for his actions in the previous episode.

DVD release

The DVD release of season one was released by FUNimation Entertainment in the U.S. on 28 September 2004, and by Alliance Atlantis Home Entertainment in Canada on 19 October 2004 after it had completed broadcast on television. As well as every episode from the season, the DVD release features bonus material including deleted scenes, bloopers and behind-the-scenes featurettes.

The DVD was first released in Australia on May 3, 2007 by Roadshow Entertainment, without any bonus features. On September 8, 2010, the DVD was re-released along with season two by Shock Entertainment with all of the bonus features intact. Season one is currently being released by Umbrella Entertainment.

The Complete First Season
Set details[24] Special features[24]
  • Degrassi karaoke
  • Degrassi photo album
  • Character descriptions
  • Cast biographies
  • Deleted scenes
  • Oops and bloopers
  • Original television promos
  • Audition tapes
Release dates[24][25][26]
Canada United States Region 4
19 October 2004 28 September 2004 3 May 2007
8 September 2010 (re-release)
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References
  1. Epitome Pictures. 38894%2526s%253D143441 "Degrassi: The Next Generation" Check |url= value (help) (Note: Requires iTunes software to access). The N. iTunes Store. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  2. Atherton, Tony (2001-06-07). "Degrassi High Cast Set To Return This Fall". Ottawa Citizen. CanWest. Some of the original teen cast, now in their late 20s, were on hand yesterday to offer advice to the 11 youngsters chosen from among 600 who auditioned for the series of half-hour shows.
  3. McGrath, Stephanie (2001-09-21). "'Degrassi's' got a whole new student body". AllPop. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on 2002-04-29. Retrieved 2007-12-12. Yan Moore: "When teens tune in, they're more likely to see actors who resemble their lab partner than the Holmes, Jacksons, and Van Der Beeks that people Dawson's Creek. They're going to see much more real kids. Remember the first season of Dawson's Creek? Where they were all saying, 'I may be 15', but in fact they were 18, 19, 20? But our kids are within a couple years of the characters they're playing." Degrassi is more of a reflection of what it's like to be a teen than Dawson's Creek, which have their place and everything, but you know, the kids on Dawson's Creek speak like they're PhD students compared to what normal kids speak."
  4. "CTV Press Release" (Press release). CTV. 2001-08-04. Archived from the original (Reprint) on 2010-05-17. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  5. Ellis 2005, pp. 46–51
  6. Ellis 2005, p. 96
  7. Linda Schuyler (co-creator, executive producer); Yan Moore (co-creator); Stephen Stohn (executive producer) (2004-10-19). Degrassi: The Next Generation - Season 1 DVD Boxset (DVD). Alliance Atlantis Home Entertainment.
  8. McGrath, Stephanie (2001-09-21). "'Degrassi's' got a whole new student body". AllPop. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on 2002-04-29. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
  9. "Degrassi: The Next Generation". TV Guide (Canadian Issue). 2002-02-02.
  10. McFarland, Melanie (2002-03-30). "'Degrassi' back in a new generation". The Seattle Times.
  11. Atherton, Tony (2001-10-14). "Degrassi returns with new, old faces: Unfortunately, the stories are stuck in the old ruts". Ottawa Citizen. CanWest. p. A12.
  12. "Caucasian TV drama". Canadian Press. Simon Fraser University. 2002-09-05. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
  13. "Visible Minorities missing from Cdn TV: Study". Canadian Press. CTVglobemedia. 2002-08-25. Retrieved 2002-02-01.
  14. "Degrassi: The Next Generation" (Press release). ABC. 2002-11-01.
    • Gayle, MacDonald (2002-10-31). "For a few bucks, we'll launder your movie for you" (Note: Fee required). The Globe and Mail. CTVglobemedia. p. R1. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
    • Neihart, Ben (2005-03-20). "DGrassi Is tha Best Teen TV N da WRLD!". The New York Times. p. 5. Retrieved 2007-12-12.
  15. Williamson, Kevin (2001-12-07). "Degrassi keeps on growing". Calgary Sun. Sun Media.
  16. "Snap Media's Syndication Engine tunes viewers in to the web" (Press release). Canada NewsWire. 2001-12-06. In a single month www.degrassi.tv has secured more than 26,000 full registrations and attracted over 28,000,000 hits. Driven by over 2,000,000 unique page impressions a month, users have logged a total of over 145,000 unique sessions per month each lasting an average of more than 18 minutes.
  17. "2002 Directors Guild of Canada Awards". Directors Guild of Canada. 2002. Archived from the original (Flash) on 2007-11-23. Retrieved 2007-12-08.
  18. "Canadian Awards Database History Search". Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. 2007. Archived from the original (Search for "Degrassi") on 2009-09-03. Retrieved 2007-12-08.
  19. "23rd Annual Young Artist Awards". Youngartistawards.org. Archived from the original on 2014-09-03. Retrieved 2007-12-04.
  20. "Degrassi Wins Big at the 34th Annual Media Awards". Epitome Virtual Reality. CTV. 2002-09-18. Archived from the original on 2010-05-17. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
  21. "Noggin's New Programming Block 'The N' Takes on Tween Issues With 'Degrassi: The Next Generation'" (Press release). Epitome Virtual Reality. 2002-03-25. Archived from the original on 2008-02-03. Retrieved 2007-12-25.
  22. "Season 2". DegrassiTNGHO.com. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
  23. Aired as separate half-hour episodes in broadcast syndication
  24. "Degrassi: The Next Generation - Season 1". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on 2008-02-28. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
  25. "Degrassi: The Next Generation - Season 1 (Canadian)". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on 2008-09-23. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
  26. "Degrassi - The Next Generation: Season 1". EzyDVD. Archived from the original on 2008-02-16. Retrieved 2008-02-17.

Notes
  • Ellis, Kathryn (September 2005). Degrassi: Generations - The Official 411. New York, New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 978-1-4165-1680-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

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