The-N Gets Old School, Airing Classic 'Degrassi'

Note from Anastasia: I'm really excited that Jennifer Waits has joined our group of Ypulse contributing editors. Jennifer has covered two conferences for Ypulse – last year's Youth Marketing Mega Event and What Teens Want East. You can read about all of the new Ypulse contributing editors on the About page. Unfortunately, we lost Richard "Levi" Brooks to the heavy demands of schoolwork at UCLA.

For the past few weeks Nickelodeon's teen channel The-N has been airing classic episodes of the Canadian teen shows "Degrassi Junior High" and "Degrassi High" that were originally broadcast between 1987 and 1991. They're packaging these episodes as "Degrassi, Old School," utilizing teasers that play up the campyness of the 80s outfits, hairdos, and corny dialogue. Although the "Old School" themes and storylines are hard-hitting, dealing with such topics as drugs, abuse, HIV, suicide, sexuality, bullying, body image and pregnancy, the show still has a quaint feel to it, with a cheesy theme song and realistic-looking kids as actors. It's far from glamorous and that's where much of its power comes from. Often while watching I'll cringe as I sympathize with a character going through an embarrassing junior high moment, like getting teased for wearing a bra for the first time. Yet, I'll also laugh at some of the lines, like when a character pressures a skeptical kid to try LSD, saying, "If you can't eat paper, maybe you're not ready for acid."

Compared with the current series "Degrassi: Next Generation," (2001-present) the "Old School" counterpart has much more of an "Afterschool Special" vibe. Many episodes end on an ambiguous note, as if providing an opportunity for a teacher to press "pause" on the VCR and begin a class discussion about the dangers of drinking, sex, bullying, running away, etc. In fact, Degrassi does have an educational component to it, with the old "Degrassi" produced in association with not only CBC in Canada, but also PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in the United States. A friend told me that her Canadian husband watched "Degrassi" in school when he was a kid and curriculum kits are available to facilitate classroom use.

"Degrassi: Next Generation" has been a huge hit for The-N, with its realistic and cutting-edge storylines (their promos tout "It goes there…") and I'll be curious to see if "Old School" generates the same kind of buzz with teens. I'd heard that the-N is broadening its target audience to include older teens and college kids, so it seems that airing vintage "Degrassi" in addictive 6-episode marathons every night (currently from 9pm to midnight on the West Coast and from midnight to 3am on the East Coast) could be part of their strategy to engage young people who are intrigued by the retro Degrassi teens from more than a decade ago. "Degrassi: Next Generation" fans get the added bonus of seeing adult actors as kids in the "Old School" episodes, as the current series features several adults (namely Spike, Snake, Joey, and Caitlin) who were stars of the original show. Personally, I love both the old and new versions of Degrassi and am impressed by the care with which they tackle teen issues.

Now if only The-N would reconsider airing the "Degrassi" episodes that they deemed too controversial for U.S. audiences, such as those from 2004 dealing with Manny's pregnancy and abortion. That would be truly groundbreaking.

Categorized under: TV

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