Being a fan of all things teen-entertainment-related, I have been watching Degrassi: The Next Generation pretty much since it started. I haven’t seen every episode or anything — not even close (it’s on its 12th season!) — but I would say I know who most of the characters are and have a fairly good, if somewhat vague, sense of the overall story lines.
Vulture’s list of ‘The 239 Issues Tackled by Degrassi Over 12 Seasons’ is one of the funnier things I have read in a while and totally gave me a good laugh on a Friday morning. Here are my favorites:
- ★ Being too good at sewing — I have never had this problem, so it was a real eye-opener. As you can see, this show is NOT afraid to tackle the heavy issues.
- ★ Writing a battle of the bands song about date rape
- ★ Competing to be Luau King and Queen — just like in Grease 2!! (Sidenote: ILU Michael Carrington)
- ★ Losing your virginity at your gay dad’s wedding — awkward on so many levels.
- ★ Trying to fit in with the wheelchair-basketball crowd — an issue more common than you might imagine…Friday Night Lights also delved into this one (Herc = awesome).
- ★ Asking Kevin Smith for advice on acting on your first lesbian crush — Degrassi has taught me that Kevin Smith actually gives pretty great advice about most things.
- ★ Joining a Christian club just to impress a girl
- ★ Having to merge schools with the people who murdered your baby daddy — crushing. Super tough. I really felt for Liberty on this one.
- ★ Fake engagements that turn into real engagements — proof that every once in a while the universe throws us a happy ending.
- ★ Wanting your bad-boy boyfriend to support you at robot wars
- ★ The dangers of sexting nude photos of yourself to your bad-boy boyfriend (who did not really support you at robot wars)
- ★ Renting a loft from one of the rich kids — rich kids in general just make any teen show exponentially better.
- ★ Writing vampire fan-fiction about your sex dreams
- ★ Living with your mom at a halfway house when she gets out of prison
- ★ Developing kidney failure because you were too busy to get your strep throat treated — this was a really scary story line!
- ★ Creating an app about all the women’s underwear you’ve photographed — this whole app business is getting a bit out of control, no?
- ★ Looooooving cocaine — see, this is why I’ve never tried cocaine. I suspect I would like it way too much. I simply don’t have time in my life to get into the whole cocaine additction/rehab cycle. Too many other things on my plate.
- ★ Having your birth mom offer to sell you her kidney for $20,000 — totally heartbreaking, but you could also sort of relate to the birth mom. So it was thought-provoking, and made me consider both perspectives. Thanks, Degrassi!
- ★ Joining the army to deal with that cocaine habit — I would never make it in the army. Yet another reason to avoid cocaine.
- ★ Framing your romantic rival for drug possession — clever, actually. Ruthless, but clever.
- ★ The inherent drama of Model U.N. — this one is just so, SO true. WHY is Model U.N. like this? I think this is an important question that we should be asking ourselves, as a society.
- ★ Wishing more people respected your cello skills — cello players get no love, people. Please, the next time you see a cello player, give ‘em a hug!
Happy Friday, everyone! Hope you all have a great weekend. I’m seeing the Jesus and Mary Chain tonight. Can’t wait!
MSkillz
Thaddeus
