Last Thursday (June 4th, 2015) when I found out Degrassi (originally known as Degrassi: The Next Generation) had been cancelled after 14 seasons I was kinda surprised because since the show just changes out the cast when characters graduate I thought that would allow it to go on indefinitely. After reading more articles about Degrassi being cancelled I discovered that TeenNick and MTV Canada had actually just decided they were no longer going to air the show after Season 14 ends in July. The production company, DHX Media, was now shopping the show around to new networks and Tuesday (June 9th, 2015) they announced that Netflix and Canada’s Family Channel will air 20 new episodes of Degrassi starting in early 2016. The show will also become known as Degrassi: Next Class.
I figure the 14 seasons of the current iteration of Degrassi (TNG from Seasons 1-9) will be all one show and next year’s show will be a new show starting at Season 1. It would be too confusing otherwise if one show had three titles. I still haven’t decided if I want to watch it yet but I like that the co-creator Linda Shuyler has stated that they want to tell stories for the newest generation of teens meaning it might get back to being how it used to be and not a 90210 clone.
When I first discovered Degrassi over a decade ago I never thought it would go on this long. I actually didn’t watch Degrassi when it first premiered because we didn’t get the digital cable channel Noggin/The-N it aired on. Luckily our local cable company had a channel that previewed a different digital cable channel every week and one week in 2003 was Noggin/The-N allowing me to check out what shows the network aired like Degrassi. I don’t actually remember what episode I watched but I do remember that I enjoyed it.
It wasn’t until summer of 2004 that I got to watch Degrassi again when we finally got digital cable. Over that summer I watched repeats of Seasons 1-3 and remember by the fall I began seeing previews for Season 4 starting in October. I then began watching each new episode as they aired every friday night at 8. I think maybe around Season 5 I discovered that Canada aired new episodes of Degrassi before the United States so to watch them before they aired on TV here I would watch them on YouTube. The only problem was that since we had dial-up internet at the time I would have to start playing the video, pause it and then let it buffer to the end because otherwise it would stutter and freeze when watching it.
At least when Season 6 began in fall 2006 The-N began airing the new episodes before they aired in Canada. Now no one has to be annoyed waiting for new episodes in Canada or the United States because now new episodes air the same night and time in both countries. I wonder how that will work now that it will air on Netflix here. If it’s anything like the new Canadian show Between it airs on City in Canada at 8pm and by 11:30pm it’s uploaded on Netflix in the U.S. I wouldn’t think they would upload all the new episodes to Netflix before they air on Family Channel.
As of now I’ve seen all of Seasons 1-13 and have to watch the 5 latest episodes of Season 14 aired before the last 12 begin airing next month. After remembering these memories of watching Degrassi I have decided I will check out the first episode of Degrassi: Next Class when it comes to Netflix next year.
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