Degrassi Junior High
Encyclopedia
Degrassi Junior High is a Canadian
CBC Television
teen drama
series that was produced from 1987-1989 as part of the Degrassi series. The show followed the lives of a group of students attending the titular fictional school. Many episodes tackled difficult topics such as drug use
, child abuse
, teenage pregnancy
, homosexuality
, homophobia
, racism
, and divorce
, and the series was acclaimed for its sensitive and realistic portrayal of the challenges of teenage life. The cast comprised mainly non-professional actors, which added to the show's sense of realism.
The series featured many of the same actors who had starred on Kids of Degrassi Street a few years earlier, including Stacie Mistysyn
, Neil Hope, Anais Granofsky
, Sarah Charlesworth and others. However, their character names and family situations had been changed, so Degrassi Junior High cannot, therefore, be considered a direct spinoff.
The legal counsel for all the episodes was Stephen Stohn
who later became the executive producer of Degrassi: The Next Generation
.
The program is broadcast in Australia
on ABC TV
.
, to commemorate the award, and Emma wound up being the inspiration for the spin-off series, Degrassi: The Next Generation
.
in Etobicoke, Ontario
.
From its first day of broadcasting in 1992, UK Gold screened Degrassi Junior High daily. The channel then screened Degrassi High in its entirety.
Home Video released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 in 2005. Each season was released separately followed by a complete series collection. Degrassi Junior High: Complete Series, a 9-disc box set featuring all 42 episodes of the series was released on October 25, 2005.
In Region 4, Beyond Home Entertainment released the entire series on DVD in Australia in 2005 - 2006. They initially released each season as a separate release in 2005 followed by a complete series box set in 2006.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
teen drama
Teen drama
A teen drama is a dramatic television series with a major focus on teenage characters. The genre was relatively non-existent for the first 45 years of television; it came into prominence in the early 1990s...
series that was produced from 1987-1989 as part of the Degrassi series. The show followed the lives of a group of students attending the titular fictional school. Many episodes tackled difficult topics such as drug use
Drug abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...
, child abuse
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
, teenage pregnancy
Teenage pregnancy
Teenage pregnancy is a pregnancy of a female under the age of 20 when the pregnancy ends. It generally refers to a female who is unmarried and usually refers to an unplanned pregnancy...
, homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, homophobia
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
, racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, and divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
, and the series was acclaimed for its sensitive and realistic portrayal of the challenges of teenage life. The cast comprised mainly non-professional actors, which added to the show's sense of realism.
The series featured many of the same actors who had starred on Kids of Degrassi Street a few years earlier, including Stacie Mistysyn
Stacie Mistysyn
Stacie Mo'ana Mistysyn is an American-born Canadian actress best known for her work as Caitlin Ryan on Degrassi Junior High/Degrassi High, which ran from 1987 to 1991, and for reprising her role as Caitlin on Degrassi: The Next Generation, which has been on the air since 2001 and which she joined...
, Neil Hope, Anais Granofsky
Anais Granofsky
Anais Granofsky is a Canadian actress, screenwriter, producer and director. She is best known for portraying Lucy Fernandez in the Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High series.-Early life and career:...
, Sarah Charlesworth and others. However, their character names and family situations had been changed, so Degrassi Junior High cannot, therefore, be considered a direct spinoff.
The legal counsel for all the episodes was Stephen Stohn
Stephen Stohn
John Stephen Stohn is a Canadian-based, American-born entertainment lawyer and television producer. He is the president of Epitome Pictures Inc., and is executive producer of the teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation and Instant Star , and most recently the television movie Degrassi Goes...
who later became the executive producer of Degrassi: The Next Generation
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Degrassi: The Next Generation is a Canadian teen drama television series set in the Degrassi universe, which was created by Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood in 1979. Degrassi is the fourth fictional series in the Degrassi franchise, and follows The Kids of Degrassi Street, Degrassi Junior High, and...
.
The program is broadcast in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
on ABC TV
ABC1
ABC1 was a United Kingdom based television channel from Disney using the branding of the Disney owned American network, ABC.The channel initially launched exclusively on the British digital terrestrial television platform Freeview on 27 September 2004. On 10 December 2004 it was launched on...
.
Episodes
In 1987, Degrassi Junior High won an International Emmy in the Children and Young People category for the episode "It's Late", where Christine "Spike" Nelson gets pregnant at the party believing she is ready to have sex with the new kid, Shane. Spike's baby was named EmmaEmma Nelson
Emma Nelson is a fictional student on the Degrassi: The Next Generation television series, having originated in the series' precursor, Degrassi Junior High. She is portrayed as an adolescent and adult by Miriam McDonald....
, to commemorate the award, and Emma wound up being the inspiration for the spin-off series, Degrassi: The Next Generation
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Degrassi: The Next Generation is a Canadian teen drama television series set in the Degrassi universe, which was created by Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood in 1979. Degrassi is the fourth fictional series in the Degrassi franchise, and follows The Kids of Degrassi Street, Degrassi Junior High, and...
.
Locations
Degrassi Junior high was filmed at the unused Vincent Massey Public SchoolVincent Massey Public School (Toronto)
Vincent Massey Public School is located at 68 Daisy Avenue West in Long Branch area of Toronto, Canada. This school has kindergarten through grade five. Opened in 1929 as Daisy Avenue Public School, it was closed by the then Etobicoke Board of Education in 1983, briefly operated as a private school...
in Etobicoke, Ontario
Etobicoke, Ontario
Etobicoke is a dissolved municipality located within the current city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the western section of the current city, it had an official population of 338,117 as measured by the 2001 Census and 334,491 people as of the 2006 Census. While it only contains 13% of...
.
UK schedules
The BBC refused to transmit the episode "Rumour Has It" when screening the first series of Degrassi Junior High because of the central theme of homosexuality. The BBC only screened the first season of the show.From its first day of broadcasting in 1992, UK Gold screened Degrassi Junior High daily. The channel then screened Degrassi High in its entirety.
DVD releases
WGBH BostonWGBH-TV
WGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...
Home Video released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 in 2005. Each season was released separately followed by a complete series collection. Degrassi Junior High: Complete Series, a 9-disc box set featuring all 42 episodes of the series was released on October 25, 2005.
In Region 4, Beyond Home Entertainment released the entire series on DVD in Australia in 2005 - 2006. They initially released each season as a separate release in 2005 followed by a complete series box set in 2006.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release dates | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 4 | ||
| Season 1 | 13 | February 1, 2005 | February 15, 2005 |
| Season 2 | 13 | June 7, 2005 | July 22, 2005 |
| Season 3 | 16 | September 6, 2005 | October 31, 2005 |
| The Complete Series | 42 | October 25, 2005 | April 28, 2006 |