Degrassi Junior High - The Complete Series

Wow, this is easily the worst I have ever fallen behind on this thing. It's not because I haven't been watching movies. I have a list of about 15 that I've watched that I need to talk about still. I just haven't found the time to do it. So hopefully I can now get things back on track, and I can't think of a better review to get it all going than this one.

Everyone has that one guilty pleasure TV show. The one that they know they shouldn't enjoy, would never admit to enjoying it to anyone else on the planet, and yet they just can't help themselves. Everyone has that show. Mine is Supernanny. I would yell from the fucking mountains how amazing Degrassi Junior High is.

Back in high school it was almost a ritual to watch this show because CBC ran a full hour of it every day after school. I think I saw just about every episode back then because most of them seemed familiar when watching through them this second time. I was worried that the show would not hold up and that it was nothing more than nostalgic memories that made me look back on it so fondly. No need to worry because DJH (that's what the hardcores call that shit) is still awesome.

Why is it awesome? Because DJH never backed down from talking about "da issuez". Again this is what the hardcores call it. While most shows of this nature usually had episodes with topics such as "I like that boy" or "What will I wear?!" or "I can't afford those shoes!, Degrassi was more suited to "Should I get an abortion?" or "Stop hitting me dad!" or "Shit my parents are dead." That's right. Degrassi had balls and it loved waving them in your face while punching you.

None of this would matter if the characters that were going through "da issuez" weren't likeable. Thankfully the writers did a great job really fleshing out each one of the characters and making them completely three dimensional. When you actually look at how many characters there are on the show, that's pretty damn impressive. I don't remember Joey Jeremiah pissing me off as much as he does now though. Some characters are definitely better than others but each one is unique and well-written, which is more than you can say for about 95% of shows on TV, especially right now. 

You know I really don't think there is much more to say than that. This show covered a lot of topics that were considered taboo at the time. They might seem a little tame now but back then this shit was intense, and it still is. The humour can be pretty corny but the plots are interesting and the characters are so well-developed that you pretty much have to see what happens to them. I do think that fond memories helped with those show still, but I do think it holds up really well. 

8/10

OPINION POLL: WHAT IS YOUR GUILTY PLEASURE TV SHOW?