Country of origin Canada Original network CTV | No. of episodes 15 | |
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Original release 14 October 2001 (2001-10-14) – 3 March 2002 (2002-03-03) | ||
The first season of Degrassi: The Next Generation commenced airing in Canada on October 14, 2001 and concluded on March 3, 2002, comprising 15 episodes. Degrassi: The Next Generation is a Canadian serial teen drama television series. The series introduces a group of seventh and eighth grade school children, and follows their lives as they deal with some of the challenges and issues teenagers face such as online predators, body image, dysfunctional families, sex, puberty, rumors, peer pressure, stress, and drug use.
Contents
The first season was broadcast on the Canadian terrestrial television network CTV, on Sundays at 7:00 p.m. It debuted with a one-hour movie of the week special, "Mother and Child Reunion", which form the first two episodes of season one. In the United States, it was broadcast on The N, a digital cable network aimed at teenagers and young adults. The season was released domestically on DVD as a three disc boxed set on 19 October 2004 by Alliance Atlantis Home Entertainment, although it was released to the US market almost a month earlier, on 28 September 2004. Registered users of the Canadian and US iTunes Stores are also able purchase and download the season for playback on home computers and certain iPods.
The reception for Degrassi: The Next Generation's first season was mixed. It had earned itself 365,000 Canadian viewers aged 18 to 49, while its accompanying website was attracting 28 million hits per month, but press reviews were not as complimentary. The season picked up nominations at the Directors Guild of Canada Awards, the Gemini Awards and the Young Artist Awards.
Cast
The opening season features thirteen actors in starring roles. Providing ties to the previous series in the Degrassi universe, Stefan Brogren was hired to play his old character Archie "Snake" Simpson (12 episodes), who is now working at the school as the Media Immersion teacher. Dan Woods was also hired to reprise his role as Mr. Raditch (11 episodes), who has been promoted to the school principal.
For the new generation of students, the producers kept the same model that had been used during the casting of the previous series, Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High and chose 11 children out of 600 auditionees, hoping to provide a group of characters the target audience of kids and teenagers could relate to, rather than the typical gorgeous actors in their twenties pretending to be teenagers, something that some of the other shows of the same period, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dawson's Creek which were targeting the same audience, were and still are continually doing to this day. The young actors that had been selected were:
Amanda Stepto also reprised her Degrassi character Christine "Spike" Nelson in a recurring role while former Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High actors Danah Jean Brown (Trish Skye), Darrin Brown (Dwayne Myers), Michael Carry (Simon Dexter), Irene Courakos (Alexa Pappadopoulos), Chrissa Erodotou (Diana Economopoulos), Anais Granofsky (Lucy Fernandez), Rebecca Haines (Kathleen Mead), Sara Holmes (Alison Hunter), Neil Hope (Derek "Wheels" Wheeler), Kyra Levy (Maya Goldberg), Cathy Keenan (Liz O'Rourke), Pat Mastroianni (Joey Jeremiah), Stacie Mistysyn (Caitlin Ryan), and Siluck Saysanasy (Yick Yu) reprised their roles to guest in the first episode.
Crew
The season was produced by Epitome Pictures and CTV. The executive producers are Epitome Pictures' CEO and Degrassi: The Next Generation co-creator Linda Schuyler, and her husband, Epitome president Stephen Stohn. Degrassi: The Next Generation co-creator Yan Moore served as the creative consultant and David Lowe was the line producer. Aaron Martin was hired as the story editor and was promoted to senior story editor mid-season. James Hurst then became the story editor. The season's writers are Tassie Cameron, Myra Fried, James Hurst, Aaron Martin, Yan Moore, and Susin Nielsen. The directors throughout the season are James Allodi, Anthony Browne, Paul Fox, Laurie Lynd, Bruce McDonald, Eleanor Lindo, and Stefan Scaini.
Reception
Degrassi: The Next Generation received mixed reviews about its first season. Based on the pilot episode, Stephanie McGrath of Canoe.ca's AllPop acknowledged Miriam McDonald's portrayal of Emma Nelson as "stellar acting abilities in a super creepy storyline ... high on tension, low on cheese [and] top-notch". She criticized the reunion sub-plot, though, saying it was marred by "wooden, stilted and over-rehearsed acting; the young actors actually showed up their classic Degrassi counter-parts in the pilot episode. Their acting was solid, believable and age-appropriate [in a story-line which] demonstrates that the creative forces behind The Next Generation haven't lost touch with teens yet ... One installment of Degrassi: The Next Generation is worth 20 episodes of Dawson's Creek". Towards the end of the season, the Canadian issue of TV Guide summed up the run as "Not just Canadian TV - It's great Canadian TV! Degrassi offers a gritty look into the lives of real teens complete with acne and bad dye jobs. It has something for everyone because we've all been there."
Other critics were less enthusiastic about the season, though. The Seattle Times' Melanie McFarland was unsure whether the series' success in Canada would follow when it began airing in the US. "As popular as 'Degrassi' was, it was still a mere cult hit in the United States; the crowd that had access to it initially on PBS might not be able to tune into [The N]. Soft-pedaling through the issues might work for today's family of viewers, but what's gentle enough for Mom and Dad's peace of mind might not be enough to hook Junior or the original Degrassi's older fans". She was, however, "happy [The N] chose Degrassi students to navigate teen perils instead of digging up Screech and the gang for another nauseating go-round". Tony Atherton of the Ottawa Citizen had mixed feelings of the new incarnation, saying it "has a cleaner, more polished look, has lost its edge [and offers] nothing new to viewers familiar with the groundbreaking preceding series, nor to anyone else who has watched the deluge of teen dramas since", adding that because there is "little ground left to break in teen drama there is a sense of déjà vu with regards to the plots and characters". He did, however, praise the show for having "the same simple narrative told from a kid's viewpoint, and the same regard for unvarnished reality [as Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High, making it] light years from far-fetched high-school melodramas like Boston Public and Dawson's Creek [and for that] is every bit as good as its beloved predecessor. In fact, in some respects it is even better". After watching nearly seventy hours of twenty-one Canadian-produced programs, the Simon Fraser University cited Degrassi: The Next Generation in their report as one of the Canadian television programmes that is "too Caucasian".
Despite the mixed reviews and controversy over the storylines, the first season was still watched by 365,000 18- to 49-year-old Canadians, making it Canada's top-rated domestic drama at the time, while its accompanying website was attracting 28 million hits per month.
The pilot was nominated for two Directors Guild of Canada Awards, winning in the "Outstanding Achievement in a Television Series - Children's" category, and picked up Gemini Award nominations in the categories for "Best Photography in a Dramatic Program or Series" and "Best Short Dramatic Program". Actors Jake Goldsbie and Ryan Cooley were nominated for their portrayals of Toby Isaacs and J.T. Yorke respectively at the Young Artist Awards. Five episodes were given a total of six awards by The National Council on Family Relations at its 34th Annual Awards ceremony.
Episodes
In the US the series' broadcaster, The N, aired episode three, "Family Politics", as the series premiere; "Mother and Child Reunion" was held back and aired as the season finale. This caused continuity problems for viewers as the episode depicted Toby being introduced to Manny and Emma for the first time, and was set before the school year began. The final episode of the season, "Jagged Little Pill", was also held back while The N decided whether its subject about ecstasy abuse was too controversial. When an edited version was made available, The N aired it as part of season two. In reruns however, the episodes have aired in the original order intended by the show's producers.
This list is by order of production, as they appear on the DVD.
DVD release
The DVD release of season one was released by FUNimation Entertainment in the U.S. on 28 September 2004, and by Alliance Atlantis Home Entertainment in Canada on 19 October 2004 after it had completed broadcast on television. As well as every episode from the season, the DVD release features bonus material including deleted scenes, bloopers and behind-the-scenes featurettes.
The DVD was first released in Australia on May 3, 2007 by Roadshow Entertainment, without any bonus features. On September 8, 2010, the DVD was re-released along with season two by Shock Entertainment with all of the bonus features intact. Season one is currently being released by Umbrella Entertainment.