Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Degrassi High

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Starring
  
See cast list

No. of seasons
  
2

Country of origin
  
Canada

No. of episodes
  
28 (list of episodes)

Created by
  
Linda Schuyler Kit Hood

Running time
  
30 minutes (including commercials)

Degrassi High is a Canadian CBC Television teen drama series that was produced from 1989 to 1991, and is the third series in the Degrassi franchise. The show was filmed in downtown Toronto and at Centennial College.

Contents

Much like its predecessor, Degrassi High followed the lives of a group of students attending the titular fictional school, who deal with controversial issues ranging from AIDS, abortion, abuse, alcoholism, cheating, sex, death and suicide, dating, depression, bullying, gay rights, homophobia, racism, the environment, drugs, and eating disorders.

Censorship

The first two episodes sparked controversy in the United States over the issue of abortion. The character Erica had scheduled an abortion and Canadian viewers saw the full non-edited episode where Erica battles her way through anti-abortion protesters, one of whom is holding up a plastic fetus and warning Erica, "Please don't do it, it's your last chance".

The American version, which originally aired on PBS, was edited not to show the protesters.

As of October 2005, the American broadcaster, The N, made the decision not to air episodes 101 and 102 "A New Start Parts 1 & 2" due to the subject of abortion. The N made the decision not to air episode 103 "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" due to the references of the abortion made in the previous episode.

In Australia, all episodes originally aired unedited in their original run throughout the 1990s, but were censored when repeated on Nickelodeon Australia. The episode "A New Start" was edited in such a way that it appeared Erica was never pregnant by the end of the episode, abruptly ending after a joke between Wheels, Joey and Snake, although the scene of Erica reading her pregnancy test was kept as a still over the credits.

The entire second episode was removed, a similar situation that occurred with "Showtime Parts One and Two". These episodes deal with teen suicide. However, when the episodes were repeated in 2009 on ABC2, the original unedited episodes were shown, with the episodes (#25 Showtime part 1 and #26 Showtime part 2) featuring Claude Tanner's suicide.

DVD release

WGBH Boston Home Video released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 on October 8, 2007.The 4-disc set entitled Degrassi High:The Complete Collection, features all 28 episodes of the series as well as the follow-up TV-movie Degrassi High- School's Out!.

In Region 4, Beyond Home Entertainment has released the entire series on DVD in Australia.They released each season as a separate set in 2006 followed by a complete series collection in 2008.The complete collection also contains the follow-up TV-movie Degrassi High- School's Out! as a bonus feature.

References

Degrassi High Wikipedia