I spent all weekend watching season five of Degrassi: The Next Generation and now I am a complete wreck.
Seriously, those Canadian kids and their mixed-up lives. This show, in case you haven't watched it, is not unlike the issue-driven teen shows that the late Aaron Spelling used to produce, Beverly Hills, 90210 and 7th Heaven. The difference is that whereas the Spelling shows usually introduced one-off characters that his regular cast could help deal with the burden of cutting or bulimia or Islam, the Degrassi kids are the ones who have to suffer with topical problems.
And do they suffer! Emma (Miriam McDonald) has been menaced by a cyber-stalker, had a boyfriend with drinking, anger and homelessness issues; been assaulted by her brain-damaged father and held hostage in a school shooting; belonged to the local oral sex club and developed both gonorrhea and anorexia nervosa, the latter of which caused her to be hospitalized for a panic attack. Paige (Lauren Collins) was raped; her best friend lapsed into a coma after falling on a rock while being beaten by her boyfriend; she had an affair with a teacher before becoming a lesbian. Craig (Jake Epstein) is bi-polar and lived on the street; both of his parents (one of whom was abusive!) are dead and his girlfriend had an abortion.
It sounds really dire, I know, but often it's very funny as well -- sometimes just because it's hard to know how else to respond to what's occurring on the screen -- and the things the show does well, it does better than anything else on television now or ever. For instance, I can't think of another show that has handled the full range of teenage sexuality so well or so bravely -- the Paige-Alex (Deanna Casaluce) love story is really excellent and the on-going story of gay student body president/valedictorian Marco (Adamo Ruggiero) is almost as good -- Marco is a little too one-note and his love interest, Dylan (John Bregar), barely registers as a character, but the writers don't shy from giving them action.
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