Whatever it took to be the best teen show ever created, Degrassi was going to do it. Yes, it can be argued that the sweet reality of Boy Meets World with its glossy ABC money might’ve outdone it, or that the California cool ways of the teens over in Beverly Hills were more dramatic, therefore better but alas, neither come close to what Degrassi did. Did not only for not only teen shows but for the millennials’ understanding of the world and how to move about it when it came to just about every hurdle a human will face from their time as tweens to their first years as co-eds. However, today it’s the romance, the dating, the crushing of it all we’re going to talk about, and when it comes to Degrassi – there was an insane amount of it.
Degrassi wasn’t originally a millennial mainstay though. Gen X got the first iteration of it back in 1979 when it was called The Kids of Degrassi Street. The late ‘80s and early ‘90s saw the beginning and end of Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High. Then the Canadian teen show took a decade-long break. Ushered into the shadows as the bright-eyed ways of Zack Morris took over the world, and suddenly Southern California was the capital for anything young and hip. At least here in the States.
At the time millennials might have been unaware of all the Degrassi drama that came about while they were in diapers, but being raised on everything from Saved by the Bell to Moesha to Dawson’s Creek proved that we would never turn our noses up at a show that featured people our age, or at least were supposed to be our age. Dylan McKay, love you but you were the oldest high school student I’d ever seen. So when Degrassi: The Next Generation hit, baby – we were ready.
Granted, I’m cheating a little here because I was a freshman in October 2001 but alas, I don’t rep all millennials and know there were kids several years my junior who, for them, this was their middle school era. So here we are. Degrassi: The Next Generation debuted that fall, and with it came storylines that weren’t all that new, but we loved them anyway. Emma falling for a guy online and almost getting you know what’ed at a hotel in the pilot? Similar to a Smart Guy episode but switch out the hotel for a basement. It’s safe to say Degrassi was way spicier than anything we’d ever imagined being involved with the TGIF lineup. In the end, we were hooked because it, well, it went there.
Going there was kind of Degrassi’s whole thing and they delivered. The episode in which they approached the budding thong trend of the 2000s with one of their students, Manny Santos, strutting proudly down the hall with her whale tail in tow? One of the most iconic TV scenes for the average millennial. That’s the thing though, something as simple as a girl wearing a thong was teaching us what was hot and what was not, playing into the whole purity vs prude aspect of the ‘00s – and the characters all reflected this as well. However, what Degrassi did best was never teach you to think this way or that about someone’s choices, and they often showed both sides of the coin.
Yes, Manny wore a thong and was boy-crazy but that wasn’t her whole essence for being. She was also a loyal friend, a daughter, a sister, and an aspiring actress. Paige, the Queen Bee, oh my god, one could write a memoir about this fictional character and I’d read every single word. These characters had more layers than a millennial with a drawer full of colorful tank tops in 2009. It wasn’t just Manny and Paige though, almost every main character was well-rounded and I think that while their lessons might not have sunk in for everyone at the time, it showed that hey, we’re more than the facades we put up. Yeah, perhaps we should’ve been watching for more of the meaningful stuff, and not just the drama, but hey – we were young and quite obsessed with the whirlwind relationships that Degrassi gave us along the way. So let’s get to that…
There wasn’t a type of relationship or situationship Degrassi didn’t cover. Correct me if I’m wrong, but even as it progressed and started to become more for Gen Z, the show evolved to highlight relationships that weren’t just the typical hetero normative. Yes, millennials had Marco and Paige for the L and G, but the BTQ+ was still to come, and they eventually did make their way to be represented in the halls of Degrassi. Inclusivity is always on the plate with Degrassi but as far as the relationships and lessons in love, well, Degrassi never failed there either. I’m sorry, but I cannot besmirch this show. I love it too much and I truly respect the hell out of it.
Anyways, it’d take far too long to break down every single pairing from Degrassi: The Next Generation so I’m going to go through a handful that came to mind that served some lessons in love and relationships for the millennial middle schooler…
Manny & Craig: Manny was the younger girl eyeing both the alpha male of Degrassi as well as the popularity status that came with it. How many can relate to Manny romanticizing both the status she’d gain as well as having the coolest guy in school calling you his girlfriend? Boys can also relate as the alpha female was no different. On the flip side, Craig (his mental health aside) often took advantage of Manny’s eagerness. In the end, the lesson was to not just yearn for the status someone holds or their looks. Honey, there is more to life than good looks. Also, if his idea of a good time is just you sitting in a garage listening to his band practice, RUN.
Liberty & J.T.: Liberty played the uptight nerd, the brightest crayon in the Degrassi box. J.T. was quite her opposite, a class clown who once utilized a penis pump. This one is personal because I am very much the love child of these two characters’ personalities; a nerd who never turned down the opportunity to make a joke out of something. I also – SPOILER ALERT – cried an insane amount of tears due to how these two ended. Anyways, what these two taught us was that in some cases opposites are good for one another and that you can find love outside of the popular realm.
Ashley & Jimmy: While Liberty and J.T. were showcasing the beauty of opposites, these two were doing the, well, opposite. They were a great match until Ashley decided to be a Hot Topic. Being that we tend to discover ourselves more in middle school, Ashley was totally right to get her goth on. Jimmy, however, could not support it. He was the furthest thing from a Coal Chamber fan. They didn’t work out and in the end, this lesson wasn’t so much about not being able to date someone who was your opposite, but rather staying true to who you are and finding someone that appreciates you for you.
Terri & Rick: Not me mentioning Rick right after Jimmy, but Drake – you’ve been acting like Boo Bool the Fool lately, so anyways…Terri was the plus-size girlie in the Degrassi realm when it began. In hindsight, she was average-sized. Thanks 2000s for the body image insecurities. Okay, so I guess I can say something bad about this show I love so much. Degrassi was horrible in how they treated Terri from the jump and even more so when it came time to give her a love interest. Rick? Some random new kid that was (don’t judge me) cute but leaned towards strange, and ultimately was part of the most infamous moment in Degrassi’s lineage. Degrassi’s lessons with Terri and Rick were both good and bad. On one hand, don’t ever date anyone who’d put hands on you, but also, bigger girls would date the first person who showed them any attention.
Marco & Dylan: Degrassi: The Next Generation premiered four years before gay marriage was legalized in Canada, and in the US – it’d be even longer before we recognized that basic human right in the eyes of the law. So Marco was and still is one of the most important characters on TV in terms of LGBTQ history. He wasn’t the first gay teen on the small screen, One Life to Live in 1992, and more famously My So-Called Life’s Enrique two years later, for millennials he was it though. Marco coming out was such a moment, as was the episode that tackled gay bashing, and those were both things that I think kids, gay or not, took to heart because they highlighted the anxieties gay kids have when it comes to coming out as well as the dangers they can (and sadly still) face when they are out. However, Degrassi balanced that out with Marco getting to be more than just the gay friend. He was also dating and living his life doing things that any kid his age would be doing. They could’ve easily just made him gay and never given him a relationship because that’s what TV likes to do with non-white, non-hetero characters but not Degrassi. Dylan was Marco’s first boyfriend, and it helped to normalize being out long before graduating and heading into adulthood.
There are countless other pairings from this show one could highlight but again, where’s the time? These are just a handful who stuck out as I wrote this in between cleaning the bathroom and wondering what dinner should be. Pizza, the answer on a Sunday is always pizza. In the end, Degrassi: The Next Generation truly was beloved by the generation known as millennials for going there, being bold, and giving us a heads up about things in life that we might not have otherwise learned about, especially when it came to love – and also doing it in a way that felt less after-school special, and more grounded in reality (sans anytime they had a celebrity guest star – those were camp). In the end, love, relationships, dating, crushing – it can all be a lot to handle but because of Degrassi, we learned we could make it through.
Crushgasm 