Shark Bytes

Degrassi was amazing until Jimmy got shot then after that I dont know what happned to it. After that they had some good chracters leave then some stupid over-played drama. I miss the old characters when EVERYONE was in high school it needs to end like now!

As I read through the comments, I saw an issue that stood out, and wanted to contribute my humble opinion. (Please forgive my short memory, as I cannot remember which poster pointed out the issue, but here goes…..)

I whole heartedly agree that Emma’s transformation from tree-hugging goody two-shoes to bimbo supreme was very confusing! And yes, the writers should have done a better job as far as giving the viewers some insight as to what brought on her sudden personality change.

I have seen those sort of severe personality changes happen several times in my teenage real life (way back in the day!) You have from my observation 3 types:

Type 1 – Is usually a nice girl with parental units who are respected in the community, so she dares not “act out” and defy them. She is usually friends with a girl who is a confirmed bimbo already. The two very different young ladies are friends for that very reason: they are both so different that they compliment one another. The bimbo makes life fun for the nice girl who lives vicariously thru her. And the nice girl in turn makes the bimbo look a little better. (Folks figure, “Hey, if Nice Girl is friends with Bimbo, then Bimbo couldn’t be all bad”!)

Type 2 – Is usually your average girl, who is friends with another average girl, and they both decide to go boy crazy at the same time and hop on the Freak Train together. They both suffer from “I’ll Do It If You Do It” syndrome. The compare all their grimy notes later in marathon phone conversations. (LOL)

Type 3 – (Emma and Manny’s situation) Is usually a nice girl (A) who is friends with another nice girl (B). A goes thru a hurtful, emotional metamorphosis, (usually via dating and being dumped by some fellow she really liked, -or- being victimized by the “In Clique”) and in hindsight decides that she can not only prevent herself from being hurt again, but also decides that she can control who is attracted to her by upgrading. (Via a serious makeover – physically and mentally (her dating approach). While A means her upgrade for good, it usually does get out of hand. In the meantime, B, now feeling dowdy and ugly, is jealous, fascinated, and righteously indignant of A’s newfound look and attention. B will usually look to out do A, with serious repercussions and damage to both of their reputations and friendship.

I said all that to say this: It would have really helped for the writers to explore Emma’s inner thoughts and feelings, b/c it makes perfect sense that Emma would have felt left in the dust and dumped by Manny! Instead they just made it look like that Emma was at first harshly judging her, and then they made it look as if Emma had just lost her mind! In all actuality, Emma was probably jealous and resentful! The writers need to do more to make those sorts of things clear and bring them to life.

Lola,
Find me that petition and I'll be happy to be the 2nd person to sign it!

The show USED to appeal to all people, gay, black, white, hispanic, asian, heterosexual, rich, poor ect. It covered things that people usually don't talk much about, like mental disorders and bullying (on a more realistic level) however the show is now a disgrace to television and I wouldn't watch it if the-n was the only running television station. It's THAT bad. The show should have NEVER made Mia, Peter (*shivers*), the two lame boys, ALL of the Lakehurt characters, ect main characters, that was probably the biggest mistake of the entire series! This is one of the MAIN reasons why Degrassi has JTS. I mean, the show slightly started to jump the shark when Emma started giving head (all out of nowhere) to Jay. With Manny, her promiscuity was explained and we fully understood everything that was going on, Emma going from holier-than-thou "let's all save the whales" to a deep-throater, flashing her body to the school, and turning into a pseudo-feminist was NOT expected nor was it fully explained. The new charcters are terrible, their existence on the show has turned the entire Degrassi sitcom shittier than it was before. It's complete overkill. A show should have a BEGINNING and an END...Degrassi doesn't HAVE an end, and I'm not so sure the writers know how to end it. This show should have ended when Jimmy and Spinner became friends again and their class graduated. Holly J being on the show does not explain the incessant mentioning of the the non-visible Heather Sinclair either...both of whom are entirely unnecessary (but I suppose they need a bitch to be in the school to harass all the other kids and since Paige is gone....).

The story began with Joey, Emma's mom, Craig, Sean, Manny, Snake, Emma, Terri, Toby, Libery, Marco, Paige, Ashley, Hazel, JT, Jay, Ellie, Alex, Spinner, and Jimmy and it should have STAYED that way. Adding all of these new characters only to basically recycle the plot of the earlier seasons of Degrassi is stupid and redundant.

The writers of this show should call it a wrap. They've been doing the Degrassi thing for 10+ years, that's commendable for any teen sitcom...however, they need to know when to say "the end". The Degrassi series NEEDS to end. People are over it....

I'd be the first one to sign a petition to get this show OFF of the air...

There's a LOT of shark jumps but I'll start with the good things about this sequel to the classic Canadian icon:

1. Marco and Spinner had by far the best actors in the history of the show playing them. (Their dynamic during the "Spinner caused the shooting" debacle was the one thing that made this period in Degrassi history watchable.)

2. Getting rid of Raddich was LONG overdue. (Look at all the tragedy that went down under his watch while he clearly could care less in both incarnations of Degrassi and tell me a real principal would have lasted this long.)

Now on to the REALLY bad shark jumps:

1. Kevin Smith, nuff said.

2. At what point did Degrassi become the largest sausage party on tv? Having a gay character or two is one thing but almost HALF the cast has "come out" in the last 6 years and we are at the double figure mark. Has anyone heard of overkill?

3. ALL of the gay characters were one dimentional. Maybe this is how the gay community is right now but why must one's sexual orientation define them?

4. How the hell did Craig become this big superstar and why the hell did all the girls love him so much. The dude was EASILY the biggest douchebag on the show and treated EVERYONE like crap. He was also the worst actor on the show.

5. The Emma/Manny double standard: Manny was a bit of a wild girl and many a time it got her in trouble but when Emma went self destructive she was NEVER called on it. Why is that?

6. The Lakewood era: Can you say Garry's Olde Towne Tavern?

7. Killing JT: However, turning him into Craig lite during Liberty's pregnancy was worse.

8. EVERYONE who had sex who WASN'T GAY either got pregnant, AIDS or another STD, PERIOD.

They liked to say they were groundbreaking by having the first openly gay character as a regular on a teen dramatic series . But what did they do with Marco? They quickly turned him into a one-dimensional stereotype who liked art, was clothes-obsessed and kept chasing after cheating athlete! Boo!

So now I guess I'm just going to have to accept that Rick's dead, then.
But i did like that he isn't completely forgotten about. When Rick died, he got about an episode of attention and a five-minute funeral when he impacted a lot at the school. Then, when everyone got used to Jimmy being in a wheelchair, he was completely forgotten for about 3 seasons. Especially after JT died. It made me really bad to see everyone piss and moan and guilt over JT dying when they should have been guilting over the fact that every single person that was friends with JT caused Rick to be pushed over the edge. No one but Spinner paid for what they did and he already had the most guilt (because of Jimmy) and the least hand in the paint. It really pissed me off.
But Curse of Degrassi was really cool in that everyone really remembered what happened. Spinner apologized, even if Halloween Degrassi might not really be...canon-ish.
I loved Curse of Degrassi.

While this show can in no way compare with the original Degrassi (one of my all time favorite shows) the first couple seasons of Degrassi TNG were excellent. The kids were actually played by KIDS, and the storylines had them dealing with real life problems, much like in the original series. I don't know when it happened but suddenly the show became one big drama fest. I'd have to agree with the majority of everyone here and say that the show probably jumped when Terri left but it became GODAWFUL when Degrassi merged with Lakehurst and JT died. And Craig being this major superstar? Yeah right. The show has become unwatchable, which is unfortunate because it was once a really great follow-up to the original.

Degrassi's had many jump the shark moments over the last few seasons (Kevin Smith, JT, graduation), but it's descent from a realistic portrayal of teenagers into an "OC" clone started way back in Season 3 when Terry left the show. That character was probably the closest to a normal teenager - she wasn't glamorous or confident -- instead she was insecure and desperate for acceptance. Part of the appeal of the old Degrassi was that the actors looked like normal teens, not like Abercrombie & Fitch models.

The new show was still watchable for a few seasons after Terry's departure, but it was never the same. There was a lot that could have been done with her character, but she was tossed aside (along with Toby, although he lingered around) while Degrassi focused on the pretty/popular crowd. The show now is pretty much unrecognizable. Very disappointing.

I'll agree that the show jumped when Kevin Smith guested (even though he's the only reason I checked the show out to begin with). I'm only on season 6 (netflix) so i haven't seen them all yet.

I loved the first few seasons and started to not like it as much when Emma started blowing Jay and being a bitch. I really cared about the characters - the show has brought me, a grown man, to tears at times in the first 4 seasons. The early episodes are well written and acted. The characters were realistic - normal kids, facing normal problems, both serious and stupid. I liked how it showed both sides to things (like Marco dealing with being gay and his friends dealing with having a gay friend as well, for just one example).


The cast all turned out to be good looking and it turned into just another show, but it was great for awhile. I have yet to see JT die and am not looking forward to that. I couldn't care less so far about the new characters. If Paige gets aids I'm gonna be pissed (she's my favorite).

Still better than most shows, but it did jump, right around the time Kevin was there.

Remember when Paige getting raped was a 2 episode arc with another episode about only a few episodes after?
Now her possibly getting AIDS is just a B plot. This is getting so sad.
The new season is absolutely goddamn ridiculous. ALL of the original characters have now graduated or died and I just think it's getting really stupid and I really could give a **** less about the new characters and I don't even know half their names.

One of the real tragedies of the show is the way they totally ignored the character of Toby. I think a lot of people would have been able to identify with Toby. He was a nerdy, unlucky with girls, but had a popular and sexually active best friend (J.T.), which probably made him feel even more uncomfortable. Toby represented a "normal" character, the type which is now totally absent from the show, replaced by unrealistic plastic, perfect teen models (Darcy, Peter, etc.).

It can hardly even be called "Degrassi" anymore. Everyone's graduated and out of Degrassi. I used to love the show, but now it's just getting stupid and pathetic.

I agree with everyone who said it jumped after the new characters were introduced. It was just an excuse for the producers to keep it going after Toby and the rest graduated.
I miss Rick and JT.

This show has been pretty great within the past...7 years? The older plots were really great. Some of the older elements of the show have died off, and so many plots have been recycled throughout the series. (i.e. Paige's Rape, then Darcy's Rape, as well as Pregnancies, Drug use, death, cancer which ends in remission, sex, sex, sex, sex, girl fights). Those are the only 2 reasons why I think "Degrassi: TNG" JTS.