A Guide to Starting Degrassi: Where to Begin
A very frequently asked question in the Degrassi fandom is where to start watching. Itâs daunting to see a show with 14 seasons that is still going, and itâs natural to wonder where to jump in. You donât think you want to start at the beginning because you want to jump in to whatâs happening nowâŠ. but you also need to know how the current characters came to be. And you donât want to be too lost amongst the hundreds of characters.
So where do you begin? Iâve compiled here a list of possible starting points. Read for yourself and decide where you want to jump in:
Degrassi Junior High Season 1
General info: Degrassi Junior High (DJH) was a show about a bunch of middle schoolers and itâs from the 80s, and was quite popular. Itâs cheesy and sometimes badly acted, but it can be charming. A few of the kids on DJH ended up being on the current series as adults, with two being especially important: Spike and Simpson. At 13, Christine âSpikeâ Nelson gave birth to Emma, who would later be the star of TNG and the reason it was called the next generation. Spike and Emma are the reason our current series exists at all. And Archie âSnakeâ Simpson has been on this show for so long, and is now schoolâs principal.
Why you would start here: You definitely donât need to watch this to understand the new series, and watching DJH isnât necessary in the slightest. Any characters from DJH that continue onto the current series are explained thoroughly. You would only want to watch this show if youâre curious about Degrassi (and Emmaâs) origins.
Why you wouldnât start here: Itâs the 80s, itâs cheesy, and itâs mostly a show for kids. Mostly.
Degrassi: The Next Generation Season 1
General info: An experimental reboot of the 80s show, Degrassi: The Next Generation (TNG) literally follows the next generation of students. Spikeâs daughter Emma (who was born in DJH) is starting 7th grade, and the show introduces her and her classmates as well as the students in grade 8. This reboot turned into a huge hit, and all these years later we are still going.
Why you would start here: Season 1, is the best place to start, in my opinion. We are introduced to a lot of characters, some of which have become the most iconic in the seriesâ history: Emma, Manny, Liberty, JT, Paige, Spinner, and Sean. Season 1 is a little cheesy, but itâs pretty endearing. These original characters are so amazing, and are still among the seriesâ best. Perhaps more importantly, the next starting point isnât until after the seriesâ âgolden ageâ, so if you wait until after these kids have graduated, youâll have missed the best this show has to offer. Plus, starting here ensures you havenât missed anything important.
Why you wouldnât start here: Itâs daunting to start a show with so many seasons, and itâs scary to start here. Plus, the show isnât in HD, has outdated technology, and the first season doesnât hit any âheavyâ issues⊠yet.Â
Degrassi: The Next Generation Season 8
General info: The Season 1 characters (i.e. Emma, Manny, Liberty) graduated at the end of the previous season, but the show is still following them in their first year of university and/or jobs. This season mainly focuses on a bunch of students that transferred to Degrassi in Season 7, some of which are amazing (i.e. Jane), and some of which continue to be very important until Season 11 (i.e. Holly J, Anya, Sav). The show also introduces a completely new group of grade nines for the first time ever, Clare, KC, Alli, and Connor, aka the Minor Niners.
Why you would start here: The Niners introduced here are extremely important for the series, and they spent a lot of time on the show, since they just graduated in the Season 14 finale. They are very compelling characters, and in order to understand their characters later on, you should see how they started.
Why you wouldnât start here: Youâll have to fast forward through most of the graduatesâ scenes because youâll never understand them or care very much about them, having not seen them grow up. While most things are understandable, youâll be starting in the middle of some charactersâ (especially Janeâs) stories. And straight up, this season is terrible and mostly disregarded by the fandom. Itâs boring and awful and very hard to like. Starting on itâs worst season ever will not hook you to this show.
General info: Starting Season 10, the show dropped the âThe Next Generationâ part of its name because it was no longer relevant. All of the remaining Season 1 characters (minus a couple teachers) left the show, and the format of the show was completely rebooted. It essentially became a new show, with a new, fresh feel and a huge wave of new characters, including more characters that would become some of the most memorable the series has to offer.
Why you would start here: Season 10 is actually fairly accessible to new viewers, which was probably their intention. None of the characters had been on the show longer than 3 seasons so far, so while youâre missing some of their character history, you arenât missing an overwhelming amount. You can watch this season without being very confused about what youâre missing. This season starts the arcs of some of the seriesâ best characters, that you are sure to fall in love with. Plus, Season 10 is actually really good, with it arguably being the best season of the non-TNG years.
Why you wouldnât start here: Again, youâre still past the golden years, and while you wonât be too confused, youâll still be jumping into some charactersâ stories as they start their senior year. Youâre still missing stuff. And chances are, youâll love the characters so much that you will wish you had seen when they started.
General info: A departure from what they normally do, Degrassi had the Season 10 seniors graduate in the middle of Season 11, and had the next school year start in the middle of the season with the episode âUnderneath it Allâ. With the new school year, a new wave of grade nines entered. Zig, Maya, and Tristan are extremely important, and form the start of what is essentially the next generation, for lack of a better term.
Why you would start here: Maya, Zig, and Tristanâs generation is now the sole focus of the show going into Season 15, and their introductions are important. If youâre only watching so that you can be caught up enough to understand Season 15, this is where you would start. For Season 15, there wonât be a single character in it that was introduced before 11B, aside from teachers.
Why you wouldnât start here: Youâre literally starting in the middle of the season! And because the grade nines are still being introduced, they do not get a whole lot of screen time yet. The majority of the seasonâs focus is still on the grade 11s and 12s, all of whom have been on the show a long time and have very complex histories. You would have a very hard time following. Plus, if you start here, youâll only get one and a half good seasons, because Seasons 13 and 14 were pretty bad.
Thatâs the guide! Let me know if you have any questions. My ask box is always open.