Debuting in the 1980s and then relaunching at the start of this century, the beloved Canadian teen drama Degrassi has been dealing with LGBT subject matter since before Will met Grace. Now in its 12th season, the show is introducing another gay storyline: Eli, the straight kid directing the school musical, decides to shake things up by offering the part of Juliet (now Jules) to out freshman Tristan. This doesn’t sit well with the macho hockey team or with class Christian, Becky.
Hmm, with the music, gay teens and all the angsty drama, we’re definitely getting a Glee vibe.
sergio
degrassi has been doing angsty drama and gay teens for a really long time. this is the first musical degrassi has done but they’ve always had bands and singers on the show.
gays on degrassi: marco, dylan, tim (marco’s mentor), riley, nathan (rileys secret gay hookup), sam (the lifegaurd instructor), zane, and most recently tristan who’s in the romeo & jules musical.
lesbians: alex, fiona
transgender: adam
bisexuals: paige, imogen
plus ive never seen the original degrassi but im sure its super queer. all im sayin is glee did not make teen gays or angsty teens. that show is god awful.
MikeE
Degrassi is an actual street in Toronto, Ontario.
I remember the original show, although I was a tiny bit older than the desired demographic. It wasn’t quite as blatantly gay in the first years. It dealt with it in a more open fashion, just not quite as “in your face” as it’s gotten with the new series.
I’m not sure if this is true or not, but I seem to recall it being the first TV show that dealt with a pregnant teen on a regular basis.
Daez
@MikeE: There were actually 3 shows (separately titled) anyways. They were Degrassi Junior High, Degrassi High and the current Degrassi: The Next Generation.
Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High were actually created by a teacher who aimed to use them to appeal to children in an educational sense. From the very beginning, the shows dealt with edgy themes of a controversial nature including gay rights and teen pregnancy.
@MikeE: I believe you are referencing “Spike” from the original series who gay birth to “Emma” who was in at least the first 4 or 5 seasons of TNG.
Daez
Also, while I like Glee, I like it because it does some amazing remixes of music that just sound really, really good. The actual storyline of Glee is absolute crap as compared to pretty much every teen drama, and Degrassi was quite easily the original and still one of the best teen dramas ever made.
Marc
Actually there was more than three shows. There was the Kids of Degrassi Street first.
KARUADAM
The USA is a place for Non white only!!