Tonight, DEGRASSI will hit a landmark that only a handful of shows have hit before: 300 episodes. Though, technically, if you count all the shows in the Degrassi franchise like THE KIDS OF DEGRASSI, DEGRASSI JUNIOR HIGH and DEGRASSI HIGH, tonight will actually be the 400th show of the franchise. That’s an incredible accomplishment!
The Degrassi franchise has now joined the ranks of such long-running and well loved TV shows as THE SIMPSONS (510 episodes to date), the LASSIE franchise (588 episodes) and the LAW AND ORDER franchise (456 episodes).
It’s very rare that a Canadian television show has even two or three successful seasons, so the fact that not just Canada, but most of the world, has been watching, learning from and relating to the various kids from Degrassi for more than 30 years is an incredible accomplishment.
Very few (if any) other shows tackle topics like teen pregnancy, sexual abuse, drugs and peer pressure, homosexuality and homophobia, gender issues and many other pressures kids face daily which is probably why DEGRASSI is so popular. Still, certain episodes aren’t even shown in other countries because they are considered too controversial!
DID YOU KNOW?
- The first episode aired on September 12, 1979 and was called “Ida Makes a Movie”
- Adam Torres (played by Jordan Todosey) is the first teen trans-gender character in television history
- Degrassi Street is a real street in Toronto which got its name from Captain Fillipo De Grassi
- The Degrassi franchise has aired in over a hundred countries
- Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Don McKeller, Billy Rae Cyrus and Alainis Morisette have all guest starred on some version of DEGRASSI