During its early years, Nickelodeon aired several Canadian programs, such as
You Can't Do That on Television and
Rin Tin Tin: Canine Cop.
Degrassi Junior High (1987-89) was a teen angst drama set in an urban high school on De Grassi Street in Toronto. After three seasons, it became
Degrassi High (1989-91), and then, after a 10-year hiatus,
Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001-2009) The teens have more problems than any daytime soap opera: alcoholism, drugs, child abuse, domestic abuse, teen pregnancy, sexual harassment, stalking, HIV, suicide, disease, death, plus the usual dating triangles. Not quite as scandalous as
Beverly Hills 90210, but for the children and teenagers used to squeaky-clean teencoms like
My Secret Identity and
Out of this World, it was a revelation.
Gay people appeared twice in the original series, but not among the teenagers: a teacher is rumored to be a lesbian, and one of their older brothers announces that he is gay. Both episodes received howls of outrage from homophobic watchdog groups, and were not aired in the U.S. until later.
There was a huge cast of characters, including a number of hunks for the straight girls and gay boys to swoon over, often with underwear or swimsuit shots. The casual nudity was quite risque by American standards.
The main focus of the original series was on Joey Jeremiah (Pat Mastroianni), a quick-witted, impertinent slacker who always wore a signature fedora (usually on his head). In
Next Generation, he returned as a used car salesman and mentor to the new generation of kids with problems (including
Ryan Cooley, Jake Epstein, and
Daniel Clark).
Joey had two close friends, Snake (Stefan Brogren) and Wheels (Neil Hope, left), but his strongest bond was with Wheels. Though each dated and had relationships with girls, as they helped each other through various crises, broke up and reconciled, got jealous over each others' outside friendships, they came arguably close to the passion and heat of a homoromance.
I heard that Neil Hope was gay in real life. He died in 2007.
ReplyDeleteI was in lust with Pat Mastroianni as Joey Jeremiah and the tight jeans he wore on the Junior High series. Unfortunately his wardrobe got baggier when they moved to High School and I lost interest. Ironically, only the last picture is from the "Junior High" years.. The others are from "Degrassi High" and Ryan Cooley was a castmember of "The Next Generation" 20 years later.
ReplyDeleteI always wondered about Ryan Cooley. On the show he had a girlfriend who got pregnant by him but that is just the story line. Somehow I had a feeling he could be gay.
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