"I've got a thing for girls who say aboot": Jason Lee's character in Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy explaining his obsession with the T. V. show Degrassi Junior High

In 1980 two independent television producers in Toronto put out a one off show called Ida Makes A Movie. From such inauspicious beginnings are phenomena born. Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood's "Playing With Time Inc." production company probably didn't know when they sold their first six episodes to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (C. B. C.) what they had on their hands. (For its first two years the C. B. C. actually called it Just Down The Street instead of Kids Of Degrassi as it was known until the kids left public school to go to Junior High)

By as early as 1985 the show was an international hit. From Turkey to the United States children and adults were watching a group of children grow up. Set in a working class neighbourhood in the lower east end of Toronto, with a cast made up of local kids, Degrassi seemed to resonate with audiences everywhere.

Maybe it was simply because the kids were real, not a budding starlet or star amongst them, or that even in the early episodes it dealt with issues no other kids show would touch, that earned it so much attention. Whatever the reason the Degrassi franchise became, and still is, one of the hottest Canadian television properties.

Instead of sticking with the public school theme, the producers made the decision to follow the original cast through their entire school career. So Kids was followed by Junior High all the way through Degrassi High. As the series progressed so did its polish; the actors became more accomplished, the budgets a little higher, and the production values a bit cleaner. But it always maintained its early air of authenticity.

In part this was helped by the location itself. At the time, the mid-eighties to early nineties when the original series were being shot, the gentrification of Toronto's east end had not encroached upon the neighbourhood. It was a mix of old warehousing, light industry, and old working class housing.

A stone's throw away from the docklands, it was just beginning to be discovered by the burgeoning Toronto film industry as an ideal location for production facilities and storage space. On warm summer nights, especially when it rained the air and raindrops would be redolent of soap, thanks to the Colgate/Palmolive factory that dominated the neighbourhood. Sound and film editing studios shared floor space with industrial sewing machines and cheap novelty manufacturers. "Playing With Time's" office was a small bungalow on Queen St. E. nestled up against a used car lot on one side and a garage on the other.

Article Author: Richard Marcus

Richard Marcus is the author of the recently published What Will Happen In Eragon IV? and has had his work published in print and online all over the world. The not so long-haired Canadian iconoclast writes reviews and opines on the world as he sees …

Visit Richard Marcus's author page — Richard Marcus's Blog