Degrassi- it goes there

In the late 80s, while watching PBS as I always did, I encountered this show... Degrassi. I was around 9-10 yrs old, and the show was set in Jr High and then High School. Older kids. Cool. They spoke funny, too. They said "Sorry" as "soh-rry" instead of "sah-rry" like us. Where are they from?? Canada, turns out.

Years later, I'm channel surfing and I see in the "info" part of my cable "Degrassi: The Next Generation". How lame, I thought. So not the same... Wait, is that
Spike? And Snake? Caitlin! Oh my God, it's Joey Jeremiah!! COOL! And thus, I became obsessed. In the original show, Spike got pregnant in 8th grade and had Emma. In the Next Generation, Emma is now in Jr High (well, now she's in High School, but in the pilot she was in Jr High). And the show revolves around the next generation of Degrassi students. Snake is now a teacher there. And marries Spike eventually.

But, it's a teen show, you say. You laugh. You scoff. Yea, and? KEVIN SMITH likes it! He knows what's good!!! And so he managed to get on the show. He wanted to be in the pilot, but things didn't work out... so like 5 yrs later, they finally gave him the chance. And so Jay and Silent Bob did Degrassi. Good times.