So it was something of a shock to find out last year that, not only had other people actually seen Degrassi Junior High, but it was now out on DVD. Degrassi was a part of my adolescence that I had always assumed was lost forever, like lazy Sunday afternoons riding bikes to nowhere. This was such a personal thing for me, that the existence of Degrassi on DVD was tantamount to having my brain patterns stored on magnetic disk and replayed twenty years later. It was like someone gave me a chance to drink New Coke again. In fact, it was like someone gave me a limitless supply of 2-liter bottles of the stuff.

I'll guess I'll spoil things a bit and say that Nicole Stoffman, the actress who plays Steph, only sticks around for the first two seasons. I don't know exactly why she left, but I would imagine being Canada's official national jailbait may have taken its toll. I mean, I doubt there's one straight male viewer of Degrassi who wasn't boning it up while looking at Stephanie Kaye, and I presume being a 14 year old sexpot wasn't the ideal situation for Nicole. Or any girl, for that matter. That's when you start attracting the John Hinckleys of the world.

"Voula, seeing that asking to go to the dance right now would probably be greeted with the same reaction as if she asked to get an abortion, begins to weave a ridiculous, fully transparent lie. She talks about how there's a 'meeting' at school on Saturday, to do with the foster child. She even says, I kid you not, 'It's just like school, only in the evening!' It's just like school, only with more drugs and booze and sex! How can you say no?"

"Degrassi definitely goes there, doesn't it? Most TV shows for teen audiences would shy away from showing the disabled indulging in recreational drug use, but not this show. No way."

"Caitlin says they should try to get Rick to smile. Ooh, that sounds like a fantastic idea, doesn't it? And somehow, the writers were able to come up with a subplot even more insubstantial than the Voula-Steph animosity. At this point, I expect a subplot where Yick Yu debates whether or not to pick his nose in class."