Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Sunday, I will be reviewing the Canadian series, Degrassi Junior High, which aired on CBC and PBS from 1987 to 1989!  The series can be streamed on YouTube!

Finally, it’s time to wake up in the morning and return to Degrassi….

Episode 3.7 “The Whole Truth”

(Dir by Eleanore Lindo, originally aired on January 16th, 1989)

Caitlin is super-excited!  She is the editor of the Degrassi Digest and she is convinced that the upcoming edition will be the best ever.  The only problem is that Kathleen has written an editorial in favor a school dress code.  Caitlin doesn’t want to publish Kathleen’s article but what could she replace it with?

When Caitlin sees that Liz and Spike are putting up posters featuring a monkey being tortured, she asks them what’s going on.  Liz explains that there’s a big animal rights protest march coming up.  Caitlin asks Liz to write an article about it but Liz says she doesn’t like to write.  Instead, she invites Caitlin over to her house and shows Caitlin several grotesque videos of different animals being experiment edupon.  Caitlin writes an editorial calling for the Degrassi student body to boycott any company that tests on animals.

Woo hoo!  Way to go, Caitlin, right?  Well, not quite. Kathleen is not happy that her editorial was cut.  She informs Caitlin that a lot of important medical breakthroughs were the result of scientists testing on animals.  Caitlin does some research and discovers that some animal research has to do with treating neurological conditions, like epilepsy.  Being an epileptic, Caitlin no longer feels that she can go to the protest march with Liz and Spike.  Liz accuses Caitlin of not caring about animals.  Meanwhile, one of Caitlin’s assistant editors resigns from the Digest because her father works for a company that tests on animals.

And so, Caitlin learns that there are two sides to every story!  Of course, that’s a lesson that Caitlin will have forgotten by the time Degrassi: The Next Generation rolls around but we’ll get to that later.

While Caitlin learns an important lesson about journalism, Joey continues to try to get someone at CRAZ-E radio to listen to the Zit Remedy demo tape.  He even get a job working at the place as a janitor.  He does such bad job that he gets fired after three days.  But radio sex therapist Dr. Sally (Sue Johanson) listens to the tape and tells Joey that he’s very talented.  Joey is super-excited.  As for the other Zits, Snake seems to be largely indifferent and Wheels is still too depressed to care about anything.

Finally, Scooter and Bart order some “sea monkeys” from the back of a comic book and are shocked to discover that the ad was rip-off.  I understand that Scooter and Bart were probably added to the show so that it could still appeal to kids even as the main cast became teenagers.  But seriously, Degrassi Junior High is a show that deals with teen pregnancy, drugs, eating disorders, journalistic ethics, and family conflict.  Nobody has time for any of this sea monkey nonsense.

Despite the sea monkeys, I thought this was a pretty good episode.  Caitlin’s shock upon discovering that an issue was more complicated than just right or wrong was something to which I could relate.  That there are two sides to every story may sound like a simple lesson but it’s one that people often need to be reminded of, perhaps now more than ever.  As for Joey, my heart broke for him in this episode.  He really doesn’t seem to get that his friends just aren’t as enthusiastic about the band as he is.  Poor guy.

Next week, it appears that the episode will be about the Farrell Twins, who are my least favorite characters on the show.  Oh well.  I know I can make it through.