Tag Archives: Degrassi

Horror on TV: The Curse of Degrassi (dir by Stefan Brogren)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Well, can you believe it?  Halloween is nearly over!  In just four more hours, it will be midnight on the West Coast and October will officially be ended and so will our annual horrorthon.  Thank you to everyone who contributed and read and commented this year!  Y’all make all the hard work more than worth it!

Well, here’s our final excursion into the world of televised horror.  Ready for it?  I’m getting a little teary-eyed.

This is a special episode of my favorite TV show of all, Degrassi!  Originally aired on October 28th, 2008, The Curse of Degrassi features Degrassi’s main mean girl, Holy J Sinclair (Charlotte Arnold), getting possessed by the vengeful spirit of deceased school shooter, Rick Murray (Ephraim Ellis).  Chaos follows!

Happy Halloween and Enjoy!

Love you!

The TSL’s Daily Horror Grindhouse: The Night Before Halloween (dir by Sheldon Wilson)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

nightbeforehalloween_hero_movie_0

‘Twas the night before Halloween

when all through the house

not a creature was stirring

except for a Bowman

whose name was Lisa Marie”

— Traditional Bowman Folk Song

And why was I stirring?

Well, first off, that’s what I tend to do.  However, on top of that, I was also stirring because I was watching SyFy’s latest original film, The Night Before Halloween.  I was excited because The Night Before Halloween was full of Degrassi actors!

For instance, Jahmil French played the nerdy but cool Dave Turner on Degrassi.  In The Night Before Halloween, he plays Kyle.  Kyle’s a teenager with a curse.  Basically, unless he can trick someone into killing another person, a supernatural creature will kill him on Halloween night.  It’s a bit like the It Follows curse, except that the curse isn’t passed on by sex.  Instead, it’s passed by fooling someone else into committing murder.  In other words, transmitting The Night Before Halloween curse is a lot less fun than transmitting the It Follows curse.

On Degrassi, Justin Kelly played Jake Martin, a handsome and lovable stoner.  In The Night Before Halloween, Justin Kelly plays Adam, who is handsome and lovable and probably likes to get high, even though we never see him do so in the film.  Adam, unfortunately, is friends with Kyle.  When Kyle tricks Adam in taking part in a prank that leads to the electrocution of Beth (Natalie Ganzhorn), Adam finds himself being pursued by the monster.  Can he and his girlfriend, Megan (Bailee Madison), survive?

On Degrassi, Alex Harrouch played Leo, the abusive boyfriend (and briefly, husband) of Alli.  In The Night Before Halloween, Harrouch plays a much more sympathetic character, Wyatt.  At first, Wyatt is likable and nerdy but then Kyle tricks him into helping to kill Beth.  Leo is the first of the friends to understand what has happened but, when he tried to inform his friends, they ignored his calls and texts.  So, as Leo puts it, he made some new friends, with names like Benny and Oxy.  Leo has had to do some terrible things to survive and he’s been left a haunted shell of his former self.

The final member of this group of friends is Lindsay.  Lindsay is played by Kiana Madeira, who does not have a Degrassi connection but still does a good job in her role.  Lindsay may start as a skeptic but soon, she’s willing to do almost anything to get rid of the curse.

Anyway, of all the It Follows-inspired films that showed up on SyFy this October, The Night Before Halloween was definitely the best.  It was well-acted and directed and the supernatural monster (which usually manifested itself as a swarm of flies) was creepy.  Best of all, the film fully embraced and explored the question of how far people would go to survive.  In The Night Before Halloween, the only way to escape the curse is to betray someone.  While you may not be surprised when the friends start to betray each other, you’ll still never guess just how far one of them is willing to go.  You may even find yourself considering just how far you would go to save your life.

The Night Before Halloween is a very well-done SyFy shocker.  Even if it didn’t have the Degrassi connection, it would still be one to track down.

Back to School Part II #44: Degrassi Takes Manhattan (dir by Stefan Brogren)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Cassie Steele, Mike Lobel, Miriam McDonald, and Shane Kippel in Degrassi Takes Manhattan

Cassie Steele, Mike Lobel, Miriam McDonald, and Shane Kippel in Degrassi Takes Manhattan

(Much as with my previous post, this review probably will not much sense to you unless you’re a longtime Degrassi fan like me.  Sorry!)

One year after Degrassi Goes Hollywood, the third Degrassi movie was released.  Degrassi Takes Manhattan was broadcast on July 9th, 2010 and, ratings-wise, it was a huge success.  Not only did it bring TeenNick its highest ratings ever, it was the number one show viewed by teens that summer.

Why was it such a huge success?

Largely, it was because Degrassi Takes Manhattan served as not only the conclusion to season 9 but it was also the finale of Degrassi: The Next Generation.  By the end of Degrassi Takes Manhattan, all of the original Degrassi: TNG plotlines had been resolved.  Emma Nelson, who was the show’s main character for 6 seasons, married Spinner Mason.  When the series returned for season 10, it would drop The Next Generation from its title and it would simply be known as Degrassi.  All of the original characters would be gone, replaced with new students.  Degrassi Takes Manhattan was a chance to celebrate what had been and a chance to say goodbye.

And yet, Degrassi Takes Manhattan remains very controversial among the Degrassi fandom.  To be honest, a lot of people can’t stand it.  My feelings on it are mixed, though I tend to like it more than some.

One of the big problems with Degrassi Takes Manhattan is that none of the original characters actually go to Manhattan.  Emma, Manny, Spinner, and Jay all remain in Canada.  Instead, the Manhattan portion of the film features Holly J. Sinclair (Charlotte Arnold), Fiona Coyne (Annie Clark), Jane (Paul Brancati), and Fiona’s creepy twin brother, Declan (Landon Liboiron).   The New York portion of the film deals with Fiona, Holly J, Declan, and Jane all staying in a Manhattan penthouse and having various adventures in New York.  As seems to happen to at least one Degrassi student ever semester, Jane launches a singing career.  Holly J interns and falls in love with Declan.  Fiona get jealous.  It’s nothing all that interesting though it does feature the classic line, “This is New York Holly J, bitch!”

(Say what you will about the character she was playing, Charlotte Arnold was always great at delivering angry one-liners.)

Instead, the part of the film that everyone remembers is Emma (Miriam McDonald) falling in love with Spinner (Shane Kippel) and drunkenly marrying him at Niagara Falls.  After Spinner and Emma first look into getting an annulment, they suddenly realize that they really do want to spend the rest of their lives together and they have a recommitment ceremony at the beach!

And it’s actually a pretty sweet scene.  As someone who has watched every season of Degrassi, I liked the scene at the beach.  It provided closures for a lot of characters.  But, that doesn’t change the fact that it didn’t make any sense!  In the 9 seasons that led up to Degrassi Takes Manhattan, Spinner and Emma interacted with each other a few times during the first season but, otherwise, they never had much to do with each other.  The two of them falling in love came out of nowhere and, at the risk of being dramatic, it almost felt like a betrayal.  Anyone who has ever watched Degrassi (and those would be the only people who would really have a reason to watch Manhattan), knows that Emma’s soul mate was Sean Cameron.  As for Spinner — well, he dated pretty much everyone on the show at some point, with the notable exception of his future wife, Emma.  I always thought he and Darcy made a good couple but, by the time Manhattan went into production, Shenae Grimes was starring on 90210 and presumably wasn’t available to return so that Darcy could get married.

(One thing I did like about the ceremony is that it was conducted by Jay Hogart — played, of course, by Mike Lobel.  Jay, of course, was once responsible for Emma getting gonorrhea so it’s nice to see that she’s so forgiving.  That said, Jay did look pretty hot all dressed up…)

In the years since this movie aired, snarky fans like me have been joking about how Spinner and Emma probably got divorced a week after the beach ceremony.  But, as we all learned from watching the recent reunion episode on Netflix, Spinner and Emma are apparently still married!  Well, good for them.

Anyway, controversy aside, I still liked Degrassi Takes Manhattan but, then again, I like anything related to Degrassi.  As opposed to School’s Out and Degrassi Goes Hollywood, Degrassi Takes Manhattan is for hardcore Degrassi fans only.

Music Video Of The Day: Feel It By Jakalope (2004, dir by My Pet Skeleton and Lisa Mann)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s music video of the day is Feel It by Jakalope, one of my favorite Canadian bands!

I’m a huge fan of both this song and this video.  The song, which was co-written by Trent Reznor, first appeared on Jakalope’s debut album, It Dreams.  It Dreams was also co-produced by Reznor and perhaps it’s appropriate that the video itself is reminiscent of some of the videos that Mark Romanek directed by Nine Inch Nails.

(The video itself was directed by Lisa Mann and graphic artist Vincent Marcone, aka My Pet Skeleton.)

One of the great things about being a fan of Degrassi is that it’s exposed to me Canadian bands, like Jakalope.  In fact, from season 4 through 7, Jakalope performed the show’s famous theme song.  As for Feel It, it can be heard in Ghost In The Machine, the premiere episode of Degrassi’s fourth season.

In fact, the entire fourth season was full of great music!  In particular, Islands in the Stream, the season’s 6th episode, featured a beautiful song called Pretty People, which was performed by the Robber Who Robbed The Town.  I have searched and searched and I have yet to find Pretty People ANYWHERE!  Seriously, it is sooooo frustrating!

Oh well.  At least I have Feel It…

Back to School Part II #28: School’s Out (dir by Kit Hood)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

schools-out

School’s Out, a 1992 film that was made for Canadian television, is historically important for two reasons.

First off, it featured not only the first use of the F-word on Canadian broadcast television but the second as well!  The first actor to say the word was Stefan Brogren who, in the role of frustrated lifeguard Snake Simpson, complained, “Joey Jeremiah spends his summer dating Caitlin and fucking Tessa!”  About a minute later, Stacie Mistysyn (in the role of Caitlin), yelled, “You were fucking Tessa Campanelli!?”

I’m not sure what exactly went on behind-the-scenes before School’s Out broke the F-word barrier.  Help me out, Canadian readers.  Was this a big deal in your country?  Was this controversial?  Did you get weeks of warning or was everyone taken by surprise?  And was happened afterwards?  Does the F-word now show up regularly on Canadian television?  I’m sincerely curious and I guess I’ll find out for myself when, after the presidential election, I move to Toronto.

Still, regardless of whether there was any drama behind-the-scenes, it’s interesting that, in 1992, Canada had already progressed beyond America, as far as censorship and broadcast standards concerned.  24 years later, actors on American network television are still not allowed to say what Stefan Brogren said during School’s Out.

Of course, if you’re a fan of Degrassi, you can probably appreciate the irony of Stefan Brogren being the one to break the Fuck Barrier.  Brogren plays Archie “Snake” Simpson.  When Degrassi: The Next Generation began in 2001, Archie was a teacher at Degrassi Community School.  Over the course of the series, Archie married, became Emma Nelson’s stepfather, and was eventually appointed principal.  Through it all, Archie has been a well-meaning but somewhat dorky authority figure.  Simpson has always been the guy who you can depend on to explain why condoms are important and stalkers are bad but he’s also always been the guy who inevitably says something unintentionally humorous and then wonders why everyone is laughing at him.

But before Degrassi: The Next Generation, there was Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High.  These two shows aired in the 80s and featured Brogren (and Snake Simpson) as just another student, worrying about getting a girlfriend and occasionally dealing with an issue-of-the-week.

That brings us to the other reason why School’s Out is historically important.  School’s Out was meant to serve as the finale of Degrassi High, a chance for the show’s fans to get one last chance to hang out with Snake, Caitlin, Wheels (the tragic Neil Hope), and Joey Jeremiah (Pat Mastroianni, with hair!) and perhaps get a glimpse of what the future held in store for them.

Though the producers may not have realized it at the time, School’s Out also perfectly lay the foundation for Degrassi: The Next Generation.  I have to admit that, as much as I love Degrassi, I haven’t seen many episodes of Degrassi Junior High or Degrassi High.  Fortunately, that didn’t make it difficult for me to follow School’s Out.  In fact, many of the things that happened in School’s Out would regularly be referred to in Degrassi: The Next Generation.

The film opens with the senior class of Degrassi High graduating and preparing for their final summer before university and responsibility.  Joey Jeremiah plans to ask his longtime girlfriend, Caitlin, to marry him.  However, when Joey proposes to Caitlin, she turns him down.  She’s not ready for that type of commitment, not when she’s about to leave town to go to college.  (For his part, Joey failed a grade during Degrassi Junior High and, as a result, he’ll finally be starting his senior year while all of his friends are getting on with their lives.  While Caitlin is studying journalism at university, Joey will presumably still be trying to pass Mr. Raditch’s history class.)  Hurt over being turned down by Caitlin, Joey ends up sleeping with Tessa Campanelli (Kirsten Bourne).  Soon, he is — as Snake memorably puts it — dating Caitlin and fucking Tessa.

What amazed me, as I watched School’s Out, was just how much of asshole Joey Jeremiah was truly portrayed as being.  If, like me, you previously only knew him from Degrassi, then you know Joey as being a widowed used care salesman, a loving father, and an all-around good guy.  So, it’s strange and a little bit jarring to see him here as a remorseless cheater who brags about betraying Caitlin and who cruelly teases Snake for being a virgin.

(Then again, seeing School’s Out adds an interesting shading to Joey’s character.  Watching the film, I suddenly understood why Joey often seemed so overprotective of his stepson, Craig.  During the third season of Degrassi, Craig made many of the same bad decisions that Joey previously made in School’s Out.  Much as Joey was “dating Caitlin and fucking Tessa,” Craig was dating Ashley and fucking Manny.  Watching School’s Out, I finally understood that, during seasons 3 and 4 of Degrassi, Joey was often looking at Craig and seeing himself.)

Of course, it wouldn’t be Degrassi if there weren’t a few other subplot going on at the same time as the Joey/Caitlin/Tessa love triangle.  Seriously, hardly anyone gets a positive ending in School’s Out.  Not only does Joey cheat and Snake curse but there’s also an unplanned pregnancy.  There’s a party that leads to a major character driving drunk, killing a child, and blinding a classmate.  Yes, the film does end with a wedding but we barely know the people getting married.  Nobody, it seems, gets a truly happy ending.

Seriously, Canadian readers, how traumatizing was School’s Out when it was originally broadcast!?

Fortunately, I was able to watch School’s Out with the knowledge that, as bad as the summer was, Joey would eventually find love and Snake would get a job.  As for Caitlin, she would not only end up hosting a public affairs show called Ryan’s Planet but, at the end of the 4th season of Degrassi, she would have a brief flirtation with director Kevin Smith.

(Both Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes were in Canada, filming Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, eh?  It’s a long story.)

Anyway, I’m very happy that I finally watched School’s Out.  I may even go back and watch Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High.  They’re all available on YouTube now!

On a final note — LOVE YOU, CANADA!

degso

Music Video of the Day: What I Know by Downtown Sasquatch (2004, dir by Stefan Scaini)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I’ll be the first to admit that it’s probably debatable whether or not today’s music video of the day is actually a music video.  The fictional Canadian band Downtown Sasquatch performed What I Know at the end of the Rock and Roll High School episode of Degrassi.  The video below is taken from the end of that episode.

But, you know what?  I think this does qualify as a music video.  It’s certainly shot like a music video and, to a large extent, it reminds me of something from the pop culture fueled imagination of Spike Jonze.  In some ways, it’s even better when viewed out of the context of the rest of the episode.  So dammit, it’s a music video!

Add to that, I love this song!

As for Downtown Sasquatch, they were the most popular band on Degrassi and they went through several lineup changes.  Fortunately, What I Know was performed with the first and best lineup.

On bass, we have Marco Del Rossi (played by Adamo Ruggiero), whose epic coming out story played out over five seasons of Degrassi.

On lead guitar, we have Jimmy Brooks (played by Aubrey Graham, though he’s now better known as Drake).  Since this took place during the third season of the show, Jimmy could still walk.  This would change during the fourth season of the show when he was shot in the back by Rick Murray.

On drums — Spinner Mason (Shane Kippel)!  How important a character was Spinner to Degrassi?  He was so important that, despite the fact that he started the show a year ahead of all the other characters, it still took him seven seasons to graduate from high school.  Seriously, some of us were wondering if Spinner was going to end up celebrating his 40th birthday in Mr. Simpson’s media immersion class.  Incidentally, just a season after Downtown Sasquatch’s performance here, Spinner would be involved in the prank that would eventually lead to Rick Murray shooting Jimmy in the back.  However, Jimmy and Spinner would eventually reconcile and start a T-shirt business called Squatchwear.

And finally, we have our lead singer and founder of Downtown Sasquatch, Craig Manning (Jake Epstein)!  A bipolar photographer and a musialc genius, Craig not only started Downtown Sasquatch but he also impregnated Manny Santos and broke the hearts of not only Ashley Kerwin but Ellie Nash as well!

Speaking of Ashley (Melissa McIntyre) and Ellie (Stacey Farber), they’re both sitting in the audience and watching Downtown Sasquatch perform.  If you look closely, you’ll notice that they’re both wearing t-shirts that depict Craig burning in Hell.

Anyway, after all that, here’s the video!

4 Shots From 4 Shows: Degrassi, Lost, Community, Ringer

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films is all about letting the visuals do the talking.

Welcome to a special TV edition of 4 Shots From 4 Films!

4 Shots From 4 Shows

Degrassi: The Next Generation: Time Stands Still Part One (2004, dir by Stefan Scaini)

Degrassi: The Next Generation: Time Stands Still Part One (2004, dir by Stefan Scaini)

Lost: The End (2010, dir by Jack Bender)

Lost: The End (2010, dir by Jack Bender)

Community: Modern Warfare (2010, dir by Justin Lin)

Community: Modern Warfare (2010, dir by Justin Lin)

Ringer: Pilot (2011, dir by Richard Shepard)

Ringer: Pilot (2011, dir by Richard Shepard)

OH MY GOD! It’s a preview of Degrassi: The Next Class!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Like a lot of wonderful people, I’ve always understood that the day when Degrassi ceased production would be the day that I would officially be an adult.  For that reason, I cried when I first heard that Degrassi was being canceled.  But then, there were a light on the horizon.  Netflix announced that they would continue the Degrassi saga.  Well, Netflix did not lie!  Degrassi: The Next Class is premiering in January and here’s the preview!

Judging from this preview, it doesn’t look like much has changed at Degrassi but that’s okay.  Degrassi is a lot like real high school in that nothing ever really changes that much. Myself, I’m just hoping that Maya has finally found some sort of inner peace.  I’ll also be interested to see if Spinner is still managing the Dot.  Seriously, he’s never going to get out of Toronto…

So yay!  This means I have at least a little while longer before I officially become an adult!

Shattered Politics #65: Election (dir by Alexander Payne)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Election_1999filmLast year, when I did my series of Back to School reviews, it somehow slipped my mind to review Alexander Payne’s 1999 comedy, Election.  Don’t ask me how I managed to do that.  Election, after all, is one of the greatest high school films ever made.  Not only does it feature Reese Witherspoon’s best performance (or, at least, it was her best performance up until the release of Wild) but it also features Ferris Bueller himself, Matthew Broderick, as the type of teacher who regularly inspired Ferris to skip school.  Trust me — when I realized that I had managed to review Cavegirl while somehow ignoring Election, I was mortified.

But then, a few months later, I decided to do Shattered Politics and review 94 films about politics and politicians.  And it occurred to me that Election may have been a high school film but it was also a political satire.  Add to that, it’s totally plausible that Reese Witherspoon’s Tracy Flick will someday end up running for President.

That certainly seems to be the concern of Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick) in Election.  When he learns that Tracy is planning on running for student body president, Jim is concerned.  Tracy is an overachiever.  Tracy is the type of student who always raises her hand in class and who always has the right answer.  Tracy is the type of student that tends to drive other students crazy.  As Jim puts it, if Tracy is elected Student Body President, who knows where it will end?

Of course. Jim has other reasons for disliking Tracy.  Earlier in the year, for instance, Tracy was seduced by Jim’s fellow teacher and best friend, Dave Novotny (Mark Harelik).  When Tracy’s mother (played by Colleen Camp) discovered the affair, Dave was forced to retire and was subsequently divorced.  When Tracy mentions that if she’s elected President, that means she and Jim will be working closely together, Jim panics.  Jim thinks that Tracy will try to seduce him and he knows that he would be too weak to resist.  Instead, Jim would rather have an affair Dave’s ex-wife (Delaney Driscoll) while trying unsuccessfully to get his own wife (Molly Hagan) pregnant.

So, of course, Jim decides to recruit Paul Metzler (Chris Klein) to run against her.  Paul is a simple-minded but sweet-natured jock who, as the result of breaking his leg while skiing, has become something of a school martyr.  As soon as Paul announces that he’s running, his cynical little sister Tammy (Jessica Campbell) also announces that she’s running, despite the fact that she hates school and thinks that idea of student government is a joke.  Tammy’s main motivation is that her ex-girlfriend, Lisa (Frankie Ingrassia) has announced that she was just “experimenting” and is now dating Paul and managing his campaign.

Got all that?

As the campaign plays out, Jim is panicked to discover that, while Paul may be popular, he’s also amazingly inarticulate and really doesn’t seem to care whether he wins or not.  Meanwhile, Tammy announces that her first action as president will be to destroy the student government.  However, Jim then has reason to believe that Tracy destroyed some campaign signs (mostly because Tracy did) and he comes up with a plan to get her disqualified from the ballot.

Except, of course, it’s not that easy to get rid of Tracy Flick…

One of the things that always amuses me about TV shows set in high school is that they almost always feature an absurdly powerful student council.  Remember that episode of Boy Meets World where Topanga is elected president because she gives a speech about how somebody has to do something about the mold in the cafeteria?  That’s the fantasy view of the student council.  The reality is that, when I was in high school, the student council was something that, whenever we remembered that it actually existed, we all laughed about.

(One of the great things about Degrassi is that it’s one of the few teen shows to acknowledge that the student council has no power.  Considering that the current President of the Degrassi Student Council is Drew Torres, that’s probably for the best.)

But here’s the thing — we all knew someone like Tracy Flick.  We all knew someone who took things like the student council very seriously and who would always get very angry whenever the rest of us showed less reverence for school institutions.  And, in retrospect, you almost have to feel sorry for her because what she never understood was that devotion to the rules and hard work really don’t mean much in either high school or college.  The genius of Reese Witherspoon’s performance is that she brings to life a character that we all know and then, at the same time, makes her a unique human being.  In the role of Tracy, Witherspoon allows us to understand what motivated the girls who always used to get on our nerves.

And then, of course, there’s Matthew Broderick.  Broderick starts out as a glibly self-confident character just to end the film as something of a twisted gargoyle, unshaven because he’s been sleeping in his car and, as the result of a bee sting, a frightfully swollen eye.  By the end of the film, Jim has essentially been destroyed by his fear and obsessive hatred of one student.  Broderick is not exactly playing a sympathetic character here but it’s still a compelling performance because it confirms everything that I always suspected about all of my teachers — i.e., that they specifically and targeted certain students and that most of them were motivated by jealousy.

Thank you, Election, for letting me know that I was right!