Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 1.11 “Friday Night”

Posted on October 26, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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: The Next Generation, which aired from 2001 to 2015! The series can be streamed on YouTube and Tubi.

This week, we get glimpse of the future.

Episode 1.11 “Friday Night”

(Dir by Paul Fox, originally aired on June 3rd, 2002)

It’s a wild Friday night in Toronto!

Emma and Sean go on their first date. It goes like this: Sean asks out Emma. Emma says yes but isn’t sure whether or not Sean is asking her on a date or just asking her to hang out. Sean is inarticulate because he’s a guy. Emma gets mad. In gym class, a game of dodgeball turns into a game of Emma throwing the ball exclusively at Sean. Sean thinks that Emma hates him. Emma says she doesn’t hate him. Finally, Sean shows up at Emma’s house. Before they leave on their date, Spike takes a picture.

They step outside of the house and a bird immediately defecates on Emma’s outfit. Emma changes. They decide to get something to eat before going to a movie. Emma says that she ordered Sean a vegetarian burger. Sean is cool with that because he doesn’t eat meat ever since he spent time on a ranch and saw how the animals are treated. Emma is like, “Awwww!” But then Emma realizes she can’t find her wallet and she fears that it’s accidentally been thrown away. Sean spends the night searching through the dumpster behind the restaurant, until Emma realizes that she had her wallet with her all the time. Whoops! Emma runs off in tears.

How sad! Of course, those of us who have watched this show know that one bad date isn’t going to keep Emma and Sean from having one of the most epic (if ultimately pointless) relationships in Degrassi history, one that will survive Sean going to jail but which won’t survive him joining the Army. Of course, we also know that Emma is somehow going to end up married to Spinner despite saying barely ten words to him over the course of 8 seasons.

Speaking of Spinner, he and Jimmy spend Friday night tormenting Ms. Kwan. Spinner has a grudge against Ms. Kwan because Ms. Kwan broke his “discman” while trying take it away from him when she discovered him listening to it in her class.

“My discman!” Spinner exclaimed.

“No, your fault!” Kwan snapped.

Spinner got detention. Later, Jimmy also got detention for making fun of Shakespeare. (Kwan also got annoyed with Jimmy for making out with Ashley in the hallway. “You two may think you’re cute….” Uhmm, it’s the hallway. Calm down, Ms. Kwan.) When Spinner and Jimmy learned that Ms. Kwan would be at the school late, teaching an ESL class, they broke into the principal’s office, broadcast the sound of Spinner chewing gum into her classroom, and then ordered several pizzas for her class. Spinner then threw an entire carton of eggs at Kwan’s car. Kwan came outside, saw her car, and broke down into tears while Spinner and Jimmy watched from afar. Spinner was amused. Jimmy felt guilty.

The next day, Mr. Raditch announces that Ms. Kwan has taken a leave of absence because her husband’s been sick. The upcoming class field trip is canceled. And Mr. Raditch will now be teaching Kwan’s class. Spinner, you idiot!

That said, I blame Jimmy more. Everyone knows that Spinner’s impulsive and out-of-control. Jimmy’s supposed to be the voice of reason.

This episode is one of the better season one episodes, if just because it featured Emma being repeatedly humiliated (that may seem cruel but if you know some of the things that Emma’s going to do in the future, it is kind of satisfying to see) and it also features an early appearance of a recurring Degrassi theme: Spinner accidentally destroying someone’s life. This episode represents the future of Degrassi.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 1.10 “Rumors and Relationships”

Posted on October 19, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Emma tries to destroy someone’s life.

Episode 1.10 “Rumors and Relationships”

(Dir by Paul Fox, originally aired on May 20th, 2002)

This episode features Spinner at his best and Emma at her worst.

Let’s get Emma out of the way first. When Emma happens to see Liberty and Coach Armstrong alone in a classroom together, she assumes that Armstrong is hitting on Liberty. She tells Manny about her suspicions. Terri overhears and tells Sean. Sean tells Spinner. Spinner tells Jimmy. Jimmy tells Paige. Paige tells Hazel (Andrea Lewis). Hazel tells Ashley. Ashley tells Liberty. Liberty gets upset. When Emma sees Liberty crying, Emma ask Liberty about her and Armstrong. Liberty swears on her life that Armstrong was not hitting on her. Emma wonders how the rumor got started–

Uhmm, Emma …. YOU STARTED IT!

Emma promises Liberty that she will work her backwards to find the person who started the rumor–

IT WAS YOU, EMMA! YOU STARTED THE RUMOR!

Because Emma is apparently incapable of remember what she said earlier in the day, she goes from Ashley to Hazel to Page to Spinner (she skips Jimmy) to Sean and eventually she confronts Terri. Emma says that the rumor is all over the school and it’s all Terri’s fault.

Terri, quite sensibly, points out that Emma is the one who started the rumor.

Now, in her defense, Emma does feel bad about starting the rumor. When Mr. Raditch calls Coach Armstrong out into the hall to tell him about the rumors, Emma walks up and confesses that it’s her fault. But one thing Emma doesn’t do is really apologize. In fact, when she later talks to Liberty, she instead acts as if it is somehow Liberty’s fault for not telling Emma why she was in a classroom alone with Armstrong in the first place. Liberty finally admits that she had dyscalculia (which is dyslexia but with numbers) and that Armstrong — THE MATH TEACHER — has been tutoring her and helping her not to feel bad about it. Emma again asks why Liberty just didn’t tell her that to begin with.

Hey, Emma — maybe Liberty didn’t tell you because IT’S NONE OF YOUR FREAKING BUSINESS!

The episode ends with Liberty telling Emma that, when it comes to helping people, Emma sucks. And Liberty certainly has a point.

Meanwhile, in the cafeteria, Spinner discovers a bug in his food. “Boycott the caf!” he yells, “it has earwigs!” Unfortunately, no one believes Spinner. So, the next day, Spinner collects a bunch of bugs and takes them into the cafeteria. He thinks that if someone else sees a bug and reports it, they will be believed and someone will call an exterminator. Of course, the only thing that anyone sees is Spiner carrying a tub of bugs. The bugs get free and Spinner is sentenced to work in the cafeteria until he’s paid off the $300 that it’s going to cost the school to have the cafeteria exterminated.

“But it needed to be exterminated anyways!” Spinner says.

This was classic Spinner. Even when he cares about Degrassi, no one listens. It’s a little bit gross that he was carrying around a tub of living bugs but his heart was in the right place.

Spinner’s the best!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 1.7 “Basketball Diaries”

Posted on September 28, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Jimmy decides that Ritalin might be key to improving his jump shot. Meanwhile, Liberty makes a fool out of herself

Episode 1.7 “Basketball Diaries”

(Dir by James Allodi, originally aired on April 29th, 2002)

This epiosde features two stories. The weaker of the two, not surprisingly, focuses on Liberty and her desire to do the video announcements. Ashley finally agrees to let Liberty do them before the big basketball game with Earl Grey Academy. Liberty, of course, bombs. Paige laughs because she thinks that Ashley set Liberty up. Feeling guilty, Ashley gives Liberty some pointers and then allows Liberty to do the post-game announcements. Liberty does much better and Ashley says that Liberty will be great when she starts regularly doing the announcements …. after Ashley graduates.

This storyline was a Liberty storyline so who cares. During the first three seasons, Liberty was the most annoying character on the show and her storylines were always cringe.

Fortunately, the episode’s other storyline features Jimmy and Spinner. Jimmy is worried about making the basketball team, especially with Ms. Kwan constantly on his back about reading Lord of the Flies. Jimmy convinces Spinner to hand over his last Ritalin. As a result, Jimmy goes crazy on the court and scores a lot of points but he also injures his teammate, Sean. Meanwhile, Spinner loses focus and moons the gym.

So, the reason why I love this storyline is becuase it features every myth that people seem to believe about ADD. For the record, the medication does not give you super powers and also most people don’t suddenly go wild just because they miss one pill. I have ADD. There have been days when I’ve forgotten to take my pills and, while there is definitely a difference in those days than the day when I do take my pills, I’ve still always managed to survive without breaking the law or crashing my car or doing any of the other things that always seem to happen on television. Whenever I forget to take my pills, I usually end up doing something like deciding it would be a good idea to start doing daily late night retro television reviews on top of everything else that I have to do.

(The first time my mom ever took me to an appointment to get my perscription refilled, she said she could tell who was at the doctor’s office for ADD because we were the ones who couldn’t go 5 minutes without grabbing another magazine to look through.)

As for Jimmy, he wins the game but he still gets cut from the team because he’s not a good teammate. That’ll teach him to take Ritalin without a perscription!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 1.6 “The Mating Game”

Posted on September 21, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, everyone’s thinking about sex!

Episode 1.6 “The Mating Game”

(Dir by Anthony Browne, originally aired on April 22nd, 2002)

Sex therpaist Dr. Sally (Sue Johanson, recreating her role from Degrassi Junior High) is coming to Degrassi and it’s not a minute to soon because everyone is thinking about sex. Ashley and Jimmy’s 8-month reunion is approaching and, when Paige is cast as Juliet opposite Jimmy’s Romeo in a class assignment, Ashley starts to worry that Jimmy might not be happy with their sex-free relationship. Of course, Jimmy is more than happy with his relationship with Ashley. If anything, Spinner seems to be the one who is obsessed with when Ashley and Jimmy are going to “do it.”

Meanwhile, Toby has a crush on Emma but Emma has a crush on Sean. Toby invites Emma to join him in watching a DVD about an endangered turtle. Emma agrees because Emma is all about endangered animal documentaries. But then she stands him up so that she can help Sean out with his school project. Sean tells Emma about how he had to give up his pet dog when he moved in with his brother, Emma says. “Awwww!,” and Toby ends up heart-broken. Emma, for her part, is shocked when Manny later tells her that Toby has a “huge crush” on her.

(Though I’m a huge Degrassi fan, I have to admit that I always forget how much time the first season of Degrassi: The Next Generation spent on storylines that were, more or less, abandoned in future seasons. Toby’s crush on Emma is a good example.)

As for Ashley and Jimmy, they both do the right thing and buy condoms. (Jimmy goes to a drugstore. Ashley orders online.) However, they don’t have sex and instead just blow the condoms up and write cutesy little messages on them.

Finally, this episode features Terri once again getting offended when Ashley comments on her having never had a boyfriend. For those of us who know our Degrassi history, it’s hard not to cringe at Ashley’s comment because we know what’s going to happen to Terri (and eventually Jimmy) once Terri finally does start dating someone.

This episode was okay. These first season episodes are not always easy to watch because the show itself got a lot more interesting after the second season. It’s hard not watch the episodes from the first two seasons and spend most of the time thinking about what the future holds for the characters. In this episode, Jimmy is gawky and Ashley is confident that she and Jimmy will know when the time is right. In the future, Ashley is going to lose all of her friends after taking ecstasy and Jimmy is going to end up paralyzed from the waist down. In this episode, Toby and JT are bummed that only the eighth graders get to see Dr. Sally. In the future, JT’s going to get stabbed to death and Toby’s going to end up dating Spinner’s adopted sister. Meanwhile, Sean’s going to end joining the Army and Emma’s going to end up married to Spinner and Terri’s going to leave school after her boyfriend shoves her and she hits her head on a rock. When you know all that is going to happen, it’s hard to get caught up in Terri’s hurt feelings or Ashley’s awkwardness when she has to pay for her condom delivery. Seriously, they should be enjoying their lives while they can because the future is going to be dark!