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document
Toronto Star -- SA2
ENTERTAINMENT Saturday, January 2, 1988 E10
Degrassi Junior High tackles tougher subjects this term
By Susan Devins Special to The Star
LENGTH: Long
SUBJECT: Television Canada
Schoolbells trumpet for the second term of Degrassi Junior High on Monday at 8.30 p.m. on Channel 5, but this season the kids will take more responsibility for their sprightly but often broodingly complicated lives.
It's been a "where do we go from here" challenge for producer-director team Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood, who last season dealt with child abuse, teen pregnancy, theft and lesbianism in the 12-15-year-old set.
Kit Hood recalls that after accepting the 1986 International Emmy for the "Griff Gets A Hand" episode of Kids Of Degrassi Street (the show's predecessor), the pair sat at Lindy's restaurant in New York wondering if audiences were ready to handle teen pregnancy on national television.
Fan mail
Cut to one year later, and the duo is back on stage for the 1987 Emmy for that very episode, "It's Late," when Spike finds out that she's pregnant.
Now that the show's moved to prime time, it has a weekly audience of 1.2 million. And along with Kids Of Degrassi Street, it's been sold to more than 45 countries, from Israel to Britain to Malaysia, and the actors are starting to receive fan mail. Kids also has been sold to China.
"The core of all this is the repertory company," says Schuyler, from Playing With Time's ever-expanding production offices on Queen St. E. "Many of the kids have been here since Kids Of Degrassi Street, and we really are an extended family with them. Our shows have grown up with them. The kids drop in and see Kit and me at our home, and out of these encounters the topics just keep coming."
The production duo integrates the kids' real problems into the scripts, incorporating overheard snippets of conversation along the way. For instance, Neil Hope (Wheels) was getting severe headaches on the set, but his character wasn't wearing glasses. So when Wheels becomes aware that a teacher was coming on to a student, he discovers he needs glasses.
Sarah Charlesworth (Susie Rivera) wants to get involved in the debating club at her real school, so she won't be reapplying to the 43-member DJH rep company. "One of the kids suggested, why don't we put her into the hospital and we can visit her from time to time?" says Hood.
But Schuyler and Hood don't want to be saddled with a program that only focuses on serious issues. They decided to continue many of the storylines from the first season and expand on them so the kids can participate in problem-solving, but they're balanced with a lighter subplot.
In the same episode that 14-year-old Spike (Amanda Stepto) finds out she's pregnant, a younger boy, Yick, unsuccessfully tries to ask out Melanie. "It reminds our audience that adolescence runs the gamut from having the courage to ask someone out to sleeping with someone," says Hood.
The season's premiere, "Eggbert," grew out of an experiment that some Toronto schools are undertaking, where boys and girls are given an "egg" to show them the responsibility of having a baby.
Spike gives her egg to Shane (Bill Parrott), the teen father, and the series will focus on that aspect of teen pregnancy - the feelings and responsibilities of a boy who wants to help but doesn't know what to do. During the season Spike ultimately will be kicked out of school, only to return to take her exams and graduate. That's to show pregnancy doesn't mean a student still can't keep up. And are those labor pains during the season's last episode?
Bolder this year
Hood and Schuyler come up with 13 storylines, but only write the scripts with story editor Yan Moore about three to four weeks before the filming. Where each episode of Kids Of Degrassi Street was a self-contained half hour with a feel-good moment at the end, in this series, says Schuyler, "We were fighting our roots when we did it. We've been bolder this year, and end up with questions for the audience."
WSome issues haven't yet been touched: teen suicide, drugs and sexual abuse in the family. "They're big issues and so the right characters and the right vehicles are needed," says Schuyler. "We don't want to lose the credibility of our characters."
Some issues haven't yet been touched: teen suicide, drugs and sexual abuse in the family. "They're big issues and so the right characters and the right vehicles are needed," says Schuyler. "We don't want to lose the credibility of our characters."
The new season finds Caitlin facing censorship from the school paper for writing an article supporting Spike's rights; Joey deciding to "do it" with Liz; Yick convincing his friend Arthur to phone a sex show and ask direct questions; Lucy facing the lewd overtures of a substitute teacher and being convinced that she has to go to the principal's office to report sexual harassment; Stephanie coming to terms with her "sexy" image; Kathleen dealing with an alcoholic mother; Joey going for a joyride in his friend's parents' car; and the school rock band trying to extend its repertoire.
"We're never trying to be sensational," says Schuyler. "We're trying to show all this in a reality-based context.
"Kit and I are your basic workaholics. It's a family business with a family atmosphere. We always push ourselves a little bit farther and our best is never good enough."
ILLUSTRATION
Photo Amanda Steptoe and Bill Parrott
Copyright © 1988 Toronto Star, All Rights Reserved.
DOC. #: 880102TS00094
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