Degrassi, the Canadian teen soap that gave us Drake, explained

Earlier this month, Netflix debuted Degrassi: Next Class, the latest installment in the Canada-based Degrassi franchise. It joins a long, proud lineage of TV shows that spans more than 40 years and chronicles the lives and misadventures of students at Degrassi Community School.

Next Class represents yet another rebirth for the show, which has been around in one form or another since the 1970s; Netflix picked it up after its longtime US network, TeenNick, canceled its predecessor, The Next Generation, in 2015.

But why would an American streaming juggernaut known for pushing boundaries take on a rather wholesome show about Canadian teenagers? It helps to understand the history of Degrassi, and the appeal behind its longevity.

The Degrassi family tree

Archie Simpson (Stefan Brogren) has been a character in almost all the Degrassi series. (TeenNick)

Degrassi is a franchise of shows created by Linda Schuyler, a former junior high school teacher. The first incarnation was The Kids of Degrassi Street, which began in 1979 as a series of four after-school specials — Ida Makes a Movie, Cookie Goes to the Hospital, Irene Moves In, and Noel Buys a Suit — that aired over four years and chronicled the adventures of the titular kids and their families, who all live on the same street.

In December 1982, the format switched to weekly episodes; in 1986, after 26 episodes spread over four years, Schuyler decided to rework the series and change the setting to a junior high school, so that she could tackle the more complex problems that come along with adolescence. This became the universe of all future Degrassi series.

Degrassi Junior High premiered January 18, 1987, and featured some of the same actors as The Kids of Degrassi Street, though with different character names and family backgrounds. It ran until March 6, 1989, and explored many storylines that future Degrassi series would continue to build on. A notable example was the teen pregnancy plot in the International Emmy–winning season one episode "It's Late," in which 14-year-old Christine "Spike" Nelson (Amanda Stepto) finds out she's pregnant. She later gives birth to a girl named Emma, who eventually becomes one of the main characters in Degrassi: The Next Generation.

Junior High ended March 6, 1989, making way for Degrassi High, which ran from November 6, 1989, to January 28, 1991 and followed the characters through their later years of grade school.

Ten years after the Degrassi High finale came Degrassi: The Next Generation (or simply Degrassi, as it was known in its last four seasons). It ran longer than any other show in the franchise (either before or since), airing for 14 seasons between October 14, 2001, and October 28, 2014. The series featured some of the kids from previous Degrassi series returning as the "adults" — namely, Caitlin Ryan (Stacie Mistysyn), Spike, and Archie "Snake" Simpson (played by Degrassi producer and director Stephan Brogren).

Next Generation is probably the Degrassi series that's best known to American audiences (and one of the few Canadian shows US audiences are at all familiar with), as it aired in the US on TeenNick. It's also the best known in general; its first season was Canada's top-rated drama among the 18- to 49-year-old demographic.

The new Netflix series, Next Class, is another iteration of the same formula, with Brogren now playing Principal Simpson and other characters reprising their Next Generation roles.

There are also the web series Degrassi Minis, which were produced for seasons five through 14 of Next Generation and are considered "non-canon"; the 2010 TV movie Degrassi Takes Manhattan; and even Jay and Silent Bob Do Degrassi, a three-episode Next Generation arc that sees Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes's fictional alter egos filming a movie at Degrassi Community School, a project that came about largely as wish fulfillment for Smith, a self-professed Degrassi superfan.

What is Degrassi about?

One of Degrassi's favorite storylines: teen pregnancy! (TeenNick)

Degrassi has always stayed true to its after-school special roots; every season of each series tackles various permutations of problems like addiction, questions of sexuality and gender identity, cyberbullying, rape, and depression, along with some lighter plots. (See this great list from Vulture's Margaret Lyons for more examples; it names 239 "issues" covered by The Next Generation alone.)

But that's part of how this show has survived for so long: It addresses the same topics multiple times, but switches up its approach based on the characters and the time period in which the episodes air.

As Pilot Viruet wrote for the A.V. Club:

Degrassi has been on for so long (and in so many different forms) that it has to recycle basic plots. It works because it makes the show experiment with different outcomes—teens face pregnancy, sexual assault, mental illness, etc., but each character deals with it differently, just as actual people deal with the same things in different ways.

Or as Brogren put it to the Hollywood Reporter: "The drugs have changed but the problems are still the same."

On that note, some of Degrassi's plot lines have proved too much for American Standards & Practices boards over the years, especially regarding abortion; a 1989 Degrassi High storyline about a teen pregnancy and subsequent abortion was edited to leave the character's decision ambiguous, and in 2002, American network the N (the predecessor of TeenNick) refused to air a two-part Next Generation episode in which another character had an abortion.

What's so special about the Degrassi franchise?

In 2012, the Degrassi franchise became the longest-running Canadian series of all time, stealing the title from Beachcombers, a dramedy that ran from October 1972 to December 1990 and boasted as its ultra-Canadian premise "the adventures of a professional lumber salvager and his friends in Gibsons, British Columbia, Canada," per IMDB.

There are a few explanations for Degrassi's incredible longevity. For one, as creator Schuyler explained to EW in 2012, she has always been dedicated to what she calls "authenticity" (as opposed to reality): exploring the many facets of the teen experience in a way that's dramatically interesting but that also gets at the underlying truth of the characters' emotions and experiences.

One way Schuyler has achieved this authenticity is by insisting on age-appropriate casting, making Degrassi a rarity in a TV landscape afflicted with Andrea Zuckerman Syndrome, where 20- and even 30-somethings are regularly cast as teenagers. While this has sometimes meant casting kids with little acting experience, it's also contributed to the show's relatability. The Next Generation, after all, overlapped on the air for a couple of seasons with Dawson's Creek — another show ostensibly about teenagers, but ones whose vocabularies and problems weren't exactly familiar to the average high schooler.

Rarer still is Schuyler's commitment to showcasing characters of varying backgrounds. She told EW: "We’re very big on celebration of diversity – racial, sexual, economic – and creating an environment for young people that makes them feel like they’re not completely alone." This is unusual in the current TV climate, which is just beginning to take baby steps away from total whiteness, and downright astonishing for a show that's been around since the '70s.

Degrassi's unique characteristics make it tough to name an analogous American series; though the US has no shortage of dramatic high school–set shows, it's hard to think of many that share Degrassi's commitment to capturing so many truths about the teenage experience. The closest cousin might be something like Freaks and Geeks, which shares some of Degrassi's essential sweetness and refusal to shy away from the more humiliating aspects of adolescence — but where Freaks was a critical darling that ran for just one season, Degrassi is a multigenerational Canadian institution, with legions of fans both ironic and sincere.

Has anyone famous appeared on Degrassi?

While most Degrassi actors are probably not well-known to US audiences that don't watch the series, the show has spawned a small number of recognizable alums, all from The Next Generation. Vampire Diaries star Nina Dobrev appeared from 2006 to 2008 as Mia Jones, a single teen mother; Shenae Grimes-Beech, of 90210 reboot fame, played cheerleader/Mia's eventual nemesis Darcy Edwards from 2004 to 2008. Cassie Steele, who played Manny Santos, went on to star in The LA Complex, a short-lived Canadian summer series also helmed by Schuyler (and imported to the US by The CW).

But the biggest name by far is Aubrey Graham, better known as Drake: rap superstar, Meek Mill beef auteur, and the man responsible for unleashing "Hotline Bling" upon the world. Beginning when he was 14, the pre-Drake Graham appeared on 145 episodes of Degrassi, from 2001 to 2008, as basketball star Jimmy Brooks. In the season four two-parter "Time Stands Still," Jimmy gets shot in the back by a fellow student and is paralyzed from the waist down in what's still one of the most famous moments of the series' entire run.

Eventually, Drake was "kicked off the show," as he told W magazine in October 2015, because he was trying to balance his acting responsibilities with a burgeoning musical career:

Back then, I’d spend a full day on set and then go to the studio to make music until 4 or 5 a.m. I’d sleep in my dressing room and then be in front of the cameras again by 9 a.m. Eventually, they realized I was juggling two professions and told me I had to choose.

Still, he and the show seem to be on good terms; he reunited with some of his former co-stars last year in Toronto, and the first episode of Next Class begins with a character quoting his hit song "Started From the Bottom."

What's different about Degrassi: Next Class?

The short answer is: not too much. There are two 10-episode seasons planned, both a continuation of the same format and setting, with some of Next Generation's younger students returning as upperclassmen. And it's still a show about impossibly fresh-faced teens facing an implausible slate of problems week after week.

But with Degrassi's move to Netflix, producer Brogren says the show has some more freedom to tell the kinds of stories it feels are most resonant with "Gen Z," as it calls the social media generation. As he told THR, Degrassi's previous network had pressured the showrunners to "play it a little bit safer," but, "This year, we can tell stories about female masturbation. ... We can go wherever the stories are." Next Class has also added a feminist Muslim character named Goldi, who wears a hijab; again, quite a rarity in today's TV world. And as befits its target audience, there's much more of a focus on social media.

If you were a fan of any of the previous Degrassis, you'll probably find something similar to enjoy here. If you weren't, at least do yourself the favor of watching this hilarious Kroll Show sketch "Wheels, Ontario," a Degrassi parody set in a school where all the kids but one are in wheelchairs.

It's a perfect parody of all the things that make Degrassi lovable (and mockable): its over-the-top storylines, its sappy drama, its unfailing niceness, and, of course, the Canadian accents.