DEGRASSI: GLORY DAYS - SEASON 1 EXTRAS

I decided not to name it "Explanations" since this is a much looser format than what I do for "Aftermath", but I still thought I´d give you a few extra tidbits. Thanks a lot for reading the episodes. I knew from the beginning that it would be harder to get people on board for a 100 % original series, but it´s reader base is slowly growing all the time, which is encouraging to see. Reviews are always appreciated, but you continuing to read it is a positive review in itself, as far as see it.

Characters:

I thought I´d give you a quick rundown of the major characters, the inspiration for them and so on.

Seniors:

Sandra: Sandra is probably the one character that most resembles a character from the series, that being Holly Sinclair. Both of them were mean girls, who lost everything and became better people as a result from it. There´s still enough of a bad girl left in her, that she´s not a copy of Holly. I like her and Mike as a couple. They´re far from perfect, but there´s a sympathetic side to both of them, that makes you root for them.

Mike: Mike in this season has to be one of the most self destructive characters in Degrassi history. One can only wonder how things would have gone for him, if he hadn´t found Sandra. I deliberately wrote him do be unlikeable in the beginning, so that the readers could later see that it was all because he hated his own life. Miles is probably the main inspiration for him, if we´re talking Degrassi characters.

Troy: Troy´s main inspiration was Mike Dallas from DNG, but there´s also inspiration from many other characters that went in to his creation. I originally planned for him to have a bigger role, but since I knew he would only be in it for the first season, I decided to cut his part down a little, with him in stead playing the secondary role in Mike and Dexter´s storylines. His last name is a link/homage to Alexa from the old Degrassi series, arguably the funniest character in all of Degrassi.

Dexter: Dexter´s character is a classic for this type of series, the jock who sees his athletic career as his end all, be all. One of the things it´s insane to think about is that it´s only 10 years or so ago, that concussions started to be taken seriously. The conspiracy to hide the truth with the NFL, the major Boxing and the main Pro Wrestling federations as the three worst culprits behind it, is one of the biggest scandals in sports I can remember. How many thousands of people´s brains were permanently damaged as an indirect consequence of those lies, is shocking to think about, so I knew I had to do a storyline on it.

Ruby: In these times, where it seems everyone is so focused on their own individual lives, Ruby seems like an odd sort. She could have a big career, but she (just like Dexter) never thinks of herself first and always thinks of what´s best for the both of them. She´s old fashioned sure, but who´s to say that she won´t end up a happier person, than if she had the big career? Money can make things easier, but as long as you´re happy with your life, you don´t need to have an abundance of it.

Trish: Her name comes from Trish Stratus, a former professional wrestler from Canada, that I had a bit of a crush on back in the day. This Trish is a representation of pure innocence. Her journey leading to her and the immediate world around her accepting who she is, I thought was one of the best storylines of the season. The Degrassi character she was most inspired by was clearly Imogen. Both of them are lovable lesbian characters, living alone with a father, they´re very close with. She isn´t as quirky as Imogen, but I hope she´s as lovable to you readers. Her hook up in Seattle was named after Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain, maybe the most legendary couple in rock history.

Juniors:

Kat: With Chrissy being one of the main characters in my other series Aftermath, the Nelson women have been an integral part of Degrassi, so basing this one on the generation before Spike, was a no brainer. I´ve tried to write her so, that there´s a little of all of them in her. We did see her in the old Degrassi series, but we never found out anything about her. She seemed to be a young looking single mother though, so I could play around with her past and her romantic life almost as I wanted. Homosexuals were still very much looked down upon by great parts of society back then and homophobia was a lot more common. Therefore I knew I had to have a gay couple in the series, where I could make it clear how hard it was for them and how much they had to overcome to get together at the end of the season. It was also important for me to show her as a caring mother, who puts her daughter first. Her biological father having the last name Vedder is a reference to Pearl Jam´s lead singer Eddie Vedder, whose lyrics for the song "Alive" is an inspiration for the storyline. My dad also didn´t find out who his biological father was, until after he´d already passed away.

Michelle: Degrassi has seen it´s share of good girls gone bad over the years, but the one character she reminds me the most of is Manny. She´s the friend you love, but get so frustrated with, because she makes one bad decision after another. In many ways she´s a "girl-power" character in her approach to romance, but since we know it´s because of her messed up relationship with men as a whole, it´s not as cool as it may seem at first glance.

Harvey: Harvey was originally pictured as a "Michael Kelso" (from "That 70´s Show") type character, which was sort of how he was written in his first scene. However, I don´t like having tropes, so I felt like he had to be fleshed out. This is the time where the world is coming towards the end of the "Free Love" era and I wanted a guy to show the back side of it. Both him and Michelle are into the idea of the open relationship in the beginning, but the time they´ve had together makes it harder for him to accept, that she doesn´t want a "real" relationship. Her playing with his heart almost as she pleases both before and after, gives us extra sympathy for the guy.

Dave C: One mistake I made early in the series was to name two guys Dave. What can I say? I´m not perfect. Dave is a representation of the intellectual stoner and he´s enjoying the free love of the era, just like Harvey and Michelle is. The only problem with free love, is that it requires you to put natural feelings of jealousy aside from time to time, which is easier said than done. His last name comes from Les Claypool, the bass player from Primus.

Sophomores:

Samira: The overly innocent and overprotected girl is a bit of a trope, but they´re easy to root for, since you know that even minor events like going out with their friends are big events for them. She´s the voice of conservative reason in the school, with a lot of her opinions being colored by her lack of life experience. When you haven´t experienced anything, you haven´t seen the shades of grey for youself and are more likely to be an idealist. She´s defined herself a lot on being her brother´s sister, so it´ll be interesting to see how she deals without him next season.

Artie: Artie is in many ways the 70´s version of J.T Yorke and is in some way related to him. Both of them are natural entertainers, who love to make people smile. Another inspiration for him and Barry were Jay and Silent Bob from Kevin Smith´s movies, a nod to Kevin Smith and Jay Mewes´ contributions to Degrassi. His jokes are either taken from the internet, made up by me or come from old George Carlin stand up performances, I found on YouTube. Since this is a show about the 70´s, I wanted to give a nod to him as well, since for many people back then, their introduction to stand up comedy was the album version of "The 7 words you can´t say on Radio or Television".

Barry: I´ve already named Silent Bob as an inspiration for him, but I thought it would be interesting to have an autistic character in the series. His last name comes from his relation to Jay from DNG. Many people with light cases of autism function just fine in society, but are almost never represented in TV series. Kevin from "The Office" is one of the only ones I remember and he´s one of my favorite all time characters. Barry might be a little different, but that doesn´t mean, he´s un-intelligent.

Iz: Iz is the girl, who wished she could be like "the cool kids", until she realized that it was better to be herself, which I thought was a cute little story. She stills yearns to "be cool" as we saw at the demo and maybe cares a little too much what other people think of her, so she´s still trying to find out who she is. You can´t exactly say, that she´s unrealistic as a teenage character in that respect.

Freshmen:

Carl: The series needed some light hearted comic relief, with all the tough storylines going on, which is where Carl and Tif work perfectly. When I write Carl, I think a lot of how 14 year old me would have reacted in these situations. I was also a laid back, hard rock fan, who could never say no to girls, so he´s an easy character for me to write. Him and Mike being the links to the hard rock/heavy metal scene, that was just starting to explode at the time, is another thing I knew I had to bring in to the series somehow. At heart, I´ll always be a classic rock guy and the 70´s was an amazing decade for rock music.

Tif: Tif has quickly become one of my favorite characters. The main inspiration for her is Jackie from "That 70´s Show" and fans of that series should see the comparison easily. I had to give her a little more depth though and so she began to be fleshed out. There´s also a little of Lola from DNG and DNC in her, in that she´s the girl who´s a lot smarter, than people give her credit for. She´s already been the first one to come up with cell phones, guitar hero and text messaging. But where Lola is a decent girl with morals, Tif isn´t afraid to use any situation for her own advantage, whether it´s taking advantage of Sandra´s fear of what people will think of her relationship with Mike or using Trish´s overdose to both make herself more popular with the other cheerleaders and get Ruby out of the way. She´s not all selfish, though and is a good person at heart. The differences between her and Carl are also what make them an interesting couple.

Luke: Luke started out as the Toby to Carl´s JT, but he´s slowly becoming more of a character of his own. He hasn´t been fleshed out a whole lot yet, but it´ll come in the future.

Annie: If Luke is the Toby of the series, Annie is the Kendra. Another character she reminds me a little of is Liberty in the early days of DNG. Her being a skilled artist adds an extra dimension to her character, that it´ll be fun to explore in the future.

Britney: I haven´t done a whole lot with Britney yet, but I think she´s a good character to build on. In this season, she started out as the shy girl, but her new found relationship with Terry is another interesting one to build on.

Others:

Coach Dungy: His last name comes from Tony Dungy, former head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, my team in the NFL. He´s a good hearted guy, but also a product of his time, when it comes to his views on injuries and concussions for instance.

Mr. Watson: There were a lot of good teachers in the old Degrassi series, so I had to have a few in here as well. He stands as the opposite to Kendricks, in that he truly cares about every student he has.

Pete: His character is loosely based on the music teacher from "That 70´s Show", played by Roger Daltrey, the lead singer from The Who, arguably the biggest band in the world in the 70´s. His first name is another nod to the band, coming from it´s guitar player Pete Townsend.

Axel and Mira: These two messed up characters are mostly inspired by Mason and Margot Verger from the Hannibal Lecter universe, two sociopathic siblings who hate each other and delight in hurting each other, but know they can´t survive apart. I never use complete copies of characters, which is part of the reason I´ve made Mira come off as more of a poor victim of her sick ass brother.

Inspiration for the series:

There´s a lot of books, music, movies and TV series I´ve heard and watched over the years, that have inspired me, as far as the writing for this series goes. This series is sort of a mish-mash of all of them, mixed with my own ideas. Maybe this list will inspire you to check out some of these yourself. I´ll keep it to 10 movies and 5 TV series, so it doesn´t become too long.

Movies:

Saturday Night Fever (1977): There´s a reason this is often highly placed on the best movies of all time lists. If you think "Glory Days" is a bleak look at the times, it´s nothing compared to this one. When it´s not dazzling you with the disco scenes, it´s hard and brutal, but you´ll thank yourself for watching it. One thing that´s amazing, is how much you end up caring for a bunch of characters, that are for the most part quite unlikeable. The soundtrack (which with over 40 million copies sold is the 2nd best selling album of all time after Michael Jackson´s "Thriller") helps the movie greatly too and it´s incredible how they managed to gather so many of the best songs of the disco era on one soundtrack.

Foxes (1980): This one might seem a little slow moving by today´s standards, but it´s still a great and gritty look at teen big city life in the U.S. at the time. It stars Jodie Foster as one of four 15/16 year old female best friends growing up together in L.A. All of them have their own different problems, but feel like they only have each other to rely on and that they can´t connect with the adults in their lives. Cherie Curie (former lead singer of The Runaways) plays the most self destructive of them and it´s crazy to think of how her own life at the time was almost as messed up as her character´s was. Thankfully Cherie managed to get clean and get her life back on track (she´s a chainsaw ice scupturer today).

Christiane F (1981): Back in the 80´s, they made 9th graders here watch this one, to scare them from doing hard drugs. I can only imagine that it was very effective! The story behind the movie is amazing too. The movie is based on the book of the same name, which is a compilation of interviews, highlighting the hopelessness in the flood of teenage Heroin addicts that were piling up on the streets of Berlin in the 70´s. At the centre of it is the story of Christiane Vera Felscherinow (Christiane F), a former child prostitute and junkie, who was spotted by a reporter covering the trial against a child prostitution ring, which she testified in. He asked her to tell him her story, which was published in a series of articles in a German newspaper, articles that shocked a great part of the nation. If you´re planning on getting in to the story, I recommend watching the movie first, because even though the book is on a whole different level, it still holds up. It´s an insane emotional roller coaster ride (beautifully shot and with a fantastic score by David Bowie) that´s incredibly well acted by the 14-16 year old´s, who play the main parts. The fact that they´re so young (the same age the real Christiane and her friends were) only adds to how messed up the story is. Then you read the book and realize, that they cut out a lot of the most disturbing parts of Christiane´s story and you´re glad they did. It´s in German of course, so get the version with subtitles. The dubbing on the English version is so awful, it´s almost unwatchable.

Fast Times at Rigdemont High (1982): I don´t know how many times I saw this one in my teens, partially because of how hot Phoebe Cates and Jennifer Jason Leigh were in it. It follows a group of students at the school, but what sets it aside is how well written the characters are. It manages to work both as a good comedy and a good drama at the same time. The cool early 80´s soundtrack helps it as well. It also has the best "being caught masturbating" scene in movie history, one that was spoofed many times in the years afterwards. It was the first movie written by Cameron Crowe (based on his first book) , who would give us many great movies later on like "Jerry Maguire", "Almost Famous" and "Vanilla Sky".

Dazed and Confused (1993): It´s from the 90´s, but it´s one of the best 70´s style coming of age movie out there. It takes place on one wild last day of school in Austin, Texas in 1976 and is like the best of all the teen coming of age movies all rolled in to one. Quentin Tarantino even has it as one of his favorite movies and if he likes it, you know it´s pretty damn good. The awesome 70´s rock soundtrack helps it greatly too. It´s again a movie I don´t have count on how many times I´ve watched.

Less Than Zero (1987): Just like with "Saturday Night Fever", this is a tough one to sit through, but you´ll thank yourself for doing it. It´s based on the book of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis, published two years before the movie, that´s largely based on his own youth, growing up in California in the late 70´s/early 80´s. Just like with "Christane F", they cut a lot of the worsts parts of the book out, but it´s still a very hard and unforgiving story. One of the big inspirations for Mike is Robert Downey Junior´s character Julian from this movie. It´s basically about a guy who returns from college to find that his best friend and his ex-girlfriend are both on a path of self-destruction and decides to try to save them. If you think Downey is good in the Marvel movies, it´s nothing compared to his performance here. Like Cherie Curie in "Foxes", Downey was going through a crazy drug and alcohol filled time in his life when they made it, which is probably part of the reason for his amazing performance in it. It doesn´t have much of a soundtrack, but legendary writer Jim Carroll does make an appearance, paying with "The Jim Carroll Band". And speaking of Jim Carroll ...

The Basketball Diaries (1995): This movie is another one based on a real person´s life, that being Jim Carroll as he grew up in New York in the 60´s. The book is a series of poems he wrote at a time, when he went from his first experiences with drugs, to him and his friends all being junkies, who do what they can to survive. If you want a little taste of how screwed up a world he grew up in, listen to his song "People Who Died", that´s about all the friends he had, that died in their teens. It´s seriously messed up stuff! The movie is also one of those "before they were famous" movies, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg and Juliette Lewis in the main roles. One scene that will probably shock a lot of people today, is a daydream scene where Jim turns school shooter. After the Columbine shootings, the scene (along with Stephen King´s book "Rage" (which has now been banned in the US) and Pearl Jam´s video for "Jeremy") was named as one of the pieces of media that might have influenced Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold to shoot up their school, which is messed up to think about.

Show Me Love (1998): After those hardcore, real life stories, here´s a sweet little teenage lesbian love story from Sweden, that´s become an international Cult Classic. You can watch it on YouTube with English subtitles and it´s definitely worth a watch. It´s the love story of two very different girls 15/16 year old girls. Agnes is a newcomer to the small town of Åmål and has trouble fitting in and making friends. A fantastic scene in the beginning of the movie where her mother forces her to have a big birthday party, even though she only has made one friend, describes her situation perfectly. Elin is a popular girl, thanks to her sister, who loves her popularity, but doesn´t feel like she fits in and hates the small town mentality. She´s so desperate for any kind of excitement, that she eats vitamin pills in the hope that she´ll get high from them. The movie is both a great portrait of what it´s like to be a teenager in a small town, you can´t wait to get away from and a great love story at the same time. That it´s told in such a tasteful and charming way only makes it better. Of course, a movie like this relies on it´s actors and the two (age appropriate) girls in the main roles are outstanding. If you watch it, I can pretty much guarantee that you´ll sit there with a big smile on your face, when it ends.

S. F.W (1994): In my opinion one of the most underrated movies of the 90´s and a great study of the teenage mind, while being a good satire on the media at the same time. It´s the story of two teenage survivors of a hostage situation, the slacker Cliff and the "good girl" Wendy. Cliff is named as a hero by the media, but has survivor´s guilt since his friend was killed by the hostage takers, while he survived. In a reaction to the media hype, he comes up with a catch phrase that catches on and he (somewhat unwillingly) becomes the spokes person for a generation. The only thing he really wants is Wendy (who he fell in love with, when they were hostages), so there´s a great love story between these two young, unlikely lovers as well in it. It´s also a great commentary on how the media will make a hero out of someone, whether that person likes it or not. It´s representation of Cliff´s PTSD and survivor´s guilt is very well written too. That he tries to take the whole thing in good spirits (interviewing and charming old ladies in his video to the media to show he´s alive, for instance) only makes him an even more compelling character. Stephen Dorff (better known from Blade) does a great job as Cliff, with a very young Reese Witherspoon (right before she became famous) playing Wendy.

The Outsiders (1983): This Francis Ford Coppola gem is probably the biggest "before they were famous" movie ever made, with Patrick Swayze, Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, Ralph Macchio (Daniel from "Karate Kid"), Rob Lowe, Diane Lane, and Matt Dillon among those in the main roles, before any of them had become famous yet. It´s another one with a bit of a story, since it´s based on the book of the same name, written by Susan E. Hinton in 1967. Part of what makes the book so special is that she was only 15, when she wrote it! The book was very controversial at the time and depicts a gang war in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the early to mid 60´s between The Greasers (the protagonists, who live on the poor side of town) and the Socs or Socials (rich boys from the good part of town). The whole thing is told through the eyes of Pony-Boy, a scared 14 year old "Greaser" trying to survive through it with his brothers and friends, while somehow still keep hopes up that he can have a better future. I can both recommend the book and the movie, but it´s definitely one of the best book adaptations I´ve seen. Matt Dillon´s performance especially as the self destructive "Dally" is out of this world good.

Notable mentions: Kids (1995), The Breakfast Club (1985), Fame (1982), My Own Private Idaho (1991), Boyz N´ the Hood (1991), Almost Famous (2000), Singles (1992), Once Were Warriors (1994), Mean Streets (1973) and The Panic in Needle Park (1971).

TV Series:

My So-Called Life (1994-95): The old Degrassi was the first young adult series I fell for, but the first one I really liked after it was this one. It sadly only lasted on season (because Claire Danes wanted to make movies in stead), but what we got in the 19 episodes they made was good to great. Claire played Angela, a do-it-safe 15 year old, who´s decided she wants to try to live life a little wilder. She gets a wild girl and a gay boy for best friends and falls for the sensitive bad boy (played by Jared Leto). It might sound a little formulaic, but remember that this was the series that created the formula. The very realistic writing was something you rarely saw at the time.

Euphoria (2019-): One of my favorite new series to come out in a while. It follows Rue (a self destructive teenage drug addict), growing up in a small town in Texas. My main critique of the series is that it hits us with too many things too fast, so you´re not able to let it sink in, before they hit you with the next thing. If they cut down the shock value just a little going forward, it could become a classic. That said, it´s still a great series with spectacular filmography, a close to perfect soundtrack and very good acting performances all round.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2005): Buffy wasn´t just a great fantasy/horror series, it was also a very good teen series in the early years. Joss Whedon and his team´s knack for coming up with weird monster stories that symbolized teen problems was quite amazing. Buffy herself was a great character, a High School super heroine, who was still very much the every-girl, with all the insecurities and problems that come along with it. The lesbian relationship between Willow and Tara was huge at the time and was one of the best written relationships in a series that was packed with great couples. The spin-off "Angel" is in my opinion the best spin-off ever made and the series still holds up today. A guilty pleasure of mine is watching reactors react to Buffy and see the enjoyment and excitement on their faces, as they watch it for the first time.

Party of Five (1994-2000): At the time when it was in it´s peak, it was one of my favorite series. It´s about four siblings trying to get by after their parents have been killed in a car accident. Sure, some of it is a little overdramatic (it might have set a record for crying scenes per episode), but that doesn´t hide that it was a very well written series with some very talented young actors like Matthew Cow (from "Lost"), Neve Campbell (from the "Scream" movies) and a very young Jennifer Love Hewitt among the main cast. It suffers a little from the extremely long seasons they had to produce back then, but as a whole it was very well done. The way they weren´t afraid to show the bad side of it´s characters is something I´ve clearly taken with me in to this series.

Catwalk (1992-94): It has to be said, that it´s been many years since I watched this Canadian series, that was quite popular here, when it ran. I also remember it running in re-runs here for a long time afterwards. It was a drama about a band, consisting of a group of people in their late teens/early twenties, as they lived their lives and tried to make it big. That I myself was playing in a band and dreaming of making it big, might have been why it was a perfect fit for me. The music in the series was cool as well, with all original music, and you could tell that these people could really perform. Sadly, they lost half the cast after season 1 and a licensing conflict between MTV and the show´s creator, meant that most of season 2 never aired and the series was cancelled. It was a shame, because it was quite popular and was a good, more realistic alternative to Beverly Hills 90210, which everyone my age watched at the time. I´m not sucking up to you, my Canadian fans, when I say that your country has made some damn good TV series and movies, that I´ve enjoyed a lot over the years.

Notable mentions: That 70´s show (1998-2006), Dawson´s Creek (1998-2003), Press Gang (1989-1993), The Wonder Years (1988-1993) and Beverly Hills 90210 (1990-2000).

That´s it for this time. See you in season 2!