The 'Shark in the Water' Promo That Saved 'Degrassi' and Changed TV Forever

[beeweastie]

The oral history of the 'Shark in the Water' promo that saved 'Degrassi' and changed TV forever https://t.co/DcJC9ofUyv
- Entertainment Insider (@EntInsider) July 15, 2021

Writer Erin Ajello gives an in-depth look to Insider about how Degrassi's iconic "Shark in the Water" promo, set to VV Brown's equally iconique song, saved the show.

Comments

[ahkna]

Oh, American-style Degrassi, not the good stuff. The Americanization of the show absolutely destroyed what was so great about it. They actively took out so many Canadian aspects to appeal to Americans.

Degrassi is a really good example of why Canada needs to put way more money into our television shows and why we need to actively battle the influence of America on Canadian tv. So if it's ever rebooted, I hope that it's without US money or influence.

[msbombtastic]

Agreed. I remember up until season 5/6 it still felt really Canadian to me lol (I remember my middle school teacher played us certain episodes in class, I think from the season 5 DVD)

[ahkna]

Season 6 is where it really started to change. Paige somehow failed out of school by Thanksgiving, even though absolutely nobody can fail out by the first week of October, you haven't even written any midterms yet! So it had to be American thanksgiving they were referring to so as not to confuse US audiences.

It's where I realized it was no longer meant to be set in Toronto, Ontario, a real city where the kids really lived and was moving to the Toronto, America, where Canada is more of an American state than our own country. And knowing how many edits they made to the actively Canadian Degrassi to make it more American makes me more suspicious. The N edited Ashley taking drugs so it featured differently, they fucked around with Manny having an abortion only a couple of years before, so I don't trust that American money didn't change the show.

[msbombtastic]

oh what did they do, edit out the abortion part of the episode(s)?

[jumelles_mach6]

Season 10 of degrassi was so fun. Yes I was an eclare stan. They were dramatic and problematic but they had one of the best growth in their relationship compared to other couples in the show. Plus the actors, Munro Chambers and Aislinn Paul were really good scene partners. Please follow the degrassi no context twitter because it's really fun.

My other fav promo:

[3rdattemptuser]

yes good follow up promo and great song too

[pisley]

This is forever one of my fave promos.

[ellyrianna]

Came here to say this one, glad to see it's one of the first posted!

[zorabioz]

yesss so beautiful, so iconic, man i miss looking forward to this show every week

[sadteenager]

omg I thought this was also a degrassi one and was impressed they pulled lachapelle lmao

[msbombtastic]

I thought Munro Chambers was SOOO cute!! Wonder what he's up to lol.

[msbombtastic]

From what I remember, I just hated her character lol so I didn't care who she was with

[notoriousreign]

This video was ICONIC.

I'd say my favourite era, even though I'm part of Spinner's gen, is probably Eli's. To this day though Fresme still owns my heart uwu.

The fandom is atrocious though. For example, currently a small clique has pretty much scared everyone else off and are cool with it, but at the same time are pissed these same people they ran outta the fandom won't write or create content for them lmfao. Every fandom is ass in its own way though I guess lol.

[notoriousreign]

Aww sweet lol. 💜

Yeah basically nobody even talks about the show on twitter now except for the usual 10 circlejerk jackasses who constantly start baity threads they don't realize everyone else has smartened up and learned to ignore by now lmao. Compared to 2020 when the fandom was pretty active too.

"What are some unpopular opinions but don't actually give unpopular opinions/who is your least fave that everyone seems to love" like dude come on we know what you're doing by now lmao.

[moirasrose]

This is my favorite era too. My actual high school era was the weird transition era of 7-9 and I didn’t feel as attached to Danny and Jane like I did with Fiona and Holly J.