The Kids of Degrassi Street

The Kids of Degrassi Street is a Canadian children's television series created by Kit Hood and Linda Schuyler. The first entry in the Degrassi franchise and the only one to focus on children instead of teenagers, it follows the lives of a group of children living on De Grassi Street in Toronto. It was produced by Hood and Schuyler's independent company Playing With Time. The series originated as a collection of annual standalone short films that started with Ida Makes a Movie, a live-action adaptation of the Kay Chorao book which premiered on the CBC on December 8, 1979.<ref name="Roper 15">Template:Cite news</ref> It became a full series in 1982 when the CBC ordered five more episodes.

It is notable for featuring several actors who would later star in Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High playing different characters.

Development

Linda Schuyler, a seventh and eighth grade teacher at Earl Grey Senior Public School in Toronto, formed the company Playing With Time with Kit Hood in 1976.<ref name=":02">Template:Cite news</ref> At the time, Schuyler had been teaching her students an early version of media studies, which included filmmaking with Super-8 film.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Discovering that there was a lack of resources on the subject, Earl Grey librarian Bruce Mackey ordered several books about filmmaking,<ref name=":45">Template:Harvnb</ref> one of which was the picture book Ida Makes a Movie, which was written by Kay Chorao.<ref name=":45"/>

Neither were aware that Ida Makes A Movie was a preschool book, in which the titular character was a cat.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":45"/> Nonetheless, Schuyler felt the story was powerful,<ref name=":1" /> and became interested in making a live-action adaptation, featuring children instead of cats. She sought the advice of then-lawyer and future Epitome Pictures co-founder Stephen Stohn,<ref name=":45"/> who advised her to forego a lawyer, and instead propose the deal herself.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Schuyler flew to New York, where she met with Chorao and secured a $200 deal<ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> to adapt the book into a movie.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":45"/> Yan Moore, who would eventually become Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High's head writer, became a writer for the series after he rectified problems with the story of the episode Casey Draws The Line.<ref name=":0" />

Shooting

The series was shot in Toronto.,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> with many of the scenes being shot on Degrassi Street itself.

Opening sequence and music

The opening sequence consists of a short piano piece, set to black and white stills of the Leslieville neighbourhood.<ref name=":1" />

Wendy Watson and Lewis Manne, who later composed the music for Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High, composed the music for The Kids Of Degrassi Street, with John Forbes initially performing the music on a Fairlight CMI.<ref>Template:Cite episode</ref>

Cast

The Kids of Degrassi Street featured many of the same actors who would later appear on Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High, including Stacie Mistysyn, Neil Hope, Anais Granofsky, Sarah Charlesworth, John Ioannou, in different unrelated roles.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

• Zoë Newman as Ida Lucas (episodes 1–5, 9–10, 13, 23)
• Dawn Harrison as Catherine "Cookie" Peters (episodes 1–3, 11)
• Allan Meiusi as Fred Lucas (episodes 1–4)
• Peter Duckworth-Pilkington as Noel Canard (episodes 2–7, 9, 14)
• Nancy Lam as Sara (episode 2) & Irene Chow (episodes 3, 5, 10)
• Stacie Mistysyn as Lisa Canard (episodes 4–5, 7–11, 14, 17–18, 20–26), later appears as Caitlin Ryan on Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High
• Nick Goddard as Chuck Riley (episodes 4–6, 8–10)
• Sarah Charlesworth as Casey Rothfels (episodes 5, 7, 10–11, 14, 16–17, 19–26), later appears as Susie Rivera on Degrassi Junior High
• Stacey Halberstadt as Sophie Brendakis (episode 6)
• John Ioannou as Pete Riley (episodes 8–10, 12, 14–17, 19–26), later appears as Alex Yankou on Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High
• Jamie Summerfield as Martin Schlegel (episodes 8–9, 13, 15–16, 21–24, 26)
• Tyson Talbot as Billy Martin (episodes 8–10, 12, 14–15, 19, 21, 23–26), later appears as Jason Cox on Degrassi Junior High
• Christopher Charlesworth as Benjamin Martin (episodes 10, 12, 15, 19, 23–24), later appears as Scooter Webster on Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High
• Geneviève Appleton as Liz Jacobs (episodes 11, 13, 16, 20)
• Rachel Blanchard as Melanie Schlegel (episodes 13, 15)
• Neil Hope as Robin "Griff" Griffith (episodes 15, 17, 19–24, 26), later appears as Derek "Wheels" Wheeler on Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High
• Danah Jean Brown as Connie Jacobs (episodes 16–17, 19–26), later appears as Trish Skye on Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High
• Tanya Schmalfuss as Samantha (episode 18)
• Arlene Lott as Rachel Hewitt (episodes 19, 21–26), later appears as Nancy Kramer on Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High
• Matthew Roberts as Jeffrey Clayton (episode 20, 24, 26)
• Anais Granofsky as Karen Gillis (episodes 21–26), later appears as Lucy Fernandez on Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High
• Ryan Anderson as Ryan (episode 23)

Broadcast

Ida Makes A Movie premiered on CBC on September 12, 1979.<ref name="Roper 15"/><ref group="note">Degrassi Generations: The Official 411 states that it premiered on September 20, 1980. (Template:Harvnb)</ref> By 1982, the CBC, enamored with the short films that Hood and Schuyler were producing, ordered five more, effectively turning the annual movies into a television series.<ref name=":6">Template:Harvnb</ref> In the lead-up to Degrassi Junior High, the series was re-run on Sundays at 5:00pm, until it was replaced by its successor in the same timeslot.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref> In the United Kingdom, the series debuted on BBC One on July 9, 1984,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> with the final episode airing on June 16, 1986.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In Australia, the series debuted at 6:00pm on February 2, 1987, on ABC TV.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Print media

In late 1986, James Lorimer & Company published a series of illustrated paperback books based on the television series, written by Schuyler and Hood with the assistance of author Eve Jennings.<ref name=":2" />

Home media

On July 31, 2007, WGBH Boston Home Video released The Kids of Degrassi Street: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.

In Region 4, Beyond Home Entertainment released the entire series on DVD in Australia on March 12, 2008.

DVD name	Ep #	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
The Kids of Degrassi Street: The Complete Series	26	July 31, 2007	February 11, 2008 (Vol.1)	March 12, 2008

See also

• Degrassi Junior High - The immediate successor of The Kids Of Degrassi Street, featuring several cast members from this series

Sources

• Template:Cite book

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0083435

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• Episode guide for The Kids of Degrassi Street
• Kids of Degrassi cast and character page