History YMMV / DegrassiJuniorHigh

* PopCultureIsolation: In Canada, the show was a cultural phenomenon that was AdoredByTheNetwork with millions of viewers weekly. In the States, it aired on PBS and despite being covered in papers like the ''New York Times'', garnered a very small cult following amongst underground punk bands ([[WordOfGod according to Amanda Stepto]]) and Creator/KevinSmith. Outside of that, it is largely unknown stateside, with ''Degrassi: The Next Generation'' [[SequelDisplacement overshadowing it by incalculable proportions]] and being touted by American media and fans as the original.

* CultClassic: An interesting example. While relatively successful critically and commercially during its time, it is retrospectively regarded as a Canadian cult classic, continuing to beadored by a small but very dedicated fanbase, and largely ignored by the mainstream.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: This and ''Degrassi High'' were extremely popular in Australia and is still widely remembered by Aussies who originally watched it, to the point where ''Next Generation'', seen to have [[SequelDisplacement overshadowed the original]] in North America, failed to do the same down under.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The show fared really well in Australia, helped by Wheels wearing a Footscray Bulldogs sweater in an episode. It was a common staple on ABC during the late eighties and early nineties and continued to be re-run into the 2000s '''alongside''' ''Next Generation''. Most recently, it was available on the [=9NOW=] streaming service.

* {{Narm}}: Because Kit Hood and Linda Schuyler wanted real kids instead of actors, the show has garnered a reputation amongst some for being narm-tastic, especially in the wake of the higher-budget, union, more conventionally produced ''Next Generation''. This is enough for some people to literally discredit the entire show and be put off from watching it. However, for many fans, the bad acting doesn't matter and actually [[NarmCharm gives the show part of its charm]].
** Spike is singled out as one of the biggest culprits due to Amanda Stepto's line delivery, although judging by some users in the fandom, you'd think she [[RonTheDeathEater committed the world's most heinous atrocities]] for having an awkward inflection.

* NoYay: Michelle Accette's relationship with her father came off like this.

** Spike. On one hand, she is one of the most iconic characters from the show, but a lot of people dislike or hate her due to her attitude toward Shane, and the merits of this criticism continue to get discussed to this day.

* PopCultureIsolation: In Canada, the show was a cultural phenomenon that was AdoredByTheNetwork and averaged a million followers weekly. In the States, it was largely unknown outside of PBS and health classes, and was [[SequelDisplacement dwarfed]] by ''The Next Generation'', which essentially became Creator/TheN's flagship show. American media will briefly mention ''Junior High'' and ''High'' as being the predecessors of the more familiar 2000s show, if they acknowledge them at all. Meanwhile in Canada, the eighties series are still acknowledged beyond just being "the show before TNG", as with the revelation of Neil Hope's death, which was reported in most major Canadian newspapers.

* AppealToWorseProblems: In the series finale, Ms. Avery responds to Spike's complaints about being a academically failing teenage mother with "You count your blessings young lady! At least you can have a baby. Not all of us are that lucky you know?"

* PopCultureIsolation: The show was a primetime hit and a cultural touchstone in its home country. It continued to be re-run by CBC and later on the Showtime network throughout TheNineties and is still remembered by a lot of Gen X and early Millennial Canadians to this day. In the States, it was relegated to PBS and health classes and was mostly unknown outside of this, apart from a small cult following. Americans are mostly only familiar with ''Next Generation'' and ''Next Class''.

* {{Narm}}: Because Kit Hood and Linda Schuyler wanted real kids instead of actors, the show has garnered a reputation amongst some for being narm-tastic, especially in the wake of the higher-budget, union, more conventionally produced ''Next Generation''. However, for many fans, it fits squarely in NarmCharm territory.
** Spike is singled out by some for Amanda Stepto's line delivery; it's enough for some to hate and discredit her.
** Wheels beating Joey over his parents' death is meant to be a reflection of his guilt over rehearsing with the band instead of going with them to a movie. Instead, Wheel's delivery sounds like he's sort of pissed off at a minor inconvenience, and the punches he throws down on Joey are barely punches.

* PopCultureIsolation: The show was a primetime hit and a cultural touchstone in its home country. In the States, it was relegated to PBS and was more known as that show you were forced to watch in health class, although it did have somewhat of a cult following, particularly amongst underground punk rock bands.

** The Season 2 episode ''Censored'' has Caitlin's attempt to defend Spike from getting kicked out of school

** The Season 2 episode ''Censored'' makes Caitlin's attempt to defend Spike from being kicked out seem wrong and self-righteous, with Caitlin getting tons of detention on top of getting shut down by Spike. However, BothSidesHaveAPoint especially by 2020s standards. Caitlin should have at least consulted Spike and sought her approval before typing up a paper going into detail about Spike's TeenPregnancy and then spreading it around the school, but Spike's mistreatment by the PTA/school board is heavily frowned upon, and in some cases illegal 30+ years later, and if it were attempted now, the backlash would be astronomical; Caitlin wouldn't have looked so weird.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Apart from the Narm as mentioned above, people today may find the themes of ''Degrassi Junior High'' and ''Degrassi High'' rather quite tame, due to the amount of teen dramas that have constantly pushed the boundaries since, including its [[Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration own successors]]. In reality, the original ''Degrassi'' was actually very revolutionary, because at the time the issues they were tackling weren't really talked about much.

* TheScrappy: A lot of people hate Liz, from her dismissive attitude towards Caitlin's epilepsy because her medication [[AnimalWrongsGroup was tested on animals]], to her [=Jerkass=] attitude, to [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking her haircut]]. Fans feel that her FreudianExcuse explained in the high school series is not enough to justify her actions.

* ValuesDissonance: The way Spike's complaints of burnout are treated by Ms. Avery in "Bye-Bye, Junior High".[[note]]In that episode, Ms. Avery tells Spike her grades were poor and that she had to go into correspondence courses. Spike...perhaps obviously...doesn't react well to this, and talks about how she is worn out and doesn't see any point anymore, leading Ms. Avery to snap and tell her "At least you can have a baby. Not all of us are that lucky, you know."[[/note]] Older fans think Spike was being whiny and needed put in her place, but newer fans point out that Avery weaponized her (speculated) infertility to guilt a teenage mother into continuing her education.

* ValuesDissonance: The way Spike's complaints of burnout are treated by Ms. Avery in "Bye-Bye, Junior High".[[note]]In that episode, Ms. Avery tells Spike her grades were poor and that she had to go into correspondence courses. Spike...perhaps obviously...doesn't react well to this, and talks about how she is worn out and doesn't see any point anymore, leading Ms. Avery to snap and tell her "At least you can have a baby. Not all of us are that lucky, you know."[[/note]] While older fans feel like Spike was whiny and needed put in her place by Ms. Avery, younger fans point out how Ms. Avery seemed to project her (speculated) infertility issues onto a teenage girl to invalidate her very valid feelings of burnout.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Apart from the Narm as mentioned above, people today may find the themes of ''Degrassi Junior High'' and ''Degrassi High'' rather quite tame, due to the amount of teen dramas that have constantly pushed the boundaries since, including its [[Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration own successors]]. In reality, back in the eighties, nobody was really doing what ''Degrassi'' was doing, if not doing it poorly.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The show was designed to push back against the prevailing sitcoms and [[VerySpecialEpisode very special episodes]] at the time that were overly preachy, heavy-handed. and [[MoralGuardian moralistic]] in their approach to contentious societal issues; because of this, this show is considered to have been either the TropeMaker, or at the very least a UrExample (Series/GrangeHill notwithstanding) of the teen drama format that shows like Series/BeverlyHills90210 aped and brought to mainstream commercial success. It's intentional usage of non-actors, who were taught how to act on the fly via yearly workshops, its implementation of a repertory company in a television setting instead of the theatre, and the rejection of makeup and wardrobe in favor of letting the cast do it themselves, set (and still sets) the show apart from every single other show of its type, even its modern successors However, those watching it today might fail to see what the big deal is, pointing out its low-budget production, the character's fashions, and uneven acting as reasons to discredit the show. This is occasionally averted when ''Next Generation'' fans discover the original series and gain an appreciation for it, however.

** Fans of Spike actually believe her to be an example of this; while being a frequent character with a major plotline, she basically appeared out of nowhere pregnant with little prior development and was given little to do once Emma was born, despite the fact there could have been more storylines to do with her punk fashion and how punks were [[QuincyPunk negatively stereotyped]] in society (the job hunting B-plot in "Black And White" notwithstanding).

** Fans of Spike actually believe her to be an example of this; while being a frequent character with a major plotline, she basically appeared out of nowhere pregnant with little prior development and was given little to do once Emma was born, despite the fact there could have been more storylines to do with her punk fashion and how punks were [[QuincyPunks negatively stereotyped]] in society (the job hunting B-plot in "Black And White" notwithstanding).

** Fans of Spike actually believe her to be an example of this; while being a frequent character with a major plotline, she basically appeared out of nowhere pregnant with little prior development and was given little to do once Emma was born.

** Fans of Spike believe her to be an example of this; while being a frequent character with a major plotline, she basically appeared out of nowhere with the pregnancy, and was given little to do outside of it.

* HarsherInHindsight: Shane's brain injury leads him to become institutionalized (and [[TheOtherDarrin turn]] into [[Series/TrailerParkBoys J-Roc]]) by ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration''.

** Caitlin's environmental and journalistic interests eventually combine in adulthood, as by ''Next Generation'' she's an established star of an environmental TV series.
** Stephanie would later spawn a few loose copycats in ''Next Generation'', with Manny Santos and Alli Bhandari pulling Steph-esque clothing choices and secret changing.

** Spike. On one hand, she is one of the most iconic characters from the show, and one of the most well and fondly remembered with many praising how she handled being pregnant at such an early age. Despite this, Spike's at times abrasive way of dealing with Shane (and many of the people around her) has gained her a fair amount of detractors and haters, with a lot of people tending to view her as an annoying, UnintentionallyUnsympathetic jerkass, an opinion which mostly [[MisaimedFandom misses the whole point]] of the storyline.

* BreakoutCharacter: Spike leans towards this, though it had as much to do with the actress, whose [[EightiesHair large spiked hair]] enamored and baffled viewers and made her a memorable sight; chances if the show is brought up, someone will recall the girl with the weird hair.
** Joey Jeremiah was essentially the most popular character of the entire ''Degrassi Classic'' era and even after ''Next Generation'', actor Pat Mastroianni is practically a face of the franchise's whole legacy.
** While she didn't really gain this status until ''Degrassi High'', Caitlin Ryan is either second or equal to Joey. If Joey is the king of Degrassi's legacy, then Caitlin is the queen. It helps that the characters were in a relationship.
** Wheels, although he arguably became one due to his status as a tragic figure of sorts, which became immortalized further following the passing of actor Neil Hope.
** Season 1 marked the entrance of Archie "Snake" Simpson, aka Mr. Simpson, who would appear in all of ''Degrassi'' ever since culminating in becoming the principal.
* BrokenBase:
** The acting. Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood made it a point to cast actual schoolkids who may or may not have had some form of acting experience, and get them up to speed with routine workshops, instead of casting professional child actors. Many of the show's actors were not at all involved with the television business before responding to the auditions. This results in acting performances that vary in quality, but while there's many people that outright criticize the show's acting, there are many others who defend it as being [[NarmCharm part of the show's charm]], and view the criticism of the show's acting skills as being extremely unfair, considering the actors were literal kids.
* DesignatedLoveInterest: Shane. We barely see the relationship between him & Spike prior to ''It's Late'', and when we do see the two's interactions afterwards, they're either always arguing, or Spike doesn't want to speak to him.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: While it is debatable she was popular for her personality (see BaseBreakingCharacter above), Spike, being the first pregnant teenager on public television, became widely talked about and her pregnancy storyline was banned by the BBC. Her hair also became popular with some girls imitating it. She also inspired a real-life punk song about being in love with her.

* MisaimedFandom: The reaction to Spike in modern Degrassi fan circles. While she still gets a lot of love, many it seems like more recent fans/viewers seem to miss or forget the reason and context of Spike's anger and resentment, instead portraying her as being an annoying, UnintentionallyUnsympathetic jerkass, who is grouchy and mean to Shane for absolutely ''no'' reason. As in, people see '''''ZERO''''' reasoning for Spike's behavior, despite storylines like her being kicked out while Shane stays with no scrutiny exposing the same double standards she spoke of potentially facing episodes earlier. Shane on the other hand, while not exactly portrayed in a bad light, is mostly viewed as a Woobie whose own wrongdoings are mostly glossed over by the fans, at the expense of Spike, whose wrongdoings are almost exaggerated and stripped of their context.