Degrassi Junior
High - Season Two
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: B- Program: B
Degrassi Junior High - Season Two
essentially keeps the same momentum going that was left from Season One,
reviewed elsewhere on this site. The
show, by today’s so-called standards, is nearly laughable looking back now, but
that’s only at a first glance. It would
be quite unfair to judge the show, for some of the limitations that it has
nowadays considering most people will only find the show odd or funny if they are
paying too close attention to either the dialogue or the trends. There is no question that the show has dated
since it’s release in the late 80’s and boy does it have that era written all
over it, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
There is something unique about watching shows like this,
perhaps that is why old TV shows are still a popular pastime for people to
watch, which has to do with mainly one important fact: today’s television programming is BAD! That is not to say that there are not good
shows on, there are some, but the only reason that they seem good is because
the rest of the programming is utter rubbish.
The only TV shows that seem to have anything going for them are the ones
that are trying to be more like a film, instead of a show. The reality shows are by far the worst and
it seems like every time you turn on the station some celebrity is getting
their own reality show of ridiculous proportions. Where does the madness end?
Well, back to Degrassi
because this was at a time when TV was becoming a bit fluffy and it took a
daring show to actually say what was going on rather than just skirt the
facts. You can hardly even find a show
like that on today, aside from certain comedies that just go overboard like South Park. A show like Degrassi takes
you into the Junior High era of a student and looks at things in a very tight
package. Of course every episode is
laced with drama and you think that things like this could never happen, but
they do. Not only do they happen, but
often times they are even worse than what we think, take for instance some of
the films of Larry Clark, i.e. Kids.
WGBH Boston Video has issued the entire season in a 3-disc
set, and with the revamping of the show in more recent years it would seem that
people are still going back to watch the older episodes and DVD makes that all
the more likely. The presentation is
fairly basic with quality levels that will not necessarily excite anyone, but
do a fair enough job to get it done.
Full-frame aspect ratio with a rather hazy and soft image that will make
the show look even older than it is, unfortunately this dates the show way too
much and also makes the appearance seem more like VHS rather than DVD. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo mix is rather
muddy and unclean at times, which is probably a source problem and you might
have to adjust your receiver until you get the right balance of dialogue coming
through to your liking.
Disc One: (22 min each)
Eggbert
*
A
Helping Hand
Great
Expectations *
Dinner
and a Show
Disc Two:
Stagefright
Fight! *
Bottled
Up
Sealed
with a Kiss
Disc Three:
Dog Days
*
Censored *
Trust Me
…He’s
Back
* indicates shows that are above the shows normal level of
excellence
Each disc contains a bonus video, trivia from the show and
topics, printable material for teachers and educators, and wallpaper to
download. Overall, there is no doubt
that a show like this is a hard sale to a new viewer altogether based on some
of the quality and relevance it may have, but if you give it a chance you might
see past the big-hair 80’s of it and actually see the substance behind the
show. It’s almost like a predominately
white TV version of Lean on Me, only
more 80’s and more theme driven.
- Nate Goss
