How to Watch Degrassi High: The Next Generation — What You Need to Know Before You Start
I spent last week trying to put together a coherent viewing order for people who want to sit down and actually watch the Degrassi franchise from start to finish. It is more complicated than it has any right to be. The timeline is messy, the streaming rights jump around like they are on holiday, and a lot of people show up having only seen one or two seasons without understanding why the tone shifts so drastically between them. This guide is meant to save you some of that confusion. The franchise runs in what are essentially three overlapping eras. The original series, commonly called "Degrassi Junior High," aired from 1987 to 1991. Then "Degrassi High" picked up those same characters a few years later and ran from 1990 to 1992, with some overlap. After that, the franchise rebooted as "Degrassi: The Next Generation," which ran from 2001 through 2015, followed by a brief revival in 2016 to 2017. That last show is the one people usually mean when they refer to "The Next Generation" by name. It is not a sequel to Degrassi High in a narrative sense, but a complete reboot with a new cast, a new setting, and a different approach to storylines. The reason this matters is that the two eras feel like completely different shows. Degrassi High operates with a more grounded, lower-budget realism. The Next Generation has bigger production values, more serialized storytelling, and storylines that tackle subjects like HIV, gender identity, and police brutality — topics the original never addressed in the same way. If you come from the original and jump straight into The Next Generation, the tonal whiplash is real. If you go the other direction, the pacing can feel glacial. Both are valid experiences.
Where to Actually Find It
This is the part where things get annoying. Streaming availability changes constantly, and it depends entirely on where you live. In Canada, most of the catalog sits on CBC Gem or Crave. In the US, options have shifted over the years between Paramount+, Hulu, and various other licensed platforms. There is no single reliable source that has everything in one place right now. What tends to work best is checking justwatch.com or similar aggregator tools. They tell you, for your region, which service currently holds the rights. I recommend doing this before you commit to watching anything, because nothing kills momentum like discovering halfway through season three that your subscription expired and the show just left your platform. If you are looking for physical media, DVD box sets do exist for both Degrassi High and The Next Generation. They are out of print in most regions, which means you are looking at secondary markets. I bought a complete Next Generation DVD set off eBay for about forty dollars a few years ago. It works fine on a standard player. The picture quality is not great, but at least you own it and streaming platforms cannot remove it.
Recommended Viewing Order That Actually Works
Most people will tell you to watch everything chronologically. That is the most complete approach, but it is also a lot of content — roughly ten seasons across the franchise, plus movies and specials. If you want the full picture, here is the order I settled on after going back and forth on this multiple times: Start with Degrassi Junior High, seasons one through four. Do not skip it, even though the video quality is rough and the acting is naturally younger. It establishes the core character dynamics that Degrassi High builds on. Specifically, the Adam/Spike/Emma triangle and the Manny/Sandy subplot carry emotional weight into the second era. Watching Degrassi High without Junior High means you miss why certain conflicts matter. Then move to Degrassi High, seasons one through three. This era is shorter and more focused. It wraps up the original character arcs in a way that feels complete. The final season has some pacing issues, but the ending lands if you have been paying attention.
Get the Full Details
After that, jump to Degrassi: The Next Generation, season one. This is a soft reset. You do not need to have watched the previous eras to understand it, but having watched them will make certain references and callbacks land better. The first three seasons are the strongest part of the franchise. Season four through six remain solid but start introducing some storylines that feel forced, particularly around the pregnancy arcs and some of the more melodramatic plotlines. Seasons seven through ten are where the show becomes genuinely uneven. The writing starts relying on shock value rather than character development. I would recommend watching seasons one through six minimum, then sampling from seven onward rather than committing to the full run. The 2016 revival, simply titled "Degrassi," is its own thing. It brings back several original characters while introducing a new generation. It is decent but not essential. Watch it if you want closure on certain characters, skip it if you are trying to manage your time.
Common Problems People Run Into
One issue I encountered personally when helping someone set up a viewing plan was subtitle synchronization on certain streaming sources. The Next Generation has multiple audio tracks and closed caption files that do not always align properly, especially on older episodes from the early 2000s. I found that downloading the episodes separately and using VLC with an external SRT file fixed the drift entirely. It takes maybe ten minutes per season to sort out, but it is worth it if you rely on captions. Another issue is that some episodes, particularly from the Degrassi High era, are missing from certain platforms. Episode four of Degrassi High season one, commonly called "The Trial," is sometimes unavailable on US streaming services due to music licensing issues. It is not a dealbreaker, but it is frustrating if you are trying to watch things in order and keep hitting walls.
What the Franchise Does Better Than Most Teen Dramas
Degrassi has always had a reputation for tackling difficult subjects, and The Next Generation raised the bar significantly. Episodes dealing with sexual assault, mental health crises, and systemic racism were handled with more care and accuracy than most network television produces. The show also avoided the temptation to make every problem solvable within a single episode. Some storylines span multiple seasons, which means characters actually live with consequences rather than resetting to status quo by Friday. The counter-intuitive thing about this is that the early seasons of The Next Generation are arguably more effective than the later ones. As the show gained popularity and moved toward more serialized, crossover-style storytelling, the individual episode quality dropped. The earlier seasons are tighter, more focused, and less dependent on outrageous twists. If you only watch half the franchise, make it the first half.
Bottom Line
Degrassi High: The Next Generation is a substantial piece of television that rewards patience but does not demand you consume everything to get value from it. Start with what you can find on your current streaming services. Check JustWatch first so you know where things are. The viewing order I laid out above is the one I have settled on after years of dealing with fans who want to watch everything in the wrong sequence. It works.
