I've been a fan of Degrassi since 1987 so I know I'm dating myself. I'm defiantly out of the loop as to what this generation of teens talk about. I've seen the first few episodes of Degrassi: Next Class and I don't understand why this show has to jump into all the social issues of today (many of which are created to keep people stupid). Must every show have a gay character or two (or three)? Must there be a Muslim character but let's ignore other religions? Must race be talked about ad nauseam? Are these the only issues this generation deals with?I know this is a teen show and I probably have no business watching this. But it's getting tiring to see every friggen social issue being discussed right away.

This show, much like the other incarnations of degrassi, is so freaking funny. The acting, script, and overall plot lines are just stupidly hilarious. If you're bored and looking for a good laugh and a show you don't have to completely pay attention to this is perfect. But I also highly recommend it, funnier than a lot of shows without even trying.I'm starting to think this show must be a work of genius because there is no other reason that I should've watched every episode in 2 days. If you come across it stop immediately and watch the first episode; you will be hooked immediately though you will feel bad for doing so at first. The shame goes away and you realize why have I not been watching this my whole life?So everybody give it a try, it's so bad it's good ( I promise )

I have watched degrassi for a good chunk of my life and I was ecstatic when I found out Netflix was picking this up. I figured with Netflix backing them they would finally "go there". There were moments where they went there and moments where they fell flat. The best new character is definitely Esme. She is super toxic and trys to completely ruin Miles. I found myself excited to watch the parts with her in it.Zoe and Graces relationship is a roller coaster that had me on the edge of the seat. That was super well done degrassi style. I would definitely give this new series a chance.

I'm a big fan of the first six/seven seasons of Degrassi: TNG (less so from season 8 onwards, but it was still watchable), and its parent series, Degrassi JH/H. The aforementioned series presented real issues teenagers faced while still moving the storyline forward. Yes it felt a little "issue of the week", but it was better than the tripe of Degrassi: Next Class, a show related to the others only in name and a few characters.My hopes for this show were appropriately tanked when I saw the updated theme song: an autotuned version of the original TNG theme song "I Know I Can Make it Through". Gone are the kids walking around the school doing normal school things. Instead they gather around for selfies complete with incredibly lame hashtags and attempts at "text talk". It's hideous and I skip over it every time.After the cancellation of the original Degrassi last year, it seems like the writers decided to completely revamp the series, and completely turned it into the soap opera-style show it had been flirting with for the last few seasons. I'm four episodes into this show and it's 80 percent about "who's dating who" and "what can we can do to drag out the Tristan/Miles drama further?". It's really quite tiring.Before I complain about the characters, I want to say I mean no disrespect to the actors. Most of them are pretty good and are doing their best with the terrible material they're given. But the dialogue and development is horrible. It honestly doesn't feel like the same producers anymore.Tristan and Miles are still full of preschool drama that involves election sabotage, finding new partners, and of course making out together at a party before declaring they hate each other again. Awesome.The new character, Vijay, is such a stereotypical gay character that it's hard to believe this is the same show that had powerful gay characters like Marco, Alex, and Dylan. Characters that seemed like real people. The introduction of Tristan was already pushing it a little with the stereotypes, but this new guy really sends it over the top. All he does is fangirl over Tristan, and when Tristan breaks up with him (after a half-episode relationship), VJ says as he walks away "Don't bother; I already changed our relationship status". I really wish I was kidding. I don't know how the actor made it through the line without banging his head against the wall.Most of the characters are focused so much on having sex that it's completely ridiculous. Yes, teenagers think about sex, but they don't spend every minute talking about whether they should have it with so-and-so, or whether they should ask so-and-so out, or whether so-and-so only likes girls with big butts (ACTUAL Plot line, not joking). Come on!What happened to representing teenagers with REAL issues? Mental health problems like bipolar disorder, depression, eating disorders, PTSD, self-harming...all of these were covered well in the previous series. And if this is being branded as a "new" series for a "new" generation, why not tackle these issues again?The show is trying SO hard to appeal to millenials (who will just roll their eyes at how hard they're forcing the drama) that they completely forgot what made the original shows good in the first place. It barely deserves the 3/10 rating.