In a previous blog post, I talked about how The Exec revealed The-N and CTV will broadcast the Season 9 episodes in different orders.  Tonight, The Exec posted that CTV will indeed be the one airing some of the first few episodes out of order:

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In Canada Season 9 will begin in the following order: 901/902, 904, 906, 903, 905, and then 907 and on in order.. Please don’t ask me why!
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From that we can instantly gather that 903 (Shoot to Thrill), 904 (Close to Me), 905 (You’ll Be Illin’) and 906 (Wanna Be Startin’ Something) all have self-contained storylines.  Other than that, I have no idea why they’d change the broadcast schedule. 

****UPADATED [7-1-09]**** The Exec posted an additional twitter response to briefly explain why they’re airing in that order:
On a side note, there’s been no word as to when Degrassi Goes Hollywood will air on The-N (it airs on CTV August 30th).  But good news for American fans: The-N begins airing the rest of Season 8 this Friday!

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Because CTV is is airing them two at a time, this order actually makes the pairings more meaningful.. it was our suggestion..
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CLICK HERE TO SEE CURRENT (AND PAST) UPDATES ABOUT DEGRASSI SEASON 9!

(l-r) Jamie Foxx, Tiny, Tigger, Drake, Toya and Queen Latifah hanging out at the BET Awards After Party.

An injured Aubrey “Drake” Graham performed with Lil Wayne last night at the BET Awards.  Drake has  a torn ACL, which is why he sat on a stool for the entire duration of their song.  They were the next-to-last performance of the night (the last one was a wonderful duet by Jamie Foxx and Ne-Yo in honor of Michael Jackson). 

Drake has the potential to be the most popular and successful Degrassi alum EVER.

You know what’s so impressive about Drake’s rise to fame in the music industry is the fact that he’s yet to release an album.  Jamie Foxx sang his praises a few times during the awards show. 

During the after party, Tigger said he normally hates mixtapes, but he was thoroughly impressed with the talent Drake displays on his.  Queen Latifah commended him for having lyrics that aren’t drench with obscenities.

Drake obviously has a lot of people in his corner who want to make sure he succeeds at becoming the future of music.  Currently, several online sources are saying Drake’s on the verge of signing with Universal Records.  Whichever label he ends up with, we know he’ll do just fine.

Degrassi Executive Producer, Stephen Stohn.

The Exec updated his twitter today with the episode titles for 911 and 912, making it the third two-part episode of Season 9 (so far):

901 – Just Can’t Get Enough Part 1
902 – Just Can’t Get Enough Part 2
903 – Shoot to Thrill
904 – Close to Me
905 – You’ll be Illin’
906 – Wanna Be Startin’ Something
907 – Beat It Part 1
908 – Beat It Part 2
909 – ????????
910 – ????????
911 – Hearts Like Mine Part 1
912 – Hearts Like Mine Part 2

As reported in an earlier blog post, they’ve completed the scripts for the first 12 episodes.  They’re currently filming episodes 907/908, which are being directed by Stefan Brogren (aka Snake Simpson).

WARNING!!! THIS IS IMPORTANT NEWS

If you’re someone like me who keeps up with the show as it airs on both stations (whichever one is ahead at the time), this is going to confuse the hell out of you. The Exec posted a brief tweet that said The-N (U.S.) and CTV (Canada) will have different broadcast orders for Degrassi Season 9. For example, CTV may air Degrassi in the proper order: 901, 902, 903, 904, 905, 906…meanwhile, The-N may decide to air it in this order: 901, 902, 906, 904, 903, 905.  No word on who’s airing what, when.

The-N and CTV already air new Degrassi episodes on different dates, but they’ve both always aired the episodes in order: The-N breaks up the seasons into “mini” seasons they  run during the Fall, Spring and Summer. CTV usually just airs the first half of a season in the Fall, then airs the rest in the Spring.

NOW with the different broadcast orders coming into play, it’s going to take a little work to keep up with which episodes will be airing on your network, so you don’t think you’ve somehow “missed” an episode.

l-r: Alli (Melinda Shankar), Clare (Aislinn Paul) and KC (Sam Earle).

Gotta love how Stephen and Stefan are keeping us updated about what’s happening on set via Twitter. The Exec said they’ve finished the read-throughs for episodes 911 and 912. The scripts have been written, but they haven’t revealed the episode titles yet. We only know titles for the first 8 episodes:

901 – Just Can’t Get Enough Part 1
902 – Just Can’t Get Enough Part 2
903 – Shoot to Thrill
904 – Close to Me
905 – You’ll be Illin’
906 – Wanna Be Startin’ Something
907 – Beat It Part 1
908 – Beat It Part 2

The Exec also said 911 and 912 will deal with KC and Clare (as well as Allie, Holly J and new characters Fiona, Jenna and Declan).  He’s said KC has a big storyline in Season 9, so maybe this is where it all begins for him.

Click here to find out more updates on Degrassi Season 9!

It had been a while since I’d checked out the Official Degrassi Store (and by a while I mean YEARS), and I was pleased today to see they’ve FINALLY added a Degrassi tee (for guys) worth wearing!!

Of course it’s for both guys and girls, I meant the tees they have excusively for girls (Spirit Squad and Old School Degrassi tee) are much cooler than the unisex ones.  The Degrassi Signature tee is lame, and as much as I love J.T., his t-shirt is lame because I could make that myself and it look just as good. 

I love how they went back to the old school Degrassi Panther logo.  I’m sure I’ll get around to ordering one of these soon, and I’m prepared for all the ridicule I’ll receive (I’m 25 btw).  If you’ve got a neat idea for a tee that isn’t in their store, sometime down the road I’ll show you how you can easily make your own Degrassi tee at home.

Today Stefan Brogren (aka Archie “Snake” Simpson) wrapped up his first day of directing the Season 9 episode “Beat It” (907/908).  This is his first time directing a STANDARD episode of Degrassi (aka one that’s not packaged as a special episode).  He’s directed both Halloween specials, Degrassi of the Dead and Curse of Degrassi.  He also directed the upcoming Degrassi Goes Hollywood movie, which is the main reason I’m looking forward to watching it. 

If you didn’t know, Stefan is also the guy responsible for producing the Degrassi minis over the past few years.  Those have been great to watch, so I’m already stoked to see what he’s going to bring to Season 9.

So the awesome thing about wordpress is when people find your blog, it tells you what search terms they used to find it.  I’m not sure if many of the people found the answers they’re looking for, so I’ll try and answer some of the searches here.

**Is mia leaving degrassi?
Yes, she’s going to leave at some point during season 9 because she got a starring role in the show “Vampire Diaries,” which is coming to the CW this fall.

**Degrassi schedule
Whether you’re watching Degrassi in Canada or the U.S., it’s been on hiatus for what seems like a lifetime.  Canada has already finished showing all of season 8 except Paradise City (aka the “Degrassi Goes Hollywood” movie).  That’ll air on CTV on Sunday, August 30.

The-N is going to finish up the rest of Season 8 beginning Friday, July 3.  Hopefully they’ll air the Degrassi movie in late August or early September.

**degrassi paradise city zshare
Sorry, but you’re not going to find a copy of Paradise City anywhere because it hasn’t aired yet.  We’ve still got a couple more months to go!

**degrassi gunpoint songs from trailer
Hmm, I wasn’t sure what this meant, but I haven’t been able to find a trailer about the episode “Gunpoint” that has music in it.  “Gunpoint” is the episode where Spinner and Holly J are held hostage at The Dot.  

SIDE RANT: This episode is originally titled “Danger Zone” in Canada, but The-N felt the need to change it to “Gunpoint.”  That annoys me because you’re only going to confuse the hell out of people when the DVD comes out.

On his myspace blog, Stephen Stohn posted part of a CTV press release that confirms they’ll air “Degrassi Goes Hollywood” on Sunday, August 30 in Canada:

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Finally, just in time for the back to school season, CTV presents the special two-hour movie event PARADISE CITY: DEGRASSI GOES HOLLYWOOD, Sun., Aug. 30 at 8 p.m. ET, featuring DEGRASSI favourites Paige (Lauren Collins), Ellie (Stacey Farber), Craig (Jake Epstein), Marco (Adamo Ruggiero) and Manny (Cassie Steele) plus several guest stars including Jason Mewes (Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back), Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy) and Kevin Smith (Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks).  

In the first ever DEGRASSI: THE NEXT GENERATION movie, the Degrassi students venture to L.A. via school bus with hopes to score parts in Mewesical High, a musical directed by Jason Mewes (Clerks) under the mentorship of Kevin Smith (Clerks, Dogma). Paige (Lauren Collins), personal assistant to THE SHORES reality television star Hailey Montel (Mary Ashton), understands that in life you work from the ground up, but when Hollywood hands Paige a shortcut to fame and fortune, she jumps at the opportunity and takes Marco (Adamo Ruggiero) and Ellie (Stacey Farber) along for the ride. Back in Toronto, Manny (Cassie Steele) has immersed herself in her university theatre program and is committed to becoming an “actor of substance.” The star of Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh?, Manny blows an opportunity to star in Mewes’ feature and then heads on a road trip to L.A. to win the role and realize her dream.

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Now if only The-N would actually announce when the Degrassi movie will air here in the U.S., the circle of life would be complete.  SPEAKING of that, The Exec also posted on his twitter that the SEASON 8 DVD will be released soon after “Degrassi Goes Hollywood” airs on The-N:

Hopefully this boxset will be like Season 7′s was.  Even though Season 7 was a HUGE disappoint after the first six episodes, the DVD extras were hands down the best since the Season 2 boxset because they FINALLY added the webisodes.

Note to DVD content producers:  The photo galleries, the “Degrassi Yearbook,” the trailers, and the original auditions never have and NEVER will be interesting. 

What IS interesting: Deleted scenes and bloopers (add more pleeeease?), and episode commentary.  I’m sorry, but just 1 episode out of 20+ having commentary on it simply isn’t good enough.

Nina Dobrev (Mia) is leaving Degrassi because she nabbed the lead role in the new CW show “Vampire Diaries.” Now it’s just a matter of knowing WHEN she’ll be leaving.

Since there haven’t been very many details and no SPOILERS released about Season 9, no one knows yet when Mia will officially fade into Degrassi oblivion (Chester and Fareeza will have a new playmate!!).  If you’re like me I assume it’ll be very early in the season. 

Ian Somerhalder, Nina Dobrev and Paul Wesley star in "Vampire Diaries."

Degrassi’s had a run over the past few seasons of actresses leaving the show within the first few episodes: Deanna Casaluce (Alex) left after only three episodes in Season 7.  Shenae Grimes (Darcy) left after four episodes in Season 8.

Exec. Producer Stephen Stohn has confirmed that the Season 9 premiere “Just Can’t Get Enough” will feature Mia and Peter, so I figure it’ll either be her final episode or (the more likely scenario) the setup for her goodbye.

Either way, they’d better not give Mia a crappy sendoff like they did Darcy…aka she’d better not magically land some massive modeling contract in Italy or something.  Sure, there have been plenty of times when Mia’s deserved to be punched in the face (mainly for her inability to act like a responsible teen mom), but I can’t stand when a main character’s departure is either contrived or anticlimactic.