…which Degrassi character will survive? YOU CHOOSE. (CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL-SIZED VERSION OF THE BRACKET.)

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With March Madness right around the corner, I figured why not do our own Degrassi version?  Here’s how it works (or how it’s supposed to anyway):

The Degrassi Bracket has 64 characters from the show.  Every character has been randomly placed in a position on the bracket, and each one will go up against another character.

Your job will be to vote on every battle for which character you like better.  The characters with the most votes will move onto the next round (and so forth) until there’s only one left…THE CHAMPION!

Voting will start on Wednesday 3/17 and end on Sunday 3/28.  You’ll have two days to vote on each round.  Voting will start at midnight the first day, and end at 10pm on the second day.  The winning character will be announced on Monday 3/29.  How will you be voting you ask? I’m testing out this poll creating system WordPress has, so hopefully it’ll work (or else this entire thing is screwed haha).

Here’s the voting schedule for each round:

Wed 3/17, Thu 3/18 — 1st Round

Fri 3/19, Sat 3/20 — 2nd round

Sun 3/21, Mon 3/22 — Sweet Sixteen

Tues 3/23, Wed 3/24 — Elite Eight

Thurs 3/25, Fri 3/26 — Final Four

Sat 3/27, Sun 3/28 — Championship

Mon 3/29 — Winner Announced!

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Here is a closer look at each Division of the bracket. A lot of the first round matchups are pretty easy, but it looks like it’ll get more difficult to choose favorites as we go along:

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Oh, and I can’t forget to mention the wonderful sponsor of Degrassi March Madness…it’s brought to you by Snake Flakes: Buy a box of Snake Flakes and for a limited time receive a free copy of The Zit Remedy’s smash hit, “Everybody Wants Something.”

THANKS SNAKE!!!!

Of course The Exec would tweet some major news when I’m far, far away from a computer…

He announced that, as we all know, Season 10 will contain 48 episodes.  But those episodes will be broken up into two parts:

*24 episodes over the summer.  The first 24 episodes will start after the Degrassi movie, and they’ll be airing a NEW episode on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for six weeks.

*24 episodes on the normal schedule.  The final 24 episodes will air like they normally do during fall 2010 and winter/spring 2011.

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This is a neat move for both CTV and TeenNick since nothing ever happens during the Summer.  My only concern is that with the first 24 episodes coming so soon, they could be rushed quality wise…how awful would that be to have a repeat of say, Season 8, jammed down our throats four times a week for almost two months?

Then again, they could be simply awesome too.  Either way, hold onto tight…we’re in store for A LOT of Degrassi over the next 8 months.

The Exec tweeted some big news today!! So let’s play a little Good News/Bad News:

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BAD NEWS
The big “Announcement” has been moved back two weeks:

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ACCCCKKKKK!! The announcement from the American and Canadian broadcasters on Degrassi has been shifted from March 11 to March 27!!!!
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Great…just great. That’s one day after the first day of Season 10 shooting.  I guess the good news about that is that we’ll have an explosion of Degrassi-related stuff at the end of March/beginning of April.

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GOOD NEWS
Degrassi read-throughs get under way tomorrow, Tuesday March 9th:

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tomorrow we have our Orientation meeting with all the Degrassi 10 cast, followed by the read-through of episodes 1001 – 1004
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AWEEESOME!!!!  The cast is apparently locked up and ready to go.  And hopefully we’ll get some information on more episodes too.

BTW, did anyone realize that The Exec said it’s the BROADCASTERS making the announcement, not himself?  That sounds like it’s definitely going to be a programming decision as to how Degrassi airs on both networks.

The Exec posted the news on his twitter just a few minutes ago…they start shooting Season 10 beginning Friday, March 26.  As you know, Season 10 is going to be a BEAST since they’re filming 48 episodes.

Since the number of episodes in Season 10 will be equivalent to two seasons worth of episodes combined, I wonder if they’ll be filming continuously until it’s finished, or take a several month break at the midway point.

Another thing…since they’re going to have 48 episodes, will a movie (or two) be included in that as well?  Let’s hope the details start rolling in beginning next week (as well as info about when Degrassi will return to CTV).

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UPDATE:
The Exec also tweeted that he WILL be all about answering questions about Season 10 on March 11th:

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It’s on the 11th that I can truly answer questions about what is really happening for this season!
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So DON’T forget to mark your calendars…if you’ve got a question for him make sure to tweet away on that day!

I originally thought that TeenNick would kick off their April 2nd premiere with Heart Like Mine (since it is the next episode in the order after all), but they’ve decided to lead with something better:  Why Can’t This Be Love!!!! It’s renamed “Broken Promises,” but this is actually great news that this episode is airing so early.  Thanks to everyone who pointed out the Broken Promises promo.

US and Canadian fans will most likely get to see the episode around the same time (at least within a couple of weeks of this other), which is a good thing.  Oh, and ever since Stefan Brogren tweeted while they were filming this episode, Why Can’t This Be Love has been one of the most anticipated episodes of the Season.

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WARNING: The stuff below includes spoiler info about Heart Like Mine…if you haven’t seen that episode and dont wanna know…DON’T READ!!!

Part of me wonders what motivated TeenNick to air Why Can’t This Be Love first.  The only real stipulation for an episode being played out of order is that the move doesn’t cause any continuity issues.  In Heart Like Mine Pt. 2, Sav and Anya can be seen sitting next to each other acting just fine as they judge auditions for the musical.  So I assume that whatever happens in Why Can’t This Be Love between Sav and Anya ultimately won’t end their relationship (on bad terms at least).

Love...lies...and betrayal...Degrassi's back April 2nd on TeenNick.

FINALLY!!!!!!!!

It’s about time someone in the magical world of Degrassiland got off their butt and told us SOMETHING about Degrassi this Spring.

Degrassi officially returns to TeenNick on Friday, April 2nd at 9pm ET.  They’ll pick up where they left off with “Heart Like Mine.” Now I don’t know yet if they’ll just air the rest of Season 9 straight through, or if they’re going to air maybe 4 or 5 episodes then take another break…we’ll have to see.

There’s also a brand new mini on the way titled “Good Times.” I’m only gonna give you a few of hints about it since it’s not out yet:

*it involves Jane, the Studz and a few others
*it’s broken into 4 parts….it’s edited way, WAY better than the last several minis, so each part doesn’t end awkwardly
*it was so random…the show pokes fun at itself and i laughed myself to tears

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Now as of writing this (3/4/10), there’s STILL no word on when Degrassi will start back up on CTV.  I knew Degrassi wouldn’t be back until March 14th at the earliest (because the Oscars are this Sunday), but Degrassi isn’t listed on the CTV schedule for the 14th either.  Now the earliest Degrassi will be back on CTV is the 21st, and I’m not so sure if they’ll do that either…until they say otherwise, I’m just going to assume CTV won’t bring back Degrassi until April.

On one final note, next is a big week: The Exec makes his official announcement! Yes we already know Season 10 is going to have 48 episodes, but I’m hoping that The Exec will have much more Degrassi news in store for us than just that.