Degrassi is my favorite television franchise of all time. This show is in my brain basically 24/7. However, I’m not one of those people that believe everything about this show is amazing. If the show does something great, I’ll say so. But if something sucks, I won’t hesitate to point it out either. I’m glad that a majority of people that comment here do the same.
With that said, there’s always a ton emphasis on the best parts of the show (aka favorite episodes, favorite characters)…but here is a list of what I think are the 5 WORST episodes of Degrassi. Keep in mind their horrid status is based on the main plot of the episode, since all of them are during the days when there were just 2 plots per episode. And these 5 all received a grade of D-. I’ve never given a main plot a complete F; even the worst of episodes somehow manage to have at least one redeeming quality, no matter how tiny.
The worst episodes, in no particular order:
711 – Owner of A Lonely Heart
Marco manages to hit a level far below rock bottom, and it’s beyond pathetic. Seriously…prostitution? Marco Del Rossi suffered the biggest fall of any character on the show. I cannot think about Marco post season 4 and not cringe at how unwatchable he became.
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715 – Got My Mind Set On You
It’s super tweeter @HeatherPoulette’s most-hated episode…can we blame her? At that point in the show Danny and Derek were terrible comedy relief replacements for JT and Toby. So hey let’s give them a semi-serious storyline where they fight for the love of a girl who is COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT TO ANYTHING. Even worse, they tried to slip in some sort of racism theme, which felt more like an afterthought than anything else. Given that Degrassi’s never truly dealt with racism since the days of BLT in DJH, I considered it a slap in the face to good Degrassi episodes.
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815 – Touch Of Grey
The college storylines in Season 8 were boring. This was the worst. Miriam McDonald’s acting was robotic in almost every episode after Time Stands Still, and it became even worse when Emma went off to college. It hurts my head even more knowing that an equally lame character (Kelly) covered for her so she wouldn’t get kicked out of school. It was just another example of the show protecting Emma so that she could stick around for no reason at all.
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817 – Up Where We Belong
When a character on the show becomes “famous” or starts chasing fame, the writers take it way too far. Mia, a character I already despised, “had” to choose between going to school or dropping out and pursuing modeling. Can we PLEASE snap back into reality for a second TNG Execs? Her speech at the end was such a joke, much like the show’s attempt to make her the star of Season 8.
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211 – Don’t Believe The Hype
Though I applaud them hitting this episode’s theme, especially after the events of 9/11, it’s still a ridiculous episode because it’s the “Hey, let’s throw Hazel a bone” ep. You know what I hate? When people complain about characters not getting enough screentime. “Why can’t they give so-and-so a plot?” THIS is why…we end up getting random crap like Don’t Believe The Hype and Got My Mind Set On You. NOT ALL CHARACTERS ARE CREATED EQUAL. Not every character is designed to carry a main plot, which is why I’m totally fine with characters like Blue disappearing to the Degrassi Bermuda Triangle.
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Dishonorable Mentions
212/213 – White Wedding: D
217 – Relax: D+
219 – Fight For Your Right: D
301/302 – Father Figure: D+
421/422 -Going Down The Road: D
503 – Death Of A Disco Dancer: D+
513 – Together Forever: D+
517 – Total Eclipse Of The Heart: D
601/602 – Here Comes Your Man: D+
603 -True Colours: D
608 – Crazy Little Thing Called Love: D+
713/714 – Bust A Move: D+
722 – Don’t Stop Believin: D+
801/802 – Uptown Girl: D+
808/809 – Lost In Love: D+
811- Causing A Commotion: D-
913 – Holiday Road: D+
Kary's Degrassi Blog 
I’m not gunna lie, “Don’t believe the Hype” is one of my favorite episodes…While I agree Andrea wasn’t that strong of an actor I’m sure if the writers gave her more plots she would have improved ( remember how awkward Melinda Shankar was in the beginning of season 8?)
Anyway…I really enjoy these kind of posts :)
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I just rewatched Don’t Believe The Hype last night, and now I think that it could’ve been a great episode, if anyone other than Hazel was given that story line. Andrew Lewis simply was not a strong enough actor to carry that kind of plot.
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I think we all can agree that Got My Mind Set On You is one of the worst Degrassi episodes of all time. How is it that they can rehash relationship story lines over and over again, but the writers have yet to do a proper racism storyline in this incarnation of Degrassi? It’s definitely an issue I’d like them to cover soon. I think the issue of subtle racism would go over well. And pretty much any Mia-centric episode is complete crap. I hated her character so damn much, and I celebrated the day her character was written off.
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This list does not include Turned Out or Don’t Dream It’s Over, this list is invalid.
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Turned Out is my favorite episode of Degrassi. Do not like JT and Liberty or something?
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I love me some Jiberty, BUT I must agree that I was disappointed in “Turned Out” as well.
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Turned Out is hands down my pick for one of the worst episodes of Degrassi. I didn’t mind JT/Liberty, but this episode proved that they could not handle a big storyline. JT especially, I always felt that he was a flat character and they couldn’t get the good stuff out of him or the actor and Liberty was just flat-out a shrieking harpy for that episode.
Season 5-6 is generally what I consider to be the lowest point for Degrassi, with the light at the end of the tunnel being season 7 and finally getting back into the groove with 8-9.
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Well that’s an opinion I’ve never seen before. Because most people consider Seasons 7-8 to be the beginning of Degrassi’s downfall (I honestly started wondering if they were going to cancel the show because ratings were dropping so low) until S9 brought a noticeable improvement in the overall storylines and S10 finally redeemed the show. Darcy’s rape storyline and Spinner’s cancer storyline were the only special things about S7 in my opinion, and to me, they were the only ones that kept S7 from being just as awful as S8.
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Season 8-9 are cool. Everyone harps on it because of the new kids and other things but to me, these seasons were a breath of fresh air. We had NEW characters, and they were YOUNG. There weren’t a lot of “big” issues in these seasons but a lot of mundane teenage stuff but I loved all of that. Season 2 is one of my favorites and these two seasons really harkened back to that. By the time season 7 rolled around I was sick of every “old” character because they were completely stretched to the limit of their potential.
As for Touch of Grey and the other college storylines in season 8, I didn’t really like them but they were better handled mainly due to the fact that you actually SAW THEM GO TO COLLEGE.
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Seasons eight, nine, and ten are my favorites. I really like season seven, too, but only because of Darcy’s rape storyline and because I found the younger Holly J, Anya, and Sav more interesting then, even though they only had small roles at the time.
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I personally don’t see the comparison between S8 and S9 to S2 at all, and S2’s one of my favorite–if not my all time favorite–seasons of Degrassi. I wouldn’t call Craig’s abuse or Paige’s rape in S2 “mundane teenage stuff” either, haha. I don’t think there was anything wrong with introducing new and younger characters (I agree the old characters had their time and needed to go) or the less serious story lines they handled–my problem was with their wooden and emotionless acting. Their actions and dialogue just felt so insincere to me. I think Melinda Shankar is a much better actress now, but back during S8, I literally cringed watching her on screen. I actually liked S9 quite a bit; after S10, it’s my favorite of the “newer” generation. But for me, seasons 7 and 8 are still worth watching because they are a necessary evil to understand the evolution of the current characters. Remembering Clare on S8 and watching her now on S10 makes me appreciate her character growth and maturation so much, haha.
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Personally I like “Don’t Believe the Hype”. Her acting is WAY better than other characters who got more than one main plot *CoughNinaCough* and I think she had plenty of room to improve if they had just given her a chance.
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That’s true. Nina Dobrev was never a very good actress on Degrassi, making the character of Mia even more painful to watch. I have no idea how she is on The Vampire Diaries now; hopefully her acting’s improved.
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I just assumed The CW felt sorry for her, or she had a foursome like in Uptown Girls.
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There are a lot of Degrassi episodes I do not like, but I love Don’t Believe the Hype.
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Nina’s acting definitely stepped up on Vampire Diaries, at least imo.
and I agree with pretty much every episode on that list, with GMMSOY being the worst episode of all time. It was bad enough that the afro twins got a horrible A plot, but there was also a horrible Emma B plot to go with it. normally I’d hate either of these but together…ugh.
And KC shouldve had the A plot for Touch Of Grey. his plot was the only good thing about that episode.
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Lmao, “the afro twins.”
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Kary, did you change the grade for Holiday Road after you made this post or something? because i don’t remember it being a “D+” i remember it being a “C-” or something in that range?
PS: Any further thoughts on “Time Stands Still” and “Going Down The Road” please?
Thanks in advanced Kary! :)
~Zack
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I agree with all of these. I don’t like any of those episodes. I never understood why they wrote Marco so out of character for the sake of writing that story. One of the reasons why they needed to bring in new characters, otherwise the old ones get ruined for the sake of telling some story.
Up Where We Belong was probably my most hated. I got that it was about the Grade 11 class who were all close to becomming seniors but Mia’s story was stupid. I almost felt like Mia should drop out, she bored me anyways. It was a long time before the writers realized or accepted that after Darcy left Holly J was the “star” or whatever you want to call it, not Mia.
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Don’t Believe the Hype really wasn’t the bad. It’s pretty much on par with most of Season 2 in terms of quality. Hazel could’ve handled stronger story lines if they actually tried. They just didn’t try. Imagine how interesting it would have been to watch her really delve into her religion. If written well, it would be much more compelling than Claire and her feelings of loss with Christianity.
Ditto with Chantay. As much as I joke about her, if the writers had bothered to develop her at any point between Seasons 5 through 7, she could’ve been AMAZING. Like Season 7 Darcy amazing. This is why I hope they finally do the right thing and seriously develop Marisol into an interesting, fully realized character. Three undeveloped black female characters in a row is beyond ridiculous.
PS. While Miriam McDonald’s acting could be spotty at times, I also found post-shooting Emma fascinating and ultimately more interesting than pre-shooting Emma. It’s like she grew up years in the moments the gun was pointed at her face. Much more rounded as a character than the whiny Emma who only saw the world as being either for or against her cause of the moment.
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Post-shooting Emma in “Secret” was fantastic. It’s one of my favorite Degrassi episodes of all time. I still don’t like Emma, but she became much more tolerable when she stopped seeing the world in black and white.
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Just compare Emma in “Secret” vs. Emma in “White Wedding,” who cried her eyes out because her hair was over-permed. What a difference two years and a near-death experience make.
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Does anyone even like Mia? It seems like everyone hates her. I’ve never seen anybody who thought differently.
When Mia wasn’t annoying (When JT died, for example) she was boring. And people watch Degrassi to see normal teens dealing with relatable issues and problems. Supermodels don’t fit into that category at all. And once season eight arrived, it seemed like all of Mia’s storylines revolved around modeling.
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Kary, could you please share some thoughts on the episode “Here Comes Your Man?” That would be great. Thanks!
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Did anyone see this?
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2011/06/22/teennicks-degrassi-returns-for-new-season-and-seven-weeks-of-daily-telenovela-style-premieres-this-summer-195003/20110622teennick01/
looks like we might have some good behind the scene stuff coming up!
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Im pretty much on terms with all of these, except Dont Believe the Hype. The episode wasnt exactly good, but it wasnt terrible either.
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I really loved Dont believe the hype. And it seems like a lot of people in the comments here do too. I think you need to explain exactly what you didn’t like about the episode…
But, oof, Got my mind set on you was awful.
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season 11 opening theme song!
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Kary, didn’t you give an episode an F last season? My memory may be incorrect, but I remember you giving an episode an F (might’ve been a D-).
The main plotline was in the middle of Alli running away, and Jenna and KC going through parenting issues (from the Kenna aspect, I don’t blame you for grading it low), I think.
If you see this, could you clear up my confusion? Thanks! :)
P.S. Love your site :D
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I’ve never given a plot a FINAL grade of an F (final meaning Part 1 and Part 2 combined). I did give a couple of F’s to half plots during the Boiling Point though lol
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The only thing I disagree with is the Blue bit. He was fucking awesome..
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Got My Mind Set on You and Dont Believe the Hype are definetly on my worst degrassi episodes list. I think I didnt like the episodes much for the same reason. Both episodes have main plots about characters who are not main characters and dont have interesting qualites about them that make me want to watch them in a episode. I like the idea of a plot about religion and heritage but doing it with with Hazels character ruined the episode
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I liked Dont Believe The Hype so I’d replace that with Relax, but other than that you spoke my mind.
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How are episodes from all the way from season 2 on here but the episodes from season 10 and 11 are mysteriously absent? >.> Unless you’re not counting 10 and 11 as the same show, which is quite reasonable as you know, it’s not the same show.
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[…] last 10 years, trying to analyze this episode from every possible angle and thoroughly questioning why I labeled this as one of Degrassi’s worst episodes. I’m not going to tell you what I think about the episode now (you’ll have to wait […]
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