Degrassi Corner: Why Don’t Teen Moms Raise Their Kids on Degrassi?

Can’t see the video? Watch it here.

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The other day I saw this question…

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What story lines would you like to see on Degrassi
I would like to see someone actually keep their baby; the only one who ever really has was Spike with Emma
Jenna and KC tried to but ended up giving him up for adoption
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In the video above I go a little in depth into discussing just a couple of factors that might play a role in why Degrassi hasn’t done a “keep the baby” storyline in the modern Degrassi series. As of today we’re 15 years into this incarnation of the show, and they’ve yet to do a storyline where a character specifically gets pregnant, gives birth and then keeps the baby for the duration of their tenure on Degrassi (presumably years), like they did with Spike in Degrassi Junior High.

I spend the video highlighting two potential things to think about:

1. Does Degrassi want to “lock” a character into what is essentially a permanent storyline?
2. How does this type of storyline affect the progression of the timeline in the Degrassi universe, which the show keeps pretty loose in order to have more freedom in their storytelling?

Mia Jones in TNG is the closest we’ve ever come to that type of storyline, but even with her we saw after two seasons that Degrassi virtually abandoned the “teen mom” aspect of her character, as she transitioned into the alpha female role on Degrassi.

Thinking about Jenna and KC as teen parents…if you extend their storyline from the 20 episodes it spanned in Season 11 to say the nearly 150 episodes if they’d kept it going through Season 14, is that type of story even viable long-term in the modern Degrassi era? People often forget that Degrassi’s storylines aren’t always about the specific thing happening to the characters, but the specific feelings the characters are going through because of it.

There’s also production challenges to think about, as Nina Dobrev explained in a 2008 interview about why Degrassi decided to cast Mia’s daughter as an older kid:

If as fans we’re engaged with Degrassi to a point where we’re breaking down the contents of the storylines in depth, then I think it’s also important for us understand the logistical aspects of the show and how they play a role in the final product.

We can safely assume that Degrassi’s discussed a “keep the baby” storyline many times overs the years, but similar to abortion up until recently, we can also assume there’s specific reasons preventing it from happening.