jessandrory

I'll post what I know

-Daniel Clark and Melissa McIntyre (Spelling) are DEFINETLY coming back for next season.
-Season 6 airs on The-N in October, and November for CTV, but Canadians get 2 episodes a week.
-Jay was rumored to be leaving (sob), but he isn't (yay).
-Someone is going to die from the main cast which means anyone from the theme song.

"CTV released their Degrassi Season 6 Press Release today. A few big surprises first off with the cast. It looks like everyone is returning except Hazel, Joey, and Caitlin. That includes Sean, Ashley, Craig, Paige, Marco, Alex, Jay, and Ellie as well as almost the whole rest of the cast that was in season 5. There were also a few plots revealed, Jimmy delves into his sexuality while being confined to his wheel chair, there's a school rivalry, a tragic accident, Ellie and an older man, one student will go to jail, and of course as we heard before someone dies. Basically your standard year at Degrassi. Here is the PR below:

"-- Production Underway on 19 New, Half-Hour Episodes -- -- Degrassi Episodes and Webisodes Now Available at ctv.ca --

Toronto, ON (June 7, 2006) - There's no stopping Degrassi: The Next Generation. After a successful 25th Anniversary season that celebrated 100 episodes, increased viewership and plenty of awards, the series surges forward with production on 19 new episodes for its sixth season on CTV. The series also enters a whole new dimension by joining Canada's first multi-channel, on-demand broadband service. Unveiled Monday at CTV's 2006 Fall Upfront presentation, CTV.ca now features free Degrassi episodes from Season Five and the all-new Degrassi Minis, a series of unique Degrassi Webisodes created exclusively for broadband.

"Progressive and always entertaining, Degrassi is always on the leading edge of what is happening with youth culture," said Susanne Boyce, CTV President of Programming and Chair of the Media Group. "Making the episodes and the Minis available online gives fans another way to keep up to date on the ever-changing lives of their favourite Degrassi characters."

Season Six of Degrassi is daring to be the most provocative and intense season yet, as the series continues to address issues and topics that face adolescents and young adults today. For the first time, the Degrassi series follows some of its graduates through university as they face the ups and downs of post-secondary life. This season, Ellie, Paige, Marco and Craig experience a whole new series of challenges at another level.

The new school year has Degrassi Community School's students caught up in a vicious school rivalry, with life-altering affects for some of its students. Ellie embarks on a hot new romance with an older man while Jimmy, confined to a wheelchair, explores news ways to deal with his sexuality. After a tragic accident, one student will end up in jail, and a new character, a 16-year-old single mom, graces the halls of the school as a new student.

"Last season our characters had to deal with tough issues and even tougher consequences and this school year will be no different," said Linda Schuyler, Executive Producer and CEO, Epitome Pictures Inc. "In a world where life's lessons can be cruel and unrelenting, we're thrilled that our show is back for another season to focus on issues that speak directly to our viewers."

Returning cast regulars are Dalmar Abuzeid as Danny; Sarah Barrable-Tishauer as Liberty; John Bregar as Dylan; Deanna Casaluce as Alex; Daniel Clark as Sean; Ryan Cooley as JT; Jake Goldsbie as Toby; Aubrey Graham as Jimmy; Shenae Grimes as Darcy; Jamie Johnston as Peter; Shane Kippel as Spinner; Mike Lobel as Jay; Miriam McDonald as Emma; Melissa McIntyre as Ashley and Cassie Steele as Manny. Also returning this season for their first year out of high school are Lauren Collins as Paige; Jake Epstein as Craig; Stacey Farber as Ellie and Adamo Ruggiero as Marco.

Returning adult cast members are Stefan Brogren as Archie "Snake" Simpson, Amanda Stepto as Christine "Spike" Nelson, and Melissa Dimarco as Principal Hatzilakos.

James Hurst, 2005 winner of the Writer's Guild of Canada Award, will be returning to the show as Executive Producer, running the story department.

The "Degrassi Minis" are produced by Stefan Brogren (Archie "Snake" Simpson) of Epitome Pictures and gives fans a chance to see their favorite characters in all new scenes and scenarios. While some of the 2-3 minute shorts take place in between existing episodes of the series, giving fans an extra taste of their favorite moments, others are completely fantastical takes on the Degrassi universe. The minis follow the lives of the Degrassi characters, revealing secret crushes and even the return of a beloved Degrassi student.

Encore broadcasts of episodes from Season Five will also air Sundays at 7:30 p.m. ET beginning June 18 on CTV (check local listings). The episodes follow encore episodes of the new original comedy series Alice, I Think.

Last season marked a number of firsts for the popular series including its 25th anniversary, 100th episode, an audience increase of 24 per cent* as well as breaking the one million viewer mark for a single episode for the first time. In addition, the series beat out four American series at the Television Critics Association Awards for "Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming" and took home the coveted surf board for its Teen Choice Award win for "Choice Summer Series", illustrating its growing success across the border.

Six years ago, the Degrassi.tv website was launched and remains a core element of the Degrassi multi-platform experience. Fans of the show are encouraged to check out the award-winning Website at www.degrassi.tv, winner of the 2003 Gemini for Most Popular Website and Best Interactive Award in 2003 and 2002. Produced in association with CTV and Quickplay, www.degrassi.tv provides enhanced storytelling on the web in synchronization with CTV's television broadcasts. Degrassi's online community continues to create lockerpages, journal entries, send d-mails and post messages on the club message boards in record numbers.

Degrassi: The Next Generation is produced by Epitome Pictures in association with CTV. The series was co-created by Linda Schuyler, co-producer of the original Degrassi series and Yan Moore. Schuyler and Stephen Stohn serve as Executive Producers. Kathleen Meek is the CTV production executive working with the series. Bill Mustos is Senior Vice-President, Dramatic Programming for CTV. Susanne Boyce is President of CTV Programming and Chair of the Media Group.

Degrassi: The Next Generation has been successfully licensed internationally, including France, Switzerland, the U.S and Australia by AAC Kids, an Alliance Atlantis Division."

jessandrory

6/11/2006 - Season 6 CTV & The N Premiers

Recently Executive Producer Stephen Stohn posted on Degrassi.tv and gave a more concrete time frame of when to expect Season 6 to premier on both CTV and The N. As reported earlier Season 6 will premier on The N first in October. Than after that CTV will premier Season 6 in Canada after the Dancing With The Stars wraps up it's season which is expected to be sometime in November. Exact schedules and dates aren't confirmed yet but CTV will be airing 2 episodes a week back to back on Tuesday nights and The N will be airing only one episode a week on Friday nights; thus even though The N will begin airing season 6 first, CTV should catch up and pass The N relatively quickly. Read his post below:

"yes, here's the Hollywood Reporter story which confirms the october start for Degrassi on The N

OH, and a note to Canadians, we are told that DWTS will complete sometime in November, so that means a November start for Degrassi in Canada, so even if The N starts first, because CTV will air two episodes a week it won't take that long to catch up and then CTV will be ahead again. Not that it's a compeittion!!

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The N, the nighttime network for teens, said Wednesday it has gone into production on a sixth season of "Degrassi: The Next Generation."

The network plans to roll out 19 new episodes starting in October. For the first time, the series will follow the graduating classmates as they adjust to college life, full-time jobs and new responsibilities. Season 6 also will feature returning students as well as introduce new students."

jessandrory

Today CTV made many announcements regarding it's upcoming 2006 Fall season. Included were quite a few large announcements. The first being Degrassi's 6th season will not start this fall on CTV as usual instead it will be a mid-season replacement for "Dancing With the Stars" on Tuesday night once it wraps up. To make up for the late start CTV will air 2 episodes each Tuesday night so it should wrap up close to the same time as always. The last couple years dancing with the stars has lasted about 8 weeks meaning Degrassi most likely wouldn't pick up on CTV until after the holiday season. The question that remains to be seen is if The N will still begin airing season 6 in the Fall as usual. If they do the The N will not only start airing Season 6 before CTV for the first time ever, but the season will be half over by the time CTV begins airing it. Here is the clip from CTV's Press Release:


"TUESDAY
On Tuesday, CTV captures the dancing craze with Dancing With The Stars at 8 p.m. When Dancing concludes, CTV will premiere Season 6 of Degrassi: The Next Generation in the time slot with back-to back episodes filling the hour."


And a post from Stephen Stohn Executive Producer of Degrassi:

"CTV has issued a series of its own releases as part of their Fall Upfront, which will start in about 90 minutes. I don't know when the Degrassi relesae will be issued.

Included in those releases is an annoucement that starting this Fall, Degrassi will air two new episodes a week--one at 8:00 and another at 8:30 on Tuesdays, starting whenever Daning With The Stars (which is in the same timeslot, ends its run."


In more news from the CTV press release it appears a main character will DIE in Season 6. Another clip from the Press Release:

"Degrassi: The Next Generation - Season 6 (19 x 30 mins)
For the first time, the Degrassi series will follow its graduates as they enter university and discover life beyond high school. The younger class, who are now in their final year of high school, get caught up in a vicious school rivalry that will have life-altering affects on some of its students. In fact, this year a member of the regular cast will die. Produced by Epitome Productions in association with CTV."


In one last bit of news the Executive Producer also announced the premiere date of Season 2 of Instant Star (7/18) which incidentally has already aired in the US but has yet to even start on CTV. He also mentions that The Degrassi Minis as well as all of Degrassi Season 5 will be available to watch online for free on CTV.ca soon. Here is the last part of his post:

"In addition, in a separate release CTV announced that Degrassi Minis and Season 5 of Degrassi are now available for streaming on www.ctv.ca--but I don't think they are up yet actually, hopefully very shortly!

They also announced that Instant Star Season 2 will premier July 18 at 8:30, immediately following the Canadian Idol results show and air every Tuesday at 8:30 thereafter..."

NikNak

There's already a Degrassi spoiler thread here.

Closing this.