BBC2 teen block DEF II. The network did not air its second and third seasons. The two-part premiere of Degrassi High, "A New Start", which centered around a character becoming pregnant and ultimately choosing to get an abortion, aired uncensored in Canada in November 1989, but was edited by PBS for its January 1990 American premiere to remove the episode's final scene depicting said character fighting through anti-abortion picketers outside of a clinic. This decision was met with backlash from the show's producers, with co-creator and director Kit Hood lambasting the network for giving the episode "an American ending, happy, safe but incomplete..." and requested his name be removed from the credits. In 2004, Noggin's The N block decided to postpone an episode of Degrassi: The Next Generation revolving around abortion, titled "Accidents Will Happen." The two-part episode focused on a character who becomes pregnant and decides to have an abortion. The N's decision prompted backlash from fans. A petition surfaced which condemned The N as "unjust and asinine" and argued that the episode did not espouse any forceful opinions about the subject and that the fans had the right to watch the series in an uncensored, unaltered form. Conversely, CTV in Canada showed the episode twice. Legacy In 2012, it surpassed The Beachcombers as the longest-running Canadian drama by episode count. After the death of co-creator Kit Hood in January 2020, a bench with a memorial plaque was installed in various locations important to the original Degrassi series, including Vincent Massey Junior School (the location of Degrassi Junior High) and the Centennial College Story Arts Centre (the location of Degrassi High''). In 2021, Hood's daughter Georgia started an online petition to have the laneway behind the former Playing With Time production office named after him. References Sources External links Official Degrassi website 1970s Canadian teen drama television series 1980s Canadian teen drama television series 1990s Canadian teen drama television series 2000s Canadian teen drama television series 2010s Canadian teen drama television series 2020s Canadian teen drama television series Degrassi (franchise) WildBrain franchises Canadian television soap operas Television franchises