"As the kids get older, the only way we can remain true to this age group is by growing with them. Therefore, the issues get more complex." In the series finale of Degrassi Junior High, the titular school is destroyed in a fire. To keep the entire cast together, a creative decision was made to move the younger students displaced by the fire to the new school to join those that had already graduated. Conversely, the grade 7 students introduced in the third season of Degrassi Junior High were accelerated to grade 9 for an unspecified reason. To give the series a "harder-edged feel", several older characters were introduced. Reflecting the growing independence of the aging characters, Degrassi High began to give more focus to the characters' lives outside of school, with scenes taking place at nighttime, on the street, or at the characters' jobs. In contrast to Degrassi Junior High, in which the extras were still made known to the viewers, the newer series would include a team of "extra extras", who would simply appear for no other purpose than to fill the background. Degrassi High notably tackled HIV/AIDS, with the character Dwayne Myers (Darrin Brown), and suicide with the character Claude Tanner (David Armin-Parcells). Despite continued success and demand from CBC, WGBH was finding it increasingly difficult to fund the show from the children's department of PBS, and backed out of the show. Combined with creative exhaustion, it was decided to end Degrassi High after its second season, and filming wrapped on October 1990. In November 1990, Schuyler explained to the Canadian Press that they wanted to end the series "while we were still feeling good about what we were doing". In addition, she noted that most of the cast were occupied with post-secondary education, and that she felt the show had already tackled what they had aimed to. Schuyler informed Ivan Fecan, then the programming chief of CBC and long-time supporter of Degrassi, of their decision to end the series and suggested a feature-length finale as a compromise, which Fecan enthusiastically accepted and offered funding for. Degrassi Talks and School's Out (1991-1992) In early 1991, as a TV movie to serve as the series finale was being developed, six Degrassi actors: Amanda Stepto, Pat Mastroianni, Stacie Mistysyn, Rebecca Haines, Siluck Saysanasy, and Neil Hope, travelled around Canada to interview teenagers about various health and social issues for