Teen drama. We have a lot of it in our house.
Given all the fussing and fuming, door-slamming, name-calling, and general moodiness that goes on these days, it's sometimes hard to imagine my daughter, Emma, 14, and I doing anything together - other than fighting.
So it's funny that a teen drama, this one televised, opened a door into my daughter's world for me and launched us on a journey of discovery about ourselves and this fabulous city.
"Degrassi: The Next Generation," now in its eighth season, is the latest installment in a long-running series of youth-oriented TV shows, all based and filmed in Toronto. It is also Emma's absolute favorite show; her laptop is loaded with episodes purchased at the iTunes store, and she has watched several of them many times over.
When I proposed that the two of us take a trip together, there was no hesitation on her part as to our destination. We were off to Toronto in search of any and all things "Degrassi."
During our three-hour flight, I watched several episodes of the show in a cram course Emma designed. I quickly discovered that key characters such as Mia, Clare, Peter, and Sav are typical high school students, only better looking and beset by an endless series of character-building crises torn from today's headlines.
At dinner that night in the stylish Annona restaurant at the Park Hyatt Toronto, our home away from home, Emma regaled me with background information about her favorite characters. Absent sarcasm and raised voices, it was easily the longest conversation we'd had in months.
There aren't many tourist stops around town related to "Degrassi," because the show is shot at the Epitome Pictures studio complex about 10 miles from the city center. The studio is closed to the public, but we arranged to meet the show's executive producer, Stephen Stohn, for a tour and an interview. I wanted to understand how this show had gotten such a hold on Emma.
"Our rule has always been never to have a scene with just adults. It's always about the kids," said Stohn, an entertainment lawyer and president of Epitome Pictures. He is married to Linda Schuyler, who created the "Degrassi" franchise back in the 1970s with its first show, "The Kids of Degrassi Street." "Our message is that you have the power to make choices. But there are also consequences. We've never tried to say there is a right choice or a wrong choice."
Stohn was a gracious host and guided us through the studio complex with stops at several familiar sets, including the entrance to the Degrassi Community School. Emma was agog and aglow.
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