I remember being 10 years old, in the basement of my best friend’s house. The place where we practiced for school talent shows, braided Barbie doll hair and talked for hours. In that basement, we also had a TV, one of those bulky black ones with a built-in VHS player. On that TV we had all the channels, including number 124, known then as Noggin. Noggin had all the cool shows, including "Degrassi."

For those of you who don’t know, "Degrassi" is a Canadian TV show based on a high school called Degrassi. The show follows the kids of the school as they go through high school drama and turmoil, with plots immensely addictive and relatable. Since 1979, the program stays fresh with each new class that comes into the school.

What is special about the show is that it faces issues head on, issues that most people like to think teens don’t deal with. For instance, Drake was on the show for eight years as Jimmy Brooks, a character who was put in a wheelchair after a school shooting. But it doesn’t stop there, from sexual assault, suicide, gun violence, racism, drugs, disease… "Degrassi" covers it all. And not in an "after-school-special" kind of way that tries to push the viewer to have a certain opinion. The producer, Linda Schuyler was a middle school teacher for eight years and got the idea for the show from the love she had for the kids she taught. Needless to say, Schuyler and executive producer, Steven Sohn, care a lot about what she is presenting on the show. “The teenage experience is a marvelous one, it’s a dramatic one because you’ve got one foot in childhood, one foot in adulthood, and everything matters,” said Steven Sohn, Executive Producer in a YouTube interview on "Degrassi" history.

So, when I discovered all 18 seasons of "Degrassi: The Next Generation" ('80s version is just "Degrassi") on YouTube this past July, I found my summer past time. I would spend days, actual DAYS on the couch watching episode after episode, wishing my life was half as exciting in high school as it was for the kids on "Degrassi." I also loved watching the kids come and go through the school, but everything staying connected. For instance, all of the original characters of the show in the '80s become the parents of the kids attending the school in the 2006 season. Their roles were present and tying the show together like that really keeps people drawn in.

But what watching the show really reminded me was how important adolescence is and how real it is. As we get older, it becomes easy to look at younger people and say “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” and act as if we are so much wiser because we are older. But teenagers are just as wise because they see more than we think, especially in the age of apps and the Internet.

Now, after 35 years on Noggin/Canadian TV the show is exclusive to Netflix and is just as good and juicy with the modern twist it needs. If you're interested in watching and ready to commit tons of time (you'll want to, trust me) start here: