This series about adolescents/teenagers at a Toronto school came out at a perfect time for me as I was around the same age as the characters in it. I never saw the original series and I don't know the later seasons at all, but I did watch the first six or seven seasons of "The Next Generation" religiously. It was broadcast here in the states on a channel called Noggin. I had not seen it in probably fifteen years and recently discovered the whole series is on Pluto TV. I started rewatching it for nostalgia's sake, and I forgot how dark some of the subject matter was. The pilot episode, for example, centers on 12-year-old Emma meeting a pedophile online and almost getting raped in a hotel room.
It tackled a number of taboo themes, from drug use to parental abuse, domestic violence, bipolar disorder, abortion, self-harm, and school shootings. It was also one of the first times I remember seeing gay people shown on TV (Ashley's dad is revealed to be gay, popular but lovable bitch Paige has an unexpected lesbian relationship, and Marco has an entire coming out arc to his goth friend Ellie). The characters in it were complicated and relatable, and the subject matter wasn't just fluff. Was this series a big part of anyone else's adolescent/teen years? Seeing Aubrey Graham's evolution into Drake was crazy, but as far as I'm concerned, he'll always be Jimmy.