Degrassi Gets The Breakfast Club, Victorious Doesn't

[@StardustNovaChannel]

In fairness, Victorious is more of a comedy. I think it was really meant to be a parody. The foot thing was really weird. I've always suspected Dan Schneider of being creepy.

[@NotAVampyre]

I understand it being a comedy. Like I say in the video, my problem is that what it chose to turn into gags only shows how little it understands the film it's referrencing.

[@NotAVampyre]

Is that true? I only started hearing whispers about Schneider after I stopped watching tv.

[@kaysimming7775]

@@NotAVampyre There's been a lot of people who claim Schneider was very creepy. Especially towards Ariana Grande. On their website "The Slap" where they'd put gags and outtakes from Victorious whenever Cat made a video it was always filmed at a weird angle, with her on the bed. There's a bunch of her having to touch her feet and one I think she even sucked on her toe and I've seen past people who have worked with him say it's because he has a foot fetish and liked Ari. I don't know if it's true since it's never been confirmed, but it definitely makes watching the show harder when you see how many sex jokes they have in it. Also, Ariana doesn't seem uncomfortable around him, in the reunion she seemed very comfortable and she's said before that the cast mainly still talks to him.

[@NotAVampyre]

Big hmmmmmm

[@simsrock9982]

@@kaysimming7775 also in Iparty with victorious Spencer called Tori hot when he saw her picture on the slap, he's a grown man ....

[@oofieoof1474]

the fact that sean came back later and had absolutely no feelings for ellie after they DATED still pisses me off. i love sean and emma, but sean and ellie deserves better. smh

[@NotAVampyre]

Eh, I understand why Sean felt that way, just wish he didn't cuz Sellie>Semma

[@lanae2450]

That’s because he knew who he wanted and was meant to be with... tbh Ellie was just a distraction and they were wayyy to young to be moving in with each other and stuff, they were moving way to fast and that’s why I knew they weren’t going to stay together. They weren’t meant to be🤷🏽‍♀️

[@ashhes6686]

Theres a Degrassi mini where he comes back with an E tattoo. Everyone thought it was E for Elli but it was always Emma

[@ryanb45]

With Ellie now at university and Sean still at Degrassi it would have been difficult for the writers to revisit this relationship.

[@ryanb45]

@@ashhes6686 Ellie also pretty well dumped Sean in the first part of that minisode.

[@michellesakura1]

Oh man I loved that Degrassi episode. Especially the connection between Sean and Ellie. I wish they lasted longer too.

[@NotAVampyre]

Saaaame. Sellie>Semma

[@GamingtheOtter]

Victorious shines more in its music than its high school storylines. Also while stardust is right that Victorious is a comedy it does undermine the classic breakfast club unlike degrassi that actually understands the topic.

[@VidWatcher01]

Anyone remember the Breakfast Club parody on Lizzy McGuire? It was only Lizzy, Kate & one of the nerdy characters all serving dentention butnit was only 3 as oppose to 5 like the movie. There also a group in the 2000s the Abba Teens that did a parody TBC too. They even had the actor that played V.P. Vernon to reprise the role

[@NotAVampyre]

Interesting. Unfortunately I didn't have cable when Lizzy McGuire was running and I was only aware of the show at the tail end.

[@ryanb45]

Take On Me actually introduced me to The Breakfast Club. I made the effort after watching Degrassi to actually watch the film which I loved. Take On Me may be my favourite episode of the franchise. I loved the beginning of Sean and Ellie's very unique and loving relationship and Jimmy and Hazel was a great addition to the show.

[@NotAVampyre]

Much agreed

[@musiclover_kb4913]

It also ended Jimmy and Sean's rivalry, which is always nice. Unfortunately, these 2 characters NEVER interacted again after that

[@ryanb45]

@@musiclover_kb4913 which is understandable IMO. Their no longer enemies but their still not friends.

[@sathanamuraleetharan8871]

i've been rewatching degrassi this past week so your videos popped up in my recommendations, and i've spent the past hour or so watching your degrassi videos and i love love *love* them!!!! your analysis is spot on and so fascinating to listen to. love your work!

[@lastdayonearthmysteryman4849]

Funny enough when does episode aired of Victorious Degrassi was being aired on Nickelodeon.

[@miadanielle3462]

I feel like the difference is that Victorious was a show full of many one-off plot lines, there was never any continuity so the characters never really had any development unlike DTNG. Take on Me was better for that reason, we knew the characters as individuals and we knew that they would never normally hang out which is why it worked. In Victorious the main characters hung out everyday even if they didn't like each other which I feel is why Take on Me is superior

[@bcrunch4232]

I feel like Victorious tried too hard. But still messed up. Also it’s even better as the old degrassi shows and breakfast club are from the same time period more or less.

[@NotAVampyre]

Perhaps tried too hard to appeal to very young kids.

[@bcrunch4232]

@@NotAVampyre yeah good point. Also I made an edit to my comment when I realized that old degrassi and breakfast club were from the same time period basically.

[@zilatrah012]

I absolutely hated Victorious's parody of the Breakfast Club. It was neither funny/entertaining. And I don't know what possessed them to parody an R rated film and their G rated substitutions were really stupid e.g. vegan for virgin and tacos for weed.

[@heavenlygal101]

Great commentary, and insights here. Thanks for sharing them with these comparisons. While I have never done an official ranking of Degrassi: TNG episodes... 3.16; Take on Me has got to be one of my favourites, out of all 14 seasons. Top 10 for sure, maybe even top 5... Degrassi did a perfect job with this one at paying homage, and also parodying the classic movie. And, they still stayed true to with each respective character, and natural progression of relationships and friendships.

[@NotAVampyre]

Awg I could rave about this episode for days! And thank you!

[@Memekyu]

Christ I remember when Victorious did that episode. "Are you a VEEGAAAN?" -_-

[@NotAVampyre]

Yeah....def didn't love that on a rewatch. While the joke is "vegan sounds like virgin!", the way they perform it suggests being a vegan is somehow bad. Not in the "society has odd values" way Breakfast Club discussed virginity, but in a way that suggests Cat amd Robbie are better off now that they eat meat.

[@turtlemanfromgatherspond6382]

To be fair degrassi is way better written than victorious.

[@mannygracioppo7868]

common W

[@macyg]

Take on Me is definitely one of the best Degrassi episodes ever. I liked Victorious when I was kid but a lot of those shows (Disney too) just aren't good when you go back and revisit them.

[@NotAVampyre]

I haven't rewatched many shows, but I suspect this to be the case for me too. The brand of humor just isn't funny to me, and having seen better media now, I don't get much out of them as stories either.

[@lisah8438]

Lizzie McGuire and That's So Raven are shows that I revisit a lot. Am I old?

[@NotAVampyre]

Eh we're all old

[@isaactheworshipwarrior6687]

After watching the Breakfast Club, what REALLY kills Victorious' parody of it is that they're forced to dial it back. Replace the lines, replace secrets and events, and the ones they chose were so cringeworthy. Especially the foot boe and arrow given that that's Dan Schneider's trademark

[@hostileX7]

Popping arm pim-?! LMAO WtF? Just gloss right over that bit 😆!

[@NotAVampyre]

I don't want to talk about it. It's too much. X(

[@dktro8831]

Something ive noticed about the differences with both are that the Degrassi version is a tribute to the movie that is inspired by the movie, as in it takes the situation of the movie and makes it its own thing. Where as like you said the Victorious version is straight up parody that doesnt land. I say that because with the victorious "parody" it only works if the vewier has already seen the Breakfast Club, where with the Degrassi one you do not need to have seen the Breakfast Club to enjoy it or even get its message

[@NotAVampyre]

Id still say the Victorious episode doesn't work even if you've seen the movie because the jokes aren't made any funnier or enriched. It's just being shown a bunch of knock offs and low brow references under the assumption you'll like it because you've seen the movie.

[@dktro8831]

@@NotAVampyre oh i definitely agree with you that even if you seen the Breakfast Club you wont fimd it funny, youll get the jokes, but you wont laugh

[@Kevin-rg3yc]

Victorious along with other dan Schindler Nickelodeon shows are shows that want to have their cake and eat it too meaning they want to be kid friendly but also be edgy at the same time, that’s why I always like Disney channel shows better like Lizzie McGuire, that’s so raven, the suite life of zack and Cody, etc that know a balance to be part of the channel brand of being kid/family friendly but also have great social commentary to teach its younger audience a lesson.

[@michellesakura1]

That's So Raven was legit. they tackled real life issues, especially on that black history month episode

[@Kevin-rg3yc]

michelle mayhem ohh I love that episode as well as the modeling episode on body image and eating disorders when raven got her dress used in a high end fashion show but she wasn’t able to be the model for it

[@NotAVampyre]

Man. Maybe I need to go back and rewatch some That So Raven. I remember liking it as a kid, but haven't seen it since.

[@musiclover_kb4913]

Agreed, which goes back to the stance I've always had, that Disney Channel was better at live-action shows while Nickelodeon was better at cartoons.

[@derekwilliams1660]

Degrassi did the homage the right way down to Raditch wearing the exact same suit that Vernon wore in the breakfast club. Victorious was just way off. Maybe it's because I'm more of a degrassi fan though.

[@pineapplechanproductions292]

Funny how two TeenNick/The N shows did the same concept in different ways, one good the other... could’ve needed some improvement.

[@idontkniw7992]

It’s weird victorious was aired on Nickelodeon but degrassi was was aired in teen nick and to me degrassi did a better job at recreating the breakfast club than victorious

[@TheJrockfreak]

To be honest I had forgotten that Degrassi did a breakfast club episode, I did really enjoy the Victorious one tho but great video as always now ill go rewatch the Degrassi one

[@NotAVampyre]

Yeah, I enjoyed the Victorious one when it originally aired, but have obvoiusly greatly turned on it.

[@uwu1234-i6j]

Only 10 miles metaphorical boomer? I'll have you know that Lou Pickles walked 15 MILES to school and back in the snow with his 15 sisters that shared one doll before he fought in WWII for 15 years until he got a badge of honor! And he was narcoleptic! Seriously though, I hate when adults in the gen x and boomer generation always make fun of millennials and gen z for their problems and struggles. They sound as ridiculous as the cartoon reference I made. We not have to deal with walking to school, but we're dealing with the world on the brink of WWIII with a chance of a nuclear holocaust coming out of it, a pandemic, literally reverting back the fifties where human rights was a privilege, etc. And every time these people write something to younger generations it's always a "suck it up, you don't know suffering like us" attitude as if being young gives a no excuse. Well if you didn't contribute to the world going to hell then we could actually enjoy our youth.

[@NotAVampyre]

The thing is that this has been true for all generations. At some point, your generation stops being "those derned kids" and turn into the ones crying "git off my lawn!" It's an easy trap to fall into because most people aren't concerned about remembering what it was like to be young. They just let themselves get caught up in how they feel today.

[@oooh19]

A lot of social rules and norms are stupid though

[@Boy-in4jr]

Actually the vice principal appears in the game and has a main role

[@NotAVampyre]

Wait, there's a game?!

[@Nobody123]

You hit the nail on the head. The breakfast brunch was a one off joke, and this is coming from a Victorious fan. It was meant as a straight up parody and never took itself or the source material seriously. Be sure not to invest yourself too emotionally about this, because the breakfast bunch certainly didn’t. Btw, how old were you when you watched Victorious? I was 13 when it premiered in 2010 and 16 when it ended in 2013, and it is one of my all-time favorite nostalgic shows. Some of it holds up today, but the breakfast bunch was definitely not a fan favorite.....

[@NotAVampyre]

Lets see... in 2013 I was 18, so I guess I watched it round ages 16-18 or so. I remember seeing the pilot but not the end of the show

[@RandomPerson-tq5mz]

Honestly one of my favourite Degrassi episodes

[@NotAVampyre]

Saame and for good reason. So solid

[@JamieJonas-ed7sx]

On Nickelodeon when the have Kids/teenagers shows. They can’t have bad words on Nickelodeon at all. That’s why they change it to different words so that’s why they did that. So kids want here bad words at all. When they grew up they can here bad words from different shows like freefarm, and ncis and csi and law and Oder.

[@NotAVampyre]

Degrassi is the same though, but instead of using ridiculous words that become a sort of swear in themselves, they write around such terms. They use other means to express big emotions

[@lolazola7068]

Victorious is a comedy... That's all I have to say XD

[@NotAVampyre]

Comedy and nuanced adaptation aren't mutually exclusive.

[@lolazola7068]

@@NotAVampyre ok, but it's more than obvious that almost every episode of Victorious was comedy fueled. That made it quite obvious even behind the scenes that it was a parody.

[@NotAVampyre]

Not all comedy is made equally is the point. A better assessment is that Victorious' low brow, lowest common denominator brand of jokes was never going to allow them to make an inoffensive parody of the breakfast club rather than the problem being that it's a comedy in general. It's not impossible to make jokes while making sure to respect the heart of the thing you're parodying.

[@lolazola7068]

@@NotAVampyre It's not even that deep tbh, Victorious was geared towards kids and preteens who watched it for the laughs. It's not supposed to be a tribute and or anything rather than what it was. This comment seems to be more of a personal opinion rather than looking at the clear obvious. The jokes have nothing to do with anything themselves except to be funny. And the Breakfast Club itself is what it is, not a Nickelodeon show and or comedy. Doing something for a kids show doesn't always have to be in depth.

[@oooh19]

Robbie was so adorable though why did his friends treat him like crap 💩

[@NotAVampyre]

Because apparently hurting your friends is funny TV

[@oooh19]

@@NotAVampyre yea but they pick on him in particular and doesnt seem like good natured ribbing and it's not like they all pick on each other equally. friends dont always get along but its just directed at 1 person

[@KimHanBee]

Could you do a video on Winston from degrassi? on what you think about the character?

[@NotAVampyre]

Ill have to find an angle I find interesting for him, especially since he didn't really stand out for me. I did talk about how he wasn't that good of a friend to Miles in this video a while back: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rXKWe6aefc15hMk

[@KimHanBee]

NotAVampyre thank you, I myself found him very interesting as a character but not very special in the series itself. I will watch the video you linked^^ sounds very interesting

[@NotAVampyre]

Out of curiosity, what did you find interesting about him?

[@KimHanBee]

NotAVampyre I think Winston is generally a nice character. In the first episodes of degrassi i feel like he was just a “side kick” for miles, he had nothing trivial going on, so many people weren’t really interested in him(I think). I like that he’s trying nice to almost everyone, being called the “nice guy” and whenever he displays some kind of flaw he tries to fix it. Like when he cheated on Frankie or when that one happening with Goldie occurred. When he was so accepting of Zoe coming out to him it just warmed my heart, how he tried being as nice as possible when she explained to him that she was gay. I don’t necessarily find him interesting as in “ooh this character has developed much over the years on degrassi and is very remberable”, I think I just like the nice character types and wanna see what others think about him. When I ask other people who like degrassi they usually only remember that he had been together with Frankie and nothing more. I don’t know if I remember everything correctly tho hehe I’m sorry if it sounds weird I’m bad at explaining what I mean

[@SkyeID]

the laugh track on Victorious was so half-hearted. It's like the laughers really phoned it in.

[@majestyxo]

To be fair victorious was meant to be a joke parody of it, but if you haven’t watched the actual movie none of it would make sense, like when I first watched the victorious episode I was like “how did he get high on tacos” “whys jade bullying cat and Robbie for being a vegan and whys everyone so defensive” there was a lot of funny parts, like when tori ran around the school shouting the make it shine lyrics but besides those it didn’t make sense or anything, plus they changed it to stupid things, like virgin as vegan and weed as tacos

[@ambiguouslybrown5951]

The victorious episode was a joke it’s not that deep lmao and neither is the original breakfast club

[@NotAVampyre]

I cannot agree that the original Breakfast Club isn't deep. Can you elaborate?

[@ambiguouslybrown5951]

NotAVampyre The breakfast club isn’t that deep because high school isn’t that deep. High school doesn’t suck because everyone has some hidden depth that’s not being recognized it sucks because it’s a bunch of teenagers imitating our already flawed adult society. I like the film for what it is but I just don’t think it’s that deep

[@NotAVampyre]

10:50

[@gabriellad7843]

Degrassi’s was way better than Victorious’. Take On Me was more realistic about high school and The Breakfast Bunch wasn’t funny. The actors weren’t acting like their normal characters and they were making fun of Vegans and talking about it like it’s a bad thing. I know Victorious is a kids show, but they could’ve been a little more realistic like Degrassi.

[@NotAVampyre]

Being a kids show is no excuse for being bad and downright spiteful

[@gabriellad7843]

NotAVampyre I’m not sure why they thought being vegan was bad and embarrassing

[@NotAVampyre]

Because veagan sounds like virgin and that's all

[@xxthatsnotmexx]

If you look at every show Dan Schneider was involved in and look at it from a point of view as now an adult...it's disturbing. It is very well documented that Dan Schneider did a lot of very wrong things to the young girl actors. Fun fact: Dan got his start on a show from the 1980's called "Head of the Class" he was actually pretty good imo and it's really sad to see what he became.

[@NotAVampyre]

I shudder to return to other Schneider shows. Watched a Drake and Josh Christmas special and it was horrific. Then add the abuse of those involved and.....

[@xxthatsnotmexx]

@@NotAVampyre yeah, it's really sick.

[@SMP2390]

Unfortunately Victorious was on the Nickelodeon machine which is goofy and funny for children because that's all they want it's nearly a teen show most times. The fanbase is because of the songs and characters but the plot episodes is goofy that's what they want.

[@dboiiw0nd3rr25]

well what u expect from victorious... I mean they literally parodied a Rared R film from the 80s that most kids at the time probably wouldn't know. Very Odd choice but it is a childrens show comedy don't think they cared for the nuance

[@NotAVampyre]

The thing that bothers me is that it feel like the script writers just didn't care (unless it was about writing fetish things). It's so clear to me that this wasn't an impossible task considering Degrassi could figure it out, but Victorious instead openly mocks the intelligence of those who watch it, claiming it can't be better because it's made for kids.

[@haventimoney8726]

I'm sorry but this is the first time I've seen your face since I found your channel and you look a lot like my old music teacher, just with shorter hair. But I swear you look a lot like her.

[@NotAVampyre]

Huh. Cool. I wish I could teach music

[@CutterHistorical]

U didnt touch on the cornyness of Degrassis episode "Its a Swiss ball from Switzerland!" Dont worry I liked ur video

[@NotAVampyre]

Part of me wanted to, but I half forgot and half felt the other stuff was more important. I think I'd put that scene in the background of when I talked about the silliness of Degrassi if I could redo this video.

[@starsurvivor]

Why is your video game collection my game collection?

[@NotAVampyre]

Are you my twin? 0.0

[@katiefedele1813]

How do you feel about the Lizzie McGuire episode imitating the breakfast club?

[@NotAVampyre]

I actually didn't know they had one since I didn't watch much Lizzie McGuire growing up.

[@hectorgauna350]

I think riverdale’s parody of the breakfast club was the worst and very cringy

[@NotAVampyre]

.....no....don't tempt me to watch.....Riverdale *shudders*

[@Simone-xj3nu]

Homage vs parody

[@NotAVampyre]

I'd say good homage vs bad parody is more precise. The biggest difference between the two is who gets the source material

[@KaioMichiru22]

That's how parody works. You need to understand the differences between genres

[@NotAVampyre]

Categorizing something as a parody doesn't automatically make it a good parody or shielded from criticism.

[@VampwolfWarrior]

Honestly I hated the Breakfast Club, but I absolutely love Take On Me.

[@NotAVampyre]

Why's that?

[@VampwolfWarrior]

@@NotAVampyre I thought it was pretty boring and I didn't like how some of the characters were treated, especially Claire. I get why people love it, but it just wasn't for me.

[@hodonyassin9760]

Take on me is one of my face episodes of Degrassi!

[@NotAVampyre]

Yeah, I think it's towards the top for me too.

[@hodonyassin9760]

@@NotAVampyre ;D

[@theprodigy9617]

Victorious epsiode way way better

[@NotAVampyre]

why's that?