Canadian imports straight from The N

So after months of not writing about things like Marco almost becoming a hooker (almost), Bones being my new favorite show ever (thanks, Hulu), Cally shuffling off Battlestar's mortal coil (yay!) and David Cook maybe being my new rocker boyfriend (shut up), I can no longer be silent. Sound dramatic? Yeah, that's what the Chef thought when I breathlessly told her about Degrassi's Darcy landing on the new 90210 (originally written by Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas!). She was like "You realize you're not actually friends with Darcy, right?" Like I would be friends with Darcy after she accused Snake of bad touching. Oh who am I kidding? If Paige can forgive new roomie for not disclosing his HIV status before knocking boots, I can forgive ol' Darce.

But Darcy's new zipcode isn't the end of the good news. If you haven't been living under a rock, then you know Lucille Bluth is playing the faded star alcoholic grandma, but you may not realize that Tristan Wilds AKA Michael from The Wire is playing Darcy's brother. Did you ever think Degrassi and The Wire would collide anywhere except my brain? Me neither!

Speaking of unexpected things, remember The Best Years? No? Consider yourself lucky. My memory is not as spotlessly forgiving. So, it looks like Devon (Brandon Jay McLaren) will be skipping anger management in order to appear on CBS's mysterious Harper's Island. I don't know if he's a series regular, but it looks like a show with a body count and I wouldn't mind watching Devon get snuffed.

Also from The Best Years is Ashley Newbrough (ooky Sloane) on How to Survive the Filthy Rich. That's her in the yellow. I found her fairly underwhelming on her old show so I'll be interested to see if she can hold her own opposite Bionic Woman's spunky little sis Lucy Hale (also pictured). And since it's a new CW show, she'll also get to share the screen with Cliff/Zach/Grant from Hidden Palms/The OC/Smallville. Warner Brothers really is just dying to make Michael Cassidy a star (in someone's eyes other than the Former Subletter).

The hardest working girl on The N

I'm as happy as the next Canadian 13 year-old that Cassie Steele (Degrassi's Manny Santos) has joined Season Four of Instant Star, but does she have to have such bad hair? I get that her character is named Blu, but not even Pink takes her name that literally anymore. And it really does nothing for her olive complexion. Don't even get me started on her new Degrassi hair. Blonde with mini bangs? The only explanation that I can come up with involves her and Emma merging into one hormonal, sorta slutty pregnancy scare waiting-to-happen. Her hair on the Best Years was fairly normal (save the scenes with the Wonder Woman tiara), but her character has disappeared and so has my interest in the show. Not even Paige ODing on coke and twitching on the floor was enough to stifle my yawn.

The Best/Worst Years

So The Best Years went from promising to bad to so bad it's awesome. In last week's episode, they were all at a pep rally and some jock refused to let Samantha (that's her with the brown hair and the bangs) see superstar jock Devon (dread dude) unless she proved her school spirit by jumping over a lame ass bonfire. Seriously. And she was all set (with everyone chanting after Devon announced her totally awesome intentions to the crowd), but she stopped short and Devon looked like "Man, you really don't love me if you're unwilling to jump over fire for me. Bitch." Then his actual girlfriend Shannon (not pictured) pathetically leapt over the flames and into his arms. It was so lame that I watched it three times. And it didn't stop being funny.

Then the shit got even better. Devon and Samantha both PHYSICALLY ATTACKED their romantic rivals for each others affection and sweet nerdy Cynthia (not pictured) got super drunk after seeing her crush Noah (far left) kiss Samantha and said to Sam: "In Sammy's world, everything's just peachy...she gets whatever and whoever the hell she wants. Well Sam, guess what, in Cynthia's world, I see through your lies and if I could go back in time, you would have died that night and not John. You would have cracked your head on the hard ground. You. You stupid, self-obsessed, backstabbing bitch." I know! And while all that was going on, a scene from the show-within-the-show, Bel Air High, was playing and in THAT, Manny from Degrassi was coming onto Snaps (the chick with the curly hair). And that's when I knew that there was no way for me to turn away from a masterpiece like The Best Years.

When a good show goes bad, it's called jumping the shark. This episode of The Best Years inspired the Subletter to coin a new phrase: Jumping the fire. It's for that special moment when a bad show becomes legendary (see: Hill, One Tree).

This week was even better. There was an actually good storyline involving Snaps and the Bartender (the dude pictured with her in the middle) finding out that their beloved Lee is HIV positive. Snaps and Bartender are my favorite characters (and the best actors) but I totally don't know their actual character names. Weird. Anyway, the rest of the hour was a countdown to Cynthia's living up to the promos and trying to kill herself. Unfortunately, the character is mentally ill and was most likely molested by her dad and no matter how you come at that (even with bad acting and crazy behavior) that's not hilarious. But you know what is hilarious? Samantha literally trying to talk Cyn off a ledge with this bon mot: “If you do this, it’ll be all my fault. It will mess me up forever if I have to watch you do this.” Cynthia was right. She is a self-obsessed bitch.

Similar Show Smackdown: Greek vs. The Best Years

Both shows are about college, but the similarities don't stop there! They each feature a campus celebrity, a token black dude, a shaggy lothario with a heart of gold and a girl who gets into a sorority despite mugging down with the boyfriend of one of her future sisters. So who will win in this cable TV fight-to-the-death?
Rusty and Casey, the brother/sister stars at the forefront of Greek, are pretty damn perfect. They have a sweet sibling chemistry that I really buy and I'm already invested in the variety of characters that fill out their lives. I love the subtext-laden, but all smiles talk that Casey had with the pledge who unapologetically screwed Casey's boyfriend as well as the loyalty of Rusty's new brothers. Sure they kept him up all night doing light gardening in the backyard, but they're not going to let him flunk a pre-requisite for his major. Some of the sorority girls are a little cartoonish (mostly the president), but for the most part, Greek's an honest portrayal of the college life I experienced (though for the record, I was not in a sorority).

Other things I was not in college: a former foster child who witnessed and was tempted to cover up a death on the first day of school. The Best Years had an impressive pilot, but the following episodes have been a little on the meh side. The wad has been blown on the will they/won’t they relationship between Samantha and Devon. I’m dreading the future storylines that revolve around a couple that I actively dislike as a pair. I suppose it’s asking too much for our heroine to notice a sweetie like Noah, who despite looking 30, has won my heart. Who else do I love against my better judgment? Dawn and Trent with their actual will they/won’t they tension. And now that Kathryn’s ceased her inexplicable war against Samantha, maybe she won’t make me wanna gouge my own eyes out.

Here's what it comes down to, kids: honestly good TV vs. Canadian(?) Teenage Melodrama. I love both, but while I’m watching The Best Years for the veiled references to and guest appearances by cast members of Degrassi, I'll be watching Greek because I’m genuinely want to spend time with these characters.

Color me surprised

Instant Star must have sucked away my good will when it came to the folks over at The N 'cause I didn't have high hopes for The Best Years. Then I heard Lauren Collins of Degrassi would play a recurring character and I figured I'd give it a chance. LC doesn't appear in the pilot, but it's actually quite good.

The story revolves around an orphan who's been in fostercare since her parents' death ten years ago. Now she's moving on up from a foster home in Southie to a Harvard-like university where her classmates include a status-conscious roomie, a nerdy Asian chick, a basketball player with Wallace Fennel syndrome (short, but allegedy awesome) and the star of an overwrought teen drama that bears more than a passing resemblence to Degrassi (her character's name was Snaps Ortega).

The characters are well-drawn and more three dimensional than a lot of teen shows (Hidden Palms, I'm talking to you), the plot took dark turns I certainly didn't see coming, and it makes a nice companion to the summer episodes of Degrassi. That said, Samantha looked a little wobbly on her moral high horse towards the end of the episode, but being a little bit of an asshole is kind of what college is all about.

The pilot episode is currently available in The N's online media player, The Click, at the-n.com