With this week’s news that 31 year-old hottie Trevor Donovan will be joining the cast of 90210 as a new (ahem!) high school student at West Beverly High, this TV Addict thought now would be as good a time as any ask: Would you rather…

(a) Watch really good looking albeit slightly older actors playing high school students on some of your favorites shows such as 90210 and GOSSIP GIRL. Or (b) watch more age-appropriate actors, more along the lines of the ‘DEGRASSI model,’ a show which has become famous for casting actual high school students to play fictional ones.

The B**** of a living it ain’t. Especially when you get to spend a Monday night in Toronto hanging out with the cast of DEGRASSI and Toronto’s cast of SPRING AWAKENING.

But wait, there’s more! Rest assured, this post isn’t simply yet another excuse for the TV Addict to demonstrate his mad paparazzi skills. Really, hear me out.

Knowing full well that many of our fellow TV Addicts are Totally F***** thanks to this B**** of an economy, we’re thrilled to be able to offer up our very own Economic Stimulus Package. Tonight only, see the cast of DEGRASSI in Dog Sees God for whatever you can afford to pay.

The show starts at 7:30PM, and you can buy your tickets starting at 7PM at the theater, Six Degrees, 2355 Yonge Street just north of Eglinton Subway Station. For more on the show including pics, bios and video visit: dogseesgod.ca

As regular readers of theTVaddict.com know all to well, this TV Addict never misses an opportunity to shamelessly flaunt his random celebrity encounters. Which is why we’re sharing this photo with DEGRASSI’s Adamo Ruggiero (Marco), who was on hand at Six Degrees in Toronto last night to help promote his upcoming role (alongside fellow DEGRASSI stars Jake Epstein, Mike Lobel and Paula Brancati) in the critically acclaimed off-Broadway smash DOG SEES GOD, opening in Toronto March 13.

Click here for more great photos of your favorite DEGRASSI stars all grown up, as well as performance schedule and ticket.

So without further ado, I present The TV Addict’s Genuine For Real TV Scoop

DEGRASSI’s part time lesbian, reformed mean girl, pot-head cheerleader may be finally moving on to bigger and better things. Courtesy of some inside sources, the TV Addict has learned that Lauren Collins [Paige] has just signed onto the Nicole Sullivan [MAD TV, SCRUBS] Lifetime series RITA ROCKS.

Josh Friedman, Damon Lindeloff, Tim Kring, Carter Bays, Josh Schwartz, Greg Berlanti, Ronald D Moore, Key Grip, Best Boy, Kraft Services Chick, Executive bored at work, Publicist at Warner Bros, Director of Digital at FOX…. Got Scoop? Help a struggling TV Addict turn his fake blogging job into a reality. Email info@thetvaddict.com.

TheTVaddict.com will go to almost any length to score an interview. So when we heard DEGRASSI star Nina Dobrev was in our neighbourhood filming a movie. We decided there was only one thing we could use to attract her attention in the hopes of scoring an interview.

Now I know what you’re thinking. Clearly you utilized your dashing Brad-Pittesque good looks? Thanks, but there’s where you’d be wrong. We utilized the only sure fire weapon at our disposal. The one weapon in our arsenal guaranteed to attract the opposite sex. Enter the TV Addict’s adorable dog MAC.

The moment we walked by, Nina was not surprisingly hooked. And lucky for us, kind enough to take a few minutes out of her busy shooting schedule to answer a few questions (As long as she got to play with Mac after!)

Were you a fan of DEGRASSI before you auditioned for the show?
Nina Dobrev: I was of course familiar with the show and heard all the hype, but I didn’t really watch it because I didn’t have the time. Actually I am not the biggest TV person, I’m really into school, sports and gymnastics.

When you were cast on the show, did you immediately go rent the DVD’s to catch up?
Yeah, when I got the role I literally borrowed seasons one through five and watched them all back-to-back within a month or two.

And your favorite character was?
Jake Epstein.

It must have been nerve-wracking joining such an established show. How nervous were you?
As nervous as you can get. Meeting new people, making a good first impression, seeing the studio. It was strange. Just realizing that this one studio has everything — the mall, houses, the school.

How challenging was it to play a high school student with a child? How do you get into the mindset of a teenage mom?
It was challenging because it’s not me. I went to a lot of web sites that dealt with teenage pregnancy. I read a lot of stories about girls having to go through what Mia did [Mia is Nina's character on DEGRASSI]. There’s the alienation factor and there are all the stories and rumors, having everybody judge you. It isn’t easy.

What was it like dating JT on the show? Did you know prior to the start of the season that your boyfriend was going to die?
I didn’t have a clue! It was so strange. I started the show, got to know everybody, became friends, it was great. Then one day, Cassie Steele [Mannie] called me up after the read-through and was like, “JT died!”. I thought she was kidding, just joking around. But she’s like, “No, no, no, JT died!” I was shocked and was thinking, how could they not tell me? He’s my boyfriend on the show! And then it was like, did they really not like me that much? Are they trying to… were they trying to get rid of me!

Is it hard talking to friends, family, [intrepid reporters] about the show? Knowing that you don’t want to reveal anything big that may ruin a surprise.
Definitely — and last season I didn’t know that! I was so nervous, and once I think I mentioned an upcoming story-line that I shouldn’t have because I was so nervous. But you learn quickly and I’ve gotten much better at knowing what to say and what to keep a secret.

With that in mind, what can you spill about the new season?
Last season the show started to sponsor Feed the Children, so that’s going to play a big part in the show this year. There’s a plan to take some of the cast members to Africa where we will hopefully help build a school. It’s going to be amazing.

What challenges would you like to see Mia face this upcoming season?
I really want Mia’s stories to challenge her this season. Something that takes me outside of my comfort zone as an actress.

Every DEGRASSI star has a great ‘fan experience’ story. What’s yours?
Okay, my strangest fan experience was when I was in LA with Miriam [McDonald] and Cassie [Steele]. We were in a restaurant, and I went to the washroom and at one point when I walked out of the stall, this girl took a picture of me with her cell phone! And then after that, another girl came up to me and said, “Why did you kill JT?!” Obviously I was shocked… I didn’t kill JT! It’s a character and my character’s fictional. It was very strange.

The TV Addict is thrilled to report first that actor Daniel Clark will soon be trading in his signature wife-beater for threads more befitting an 1890’s German high school student. Word is that Clark is set to make his Broadway debut in the Tony Award winning musical SPRING AWAKENING come January 2008.

While SPRING AWAKENING will mark Clark’s Broadway debut, fans may be surprised to learn that it will not be his first musical experience. Clark started his career as ‘Chip’ in Toronto’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

Don’t believe that DEGRASSI’S most notable juvenile deliquent started his career off as a singing tea cup. Check back tomorrow for some photographic evidence.

On Monday the N celebrated it’s 5th Anniversary at the Marquee in New York City. While theTVaddict himself couldn’t attend, he did obtain some exclusive party photos. Click the link below to check out more of your DEGRASSI favourites, and congratulations to the N for five fantastic years.

Thanks to CobraSnake for the Pics!

Five-hundred teens from the New York City area will participate in the event. Teen specialist Dr. Tiffany Brown will also be on hand. According to a press release, the town hall “will focus on the issues of pressure, identity and love and how teens today vs. yester-year are grappling with young adulthood.”

The event will be recorded, and clips will go up on the teen-aimed site AOL Red and The-N.com, the home of the online home of the N Network where Degrassi is broadcast in the US, in mid-May.

As I sit here in LAX waiting for my flight to take me back to Toronto (moment of silence) I can’t help but wonder two things. First off, why don’t the LAX employees look nearly as good as the Heather Locklear/Blair Underwood ill-fated NBC series advertised. And two, since I’m going to be offline for quite a while, I better leave you all with one hell of a blind item to keep you entertained (and guessing) throughout the day.

So here’s what theTVaddict learned in Los Angeles. One of your favourite boys (or is it girls?) from DEGRASSI TNG was this close to having their career launched into the stratosphere. Turns out the actor (or is it actress!) in question was second choice for one of the leads in that little Disney Channel movie you may have heard of called HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL. Post away with your guesses as to who almost transferred from Degrassi High to East High.

Unfortunately one student didn’t learn a lesson and sadly won’t live to see another day. Last Tuesday, J.T. Yorke fell victim to a random act of violence. His stabbing death was senseless, shocking, and as most violent acts tend to be, incomprehensible.

Immediately following the episode, fans throughout the world leapt to the internet, posting messages of sadness, support and love for one of Degrassi’s most beloved students. Having literally grown up alongside J.T these past six years, fans were heartbroken. [ See Youtube Memorials here, here, here, and here. ]

Actor Ryan Cooley was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to talk to theTVaddict.com and reflect on his time at Degrassi and the death of J.T.

theTVaddict: When did you find out you’d be leaving DEGRASSI?
Ryan Cooley: I found out I was going to be leaving the show around April 2006, just before we started filming the new season.

Were you surprised to find out that your character was being killed, or was leaving the show something you asked for?
It did come as a surprise to me that my character was getting killed off the show. But at the time [early 2006], I was contemplating going to University and leaving the show, so it kind of came together nicely. My last episode was shot in August, and knowing that I wasn’t coming back made it easier for me to decide to go to university.

Was the fact that you were leaving a secret, or did the entire cast know?
We were trying to keep it very “hush hush,” so much so that we didn’t tell anyone on the set. The only people who knew that I was leaving was myself, my agent, the writers and DEGRASSI executive producer Linda Schuyler.

Was it hard keeping the secret from your castmates and friends?
Yeah it was pretty hard. It was especially hard for me not to tell my co-actors, because normally there are not a lot of secrets when it comes to story-lines. It was difficult to shoot from May to August without telling anybody, but I think that people kind of had an idea. It was going around the set that somebody was going to get killed off the show. But I tried to keep the secret as well as I could.

Did you have any input into how J.T. was going to be killed?
At the beginning of the season, they knew that they wanted a stabbing and that someone was going to die, so I really didn’t have any input into how the actual story-line was going to go. But I certainly had input as to how it went down when we did the read through.

Would you have preferred to leave the show ‘alive’ so that you’d be able to return to DEGRASSI as a guest star?
I think it was more exciting to leave the show with a bang. It was definitely a very big challenge to film the actual episode, as well as the episodes leading up to my characters death. In a way it was kind of cool to be that guy. J.T. was the first regular character that DEGRASSI has ever killed off.

But you don’t regret not being able to come back on say DEGRASSI: THE NEXT NEXT GENERATION? You didn’t want to be the new Mr. Simpson?
No I don’t think so, I don’t really want to come back as a ghost.

That was my next question actually! Will a ‘J.T. ghost’ pop up in a future episode to help guide another character, say Liberty?
I probably wouldn’t be happy playing J.T. as a ghost, it’s just not realistic. But there is an instance in which my character comes back, but not necessarily in an actual episode. I think something will be released very soon after the episode airs in the United States.

Were you surprised as to how quick and sudden J.T.’s stabbing was?
When we shot it that night, it took such a long time. That scene was under thirty seconds, but in reality, took four or five hours to shoot. When I watched it, it was definitely very fast, it was Bang! Then they cut to commercial. It was very shocking

I’ve heard that from a lot of people, how it was so random — but that’s how it is. You don’t lay there and confess your love, it doesn’t last for ten minutes. That kind of thing is fast and shocking and that’s what happened. It was what we were going for and I think we got it.

Were you on the set for your TV memorial?
No I wasn’t on the set for it. I actually watched it on TV for the first time on Tuesday just like everybody else. I’d never seen it before. Had I been there it might have been a bit weird.

As I as watching the memorial I kept wondering what they were going to do with the giant mural of your head?
[Laughing] I wonder what they’ll do with it, maybe auction it off! I certainly don’t want it.

You’ve been on DEGRASSI for six years. Fans have literally grown up with you. Do you ever watch your early episodes?
I have been lately. It’s definitely very odd. I was on the set the other day, and we were watching an old episode on the internet. My voice was like four octaves higher, I was like five foot nothing. We were all so young. I was only 12 years old when we first started. The fans have grown up watching me on the show, and I’ve grown up acting on the show.

Do you have a favourite episode?
My character’s gone through some truly crazy stuff. J.T.’s constantly getting into fights. Fighting in the Panther suit was fun, fighting Liberty’s brother Danny, I’ve fought so many people. One time we had to shoot a food fight which was pretty awesome.

But I’d probably say the death episode was my favourite one to shoot because it was such a huge challenge and a huge episode. That one I’m always going to remember.

One question numerous fans had was now that’s J.T.’s dead, who’s going to be the Degrassi Mascot?
Some poor soul [laughs].

J.T. wasn’t mentoring anyone behind the scenes?
Ummm… no. That mascot outfit just haunted me. It was the most horrible thing to have to wear. Sure it’s funny, but the audience doesn’t understand how hot it is. Some poor soul is going to have to take my spot, good luck to them!

I can’t end this interview without asking you about your strangest fan experience.
That’s easy! We used to do these crazy mall tours in the United States. I’ve been to Chicago, Los Angeles, Orlando, Tucson and New York. We’d arrive at these malls and have thousands of screaming girls waiting for us. I’m just a guy from Toronto Canada, having four thousand people coming up for your autograph, well it’s a huge honour.

One time we were in LA, and when we finished our session, we had to let 1000 people go because we couldn’t get out of the mall. When we told the people we were leaving, the crowd went nuts. The security guards had to create a human chain to get us out of there. Me and Adamo Ruggiero [Marco] were chased through JC Penny as we exited the mall. Fans were jumping out of clothing racks trying to touch us and get our photo. It was unbelievable.

So what’s next?
I’m actually studying theatre at the University of Toronto, so I’m definitely going to continue in the acting world. I’ve been working on TV and movies since I was eight years old. I thought now is a great time to explore my theatrical side. When school finishes in April, I’ll start auditioning and see if I can get anything in the summer.

Ryan, Thanks so much for your time. You should know that fans loved your character and your work on the show. You’ll definitely be missed.
I’ve been living with this since august, actually having the episode air now, it’s sad. Now it’s all over for real. It’s been a pretty emotional week, there’s been a lot of tears. But It was a great ride and I’ve got some amazing memories to look back on. Thanks.