The Secret Life of the American Teenager – Retrospective review

This week I’ve spent some time catching up with a series that plenty of people had raved to me about, that show is The Secret Life of the American Teen. The series follows the character of Amy Juergens, a 15 year old girl who finds herself pregnant after her first and only sexual experience with the schools bad boy.

The series is your typical high school drama. There’s the usual cast of genre filling characters, the bad boy, the good boy, the bad girl, the good girl and all those in between. It hasn’t stood out to me in any way as being special, though I have to admit, I can’t stop watching.

It feels as though they’re handling the issue of teen pregnancy in a way that perhaps belittles the issue. It also feels as though all the girls in the cast are sniffling morons, all vying for the affections of men, be it daddy issues or boyfriend issues. By the time you reach midway through season one you’ll be cringing that the ’smart’ friend wants to be seduced by the bad boy to prove to the other friend she’s ‘hotter’ and that there is not one redeeming female character in the show, as they all pander to the many male douchbags in the series (Ben and Leo aside)… gag me with a spoon. If this show is aimed at young girls, the message here is all terribly skewed.

Teen star Molly Ringwald stars as the main characters mom, which just makes me feel old, I mean when did Molly Ringwald become a mom! To add to this aging pain, one of the other moms is Josie Bissett of Melrose Place fame. The characters are almost one dimensional, which makes watching painful at times. Amy’s dad – played by Mark Dermin – is a complete tool who belays blame onto his wife for being a cheat and liar. Amy’s mom – Molly Ringwald – is the doting mom with the cheating husband, pregnant daughter and younger child who dislikes her because she made her dad cheat and leave home. Oh please.

Another issue with the characterizations is there seems to be little continuity both in story and at times character subplots. This makes the characters feel shallow as they become caricatures of type (the loving mom, the cheating dad, the tortured teen, the boy whore, the jock, the bible basher etc).

Would I suggest you go out and watch The Secret Life of the American Teenager? No, though that is wholly dependent on your own personal likes and dislikes. If you’re a fan of shallow teen drama with fairly one dimensional characters, you’re probably going to love this show. As stated I usually like my series with more depth, both in story and characters, but I can’t stop watching, it’s like some sort of addictive guilty non pleasure.

If you love teen ‘drama’, who knows, why not give the first two episodes a try and if you’re not liking it by then, or – like me – find yourself hitting play in a zombie like fashion on the next episode, go rent My So Called Life for some real teen angst.