Take a little test with me. Pretend you have been living under a rock these last let's say twelve years and do not know anything about television pop culture. So while perusing Netflix, a potential viewer would look at the above poster and go, oh...okay. Teenager Girl, pregnant, great image we are sending, folks. Now look at the picture below:
Okay, two girls look the same, maybe a show about sisters. Nope, same subject. A teenage girl gets pregnant and has a daughter, and as Gilmore Girls' Amy Sherman-Palladino discusses, "it's a mother-daughter show but they are more like best friends." Gilmore Girls which was shown on the former The WB network which is now known as The CW is much more of a cleaner viewing then Secret Life of an American Teeanger. Gilmore Girls focuses on Loralei Gilmore, a woman who embraces her mistakes and while her relationship with her own parents are terrible, she will not let her pride get in the way of making sure her daughter's future and her dreams of going to Harvard come true. Rory, the other protagonist of Gilmore Girls is really a great role model for "tweens." She reads, she's ambitious, she strives to do well in school for not just her family but for herself, and dreams of getting into Harvard. I absolutely adore Gilmore Girls, so feeling that this great formula that made Gilmore Girls so excellent I decided that I would try watching the first season of The Secret Life of an American Teenager, and all I can say is Oh boy!
First off, to address a typical misconstruction: Just because it airs on ABC Family, does not mean that it is clean. ABC Family tends to show extremely adult if not "dirtier" shows than The CW.
Summary:The Secret Life is certainly not a conception. The first scene of
the pilot episode is of an adult Molly Ringwald, star of great teen movies such
as Pretty in Pink and 16 Candles, talking to a fifteen year old girl who we assume
is her daughter coming home late from band campus. Their dialog is cutesy and
then, Amy, the protagonist goes into the bathroom, locks the doors and
takes out from underneath her band outfit a pregnancy kit. The test turns out
positive and Amy is devastated. The first volume of The Secret Life portrays Amy's journey of keeping the baby a
secret, her moral issue of debating whether or not to keep the baby or not, her
romance with her sweet boyfriend to take care of her even though it is not her
baby, and a tumultuous relationship with the baby's father. The characters in
this show are also really shocking. This is probably why this is on cable.
(Just a viewer opinion: In Gilmore Girls, the subject of abortion was only brought up once
and it was not even mentioned by name, it was just a standardized statement and
it was struck down immediately.)
Viewer Thoughts: Um...wow. Where to even begin? I was REALLY surprised how mature this show was and how many people love it. I can honestly not figure out why. The writing did not flow, the characters were not at all relate-able and I did not even feel that I could really want to root for the characters. The two characters I actually enjoyed were secondary characters and their plot, well it's extremely complicated for any tween viewer to comprehend, let alone an adult viewer. The subject matter that shocked me the most besides the debate over abortion, early teenage pregnancy, and dissolving family is that it included other issues of child abuse, the discussion of virginity, and religion and how VIVID these subject matter is. I enjoy watching Gilmore Girls, Vampire Diaries, and Gossip Girl and while sex is definitely portrayed like it means nothing, I cannot decide if that is almost better for tween or teen viewers because of the fact that it is not constantly on their mind. All that was talked about on The Secret Life was sex. It was absolutely crazy! I was so shocked that a show on ABC family could portray that.
Genre Level: DRAMA!
Interest Level: Mature Audiences
If you like this, than you'll like: Gilmore Girls, Someone Like You, Annie's Baby
Themes: Teenage Pregnancy, Teen Love, Teen Marriage, Religion, Virginity and abortion moral questions, Adoption Issues, Child abuse discussions, Promiscuity
Awards: Taken from Wikipedia...(I tried using IMDB, but there is a list a mile long, so, I borrowed this from Wikipedia:
"Accolades Throughout its four seasons, Secret Life has been nominated for several Teen Choice Awards, and won a Gracie Allen Award.[43] It won a Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer TV Show during its premiere season.[44] In 2009, it was nominated for three Teen Choice Awards, including Choice TV Show Drama, Choice TV Breakout Show, and Choice Summer TV. Kenny Baumann was nominated for Choice TV Actor Drama and Choice Summer TV Star: Male, Shailene Woodley was nominated for Choice TV Actress Drama and Choice Summer TV Star: Female, Daren Kagasoff was nominated for Choice TV Breakout Star Male and won Choice Summer TV Star Male,[45] and Molly Ringwald and Mark Derwin were nominated for Choice TV Parental Unit.[46] A Gracie Allen Award was awarded to the show for Outstanding Drama in 2009.[43] In 2010, the show was nominated as a Favorite TV Obsession at the 2010 People's Choice Awards; Shailene Woodley won a 2010 Gracie Award for Outstanding Female Rising Star in a Drama Series;[47][48] the show was nominated as the Choice Summer TV show at the 2010 Teen Choice Awards; Ken Baumann and Daren Kagasoff were nominated as the Choice Male Summer TV Star; and Shailene Woodley was also nominated as the Choice Female Summer TV Star.[49]"
Series Information: There are five seasons in this show. No spinoffs are planned. I am not sure the fate of the characters.
Bibliographic Information:
The Secret Life of an American Teenager. (2008). ABC Family. Shailene Woodley, Molly Ringwald, Ken Bauman. Created by Brenda Hampton (7th Heaven)
Gilmore Girls. (2000). The WB/The CW. Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel, Kelly Bishop, Richard Herman. Created by Amy Sherman-Palladino.
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