The Secret Life of the American Teenager

Amy Juergens (Shailene Woodley) is a teen band geek who got pregnant in band camp. This is a high school soapy drama with a whole bunch of young actors. They're all good actors. The fact is a lot of the characters are whiny and gossipy. The older actors who played the parents include Steve Schirripa, Mark Derwin, Molly Ringwald, and Josie Bissett.

This is sometimes slow and tiresome. I don't think the actors are at fault. It's all in the writing. The characters talk a lot, and a lot until they start talking in circles. They keep going over the same issues again and again. Usually it's relationship issues with each other. For some reason, it's quite addictive bad TV.

If it wasn't for Mr. Jurgans, the show wouldn't have kept me interested. Such a poorly written show. I think it has good intentions but the acting is bad. BAD. The lines are very repetitive. They say something and then repeat it just in a different order. Over and over. Every episode, every season. All the characters. It's annoying. The word sex is said probably over 50 times every episode. I understand it's basically the main topic but it's overdone. There's not much depth to the show. Amy is a miserable, miserable character. I just want to scream at her to shut up and look at how lucky she is and just be happy and complaining allllll the time. Her 2 "best friends" are not believable. They're not even good friends. Well neither is Amy. The little sister Ashley has her moments. She's funny sometimes but most of the time she mainly is just a little brat and I wanna slap her. I wish they'd have given Jack more story lines. He's basically there just to beg Grace for sex. Over, and over, and over... Adrian is hit or miss. You like her for a few episodes and then shes horrible. Over and over.. I think my favorite part of the show might be when Ricky matures and the main Dads character. He makes the episodes. Great sense of humor. Very likable. If it wasn't for the 2 of them I might have given up a while ago. I know for most people they still won't make it very far. I really don't even know how to explain this show or review it honestly. I'm shocked it lasted 7 seasons. I guess preteen fans kept it running. Not shocked to see that really no one has much work after this show.. except Shaliene really.. and Grace who's in talentless hallmark movies now. (Not all hallmark actors are talentless though, I do adore a fair amount of them) I just felt like there could have been so much more potential with this show had maybe different people been behind the scenes and people worked with the actors a little more to make them better. Sorry this was a horribly written review. Just as horrible as the show. Haha but really, if you're like 13, you'll probably like the show.. until the very end.. can you even call it an end!?

I agree with what a lot of people are saying, it's clichéd and preachy, BUT I also find in completely fascinating. That's my opinion, of course, but the whole premise is fairly new for TV. Sure, sure, we have about a bazillion lifetime movies about underage girls having babies, their parents wanting them to give the baby up or have an abortion and the father of the baby wanting or not wanting to be in the picture. But I can't recall watching a TV show about it.

For such a young cast, they're not half bad with the acting. Shailene Woodley is very cute, as far as annoying, well, I hate to break it to you, but she plays the typical fifteen year old, to a 'T'. She seems selfish and vain and emotional, because, stereotypically (which this show is all about, stereotypes), she is the perfect example of a fifteen year old, and to top the sundae off, she's pregnant. Ken Baumann is absolutely adorable. He's the perfect boy next door, geek chic, that a girl would like to have around. The rest of the cast is on the ball, for the most part. Molly Ringwald is a little stiff in my eyes, but that could be because I'm so use to watching her in her 80's glory.

The Characters are pretty much predictable and completely set in their stereotypical roles, and there are moments where you want to slap every single one of them. I don't remember being like that at 15, but that was way back in the day. Ricky... Ricky just blows my mind, that boy needs to be hosed down. And for most of the episodes I want to beat Adrian with a stick. But Amy's two gossiping gal pals crack me up, and the adorableness of Henry and Ashley (individually/together) is entertaining. The parents are all having just as much drama as their kids, which is somewhat mind blowing, but it leads to an entertaining quality.

Personally, I love it, my brand new addiction for the season. It's mind blowing, especially when Amy and Ben talk about forever and true love, but highly entertaining. I want to know what's going to happen next, for all of them ;) Worth a watch if you're bored. I think it's def a hit or miss program. Either you'll love it, or hate it. (Shrugs) ;)

If you remember 7th Heaven, you probably noticed how the Camdens always suffered the same maladies at the same time. Mom's addicted to coffee, dad is taking too many Advil, son is smoking pot, other son is taking no-doz ... etc. You felt like you were getting hit over the head with the message every week, but at least it was a different message each week. Secret Life runs over you with a steamroller. Then, they back up over you and do it again, and again, and again, and OH Dear yet again. Aside from the flat, stereotypical, unlikable characters (yes, they even made a kid with Downs Syndrome a sex-obsessed total jerk too), they drone on and on about the only thing that is on any of their narrow minds. For fun, I counted the number of times they use the word "sex". It was 17 times just in the scenes from previous shows. For the show itself, the total was around 40 - including references to oral and anal sex as well as a mother recommending masturbation to her daughter. Of course, one must suspend disbelief while watching a fictional program, but how much can you hold back the urge to scream BULLS**T when a teenage boy tells his girlfriend that he wants to "have sex" for the fourteenth time in one episode. No teenage boy EVER got what he wanted by whining "I wanna have sex", yet this clown is climbing off of her in the very next scene. People DO NOT live this way. Although my daughter will not miss this show, I can see how one with no life experience might overlook the bizarre departure from reality. What I can't understand is why she devotes an hour of each week to something so bereft of entertainment value.

I actually watch this show on a regular basis, but am slightly ashamed about it. It is indeed a ridiculous show, but no worse than any other soap opera I suppose. I read some of the other reviews that said that the characters are poorly developed, and I would have to agree. Amy, for being the main character is definitely not a likable character for some reason. She's whiny and fails to make a whole lot of sense. Although a silly show, I find myself watching it week after week. The dialogue is hilarious because it is so unrealistic. My husband detests the show and can't believe that I watch it. We have since made a game out of the ridiculous scripts: we count how many times the word "sex" is uttered in the show. That seems to make it much more entertaining to watch, and typically the count is up to 30 some times per show. Too funny!