The Secret Life of the American Teenager

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.

As a teenager--15 years old, in fact, the same as the main character--I have to say this is an awful, unrealistic, cardboard-cutout teenage drama program. While I understand the thinly veiled message of abstinence, it is not brought forth in a intelligent or believable manner. If we're old enough to have sex, I think we're old not to be pandered and talked down to, which seems to be the primary aim of the show. Amy, the main character, is a shallow, boring, sour character. The show's attempts to make her seem remotely geeky or normal at all tend to fall flat, and in general the plot and character development of all of the characters is very poor indeed. The script comes off cheesy and overdone, the acting is terrible, and it's really just a show of stereotypes, not interesting, complex people. Not real people. The dramatic story lines are not half as entertaining as they would be with real people, in real situations, with realistic reactions.

I absolutely hate this show with a passion and I remember when it was released as i was around 13 years old so i was just learning about sex and everything. But this show just blows the whole experience and how taboo sex is especially when it comes to teenagers having sex. I'm not one to be a hypocrite because I started when i was in high school but I digress; this show just makes sex taboo for teenagers and adults too.

The actors are overly concerned and the parents are too involved with their teenager's intimate relationships. I understand the teens are still kids but it makes it seem really uncomfortable. I also do like watching the show because it's a guilty pleasure. I just can't stand the acting.

Quit it soon. Not recommended, unless you are a 10 year old girl. Though i am not sure if 10 year old girls are at this board.

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.