When The Secret Life of the American Teenager premiered on ABC Family last July it was somewhat of a surprise; teen pregnancy seems a bit outside of the comfort zone for a channel owned by Disney. So here was this show where a normal teenager got pregnant by making one single mistake, the main character Amy (played by Shailene Woodley) can hardly be considered the loose type. They have other characters on the show to take care of it, one of which is the father of the baby (Ricky).
So here was a chance for ABC Family to shine light on a problem which everyone knows exists but no one really seems to want to confront. Sure there are shows where the premise contains teen pregnancy (good example being Gilmore Girls) but it never actually shows the daily dealings as far as the issue is concerned. At first The Secret Life of the American Teenager actually seemed to be doing that; portraying a somewhat realistic view of the subject.
There were story lines in the first part of the show which didn’t quite make sense or were very realistic (certain aspects around Ben becoming her boyfriend mainly) but the main storyline seemed to be intact. Amy finding out about the pregnancy and having to deal with the fact. There were other characters on the show obviously, characters she is involved with and the factor of a boyfriend was also added. The other characters served as support cast to the central storyline, then it all changed.
It seems that after ABC Family decided to order more episodes of the Secret Life the show creators felt that they need to stretch the storyline. The support characters seemed to have moved into starring roles now, their lives becoming the core of the show. It sometimes gets up to a point where you almost start to think “who’s that pregnant girl?”. There are so many aspects to a teenage girl being pregnant yet now it’s just becoming more and more of a standard teen drama. There are so many aspects to a teen pregnancy that you could probably fill every single episode without any of the side drama.
Lets just look at the medical side of things; so far we’ve seen Amy go to a doctor twice but never actually anything in the procedure room. We never see any ultrasound or any kind of medical test, the only side effects that are mentioned on the show are morning sickness and swollen feet. Not actually revelations to most people so that’s one major chance they missed there. The show creators had a chance to show all aspects of what a teen pregnancy involves, yet so far we get a perfect little world.
The perfect little world around Amy anyway; everyone around her is supportive of her keeping the baby. Her parents are fine with it, her grandmother is fine with it (she even jokes about having expected little sister Ashley to be the one to get pregnant, the Ashley character is underused anyway) and all of her friends with it. The character of her boyfriend and his father just seem unrealistic. Of course it’s not impossible that she would have a boyfriend who would support her through anything but there are just things about Ben that seem off. The main problem with all of the teenage characters on the show is that they’re clueless beyond belief. Is everyone expected to believe that no one knew that getting married with an illegal license would be possible?
While Amy is the pregnant teenage girl it seems that everyone around her has to deal with even bigger drama. Leading the way of course is sexually abused father of the baby Ricky; a thing they seemed to have put in the show to make him more likable than just a playboy who likes to have sex. Of course his main sex partner Adrian who has clear daddy issues shouldn’t be forgotten. It seems that every single episode characters are being added who have some sort of dark history. Of course a lot of people have dark things in their history problem is that it’s not what this show is supposed to be about. The show is about Amy Juergens who got pregnant by accident and has to deal with the consequences of that.
Of course there is a need for side stories otherwise things can get boring but the side stories should never overcrowd the central storyline. At this time it’s more a question of what predictable extra drama they’re going to add to the show. The episode that’s going to air next week isn’t really promising in that as it actually would involve a possible adoption of the baby by a gay couple. In this case it just seems a forced subject, yes it is a subject there is a lot of debate about but it once again is something that distracts from Amy’s pregnancy. The fact that Molly Ringwald is pregnant right now will probably also mean that the Anne character will be pregnant. So mother and daughter pregnant at the some time; how poetic.
There are things in the show that seem to be lacking in general; for one the entire school staff seems to consist of Marc Molina. There isn’t one moment where we see a teacher, principal or school nurse. All people one would expect to be talking to Amy at some point about her getting a baby. We’ve never even seen her sit in a class room, she only ever got hallway stares. Never a moment where she sits in class while people stare in her, or even walk into an already filled classroom as everyone stares.
It just seems that ABC Family and the creators of the Secret Life of the American Teenager missed a major chance of going deeper into the subject. Hopefully they’ll turn around the show and focus on Amy more in the future and less on the sidetrack drama.
This article was written while getting constant feedback from someone with first hand experience on the subject matter. That’s the only kind of person who can truly judge whether it’s realistic or not.
Tags: Shailene Woodley
