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.
