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.

The list is based on who we think is the starlet in Hollywood that had the most development in her career. We also look at what projects they have ahead of them and if those will help them to improve their careers.

10.Shailene Woodley; after a very short stint on the OC in 2004 all Shailene did was guest star on TV shows and do a couple of TV movies. Her career wasn’t going anywhere fast but that changed this year. With the ABC Family show The Secret Life Of the American Teenager she put herself on the map. Though that’s also where she lacks a bit; right now it’s still the only project on her horizon.

9.Taylor Momsen; her main fame is for Gossip Girl of course besides that she hasn’t actually done that much in the past year. Not that much planned for next year either, her main rise in fame this year is due to media attention. Nothing really shocking or negative just attention and that counts for something too. People need to know your name before they can consider you for something.

8.America Ferrera; was ranked a lot higher last year but The Sisterhood Of the Traveling Pants 2 didn’t do too well at the box office. That combined with the Ugly Betty buzz going down a bit she still is well on her way in her career but just not moving as fast as last year.

7.Blake Lively; her being ranked seventh is more or less a combination of numbers eight and nine. She was also in the Sisterhood Of the Traveling Pants 2 and is of course on Gossip Girl. Just like her co-star Taylor she got quite a bit of media attention in the past year and she has some other stuff coming out next year as well.

6.Selena Gomez; often referred to as the next Miley Cyrus in the past year which is just unfair to her. She’s working on her own career with Wizards of Waverly Place still going strong and she starred in the straight to DVD Another Cinderella Story (though it’s not exactly a masterpiece in movie making to say it nicely). Next year we’ll also see an album from her with her new band, she’s already in the studio busy recording. Thing is that she doesn’t quite have a band yet which makes you wonder.

5.Demi Lovato; the other next Mile Cyrus and best friend of Selena Gomez. In the past year she of course had some success with Camp Rock and she had her first album Don’t Forget. Though the success of both album and movie probably weren’t as high as some people might have hoped there’s still a lot to come. Next year we’ll see her in her own Disney Channel show called Sonny with a Chance.

4.Amanda Seyfried; after Mean Girls she dropped off the radar a bit but she came back with a blast by starring in Mamma Mia. She would have been ranked higher if there was a lot to come next year but sadly for her, her major projects are scheduled for 2010.

3.Emily Osment; she’s climbing the career ladder in the wake of Miley Cyrus on Hannah Montana but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have any assets herself. This year she had the straight to DVD movie Soccer Mom and in a couple of weeks the Disney Channel movie Dadnapped. Next year we’ll still see her in the Hannah Montana and in the Hannah Montana Movie of course which should get her plenty of attention. She’s also busy writing songs so is there a record deal on the horizon?

2.Ellen Page; she’s still ranked second though there were higher hopes for her this year. She of course got the Oscar nomination for her role as Juno but her only major release of this year, Smart People, didn’t quite live up to its promise and didn’t do too well at the box office. She has plenty of projects coming out next year though, including Drew Barrymore’s directing debut Whip It! The biggest project of course would be Jane Eyre but nothing is really known about that project yet.

1.Miley Cyrus; are you as shocked as we are? Yes we are crowd followers in this case by putting Miley Cyrus on top of our list just like everyone else. It’s hard not to put her on top though. Hannah Montana is still going strong despite it being one of the shows hit hardest by the WGA strike. She had her record breaking concert tour, the 3D movie recording also smashed several box office records and even made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. On a side note she also had her third number one album on the Billboard Charts within two years. The Times even calls her the biggest-ever teen star. Next year she also has some things going on with of course Hannah Montana continuing and the movie coming out on top of that. The start of next year will also see the third Hannah Montana soundtrack, she has a biography coming out and Nicholas Sparks is writing a novel for her seeing she’s going to star in the movie base on it. The term unstoppable comes to mind when talking about Miley seeing that’s probably only half of what we’ll see from.