Revisiting last week’s show for a minute, I think it’s really precious the way Amy asks her mother for permission to marry Ben. The whole barter approach: like, if I do this thing (let’s say, my laundry) will you let me do this thing I want (get a dog)? Except in this case, Amy’s chore is having a baby and her reward — eek! ah! no! — is marrying Ben. For as many eye rolls this episode garnered, it got some serious laughs, and even had a few believably "American teen" moments. My roommate, who was watching for the first time, noted how selfish all of the characters are (and therefore how obviously "high school") — Adrian wants Amy to not have the baby so she can stay together with Ricky, Ben wants her to keep it so they can live happily ever after, Grace wants her to keep it in the name of the Lord. And Amy? The first "A" word (abortion) was so last episode, and in its place is the new "A" word, adoption.
Ugh, so, Mr. Juergens is back and even his warm embraces and squinty-eyed cries can’t win over this gal. Surprisingly, it’s charming his youngest daughter, Ashley, who again delivered the best line(s) of the night. My favorite, when her mother told her she was going to be late for school: "At least I’m not late for my period." Indeed, little one! Our favorite Juergens is experiencing some raging growing pains and starting to resent Amy and all of the attention she’s been getting. I also wondered, with her mentions of condoms and the mystery of who drove her home, that Ashley might be finding that attention elsewhere — say, an older man?
When Mrs. Juergens tries to explain who the father of Amy’s baby isto her soon-to-be ex-husband, she simply says, "Ricky, he’s in theband." The spotlight’s on the drummer boy this week as we finally getto see what he wants to do about the baby… sort of. Ricky’s fosterparents are encouraging him to take responsibilities while Adrian isurging him to shirk them. Ricky proves that "daddy issues" are morethan just a girl thing and we really start believing his plight. Or dowe? As much as I’d rather fawn over actor Daren Kagasoff and hisdreamboat eyes, I think his overacting confuses the audience. I stillcan’t discern when he’s being genuine and when he’s lying to get whathe wants.
Ben continues to cross the line from adorably awkward teen to creepydesperate boy. The writers are putting him too far over the edge withall of that "love" talk — if they had lightened up on that all seasonwe would be much more on his side. Even Amy tells him he’s freaking herout. This week, the sausage king and prince are concerned over Amy’spossible departure, although I’m pretty sure she’ll stick around. WhenBen’s dad delivers his weekly dose of phallic symbolism, his words aresurprisingly poignant: "sausage is complicated." That’s saying amouthful.
The second "ugh" of the episode (and by second, I really mean atleast the 25th or so) goes to Grace. Not to even mention the rest ofher family. I apologize for not covering too much of them in my recapsbut it pains me to watch them. Any ideas, PWers, why Adrian stopped offat the Bible-y Bowmans’ house? Do you think her intentions are true orslimy? How long will it be until Ben’s friends actually do it? Whenwill Mrs. Juergens find out about her husband’s affair? And of course,is Amy leaving? Will she put the baby up for adoption?
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I really don’t know why I’m still watching this show. Almost everything about it is so off I can’t stand it. Yet I keep watching to see how much further they will go.
sometimes this show drives me crazy. It is so uneven. The characters seem to change every week depending on the writing. Ricky is either a bad boy with serious issues but a good heart, or a confused bad boy who doesn’t care about anyone but himself or a bad boy struggling to do the right thing even though it goes against every natural instinct or maybe all of the above. Not sure what I think of the confrontation b/w him and Amy’s Dad – the actor seems to be trying. However, i do appreciate Ashley’s comment to Amy after she finally meets Ricky, “Okay, now I understand how it happened.”
The whole Ben/Amy relationship puzzles me. Their seems to be zippo chemistry b/w the actors and Ben’s love seems way out of porportion. he’s starting to creep me out.
MC, it’s that train-wreck aspect that’s just so alluring. We are rubberneckers, not so much to Amy’s plight, but to the writers’ hamfisted ineptitude.
I still think this show had potential and could have been really good. For instance, last week, it would have been better all the way around if Amy’s mom had confessed that she’d gotten pregnant and had an abortion, and that while she felt it was right for her at the time, she deeply regretted it. Wouldn’t that have played better all around? Then we’d see consequences, reality, etc. without Amy having to do it herself.
Curse you, Brenda Hampton! I wish Zwick and Herskowitz had tackled this topic.
I am kinda like everyone else the characters confuse me. They all change from wk to wk……but for some reason I kept watching it every wk….lol
MC – ditto exactly. It’s kind of like I love to see how much worse it can get. I can’t stop, although I know it’s not all that good.
I agree that the level of ” overacting” is… well… Ughhh. But the story is that of a teenager and the unevenness of emotions and hormones and well how really the adults have never grown up themselves… all this is what makes me watch. because afterall don’t we all know the parents who are immature themselves.. the biblethumping family who thinks its their way( oh i mean Gods way) the creepy boy from highschool who knows he loves you… so forth and so on… it just all fits.
the dialog is horrendous! the acting is so bad, i have seen a lot of these actors in other stuff and they have talent but it’s painful to watch. the show could be good if the stopped with the bad acting and dialog. maybe they need better direction. also why is that avery character is a friggin stereotype? why is the one ethnic character on the show, the school tramp, oh of course her mom is a tramp too? why is it that ricky of course was a abused as a child? not that these things aren’t true, but there are a lot of bad people or school sluts that come from normal backgrounds and families. i wish they would stop with the type casting and my gosh the blonde chick is annoying ands i can’t see her ever being popular in school, she would get on everyones nereves. and why is the younger sister always speaking like shes hooked on phonics?
this show is crap. the dialogue is crap. the characters are crap. that blonde girl annoys the hell out of me with her holier than thou mentality, and i hate it how she can’t even speak for herself, her parents do that for her. ugh annoying.
i think the show is pretty good but its all so confusing! theres too much to say about all the stuff that confuses me!!! i like the fact it is based on true events and its OK (hense the name OK)but i also like watching it to see what will happen next and if amy will have the baby
i luvthe show y r all of u saying its so funny. it rocks!!!
This show is exactly like Seventh Heaven – it’s a trainwreck, but you can’t stop watching. The acting is horrible; the dialogue is horrible, and yet, I so badly want this show to continue. What is wrong with me?!
Lisa I don’t get why EW is fawning over the girl who plays Ashley. Yes, she’s got great lines, yes, she plays the bored, “I hate this family when can I leave” attitude well, but her line delivery is so monotone it’s distracting. Even the tiniest hint of inflection in her voice is a welcome change. I realize the actress is young yet, and I hope she improves. Meanwhile, I don’t know why TPTB want Adrian to be both the school slut and a closet brainiac. Have her back off the sexual relationships with Ricky and Jack! Give her some self-respect! Mind you, I’m amused that we all feel she’s the “ethnic” one (obviously she’s Hispanic), but her character’s last name is the possibly generic or Asian Lee.
This is the craziest show ever. The blatant Christian ideals being force feed to the audience, the creepy skinny kid wanting to get married at 15, and Molly Ringwald (‘nuh said). But I think the most unbelievable thing about this show is that the Amy girl would have sex with Ricky. Has she even kissed her ‘boyfriend’? However all of its cringe-worthy moments make it so freakin awesome. Go jesus!
This show is awesome! I’m a teenager myself and I find this show to be surprisingly accurate and funny. Ben and Amy’s relationship is CUTE, people, not creepy!
It is probably ridiculous to try to understand motivation of characters that are completely unbelievable. However, why would Ben’s father encourage his son to marry a girl who is pregnant with another guys’s baby?
And Ben, will he discover later he is gay? Because he is so obviously acting gay. And what is with his clothes? the plaid shirts, sweaters, vest and even a a suit! And what gives him the right to pressure Amy not to have an abortion? Further, on that point, no one pointed out to Amy that options as far as an abortion are time sensitive.
No one drove Ashley home from school, she never went, remember? She hid out outside till their mom left, then went back inside.
I think Adrian stopped by because hanging out with Grace was at least slightly less pathetic than having no one at all who wanted to hang out with her.
Ben is a lot of weird. I really don’t want Amy to be with him. He seems to be controlling. Plus, he’s a dork. Are there no cute guys at this school? plus, I’m not really feeling the Goodfella Sausage King. Sorry, he’ll always be the Soprano’s “Bobby”. It seems likes he’s carried some of that character over to this show. Mind you, I actually liked him on the Sopranos.
But the overacting and crappy dialogue may get better, if the show doesn’t get cancelled. I’d like to know what Amy will end up deciding in terms of her baby. For some reason, I really don’t want her any where near the Sausage family. They creep me out
this show is absolutely awful- unfortunately, I am desperate for things to watch in this downtime of no new tv.
How funny a real hooker trying to have a baby,maybe once I thought some had souls but with so manny fakes and want to be’s buzzing around I have lost all interest and could care less to ever watch again .My choice remove the show because if you really think about it is it the right way to come across in the sake of the children and their future……rate this a F
as a teenage mom i find this show to be terribly incorrect, yet i cant stop watching it … the obvioiusly foreced dialogue gets on my nerves, but i sorta like the stories behind it … idk, im sure i’ll contiue to watch it lol
OH EM GEEEE!!!!! EVERYTHING about this show is SO awful. Yes, the writing and acting are the worst ever on T.V. but what about the wardrobe? Who puts an actor in an orange shirt and sends him into a hall full of orange lockers? And the lighting? Are the lockers orange after all? They look orange when we look this direction but purple in that one. When Amy and Ben are on the phone it looks like a sunny morning where she is and it seems to be about midnight at Ben’s house. They need a blinking neon sign effect streaming through the window. And the photography!! Are they really going to keep shooting out the front door into that phony street backdrop every time the doorbell rings??? Amazing. I’ll keep watching this show just to see how bad the worst thing on T.V. can get. Keep up the ridiculous work Brendavision, you evil genius you.
I think this is a great show me and my friends watch it every week, it’s entertaining. If you don’t like it.. simply don’t watch it you don’t have to talk bad about it, I highly doubt any of you could do a better job.
Yes, this show is unrealistic and the dialogue is laughable. But for some reason, despite the overacting, it is addictive.
The plotline is actually what draws me to the show, but the stereotypes are incredibly annoying. It’s all so banal.
But for some reason, I cannot wait until the next episode!
its so true! the show isn’t even that well done but something about just makes you want to watch the next episode
and we all knew she wouldn’t end up going. the question was just how they’d make the story line change so that she ends up staying and so they found some way to make her stay. predictable. i still dunno why i watch that show. i just have to watch it even tho it kinda sucks. strange.
My husband and I teach middle school and high school BAND and we LOVE to watch this show for all the horrible “band nerd” references! It’s terribly addictive even though it does have such a horrible story line, dialogue, acting, etc. On a serious note, I do wonder if some of our middle and high school students are watching this show at home and wondering “which character will I be?” (of which I wouldn’t really want our future children to be any of!). I wish there were some more “good girls/boys” characters for those teens who are actually watching because they truly enjoy the show (and not just for comedic effect like we are!). Amy strikes me as the “good girl” character, but since she had sex and got pregnant, that doesn’t give many kids someone to relate to.
i like the show. one i know what amy is going through, the fact that she knows everyone is talking about her makes school very hard. having a baby at the age of 15 is not that easy. and school is very uncomfortable. peopel say such awful things about you. i agree that the show has some confusion in it. but it also is true too. because i remember how a lot of people would talk about me. and it wasnt that great. i think thats why i like the show. how i kinda went through some of the things. though i wasnt as dramatic about the whole thing.
I WISH DAT SHE WOOOD HAVE NOT MARRIED BEN!!!!I THINK DAT HER AND RICKY SHOULD BE TOGETHER =)I LOVE THOSE TO TOGETHER =)=) =) =)
Well I like the show. But to me, I think that it is kind of strange how this show is making it out like its all okay that a 15 year old girl Amy is having a baby. This show isn’t really realistic. Especially how Amy and Ashley’s parents act. To me I think that the mom is thinking that everything is gonna be alright. And well, its Amy’s fault that she had sexual relations with a Ricky. Why should Amy get all the attention when she did something that was regretful. I dont think this show is a great example because, Ben just talks about how he wants Amy and how they want to live a happy ever after life together. But reality that doesn’t really happen in life. And all its encouraging teens to think that its okay to have a baby because their gonna get married and they think of the fairytale way, but realistically that’s not always bound to happen. They should make this show more realistic and what can be the effects on being pregnant. All Amy does is cry and get attention and its all okay.
This show isn’t really that great! I think that they are all unrealistic about this whole situation. I mean what part of the movie is encouraging us to not do what Amy did or not to have just sex like Adriane? Okay, this show is just ridiculous. They should make it more like it would be in real life. Yea, this does happen in some cases but still, what mom gives Amy what she wants. A real mom would be totally different bout this situation!! Ugh, I just watch it cuz I just like to see da dramatic scenes. All there doing is over dramatizing it all!! Yeah Its true that you would be dramatic but its just fake. And bad acting, that’s all it is.