'Secret Life of the American Teenager' recap: Teens have sex?!?!
Jul 2, 2008, 03:42 PM | by Lisa Raphael
Categories: 'The Secret Life of the American Teenager', Mini TV Watch, Television
A few years out of the teen pool myself, I've rekindled my love for all things adolescent in an attempt at forestalling a pending quarter-life crisis. I've graduated from the cheese of Bayside High to the more revealing, truer-to-life Degrassi and Gossip Girl, so when I heard about ABC Family's Secret Life of the American Teenager, I thought, "Yes! Real teen drama! With true teen issues! And if anyone can do it, the producers of 7th Heaven and Molly Ringwald can!"
So to the show. We open with Ringwald as the oblivious mom (is pot roast really anyone's favorite meal??) and the ol' pregnancy-test-in-the-French-horn trick. Even before we hear an Avril Lavigne song, we know what the "secret" is. Cut to the next day at school and an intro for the show's top teens -- and their sex lives...
Amy: Secret's star (Shailene Woody) is no doubt up the stick. No morning sickness yet, but her nerves are palpable even before she tells her friends, "Dude, I'm totes K Heigl in that movie!" Was anyone else bothered by the way she described her first time? Not sure it was sex?!? The baby growing in your uterus might be a good indicator. But more than that, it's just disappointing to see young women always portrayed as sexually passive and all teen boys a la Superbad, just excited to lose their V-card.
More 'Secrets' after the jump...
Ricky: I don't think I'm buying that this kid gets girls pregnant, has an overactive sex life and goes to band camp. I do believe however that he would use the "blue balls" excuse with girlfriend(ish) Adrian -- not so sure that this baton twirler (love the phallic symbolism) would buy it though.
Ben: Just the right amount of sweet to swoop in and be the shining nerd for our preggers protagonist. I hope this doesn’t turn into She's All That syndrome, where she eventually finds out that his love for her bloomed out of a bet. At least according to the season teaser, he'll graduate to boyfriend status in no time.
Grace: "She's not a goddess, she's a Christian," says the snarky female friend (who also tells Ben not to "objectify" Amy -- little Women's Studies major in the making!) to her horny male friends. The bubbly blonde cheerleader is dating Jack, who is "the guy who's not having sex with his girlfriend" (but is later enjoying the "temptations of the flesh" with Adrian). The abstinent adolescent comes from the perfect seeming family, while Amy seems stuck with parents on the brink of divorce and an angsty younger sis Ashley.
The first episode relied too heavily on stereotypes -- girls rebel by wearing sexy clothes and eyeliner! Teenage boys have to have sex to survive! But wait, maybe all of that really was true in high school... What do you guys think? How well did Secret Life represent the American teen? Did anything make you blush and go "yeah, me too" or were you stuck rolling your eyes and wishing for more Ringwald?

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