I’ve heard so many times that the current generations of teens are facing problems and pressures much more intense than we had at that formative age. Not to underestimate the current predicament of todays teenagers but at least they aren’t conscripted into a war on foreign soil. Still, is certainly is reassuring that some television programming is devoted to the modern American teen addressing themes pertinent to their situation. One such vehicle that has been around for several years now is ‘The Secret Life of the American Teen’. The series is in the ABC Family division under the vast bastion of family entertainment in all its varied form; The Walt Disney Company. In several ways the series is ‘serious problems light’; less danger of issues with potential jail time’. While sex is of paramount concern here there is little emphasis of gangs or drugs seem. Albeit the setting is a small fairly ethnically homogenous California community but I doubt too many places like this exist immune from significant illicit drug use. Within the contextual constraints of this series the kids at the center of the story arcs are far too busy jumping from one sexual relationship to another to take time out to travel downtown to score drugs. It is unimaginable to someone of my generation that this level of sexual activity exists with our children but facts to bear out the validity of this series’ premise. While some may view this focus on sex to be myopic even unrealistic but after following this show for three years now and part of its strength is the producers do not dilute the impact of the stories they do present. several series similar in nature to this one have tried to be more inclusive in the issues they tackle but here there is a certain clarity of purpose the permits the show from becoming overly preachy and concentrate more on being entertaining. Right up front I do have to state that this isrev a teen oriented soap opera but in true form of this type of storytelling works and is well utilized here. The series is remarkably well constructed sand easy to get into. Although far from the intended audience I did find this became a guilty pleasure rather quickly.

When a television show is so readily enjoyable it is usually a safe bet to take a look at its lineage. In the case of ‘Secret Life’ that will point to Benda Hamilton. Prior to this innovative woman created, ‘7^th Heaven’; the most popular series to air on the WB network and widely considered one of the finest examples of faith based family entertainment. Reruns of this series helped to establish the ABC Family network as they developed their original program such as ‘Secret Life’. the heritage is immediately obvious from the look and feel of the series; the musical queues, the underlying pacing and even the casting makes this series feel like a spin-off of ‘7^th Heaven.’ One cute little nod to this is when two characters happen to pass in the school halls. Student Zoe (Mackenzie Rosman) passes the new guidance counselor Kaitlin O'Malley (Beverley Mitchell) and their exchange an odd look of recognition. Of course the two actresses played a pair of Camden sisters of ‘7^th Heaven’ for more than a decade. Just as a note former Blossom star Mayim Bialik made this possible by vacating the role of the previous guidance counselor for a hysterical role on ‘The Big Bang Theory’. Still, it was a cleaver nod to the fans that followed Ms Hamilton from one series to the next. The show is nicely peppered with little in jokes and cultural references like this that help keep it from taking itself too seriously. While it does address vitally important issues in a responsible fashion the producers and cast never lose sight that the series is intended to entertain. The series creates a better than average balance between didactic social responsibility and medium of entertainment that makes this an excellent choice of family viewing. It might even spark some dialogue between teens and parents that might improve your own family dynamic. Initially I thought this show might be a one trick pony. The foundation of the series was the dilemma faced by a fifteen year old girl, Amy Juergens (Shailene Woodley) who discovers she is pregnant. Usually this kind of story doesn’t precede much beyond the birth of the little accident but I have to give credit to Ms Hamilton for her ability to overcome this traditional endpoint to keep the series fresh.

This season opens with the pregnancy of Adrian (Francia Raisa), frienmy of the main character and original pregnant teen, Amy. After a bit of ‘is she’ suspense which, as such matters inevitably progress becomes all too obvious. There is a touch of teen relationship vagaries at work here. Amy was impregnated by Adrian’s former boyfriend, Ricky Underwood (Daren Kagasoff) while Adrian’s state is the result of a liaison with Amy’s on again, off again boyfriend, Ben Boykewich (Kenny Baumann). The one thing that is constant here is the relationships of both teens and the adults are in a never ending state of flux. Hook ups appear and evaporate with the proverbial speed of summer lightening. Sex is quickly entering into the world view of Amy’s younger sister Ashley (Ashley Juergen). Although slightly younger than the main characters Ashley frequently exhibits a greater degree of maturity. She is very pretty but comes off as odd with her perchance for dark clothing and habit of speaking in a monotone. This does give the outward impression that Ashley possesses a flat affect but in reality she is emotionally quite complicated. There are several well constructed personality juxtapositions that greatly enrich the overall tapestry. One example of this technique is between Grace Bowman (Megan Park) and Madison Cooperstein (Renee Olstead). Grace is fundamentally a devote Christian whose good intentions pertaining to prohibition regarding premarital sex fell victim to hormonal urges. This is contrasted to Madison who is one of the school’s primary albeit unintentional gossips. She is guided by her Catholic faith which is stretched by the substitution of oral sex for going all the way. Another unexpected pregnancy that alters lives did not occur with the kids. Amy and Ashley’s parents, George (Mark Derwin) and Anne (Molly Ringwald) have another child while in the midst of a divorce. The hopes that the baby would instantly cure the deeper, underlying problems within their marriage are realistically depicted as not being the panacea they had hoped for.

Like the other DVD sets this one is a volume, six to be precise, not a full season. Part of this is undoubtedly due to the network splitting the season but this is a growing trend on an increasing number of cable networks intermixing split seasons to minimize the prolonged use of reruns. This is one series that continues to be a worthwhile guilty pleasure.