By Jason Nimer
A lot of times when I review DVDs, I pretty much know what to expect before I
start watching them. Transformers DVD are going to be full of robot battles and
annoying human sidekicks, Dragon Ball DVDs are going to awesome and I can pretty
much judge everything else by what Ive heard previous to actually viewing the
disc. The second season of The Secret Life of the American Teenager was
completely up in the air; I had never even heard of the shows existence, let
alone knew anyone who watched it. But, considering my former crush on Molly
Ringwald, who plays the mother on the ABC Family show, I decided to give this
one a shot. Big mistake.
The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which Ill shorten to Secret Life
from here on out, is an extremely bizarre show. It centers on Amy Juergens, a
high school student who, after a one-night stand, gets pregnant and decides to
have the baby despite her age and circumstances. This, along with her parents
relationship, the relationships between herself, the babys father and her new
boyfriend and all the other high school goings-on forms the story of the first
season. The second season deals with Amy once the baby is born, and her struggle
to juggle motherhood and her desire to be a normal teenager. In preparation for
writing the review for the second season, I went back, did some reading and
watched a few episodes from the first to give myself a good basis for the
second. Neither season, sadly, is all that watchable.
All you need to understand as to why this show is one you should skip is its
network and the folks behind it. ABC Family is known for saccharine,
family-friendly entertainment, and this show, despite its slightly more mature
subject matter, plays it safe enough to be suitable for even the tweeniest of
pre-teens. And the fact that the show was developed by the people behind the
WBs 7th Heaven serves as a predictor that the show will attempt to strike a
balance between its more mature content and play-it-safe teen drama. To its
credit, Secret Life does manage to strike this balance well, and for the
under-18 set, it will all seem very real and believable. For those of us that
are a little older, viewing the program is an eyebrow-raising experience.
For example, despite the fact that Amy spends a whole season pregnant and a
whole second season as a mother, she still has the time and ability to attend
normal high school and do normal high school activities, i.e. dating, having
friends, etc. This seems an unrealistically rosy outlook, as the girls who got
pregnant in my high school (so very, very long ago) disappeared from social
gatherings and were quickly shipped off to alternative high schools, never to be
heard from again. I simply wont take a moral or ethical stance on the teen
pregnancy issue in a simple DVD review, but the show attempts to portray it as a
situation that is difficult, but manageable. Is that a great message to be
sending to the shows (assumed) target viewing audience?
My other issue with the show, now that Im safely backing away from the
social commentary, is that the show is very familiar. Remember how I had never
even heard of the program prior to watching this DVD? Still familiar. It could
be just me getting older and accumulating some more perspective on the
situation, but Secret Life seems nearly identical to all the other teen dramas
of the last decade. Dawsons Creek, One Tree Hill, The O.C. Gossip Girl, 90210,
Felicity, Smallville, Roswell all these shows are nearly identical to one
another, with each having their own gimmick tough kid from outside rich
society, a creek, aliens, Superman Secret Lifes hook is pregnancy, and it
isnt anywhere near as interesting as any of those other shows listed. Maybe if
they had borrowed some of those robots or human sidekicks from Transformers
just kidding.
I cant be too rough on Secret Life, though, because it is nice to see Molly
Ringwald again after all these years. Surprisingly enough, she looks great. Does
that have anything to do with the DVD review? Not really, but welcoming her back
into my living room honestly my favorite part of reviewing this DVD.
The second season of Secret Life isnt a great, or even a good show. It's
overly optimistic take on a serious social issue is a bit unnerving, especially
when one considers the shows younger audience. It doesnt help that the show is
basically a carbon copy of all the other popular teen dramas Ive run across,
and most of those programs set themselves apart with an interesting premise,
good actors or who knows what? But whatever it is, Secret Life doesnt have it.
If you need to see attractive people in annoying, predictable and impossible
situations, go rent The O.C. Or better yet, The Breakfast Club - it, unlike this
show, gives Molly all the screen time she deserves.
Final Rating:
