The Secret Life of the American Teenager: The best thing that has happened to me since Degrassi

There’s no easy way to say this, but…I love The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Our love affair started at the gym, where I shamelessly watch Gilmore Girls on ABC Family while on the elliptical machine.  I didn’t even know ABC Family had their own original programming. It’s centered around a pregnant 15 year old girl, her family, and a few of her classmates. The second season of Secret Life was about to start, so the commercials were in heavy rotation. Out of pure boredom one night, I decided to watch the first episode online on their website to see what it was like. I mean, Molly Ringwald’s on it. And then I watched the second episode. And the third…until I watched all 23 episodes of the first season!

Left to right: The Slut, The Bad Boy, The Pregnant Girl, The Sensitive Rich Kid, The Chaste Christian Girl, The Conflicted Christian Jock

(It was created by the masterminds behind 7th Heaven, which I’ll admit was a pile of rubbish. The only good thing to come out of 7th Heaven was the episode where the little girl was stealing cookies from some boy that was lodging with them, and he said, “I’m going to call you Snookie, because you sneak cookies!” I probably watched that episode close to a decade ago and have never forgotten that stupid line.)

Anyway, this show is surprisingly well written and clever. I have laughed out loud because something was actually funny, and not because it was so dumb I couldn’t believe it. Most of the kids are perfectly cast, and only a few look a bit obviously out of their age range (luckily, the boy I creepily thought was hot is actually 22).  The theme song is god awful though.

This may be shocking, coming from me – I think it is better than Degrassi: The Next Generation. USA! USA! But seriously, the OG Degrassi dealt with serious issues with realistic looking teenagers, as did the beginning of The Next Generation, but as the original grade six-er’s got older, it became more about ridiculous, over the top behavior and all of the kids looking hot. The comedic scenes are overplayed and the real laughs come from the dramatic moments because they’re so insane.

And you know what, yeah, sure, I’m probably not exactly the target demographic for either of these shows.  As far as I know, it’s a pretty realistic depiction of current day teenagers. And I was actually psyched when the Asian girl kissed the popular jock and when the black girl made out with the hot guy. I’ll just say this was nothing like my high school experience. Maybe I enjoy Secret Life so much because I have such a “kids these days!” attitude. Just the other night, a teenage girl with huge plugs walked past me, and I literally thought, “Not my daughter!” It will probably be just days until I tell someone to get off of my lawn.

I can’t find a clip of a funny scene, so here is a commercial for the first season:

[DISCLAIMER - If you are a potential suitor of mine, or some other stranger sizing me up from my blog, please don't judge me too harshly.]