I'm so sorry if i offend you by what i am about to say. The ABC Family original series, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, makes me cringe every time i watch it. Maybe i just don't see what is so great about this ever so famous teen drama. But some people seem to disagree with me. This show has become one of ABC Family's biggest hit and one of the most popular shows on cable, drawing an average 3.8 million viewers an episode. I usually fall in love with any show that has some sort of dramatic story line that catches my attention but this is just bad. This show primarily follows the life of Amy Juergens, her husband-to-be, Ricky Underwood, and the chaotic lives of their family and friends.
To keep it short and simple, this girl got pregnant at 15 years old, at band camp. I understand how the story line catches many viewers attention but i hate how the producers of Secret Life depicts the life of Amy Juergens. We all know that raising a child is hard - and it must be ten times harder doing it as a teenager. Everything about Amy Juergens' life is so unreal. It doesn't show the sacrifices she would face that normal teen moms are accustomed to. In the show, Amy focuses more on her relationship with her boyfriend and other guys that she may or may not have feelings for. Real mothers don't have time for that. This television show is basically telling teenage girls that it is okay to get pregnant at 15 years old, that everything will eventually be fine and dandy when in reality, there are harsh consequences.
Recently, Amy Juergens is having doubts about marrying her boyfriend, Ricky Underwood. To be honest, it's quite annoying how her mind keeps changing as feelings for other boys arise. The show shouldn't be dragged out into this long, dramatic, 900 page book. What's worse is that Amy's two friends, Adrian and Grace are also engaged and they haven't even graduated high school yet. The viewers get this idea in their head that it is normal to be engaged before they graduate, but nothing like that ever happens in our day to day life. The more they see it in out media, the more they start to believe it is okay. It also gets many teen's hopes up that they will find their love of their life when they are still very young. What makes me really angry, is that the parents of the show don't do ANYTHING. It seems like they don't care how many people their child has slept with, if they get pregnant, or if they get married at 18 years old. It's as though they encourage it.
I also have a problem with Secret Life being on the television channel, ABC family. Why is a show about a teen pregnancy on a television channel who's target audience is for the whole family? You got me on this one. With several scenes of young teens rolling out of bed with unknown people, a father openly asking his daughters about their sex lives at the dinner table, and a troubled boy revealing that he had been molested by his father, it just doesn't seem fit for the entire family. Overall, i think this show is a terrible influence on any teenager who watches it. The acting is horrendous, the subplots are pointless, and i just want to pull my hair out when i watch it.
Go watch One Tree Hill.
Wait... I'm totally contradicting myself...
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