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The Secret Life of the American Teenager
SERIES: ABC Family, Tuesday 8:00p (60 minutes)

7.3 based on 15 reviews read critic reviews how did we calculate this? based on 65 votes read user comments rate this tv show

Get more information on this show at TV.com.

• Official Show Site

Starring Shailene Woodley, Molly Ringwald, Mark Derwin, Daren Kagasoff, Megan Park, Greg Finley, Francia Raisa, John Schneider, and Josie Bissett

Molly Ringwald stars as a mom to a pregnant teenager in the ABC Family series by the creator of "7th Heaven" and "Blossom."

GENRE(S):	Drama, Family
CREATED BY:	Brenda Hampton
FIRST AIR DATE:	July 1, 2008

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

80

Orlando Sentinel Hal Boedeker

Secret Life feels a lot more authentic than many teen dramas.

75

New York Post Linda Stasi

The show, like the old "90210" and "The O.C.," looks to be--from its premiere, at any rate--a top-flight series about a group of high school students, most of whom I liked immediately.

70

Baltimore Sun David Zurawik

As entertainment, the pilot is a most impressive work of economic and focused storytelling.

67

Entertainment Weekly Ken Tucker

Woodley's performance lifts a well-meaning, rather brave, but ramshackle show a notch. [8 Aug 2008, p.53]

60

New York Daily News David Hinckley

Shailene Woodley is terrific as the teen in question. Unfortunately, other parts of the show feel so contrived they border on soap opera parody.

60

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen

It's far more realistic in scope and situations than "Gossip Girl," but there's such an earnestness and one-dimensionality to the characters that they seem a lot less believable.

50

TV Guide Matt Roush

A good girl’s surprise pregnancy is a strong premise, but creator Brenda Hampton (7th Heaven) undercuts it by surrounding Amy with an uninspired ensemble of precociously cardboard classmates.

40

Los Angeles Times Robert Lloyd

It feels thin, mechanical and confused.

40

Variety Brian Lowry

From the tramp to the Christians, everyone but Amy feels more like a type than a genuine character. Although a degree of shorthand is to be forgiven, these characters are caricatures at best as the series careens all over the place.

30

Hollywood Reporter Ray Richmond

This new ABC Family effort from Brenda Hampton (“7th Heaven”) works feverishly to make an educational institution look like the equivalent of a Nevada brothel but succeeds mostly in transforming high school to high camp. Were these stereotypes any more simplistic, they’d need to come with their own parental warning label.

30

The New York Times Alessandra Stanley

ABC Family means well but could not have done worse. Secret Life doesn’t take the fun out of teenage pregnancy, it takes the fun out of television.

30

Time James Poniewozik

Campily depicting high school as a den of sluts and predators, Secret achieves the noble goal of making sex thoroughly unsexy.

30

Newsday Verne Gay

The pilot was so uneven that the whole affair nearly veers into "Reefer Madness" territory--the kind of over-the-top cautionary fable that subverts honorable intentions through hysteria or cliche. Despite its pedigree, Teenager doesn't appear to have ever stepped inside a high school, either.

25

Chicago Sun-Times Misha Davenport

It's a shallow portrait of youth, and I can't see how Hampton and her team of writers will be able to sustain things over the course of the series if this continues to be the focus.

20

Boston Globe Joanna Weiss

Nothing about it feels original or even especially timely, and it certainly doesn't reveal any great secrets about society.

The average user rating for this tv show is 7.3 (out of 10) based on 65 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Danielle T. gave it a10:
As someone who actually relates to the girl in this story I was a teen parent. I belive this show is an amazing example of what girls really do go through in this situation. You do lose your friends and the hardest part is telling your parents. Some may think that he parents were dense well they weren't they just didn't expect that from her because that's not the sterio type of person that gets pregnant in high school I would know I was a straight A student. It happens and it shows that this is what its like when it does happen.

Katie C. gave it a2:
As a fifteen-year-old girl in your average high school, I can honestly say that I'm appalled by the way this show portrays people my age. If the poor, unbelievable acting performances weren't bad enough, the stereotypical characters are so unrealistic that I found myself embarrassed to be watching the show at all. I'll try not to reiterate what many other people have already spoken of, but it's hard not to ramble on about how insulting I find this show when the adult's impression teenage life is so condescending and unrealistic. If that wasn't bad enough, the parents are annoying and would actually improve themselves by reading cheesy parenting books (and if that was done on purpose, I couldn't tell). All in all, this is one of the worst shows on TV. At least shows like Gossip Girl, though unrealistic, ACKNOWLEDGE that they're unrealistic. This show pretends to be what high school is actually like, and I'm disgusted by it.

Joe G. gave it a1:
Waaaaaay too cliche.

Kiersten A. gave it a0:
this show is terrible, and the plotline where the cheerleader defends herself against sexual predators and then somehow becomes the town joke is reprehensible.

Nikki M. gave it a10:
this show is chill it shows what a typical teenager thinks and it may seem a little complicated but come on it is themed drama but i know a Christian who is way better like godly than grace . i love this show and Ben is hot.

Nancy P gave it a10:
I am the mother of two adult children and yet I am hooked on this show! It is terrific and funny at times, like Seventh Heaven, but is definitely for older teens. It's sexual discussions are NOT for younger children, but it would be a great discussion starter for parents to use with their teenagers.

Lloyd E. gave it a3:
This show is only worth watching if you're one of the parents that reads the books on how to... parent... and are over the age of 40. Need to know what goes on in your teenage daughters life? Don't fret! Look no further than this joke of a television show. You see, it's simple. Every single teenage girl, as soon as she hits 15, will: A) Have sex B) Want to have sex C) Have sex and get pregnant Use this handy information to have awkward talks with your daughter about whether or not she's having sex. What's that? You think she isn't? Don't make me laugh. I really think this show would've done better if it made fun of what people think stereotypes are, as opposed to this laugh of a drama.

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