Customer Reviews

The Secret Life of the American Teenager: Season One

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This is a great series. It is very realistic, for one thing. But one thing which it includes that I am really impressed with is the importance of family values, and family itself. During this young teen's pregnancy, she bands together with her friends and family to get through it. There are a lot of tuff decisions which have to be made, and her friends and family help her with this. There are certain people in her life that are very supportive, and some that aren't (but that's the way it always goes in real life).
It is a riveting first season, since there is always some kind of drama or cliffhanger going on between the characters. The main family gets close to falling apart, but tries to stay together, and it's really hard to determine which way it will go. This keeps you interested and eager to find out what happens.
I recommend this to anyone. It's also good for this day and age, since it sharply illustrates the consequences of young teen pregnancy on a young woman's life. Good morals are in here as well, which is also another refreshing thing to find in a modern show today.

With all the stupid crap that comes on television these days, Im proud to have a great, positive show to look forward to every week. This show is realistic. Sure, it has annoying exaggeration on many occasions of events that occur. But, it's only because they want to make everything really clear to a young audience. They tend to be repetitive...very repetitive. Other than that, it's great. It shows you how and why teens may sometimes do the things they do. (Such as get pregnant, practice promiscuous behaviour, have no friends, drop out of school.) I love it. So real and also very funny. And not to mention, it teaches some great values and lessons. highly recommend!

I orderd the secret life for my best friend as a christmas gift she says it was in in perfect condition the price was great and i recieved it the the very next day via usps I love shopping via Amazon

I watched a few episodes of this show when there was a marathon running on ABC family. Can you believe that this show is on a FAMILY channel?

This show is NOTHING but a sex show, as EVERYTHING IS ABOUT SEX and revolves around it. It makes Sex and the City look tame. I was so shocked and disgusted. The characters play musical chairs with their lovers, and they aren't even LEGAL yet. I don't know about you, but I was a teenager only a couple of years ago and I knew very few people like this. We had a word for them and it certainly didn't include the words "American teenager." Even if some were sexually active, they were not this sexually active to the point of sleeping with a friend's ex-boyfriend, and their parents knowing about their activities.

This show portrays American teenagers in a horribly negative light, showcasing them as sex crazed and overly promiscuous people. I am ashamed that a show like this was able to be made, shown and promoted for young people to watch. Not to forget that the actors CANNOT act. How have Mayim Bialik aka Blossom and Molly Ringwald, two GOOD actresses, been reduced to star in this hack of a show?

I am in NO WAYS a prude, but having a show like this depicting and glorifying all types of sexual activity for teenagers is degrading. While the show does promote safe sex, a BETTER idea is to promote ABSTINENCE and NOT sleeping around with everyone. The show runs like a soap opera where everyone was at one time or another involved with every other character. There are all the elements of a trashy soap opera in it, with the exception that most of the major characters are in their teens and still in high school.

STAY AWAY!

Secret Life: it's the prego-craze (eg. Juno, Knocked Up, Waitress) turned into a TV show, with a heavy dose of 7th Heaven, a pinch of ensemble-cast drama, and the acting giant that is Molly Ringwald. Sounds like an instant success, right?

Wrong.

Thanks to atrocious writing and mediocre acting, situations that should be dramatic become unintentionally funny. Few of the actors manage to make their lines believable, a task which is near-impossible because of the unnatural dialogue that has been written for them. Incidences that should be dramatic--a girl telling her mother that she's pregnant, a Christian girl's Down syndrome brother discovering that her boyfriend is cheating--become downright hilarious. Ultimately, the characters become caricatures of themselves, and it's impossible for a viewer to take them seriously.

I watched this show because I found it good in a really BAD sort of way. If you're expecting this show to be good in a serious way, you're in for a disappointment.

This show, which centers around an unexpected teen pregnancy, has some poignant moments that show the strength of friendship and family ties. However, all-too-often, the secondary characters come off as cartoonish because of exaggerated behavior or responses, rather than as real people. Molly Ringwald steps in the Mom's role but the writing for her character is flat and creates a somewhat whiny role for her. The biggest problems however, are the handling of the central issue of the pregnancy and the prevalence of teen sex. The age group depicted (15 year olds) is unlikely the age group watching (pre-teens are probably the must see audience). I'd hoped to find family viewing but all too often, even my teens and pre-teens were amazed at the over-the-top writing and situations. So why three stars? Mainly because my kids find the actress who plays the main character quite engaging and the most realistic character of the bunch and they love the bond that she shares with her sister. It's a shame the show doesn't live up to that quality consistently.

My one star is not in reference to the content of this show but for the studio incorrectly advertising this DVD set as SEASON 1. As of the date when I ordered (and subsequently purchased) this season, Amazon's website and the box art of the packaging clearly states (ed) that this is SEASON 1. Just recently Amazon has corrected their page stating that this is in fact Volume 1 and not Season 1. The box art still says Season 1, including what I received as my Season 1 only containing half of the season. That info would've been great use to me before I paid for my order... What I have received is useless to me. Money down the toilet and into Disney pockets. Even though I am greatly perturbed in not having seen the second half of season 1, I will not be purchasing it, not now or in the future. I also will not be purchasing any subsequent seasons. (Really is a shame, b/c it's such an accurate portrayal of high schools today. Even accurate to when I was in HS over 10 years ago.) As a matter of fact, I have a mind to make sure that any of my Disney purchases from this point forward only be via a second source, per se a second hand shop where the studio will not receive any benefits from my purchases.

Way to drop the ball.

I had a hard time deciding how many stars to give this program. On the one hand, it is a fairly well-written drama, with a plot that's hard to stop watching. On the other hand, the fact that this soap opera is being targeted at teenagers (or worse, pre-teens), is troubling.

This is troubling because the show sends the wrong message to teens and pre-teens: namely, that ALL teenagers are having sex, and that teenagers think of nothing else. Parents should be aware that sex is a CONSTANT topic of conversation on this show, and that there are several scenes of teenagers shown in bed together. The show's message (to the extent there is one) seems to be that it is normal for high-schoolers to be engaging in sex, and that this is ok as long as they are using condoms.

Another aspect of concern is that almost every character on the show routinely lies to the other characters: teens lie to each other and to their parents; parents lie to their children; and husbands lie to wives and vice versa. Nor is the constant lying ever addressed as a problem--rather, dishonesty is just a normal part of life for the characters on this show.

There are a few bright spots on the show. Shailene Woodley, as the lead character (15-year-old Amy) is very believable as the sweet, vulnerable, normally-good girl who suddenly finds herself pregnant by a manipulative jerk with a troubled past and problems of his own. Kenny Baumann is wonderful as Ben, Amy's kind-hearted boyfriend who loves her and sticks by her, even after finding out that she is carrying someone else's child. Ben at first asks Amy out because he wants to have sex with someone (surprise) and figures that Amy might be willing. But instead, he quickly falls in love with Amy and builds a relationship with her based on unconditional love. (The two do not have sex--in this season at least--which is a refreshing change from the rest of the teens on the show).

I wouldn't recommend this show for families, or even for most teenagers. It sends too many wrong messages (although mixed in with a few good ones) about the nature of sex and relationships. At the very least, parents should watch several episodes before deciding whether to let their (older) teens see it.

This show is pure propaganda and plain horrible. The acting is dreadful, the plot is laughable and there is not 30 seconds that goes by without the mention of "sex". Of course all the guys in this are cast as sex hungry jerks and the girls as naive. I will not spoil the predictable plot, but of course every situation involves sex and how it is bad. The worst plotline is the one where the chick had protected sex and liked it, and her dad died rushing to stop her. How dumb. They should have paid infomerical rates for this one.

I'm surprised by the less-than-enthusiastic reviews for this show. All this stuff about the show not being realistic just shows how much we NEED more shows like this. What do I mean by that? SECRET LIFE was created by the same people behind SEVENTH HEAVEN, another series strongly rooted in Christian values that was attacked for that very reason.

Which is not to say that all the show's characters have strong faiths. Not at all. But what bugs me is that when teens are depicted as--gasp!--having values and NOT constantly rebelling against their parents, people see that as unrealistic. Kids today are already raised by t.v., movies and music; so what's wrong with giving them something positive to watch?

All in all, a very engaging, thought-provoking show that families can watch together.