I can’t watch it anymore!
Monday night I watched Secret Life of the American Teenager. Why? Because it is something I can stare at and laugh because of the ridiculous dialogue and unrealistic nature of the plot. Never in my life have I watched a show just because I hate it, with every time hoping that it will cover a problem that really occurs on high school campuses. Having gone to a public high school myself I know what kind of environment should be portrayed in the show and it makes me mad at how “glamorous” the writers make the problems in the show seem.
I want to tell the executive producer, Brenda Hampton, that this show is completely opposite from what 7th Heaven was. I miss that show. It stayed truer to reality and actually taught teens a lesson. The “point” of Secret Life may be to teach kids that they shouldn’t have sex, but it makes it seem like everyone is doing “it” and that it is easy to be a mom at 15. Let me tell you something, Brenda, life is not that perfect for students. And not everyone in high school is having sex. Many are drinking and doing drugs, that is what this show should cover. Yes, incorporate sex into it, but be realistic about it.
Let me give you a little background on this show. It is about a teenage girl named Amy who has sex for the first time at band camp and winds up pregnant- AS A FRESHMAN! Ok, really? That innocent of a girl, who is intelligent and at band camp doesn’t know to use a condom? C’mon. Lets move on. Ricky, who is the “bad boy” of the school is the one who knocks her up. Her parents are supportive, with ridiculously cheesy diolague. Then there is Grace, a Christian, who thinks having sex is bad, her brother, who has down syndrome, and Grace’s boyfriend, Jack, the all American. Add Addriene to the mix, who is the school slut, and Amy’s two obnoxious friends and you have the extremes of teenage sterotypes. But a family show devoted to sex? It doesn’t talk about the dangers of sex, like STDs, or how hard it is to have a baby so young, or even about other things that should be included in a teenager’s “secret life”.
What you are doing here, Brenda, is creating a fantasy land of teenagers full of sex and parent issues. The dialogue is cheesy and repetitive. I ask of you, Brenda, to please look at the real picture. Look at who your targeting this show to- families and teenagers. You are sending the opposite message than what you originally wanted to these kids and getting on the bad side of many parents. Talk to teens who go to real public school to get ideas for how they talk, and then relay that information to your writers. Don’t make these actors talk like their 40 when they are really 16. Just take a look for yourself:
Filed under: Uncategorized | 7 Comments
