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The Secret Life of the American Teenager
Posted by Austin
on
9:40 PM
in
television
Let's you and me talk honestly for a moment. There's a lot of stuff on this blog that could easily be dismissed as hooplah. Rabble. The old riggamaroll.
But deep down... you and I are the same kind of person. We breathe the same air, drive on the same streets... and we both do things we're deeply embarrassed about. Here's where you have the advantage over me; you can get away with reading while I'm stuck here spilling the beans. But I'll happily spill these beans.
This blog is more accurately titled:
You see, there's this show I've been watching. I didn't even set out to watch it, it just sorta happened on accident. I ended up at Richard and Kaiti's house one afternoon and Richard wasn't home. Kaiti was watching this show, and without knowing it, I was hooked.
The show, as gleamed from the blog title, is 'The Secret Life of the American Teenager'. As far as guilty pleasures go, it's probably my guiltiest so far. I mean, I've watched some potentially embarassing stuff, but 'Secret Life' is beyond embarrassing.
I want you to imagine a standard soap opera. You know, cheesy and unrealistic plots and characters? Dramatic swerves and unexpected reveals?
'Secret Life' blows everything you can imagine STRAIGHT OUT OF THE WATER. And the theme song is sung by Molly Ringwald.
See, I've got this theory, which I call the Theory of Stupid/Awesome. The theory is this -- imagine a globe of creative works. Starting at Stupid, something can circle the globe completely and miss the Stupid mark, ending up at Awesome instead. It's so bad it's great. It's stupid/awesome.
For instance, let's watch the teaser trailer for the show before it launched.
Looks like pretty standard family friendly drama, right? Well, you're wrong. It's a million times better. Strip away all the glitz and glamor of a soap opera and instead give them stupid teenager indignant looks. You're about half-way there. Now add in plot twists that have never, ever actually happened to real teenagers and you've got one of the most additively watchable TV shows of the last ten years.
While there are no 'main characters' (no sir, this is an ensemble show), I like to say our two main characters are Amy and Ben, two fifteen year old kids who just started High School.
That's them, right before they illegally eloped using fake drivers licenses claiming that they and all their friends are all the same person from Reno, Nevada. Why are Amy and Ben getting married? Well, long story short, Amy is pregnant from a three second sexual encounter with Ricky at band camp and now Ben wants to marry her because he fell in love with her while trying to get into her pants because she seemed more accessible than the more attractive popular cheerleader character.
That's eliminating all the intricacies of their relationship, such as that Ben's nickname is 'The Sausage Prince', or that Amy vomited on Ben after eating a polish sausage covered in onions and green peppers. It's all about the journey getting there, and watching these kids do the same stupid things that you and I did when we were their age. Except for sexual misadventures at band camp. That was way too cliché.
Is 'The Secret Life of the American Teenager' good? Definitely not. But it's immensely fun, cheesier than your grandma's macaroni and jam packed with laughably quotable lines.
'The Secret Life of the American Teenager' airs Monday nights at 8 PM on ABC Family.
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But deep down... you and I are the same kind of person. We breathe the same air, drive on the same streets... and we both do things we're deeply embarrassed about. Here's where you have the advantage over me; you can get away with reading while I'm stuck here spilling the beans. But I'll happily spill these beans.
This blog is more accurately titled:
You see, there's this show I've been watching. I didn't even set out to watch it, it just sorta happened on accident. I ended up at Richard and Kaiti's house one afternoon and Richard wasn't home. Kaiti was watching this show, and without knowing it, I was hooked.
The show, as gleamed from the blog title, is 'The Secret Life of the American Teenager'. As far as guilty pleasures go, it's probably my guiltiest so far. I mean, I've watched some potentially embarassing stuff, but 'Secret Life' is beyond embarrassing.
I want you to imagine a standard soap opera. You know, cheesy and unrealistic plots and characters? Dramatic swerves and unexpected reveals?
'Secret Life' blows everything you can imagine STRAIGHT OUT OF THE WATER. And the theme song is sung by Molly Ringwald.
See, I've got this theory, which I call the Theory of Stupid/Awesome. The theory is this -- imagine a globe of creative works. Starting at Stupid, something can circle the globe completely and miss the Stupid mark, ending up at Awesome instead. It's so bad it's great. It's stupid/awesome.
For instance, let's watch the teaser trailer for the show before it launched.
Looks like pretty standard family friendly drama, right? Well, you're wrong. It's a million times better. Strip away all the glitz and glamor of a soap opera and instead give them stupid teenager indignant looks. You're about half-way there. Now add in plot twists that have never, ever actually happened to real teenagers and you've got one of the most additively watchable TV shows of the last ten years.
While there are no 'main characters' (no sir, this is an ensemble show), I like to say our two main characters are Amy and Ben, two fifteen year old kids who just started High School.
That's them, right before they illegally eloped using fake drivers licenses claiming that they and all their friends are all the same person from Reno, Nevada. Why are Amy and Ben getting married? Well, long story short, Amy is pregnant from a three second sexual encounter with Ricky at band camp and now Ben wants to marry her because he fell in love with her while trying to get into her pants because she seemed more accessible than the more attractive popular cheerleader character.
That's eliminating all the intricacies of their relationship, such as that Ben's nickname is 'The Sausage Prince', or that Amy vomited on Ben after eating a polish sausage covered in onions and green peppers. It's all about the journey getting there, and watching these kids do the same stupid things that you and I did when we were their age. Except for sexual misadventures at band camp. That was way too cliché.
Is 'The Secret Life of the American Teenager' good? Definitely not. But it's immensely fun, cheesier than your grandma's macaroni and jam packed with laughably quotable lines.
'The Secret Life of the American Teenager' airs Monday nights at 8 PM on ABC Family.
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