Saturday, February 21, 2009

Secret Life

My niece's favorite show this season is "The Secret Life of the American Teenager." I got a call from her mom last Monday wanting me to record it because my niece was not going to be able to watch it and no one there could work the DVD recorder. So, I set my DVR to record "House" and decided to watch/record the niece's show.

Most teen fare these days is pretty trashy, but my niece is a class act. I wanted to see the show that had captured her fancy. For those not acquainted, the premise is 15 year old Amy, the smart, band nerd kid, gets pregnant at band camp after having her first sexual experience with a cool, worldly guy. The show deals with everything from deciding whether or not to terminate the pregnancy to dating as an unmarried, pregnant teen. The supporting cast includes the girl with the (earned) bad reputation and how the boys lack respect for her, the girl who is trying to wait for sex until marriage, the boy who wants to "rescue" Amy, and Amy's so-called "best friends" who are less than supportive now that she is in trouble.

Sam was over this evening and I decided to watch the show again with her. She recognized her classmates in the characters and asked a number of questions which I answered to the best of my ability. It is amazing how much teens can be exposed to without knowing the facts. This is a show about consequences, a concept that is far too absent in most of today's teen TV.

Sam and I will be watching Monday.

And, maybe, learning.

1 comment:

Melissa said...

We've been watching that show since the 1st episode. It is actually starting to get a bit too far fetched for us, but we did really enjoy it at the beginning. I like the fact that it deals with issues that are current, and certainly it does not sugarcoat them. Good family watching for teens for sure!

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