Teen Choice best summer show, two other ABC Family shows released tomorrow

December 29, 9:14 AMTV on DVD ExaminerJohn Stahl

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Molly Ringwald discussing facts of life

I spent much of this weekend watching the DVD set of all 11 hour-long episodes of the ABC Family drama "The Secret Life of the American Teenager," (Secret Life) which won this year's Teen Choice award for the best teen summer show. I agree that the candid way that this program deals with virtually every aspect of teenage sexuality earned this honor. However, a realistic portrayal of a gay teen would be a nice addition for the second season.

This DVD set is being released tomorrow along with the second season of the ABC Family scifi drama "Kyle XY" and the second season of the ABC Family college-based show "Greek." I look forward to watching these sets and will share my thoughts on them within the next several weeks.

From the perspective of its intended audience of teenagers and their parents, "Secret Life" is an outstanding program that does a nice job portraying how a "good" 16 year-old girl and her family, friends, and other students deal with the girl's unwanted pregnancy that resulted from her consensual first and brief sexual encounter.

The show provides a good way for teens and their 'rents to discuss the tough topic of sex. I think as well that fans of the "American Pie" films will see the humor regarding the girl's sexual encounter occurring at band camp; I chuckled the first time that this was mentioned.

From the more jaded perspective of a middle-aged man with no children, this very well-written PG-13 version of the "After School Specials" that I enjoyed so much in my earlier days reminded me of the program that was a parody of "Beverly Hills 90210" on which the 20-something characters in the short-lived but amusing comedy "Grosse Pointe" appeared. The "Secret Life" actors are all several years older than the teens that they portray and their acting skills could be better.

It seemed that every actor delivered each line with the same intonation despite the emotion that the dialogue conveyed. Additionally, the actors were well cast as the good girl, the stud, the jock, the slut, etc. but did not seem to get in their character. For example, the jock was not all that aggressive and the very adorable and earnest geek was not very goofy. I also would have loved to have seen one scene in which it seemed that the good girl was crying genuinely.

Again, Secret Life is a terrific show for teens and their parents. I realize too that my being neither makes writing about this show more difficult. However, I cannot write every entry about "Jericho" and "firefly" and want this page to cover a wide range of programs. Yes, my discussion of "Kyle XY" will likely mention "Roswell."

Please do share your comments as additions to this posting or as e-mail to tvdvdguy@gmail.com.