Secret Life has a score of 48 out of 100 on Metacritic based on reviews from 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". The New York Post praised the series for having a set of characters that are "... real and come from families of all stripes – from intact to single-parent households to one boy in foster care..." However, most mainstream critics didn't embrace the show, likening it to an after-school special "filled with didactic messages and a lotta wooden acting," in the words of Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly. The New York Times claimed that "Secret Life must surely be the collective effort of an anti-pregnancy cabal. [...] ABC Family means well but could not have done worse. Secret Life doesn’t take the fun out of teenage pregnancy, it takes the fun out of television" and called the show a "Prime-Time Cautionary Tale". Variety magazine reported that "ABC Family's latest original drama wants to be a slow-motion version of Juno but settles for being an obvious, stereotype-laden teen soap [...] based on first impressions, The Secret Life of the American Teenager should probably stay a secret." ReporterMag's Andrew Rees said, "The show...might be the worst scripted drama on television. Suffering from gag-worthy dialog, horrific plot twists, terrible acting, and characters who not even the best of 3-D glasses could give depth to, it’s a wonder how this show stays on the air."
Country | |
Runtime | 39 – 46 min |
Premiere: World | September 3, 2008 |
Premiere: USA | December 30, 2008 |
Channel | FreeForm (20:00, United States) |
Digital: World | November 6, 2013 |
Parental Advisory | Sex & Nudity, ... |
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Description
15 year old Amy ends up pregnant after one night at band camp, throwing her whole life upside down. It doesn’t help that she’s now going to school with that guy.e1 | e2 | e3 | e4 | e5 | e6 | e7 | e8 | e9 | e10 | e11 | e12 | e13 | e14 | e15 | e16 | e17 | e18 | e19 | e20 | e21 | e22 | e23 | e24 | e25 | e26 | |
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s1 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 7.7 | 7.2 | 7.1 | 7.3 | 7.1 | 7.2 | 7.2 | 7.5 | 6.9 | 7.6 | 6.9 | 6.9 | 7.5 | 7.4 | 7.4 | 7.3 | 6.9 | 6.8 | 7.0 | 7.3 | 7.5 | |||
s2 | 7.8 | 5.9 | 6.2 | 7.1 | 7.0 | 7.1 | 6.8 | 6.3 | 6.3 | 6.4 | 6.3 | 6.0 | 7.6 | 6.8 | 6.8 | 5.8 | 5.7 | 6.9 | 6.6 | 6.7 | 6.5 | 6.7 | 7.0 | 6.3 | ||
s3 | 5.9 | 6.5 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.5 | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.7 | 6.7 | 6.3 | 6.4 | 6.4 | 6.7 | 6.8 | 6.2 | 6.6 | 7.4 | 6.8 | 6.6 | 6.7 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.7 | 6.6 | 7.5 |
s4 | 7.5 | 7.0 | 6.3 | 7.5 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.9 | 7.3 | 7.6 | 7.6 | 7.4 | 7.3 | 7.7 | 7.2 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 6.8 | 6.8 | 6.2 | 6.3 | 5.9 | 6.3 | 6.5 | 6.0 | ||
s5 | 7.6 | 6.9 | 6.7 | 6.9 | 6.6 | 6.7 | 6.3 | 6.6 | 6.9 | 6.8 | 7.1 | 7.8 | 5.6 | 7.5 | 6.3 | 6.1 | 6.6 | 6.2 | 7.3 | 6.6 | 6.6 | 6.2 | 7.3 | 3.0 | ||
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Critique: 12
Shailene Woodley is terrific as the teen in question. Unfortunately, other parts of the show feel so contrived they border on soap opera parody.
Campily depicting high school as a den of sluts and predators, "Secret" achieves the noble goal of making sex thoroughly unsexy.
Nothing about it feels original or even especially timely, and it certainly doesn’t reveal any great secrets about society.
ABC Family means well but could not have done worse. "Secret Life" doesn’t take the fun out of teenage pregnancy, it takes the fun out o...
The series uses Amy’s pregnancy as the centerpiece in a drama that’s clearly more a painfully obvious, crudely-drawn cautionary ta...
We try not to snark too hard on Bristol Pali… But oh my God, she’s horrible. Is it possible for a real teen mom to unconvincingly deliver&nbs...
Teen pregnancy is probably never too suitable for family audiences but this series from the creator of "7th Heaven" naturally amped up the drama.
While there is a lot of talk about sex on The Secret Life, how it approaches the subject is not particularly candid, nor is it as different as...
The show’s humor isn’t as problematic as the fact that the scripts are too busy, the goofiness isn’t counterbalanced often enough...
ABC Family’s latest original drama wants to be a slow-motion version of "Juno" but settles for being an obvious, stereotype-laden teen s...
Her [Shailene Woodley] performance lifts a well-meaning, rather brave, but ramshackle show a notch. And it needs all the notch-raising it...
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