The series starts off with the main girl, a Freshman, Amy (Shailene Woodley) returning from band camp only to find out that the one time she had sex has left her pregnant. At first, she only tells her two best friends, Lauren (Camille Winbush) and Madison (Renee Olstead), and her fear is that word of her pregnancy will get out to everyone in school and (worst of all) her parents.
Meanwhile, Ben (Ken Baumann) and his two best buds, Henry (Allen Evangelista) and Alice (Amy Rider) have also started off their high school careers this year, and Ben is determined to fall in love, which he does almost immediately when meets Amy. As Ben struggles to find a way to get Amy to notice him, and help her realize that he has fallen truly in love (not just a teenage thing, but true love), several other kids in the school have stories going on as well.
Ricky (Daren Kagasoff) is not only the popular kid and the school band drummer, but he seems to aim to sleep with every girl in school. In fact, little does he know that his brief encounter with Amy over the summer break has left her in her current predicament. We find out fairly early that Ricky's overactive sex life is due to early abuse by his real parents (he is currently in foster care), and that he regularly attends therapy by a Dr. Fields (Ernie Hudson of Ghostbusters). Also, even though he sleeps around quite a bit, he seems to be in a relationship (though a loosely defined one) with Adrian (Francia Raisa), another student who enjoys a bit of promiscuity.
The last group of kids is Grace (Megan Park) and her boyfriend Jack (Greg Finley). Both are devout Christians and plan to save themselves for marriage. But when Grace's parents (one of whom is Amy's father's first wife and the other is played by John Schneider of Dukes of Hazard and Smallville fame) force Grace to wear a promise ring to symbolize her willingness to wait, Jack gets a bit agitated. This agitation doesn't lessen when he learns that she doesn't want to get married until after Medical School. In a moment of weakness, he ends up sleeping with Adrian and spends the rest of the season not only trying to win back Grace, but her parents as well. Meanwhile, Ricky sees the breakup as an opportunity to try his moves out on Grace.
So there we have it, the basic cast of the kids of The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Ben and Amy fall madly in love, but Amy doesn't want Ben (or anyone else) to know she is pregnant. Because secrets are hard to keep in high school, news of her brief relationship with Ricky slowly leaks out, and Amy starts to show. Eventually, various people around town learn of her problem, but her parents (Molly Ringwald and Mark Derwin) are the last to know, even though her sister Ashley (India Eisley) figures it out pretty quickly. When all is finally revealed, there is a big debate over how much say Ricky (as the kid's father) and Ben (as the mother's boyfriend) have in the matter.
Throughout the season friendships will be broken, new ones will be made, and Amy's secret life (as well as everyone else's) will be exposed. This series is very fitting of the title drama ... in fact there are times when it damn near screams soap opera. What really bothered me though was the acting and dialogue. The actors had a really hard time finding their characters early on. Even veterans like Ringwald and Schneider felt like they were overdoing it a bit before they found their stride. Eventually though, the series and characters will grow on you, and it becomes hard to turn away.
While the DVD itself is fairly sparse on special features (it has only an on-set featurette), below are a few other extra features for anyone who is interested. As far as recommending the show, I hold it on about the same level as Seventh Heaven (which shares a creator in Brenda Hampton), in that there is a definite message that is being given to you (in a very blunt and non-subtle way) and the characters and actors tend to grow on you ... in a trainwreck sort of way. If you can make it through the first few episodes and get the many different characters sorted out in your head, then you will probably enjoy the rest of the show, but quite frankly it's hard to make that initial jump.
Bonus Material
Who Were You
Keeping It Real
