The Secret Life Of The American Teenager

December 28, 2008

Channel One News is advertising “The Secret Life of the American Teenager.” The advertising of course is deceptive as is usual with Channel One.

Above is the banner ad that is currently running at the top of many pages on Channelone.com’s site. Channel One has cropped the picture of the girl. You can see the original picture below. Also, Channel One has deleted the warning “Viewer Discretion Advised” from the ad.

When young people “rollover for more” they see the girl is pregnant. What they don’t see until they click to go to ABC’s site is this show is age-inappropriate for most of Channel One’s audience.

Here are descriptions of a few of the characters on this Channel One News-advertised TV show:

Amy Juergens (Shailene Woodley), A 15-year-old-freshman. She plays the French horn in the band. Amy discovers she is pregnant after a one-time hookup with Ricky at band camp. She is Ben’s girlfriend. She is very intelligent, yet very naive, and still retains a childlike innocence, despite carrying a baby inside her.

Ricky Underwood (Daren Kagasoff), A promiscuous sophomore. He was sexually abused by his father as a child and is now in foster care. He is the drummer in the school band. He’s Adrian’s ex-boyfriend and is currently romantically involved with Grace. He sees a therapist-Dr. Ken Fields-to deal with his issues. He is the father of Amy’s child.

Adrian Lee (Francia Raisa), A sophomore, charmer, and often called the “school slut”. She had had sexual relations with Jack Pappas, which caused many problems. She is a majorette and does very well in school. She is Ricky’s ex-girlfriend, but would like a real relationship with him.

Jack Pappas (Greg Finley II), A sophomore who is on the football team. He used to date Grace Bowman until he cheated on her. He did things with Adrian, which Grace found out about.

George Juergens (Mark Derwin), Amy’s father. He works at a furniture store. He cheated on his wife with Adrian’s mother. He used to be married to Grace’s mother.

Kathleen Bowman (Josie Bissett), Grace’s mother and George Juergens’ ex-wife. Kathleen cheated on George with Marshall, despite the fact that they are both Christians and such is a sin, or so they teach their daughter Grace.

Marshall Bowman (John Schneider), Grace’s overprotective father. Marshall carried out an affair with Kathleen while she was married to George Juergens. He also is the partner of the Juergens’ pediatrician, Dr. Hightower, which is how he found out about Amy’s pregnancy.

Alice Valko (Amy Rider), one of Ben’s best friends and Henry’s girlfriend since third grade. She knows a lot of the statistics about high school students and sex, among many other subjects. Despite insisting that she is not ready to have sex early in the season, she and Henry eventually do have sex.

Henry Miller (Allen Evangelista), one of Ben’s best friends and Alice’s boyfriend since third grade. He is conflicted about his relationship with Alice, especially after meeting Ashley and maybe liking her. Nevertheless, Henry and Alice have sex toward the end of the season, though broken up.

Cindy Lee (Paola Turbay), Adrian’s mother. She works as a flight attendant and is rarely home. She and George had an affair. She loves Adrian, but was oblivious to Adrian’s sexual encounters until they were pointed out to her.

Tags: , ,