Usually the dog days of summer are a TV wasteland - all the good shows are in repeats and if there are new shows on, it's hard to get into them because there are vacations, BBQs, and blockbuster summer movies to go to instead. But if you're into teen pregnancy stories, then this summer is actually a great time to be watching TV.
ABC Family's "Secret Life of the American Teenager" (Mondays at 8p) and MTV's "16 & Pregnant" (Thursdays at 10p) are both showing new episodes this summer and both are well worth watching.
"Secret Life," now in its second season, is a shiny, happy teen drama about Amy, a girl in suburbia who got pregnant at 15, had the baby, and is now struggling with motherhood, high school and all the drama both of those entail. Parenthood isn't easy - it means less time for all the fun parts of being a teenager and more opportunities for being a brat. Amy has boy problems too - her utterly devoted boyfriend (who is not the baby's father) wants to have sex but she isn't interested. The bad-boy heartthrob who is the baby's father is actually committed to his son, even though he too is a young teen.
The other characters are also in the throes of adolescent angst, or at least the sanitized Hollywood version of it. So much of what goes on in real life is in this show - sex, pregnancy, confusion, divorce, death, love, gossip - its just that everyone is better looking than real people and the rough edges of reality have been smoothed over quite a bit.
MTV's "16 & Pregnant" is the opposite. It is as real as real can get. Shot in documentary style without attention to lighting or wardrobe or makeup, each hour-long episode focuses on one pregnant teenager and her real life experiences.
The girls leave school, their friends often leave them, their bodies change, their relationships change, a baby comes into the world and innocence makes a dramatic exit. Viewers get to see up close what happens when a baby is born and when a family falls apart. There are tears and triumphs, there is heartbreak and there is heart-wrenching tenderness.
All the trappings of typical adolescence are there - prom night, cheerleading, part-time jobs, petty gossip, dreamy boyfriends, wanting a car, parental conflict - but there are also sonograms, morning sickness, money trouble, relationship turmoil, broken promises and dreams deferred. It is impossible to watch an episode and not be moved by what these girls endure and how their stories unfold.
The Campaign produces discussion guides and other web content for both of these shows and we're enormously proud to do it. Anything that gets young people thinking and talking about teen pregnancy is an important part of the work we do. That ABC Family and MTV are committed to telling these stories and starting these conversations makes our jobs easier. And summer television a whole lot better.
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