The Secret Life of the American Teenager is a television series created by Brenda Hampton that debuted on ABC Family on July 1, 2008. The teen drama focuses on the relationships between families and friends dealing with the unexpected pregnancy of character Amy Juergens, portrayed by Shailene Woodley.
Centered around teen Amy Juergens, The Secret Life of the American Teenager explores the effects of Amy's pregnancy on her life as well as her friendships, dating, sex, and other goings-on around the fictional Ulysses S. Grant High School in California. It also deals with her mother and father's difficult relationship and the effects on both Amy and her sister Ashley, Amy's new boyfriend, Ben, and many other teens' relationships with their family and friends. While Amy struggles with her family, school, band practice, and the rest of her everyday life while knowing that as long as she is pregnant and is responsible for the baby when it is born like her mom said on "The Secret Wedding of the American Teenager" she gets a lot of help from Ben, Lauren, Madison, Ashley, and her Mom. While knowing that she is not alone with her pregnancy, she is still scared of even thinking she is pregnant.
Secret Life ranked number one with the network's key demographic in its debut time slot versus cable television shows. The show earned the Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer TV Show during its premiere season. It currently has over 4 million viewers on Monday nights. It is the first teen drama of a Pregnant Teenager
Season 1 began with 11 episodes broadcast from July 1, 2008 to September 9, 2008. After a hiatus, 12 first season episodes aired beginning January 5, 2009, for a total of 23 episodes. The show has also been picked up by Canadian Broadcaster Citytv, which started airing the show in Canada on September 3, 2008.
