Secret Life of the American Teenager, The (TV Series) (DVD)

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"The Secret Life of the American Teenager" won its time slot with the target demographic when it first debuted, but in addition to the stereotypes it's really quite preachy. All of the promiscuity is explained as the result of complexes, and abstinence comes out a winner despite some cartoonish performances and writing along the way. What saves it are some sensitive performances.

Here's a rundown on the 13 episodes, which are housed on three single-sided discs in one of those annoying overlapping disc cases:

1) "Falling in Love." Amy tells her best friends, Lauren (Camille Winbush) and Madison (Renee Olstead), about her band camp encounter, but secrets lead to lies in this show and her first lie is that it wasn't someone from "this school."

2) "You Are My Everything." Lauren and Madison talk loudly about Amy's dilemma, which is overheard by Ben's Asian friends (Henry Miller, Amy Rider), and soon it's all over the school.

3) "I Feel Sick." Ben pursues Amy, and ends up with a first kiss. But after she returns from a date smelling like barf, her sister guesses what's up and confronts her.

4) "Caught." Grace had been sneaking out to see the boy her father forbid her to see, but she ends up defending herself with a broken bottle against two drunks, and a security camera catches the whole thing . . . and exposes her.

5) "What Have You Done to Me?" Ben learns about Amy's pregnancy and does the nice guy thing: he proposes. Yeah, we didn't see that one coming.

6) "Love for Sale." Mom learns about the pregnancy. Yeah, Dad is always the last to know. And rumors fly at school again.

7) "Absent." Ricky gets wise (Are we seeing a pattern here?).

8) "Your Cheatin' Heart." Grandma visits, and former high school rivals become friends.

9) "Slice of Life." George bonds with his daughters in a touching episode.

10) "Back to School Special." Wow. That's exactly what this show feels like. Funny they should title an episode that.

11) "Just Say No." Adrian disappears, and so as not to spoil too much I'll end by simply saying that there are two more episodes, 12) and 13).

Video:
The video quality is Disney decent-nothing special, but no deficiencies either. It's just a good-but-not-great picture with a fair amount of detail for a DVD, colors that seem true enough (especially skin tones) and a pleasing widescreen aspect ratio (1.78:1).

Audio:
Same with the audio, which is a solid-but-unspectacular English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround with French and Spanish subtitles. The bass isn't as rich or robust as I'm used to, but that's the only thing worth noting. Otherwise it's, well, decent.

Extras:
Not much. There's a brief "On the Set with the Cast" featurette that covers the usual ground, and a bonus song download, "It's Over," by Jesse McCartney.

Bottom Line:
Despite receiving a Teen Choice Award for Summer TV Show, "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" leans way too heavily on clichés and stereotypes to make it a winning show. But there are enough characters and talented actors working to beef up their stereotypes that it would be easy to get hooked if you're part of the target audience.

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