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

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I didn't read the memo, but somebody must have declared December "Teen Angst Month." Tomorrow three ABC Family TV series hit the streets which are aimed at high school and college-age viewers: "Greek: Chapter Two," "Kyle XY Season Two," and this entry from the creator of "7th Heaven."

All three series fall in the 6 out of 10 range, but "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" has a slight edge in acting and scenic construction. I can't imagine that the target audience consciously cares about such things, but it makes a difference. After all, you're virtually and vicariously hanging out with this crowd, and who wants to spend 473 minutes with people you don't find interesting or believable?

Keeping it real are Shailene Woodley ("Crossing Jordan," "The O.C."), Molly Ringwald (yes, the Molly Ringwald from "The Breakfast Club" and "Pretty in Pink"), India Eisley, and Ken Baumann ("Riding the 9"). Their performances anchor this otherwise melodramatic and cliché-ridden show in reality, offering characters that seem to have some depth to them even though, as with everyone else in this show, they're "types."

The way this show is designed, it's kind of like a Noah's ark of teen drama. Everything is in pairs. You have the good girl band geek, Amy (Woodley), who gets pregnant even though she's not even sure if what transpired in a quick two minutes at band camp could be defined as sex. The male version is an equally geeky, say-the-wrong-thing young man named Ben (Baumann) who is both a case study for the famous sports quote that nice guys finish last and the best hope of smashing that cliché. Then there's the promiscuous pair: Ricky (Daren Kagasoff), who is so compelled to sleep with a succession of girls (including the series star) that he's in therapy for it, and Adrian (Raisa), who wears lip-gloss like a tramp stamp and would have played Samantha if this were a teen version of "Sex and the City." Which it sometimes feels like, sans voiceover.

Other times it feels like a morality play, and the abstinence, Christian view is represented by another pair, who (of course) start out dating each other: Grace (Megan Park, "The Butcher's Daughter"), a cheerleader, and Jack (Greg Finley), a football player. Yeah, we've seen this before. Same with two Asians who just happen to be best friends to good-guy Ben, and a pair of best friends who serve as Amy's buddies. And there are two sets of parents that we get to know: Anne and George Juergens (Ringwald, Mark Derwin), and Kathleen and Marshall Bowman, played by Josie Bissett ("Melrose Place") and John Schneider ("Smallville"), whose take on his character is so slightly goofy here that it recalls his years as Bo on "The Dukes of Hazzard." He's supposed to be a gynecologist, but he looks, talks, and acts more like an old surfer dude version of Mike Brady. Doesn't this guy carry a beeper? Isn't he ever called away to deliver a baby? Even Cosby's Cliff Huxtable had an emergency every now and then.

Plotwise, it's "Juno" with melodrama rather than wit and sarcasm, a closet-treatment of teen pregnancy rather than an out-in-the-open, in-your-face version. How long can a person possibly go without telling her parents she's pregnant when even her 13-year-old sister (Eisley, who does a fine job as a precocious quasi-Goth) can tell her boobs are getting bigger, she's gaining weight, and she's alternately eating like a horse or else nauseated by the sight of food? As long as her denial remains, which is surprisingly far into the first season, considering that we learned about the pregnancy first thing.