Premierewatch: Ben and Amy get married on 'The Secret Life of the American Teenager'

January 5, 2009 6:37 PM

Ah, The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Takes me way, way back to the summer of '08: picnics, lemonade, sunbathing, and teen pregnancy. Memories! The new season starts off big with a wedding between an increasingly annoying Amy and an increasingly doormat-esque Ben.

With Amy's mom showing some tough love and refusing to give up her entire newly independent life to raise Amy's baby (AND refusing to make Amy breakfast...worst mom ever!!!1!), Amy runs straight to Ben and insists that they elope. Wow, so if her mom was trying to bluff her way into getting Amy to consider adoption, that reeeally backfired.

I am going to note here that Amy made me want to jump into the TV and wring her pregnant little neck for the entire hour. Maybe the hormones exponentially amplify every bratty tendency she already had. For example (and there are many such examples): it is SO UNCOOL to tell your little sister that you're secretly getting married, ask her to get a fake ID to be a witness, and insist that she keep the whole thing a secret from her parents. She's only thirteen! Don't you think that might be a little too much pressure to put on her? You suck, Amy. Get out, Ben! Get out while you still can!

Amidst my Amy-hating, the wedding plans roll forward. With the help of a gossipy purveyor of fake IDs (and how did he know all the details?), the secret wedding becomes common knowledge at school, and snowballs from Amy, Ben, and their two witnesses Henry and Ashley into the hottest party in town. Amy's two friends appoint themselves surprise bridesmaids, Ricky takes Grace as their first date (because nothing screams "romance" like your baby mama's wedding), Adrian crashes said date, etc., etc. Despite the many unexpected guests, the wedding goes off without a hitch. How...anticlimactic.

Other happenings...

Anne insists that George move out, to Ashley's dismay. But in a hilaaaarious twist, he moves into the garage! Complete with having a urinal installed! ::Canned laughter:: Yeeeah. Between the absurd plot twist, the cheesy zoom-ins, the irritating women's studies jokes, and the wacky music, I'm wondering if they're trying to spin Anne and George off into a bad sitcom.
Grace's mom gives her a big talk waiting until marriage, but she's actually pretty reasonable about keeping an open line of communication and letting Grace get to know Ricky without setting any hard rules. Few complaints there, as a matter of fact.
Adrian's pissed about having to go to another school. Or not. And she and her mom are thinking about her mom getting back together with her dad. Or not. Make up your minds!
Tom's mom sets him up on a date, and it's love (or at least lust) at first sight. Tom is awesome!

Was the season premiere all you hoped it would be and more, or is Amy getting to you, too?

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in Cable, Premieres, The Secret Life of the American Teenager

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| Comments (10)

10 Comments

Amy is a stereotype, which is unfortunate, because SLAT had the potential to be an amazing show. Still does, if the writers will get it through their thick skulls that not all teenaged girls act like obnoxious, spoiled, half-literate trolls 90% of the time, even the pregnant ones. But this is what viewers seem to expect, and so that's what viewers will be getting. Enjoy!

P.S. I recommend newer viewers rewatch the first season, because some things in the first episode of this season won't make much sense (mainly in terms of relationships) unless you have a good grasp of the show as a whole. While I have doubts the show will improve, one can always hope, eh?

Thorny | January 5, 2009 8:11 PM

You've screwed up your life by having a teen pregancy! What will you do next?!

Get married way too young!!

Lindlee | January 5, 2009 8:31 PM

This show is still on? Hoo-ray relaxed standards on cable!

Sean | January 5, 2009 9:01 PM

"This show is still on? Hoo-ray relaxed standards on cable!"

Actually, it's one of ABC's highest rated shows. Go figure. Though my teen sister thinks it is awesome...I put it in the "so bad it's good" category myself.

"Despite the many unexpected guests, the wedding goes off without a hitch. How...anticlimactic."

My sister and I kept waiting for the parents to burst in, then for someone to say "No" rather than I do. I must give credit to the actor who plays Ben. During the wedding scene, he really looked like he was seriously reconsidering marrying Amy.

Mackenzie | January 5, 2009 11:01 PM

I also thought the ending was a surprise. I was waiting for Ben to back out, the parents to come in, or something to happen. I kept ***uming that they would not get married. Normally this show is so predictable I was waiting for the cliched "Stop the Marriage!" moment. A nice twist that it didn't happen.

Bo | January 6, 2009 4:59 AM

This entire epi was so ridiculous. Just because they got fake IDs doesn't mean they have a legally binding marriage. Under the law, two minors cannot consent to marriage. Just because they fooled some dumb people into thinking they were 18 (which they so obvi aren't), the marriage is null and void. I may have been willing to let that little detail go, if the entire epi wasn't centered around that condition.

Marisa | January 6, 2009 11:20 AM

I definately agree with what you have to say. The episodes are getting disapointing, not to meantion a little rediculous. But oddly enough its so catchy because its rediculous? I hope that the script gets more realistic instead of making every teen look over dramatic, some of us have good heads on our shoulders. Also i thought the show was to prevent teen pregnancy, to me it starting to give the ideas of "have a baby and get hitched"? maybe its just me.

Brittany | January 6, 2009 3:34 PM

Hate to be contrary, but a TV show like this isn't going to make kids go out and have sex. Pretty good chance that's been going on already. My peers and I certainly didn't need a show like this to encourage us to go play around behind the school during lunch. :P

No, this is just a silly little show that is attempting to be heartfelt, meaningful and topical, and failing miserably. As I said in my previous post, this show has enormous potential, but the writers seem to have stopped going to school somewhere around 7th grade, because that's what I think of every time I watch this show. It's some 12-year-old's idea of what the topic of this show would be like, which is actually an insult, because most of the 12-year-olds I know are rather intelligent (even the "worldly" ones who are more mature than they probably should be). SLAT is like the cotton candy version of the old After-School Specials that used to run on ABC back in the 70s and 80s.

I'm hoping that Amy actually does have the baby, and that they show every second of her giving birth, so that those watching it can see what it's really like. Somehow, I don't think that'll happen; instead, we'll get two minutes of, "AAAAAHHH!!!" and "I can't do this, I can't do this!" followed by Molly Ringwald wiping her brow and going, "Yes, you can, baby, you have to, you can do it," et cetera, et cetera. Then magically a baby will slide out, with hardly any blood or other gooey stuff shown, once again showing those watching how "easy" it is to have a baby.

I hope I'm wrong, really I do. I want to like this show, because I think it does have good intentions at heart. Poor writing and absolutely goddess-awful acting, though, are making it hard to enjoy. So we'll see.

Thorny | January 6, 2009 7:15 PM

i cant believe how messed up this is!!!!! but i LOVE it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

chy | January 9, 2009 4:59 PM

Tom and his date (is she mentally impaired too?) really bothered me.

I know it's because of his disability, but Tom looked like he was always looking at his mom's chest when he talked to her. AWKWARD

Pregnant Amy is very ****y. I used to like her a lot more. Poor Ben.

politically incorrect me. | January 11, 2009 9:48 PM