the secret life is the worst teen drama of all time 

surprised how many people are upset i haven't watched degrassi? should i watch it?

When that Christian girl, Grace had sex and thought she killed her dad. Truly iconic tbh.

girl i watched this entire show while i was in middle school and i will forever be scarred by the scene where ricky is baking with the blonde girl and he starts intensely licking her hand and she goes "does this count as oral?"

tHeN wHeReS tHe BaBy GoNnA bE MOM

You ever had an awkward conversation you just try to get out of? That’s what the entire script was.

"He had a horrible death because I had incredible sex"

"They're 15! ThAts 4 years OLDER THAN 11!!!!"🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

"They're 15... that's 4 years older than 11!!" holy crap, I nearly peed my pants from laughing so hard

when you say “the secret life” my mind keeps thinking the sweet life of zach and cody

This show had some of the WORST writing ever, and every character talked exactly the same

“Im so chill” the pinnacle of English literature

I watched the first two episodes with my friend and it just made me so uncomfortable. It’s like a Wattpad book that would have the title of something like “pregnant with the popular boy” or some cliché Wattpad name.

I literally hate that they NEVER showed John, as a toddler he never talked or did anything. Amy was somehow never with him , and that isnt the reality of being a teen mom. Ever since ive had my son at 16 , ive been with him CONSTANTLY and hes almost 1 1/2 and im 17 now.

I always hated it because every character in the show was punished for having sex, they would either get pregnant or their dad would die or some other horrible thing. it also had this weird thing where it was expected for committed people to just cheat on each other randomly. and I remember that plot line where one of the main guys was sexually abused by his dad and all the adults were just like "well that was in the passed! no big deal!" like????? Oh my god I've hated this show for so so long, and I kept watching it for so long because I hate myself..

Who remembers Switched at Birth?

one tree hill has complex characters, interesting plot lines and is just so heartwarming. secret life is a disaster of terrible acting, awful plot, zero character development and just the length of the show is awful.

I started watching the first episode of Secret Life, but when Amy came home from Marching Band WITH A FRENCH HORN...YOU CANNOT MARCH WITH A FRENCH HORN!!! So I stopped partway through the pilot.

Me and my 3 friends must've been the only viewers who voluntarily watched Red Band Society every week.

red band society wasn’t the best but it didn’t deserve its cancellation

For me it was the CONSTANT cheating between couples. Like how hard is it to be slightly less douchey and pick up a phone to tell someone you are breaking up with them rather than cheating? And it's like every single character.

You and Alex Meyers should crossover.

*4 unplanned pregnancies lmao one was AMY’S MOM KDJDKSLAL

I remember thinking this show was “adult” because they said sex like 60 times each episode. The ONLY well acted scene is when Adrian lost her baby. Every character just believed any rumor they heard and the relationships switched on a dime. I still watch it purely for nostalgia though lol.

to be fair if my grandpa entered a room saying "grandpa needs a cup of coffee" and then looks expectantly at the two women who are already sitting down I'd probably lose my mind a bit

As a preteen I loved trashy pregnancy shows like 16 and pregnant and teen mom, but I could never bring my self to watch an entire episode of the secret life of the american teenager

The American Life of a Secret Teenager.

"I'm not watching Riverdale to exercise my critical thinking skills" I'M DYING!!!

You analyzing that scene from Glee was sooo cool

Kenny (the guy who plays Ben) is my old acting coach’s son. I worked with her for years and vividly remember when he got the part and how excited they all were but I could tell his mom was concerned (for obvious reasons, especially since in the beginning it was going to be called “The Sex Life of the American Teenager” and he had just turned 18) Something I can tell you is that kid was very bright and an incredible actor and it’s a shame he’s never done anything but this awful show. His mom said the producers laid into them to over act everything and nobody on set ever seemed to actually care about the quality of the show, they just wanted to pump it out. Also a lot of the actors really didn’t get along at all because of how much they were forced to compete against each other which resulted in 0 chemistry amongst the cast. Anyways just a little insight in my tiny little peak behind the curtain

but can I JUST SAY amy’s love interests whose names i don’t remember cause they were so generic LOOK THE SAME? i can’t

"It's like interior design without a color scheme." Yo, I felt that.

Don’t forget the fact that they said the word “sex” 94 times per episode.

Oh man, do I EVER remember this show!😁 Judging from the title alone, you'd expect a down to earth, realistic depiction of what a teenager's life is "really" like. Instead, you get a show that set out to discuss an important issue with viewers (teen pregnancy), and somehow descended into a show where everyone, including the parents, had constant sex. Looking back on it now, Shailene Woodley and Molly Ringwald delivered the strongest performances out of all the cast.

I never watched The Secret Life, but everything I ever I saw or heard about it made me think that the show sounded oddly... conservative? As if it were written by proponents of abstinence-only sex ed who are also anti-birth control and anti-choice? That kind of thing. And this retrospective as well as Alex Meyers' (I'm pretty sure it was him) furthers that impression. I always liked how Degrassi dealt with teen pregnancy. They went through all three options: Manny got an abortion, Liberty carried to term and gave the baby up for adoption, and Mia decided to be a teen mom.

"Then where's the baby gonna be, mom?" "Childcare is your job." I feel like this is a realistic conversation for a pregnant teen to have with her mom but I don't like the real teen that acts like this either.

I don't know how to say this in a non-weird way but your voice is so pleasant to listen to.

I used to watch it sometimes when I was like 12 but tbh I just watched it because of the “sex” and I felt edgy and grown up

"thEN wHERes thE bAbY gOnnA bE, mOM?" thats the point, amy.

“I dropped out of college before we reached the subject in my film class” is far too relatable

I realized CW shows aren't for me. I cannot stand the way they write the characters & their actions. Esp what they do with the females.

The worst part of the show is that they don’t even try to make the main character likable 🙄 Literally everyone is awful

Drinking game: Watch The Secret Life of an American Teenager and take a drink every time someone says the word sex Be wasted 15 minutes into an episode lmao

Julia: "I even watched Red Band Society, and no one even watched it" Me: *raises hand*

i lost it when amy said "that's the new rule around here" and the wave effect thingy was on her body and she walked away omg i'm dead

Degrassi the next generation is my fave show!! It got awful after season 8 though

my sister loved this show and i remember one episode where amys sister moves into the garage and gets it renovated because amy needed the extra room for her baby, and after the garage is renovated amys like "omg this is perfect for my baby and me" ad is like "me and john need our own space " and i swear im not lying at how selfish she is

Also there was that time that Adrienne basically convinced her parents to move into and purchase the house next to Amy’s just so she could spy on Amy. I’m so glad im not the only one who hated this show this much.

I stopped watching when I realized they repeat sentences back to each other as a conversation and always say the baby, John.

“A bit J.K Rowling” J.K Rowling is saying that before toilets were invented, wizards would 💩 in public then disapparate it. Honestly we need to help her

I'm a 34 year old black, heterosexual male and I love teen soaps and your channel, go figure. With that being said, tried watching this one and couldn't get past episode 2, it was that bad. Keep in mind I even derived some enjoyment from the god awful Dance Academy out of Australia, even that show's mediocre quality doesn't hold a candle to SECRET LIFE.

whatttt old degrassi was good. The days of page emma and jimmy are the best

My mom watched that show. She started watching it when she was sick. She's starts watching bad stuff when she's sick.

I misunderstood that poll. I've never seen One Tree Hill. I voted for SLOTAT because it's garbage and I wanted you to tear it apart. I've watched an embarrassing amount of Degrassi (across multiple generations). Degrassi is better, for sure!

red band society deserved better

I HAVE NEVER FELT SO MUCH RAGE *throws phone onto soft couch and opens curtains a bit*

Still can't see Cory Monteith without wanting to cry. Aslo loved Red Band Society.

I think the main reason people voted for secret life of an American teenager in the Twitter pole is because One Tree Hill isn't on Netflix or Hulu.

Oh geez I forgot how good the camera work on Glee was. Like the cinematography was outstanding for a TV show.

Out of the three “mains” I guess I only liked Ricky, Amy was self absorbed constantly wallowed in self pity and was stubborn and stupid she was pretty stubborn to be with Ben and Ben was actually pretty terrible of a partner he literally just glimpsed at Amy and from that moment on was so determined to be with her and in my opinion when he was with her he was pretty shitty and immediately putting himself as the role of father even though Ricky was trying to get his stuff together (although not right off the bat if I remember correctly) I thought that was not cool because Ricky was starting to want to step up to the plate and he just suddenly puts himself in the role instead of being a supporting role idk where I’m going with this I’m ranting at this point but Amy and Ben I didn’t like so much Ricky I actually liked him

The degrassi seasons that aired on teen ninck are great. The netflix seasons are ok better than the secret life.

PLEASE do a video on glee

You better watch degrassi season 1-7 cause after that it's absolute trash also I love red band society

“15!” “Thats 4 years older than 11!!!!!!!!??!!!”

I actually enjoyed Degrassi Next Class. Next Gen was good but Eli full on scared me at multiple points, which made it difficult to watch.

Julia, I am so happy you decided to cover this trash lol. Interestingly enough, I was a lot like you in my middle school/high school days. I attached myself to every teen drama that aired on television. I grew up in a pretty sheltered household, so I had to be incredibly sneaky about the shows I watched. The Secret Life Of The American Teenager was no exception for obvious reasons. I have an interesting relationship with The Secret Life Of The American Teenager because I literally watched the entire series, but it was the first time I realized that one of these shows was actively horrible! I was in middle school when this show aired, and my friend group watched it as well and we’d chat about it during lunch and bus rides. I think I had a realization that this show was bad when we were laughing about the absurdity of the plots instead of being scandalized by them. (I swear, we still quote a scene where Amy tells Ben that she’s pregnant and Amy starts crying and says “I’m a wh*re and Ben replies “you’re my wh*re” to this day) i- I noticed something was so off with the writing in particular. We laughed at Glee, we laugh at Riverdale, but Secret Life takes the cake. I’m not really a writer, so I can’t put my finger on what was so wrong. But, I swear, everything these kids said in this show felt so unnatural and forced. To make an argument, the characters would repeat their point nonstop and it was all so surface level. For a while, I thought it was the actors until I realized Shailene Woodley can actually, y’know, act. Ill give a little credit to the actors, because if you’ve seen Seventh Heaven, you know that there’s no way to make a Brenda Hampton script seem natural. But you’re right. This show definitely lacked in the visual storytelling aspect big time. My memories of this show is basically all the characters standing around talking (mainly about sex, of course) (take a shot every time a character mentions sex...wait never mind you’ll die, don’t do that!) overall, visually the show kind of reminds me of those day to day soup opera’s that my granny use to watch, just replace the boring yet dramatic adults to boring yet dramatic teenagers. Perhaps I realized this show was trash quicker than other similar shows because of the stripped back bare production. There was nothing ever too over-the-top going on to distract me from the overall terribleness. I could easily see right through it. For a good laugh, I sometimes show my boyfriend clips of this show. He made an amazing comparison that I just have to add. He said the show reminded him of if Tommy Wiseau (the guy who infamously directed/wrote/starred in The Room) created a show for teenagers. The awkward writing/dialog, lack of visual style, and absurd plot twist is literally all there. I’m completely convinced.

The gossip girl spoiler part has me dead really puts things into perspective lmao

My favorite thing about Secret Life of American Teenager was watching the commercials and seeing which almost identical white boy she was with at that point

honestly, the plot had so much potential, but the dialogue ruined everything for me. I could never tell if it was the writing or the acting that made the show so cringy.

Red band society is great y'all are haters

RICKY DESERVED SO MUCH BETTER!! the character development for him was huge and in the end he's left alone as a single teen father. smh I'm still mad about this series

as someone who (for some reason) watch ALL of the secret life of the american teenager, I can confirm that is IS the worst

"That's four years older than.....eleven."

I remember my friend (who is 20 by the way) telling me how great this show was. I got through around 2 episodes and couldn’t take any more of the bad acting. Like that scene with Ricky and Amy in the first episode where he’s talking to her about their “night” was enough to make me cringe unlike any show I’ve ever watched.

Finally someone spoke on the garbage that is The Secret Life of an American Teenager(also Red Band Society is my favorite show of all time)

this how is my comfort garbage tv show its just SO god awful, this and switched at birth i’ve watched the whole series every single year like 6/7 years straight

When I say I hated this show I mean I really HATED this show Did I still finish it.. yes

The fact that people picked this over one tree Hill i-

Why does her bedroom remind me of Hannah Montana 😭

“They’re 15! That’s four years older than... 11!!!!!” That cracked me up for some reason

When i was in middle school two three years old an 8 grader was pregnant so the storyline was nothing shocking to me

Secret life started ran for the years I was in high school (it literally started the summer before 9th grade and ended a week before I graduated high school) and I never watched it... it just looked dumb even though I liked Shailene Woodley, lol. Edit: I'm also not sure why Degrassi (at least the early seasons) get such a bad rap... it actually was pretty groundbreaking in the early 2000s and the topics it covered in a non-taboo way, especially the first 4 seasons (abortion, male eating disorders, school shootings, etc).

I too, have a soft spot for teen dramas. They are my guilty pleasure. I didn’t see any of this show till I was married and in my 20s. I started watching it because I was deathly ill and wanted something as background noise. I kept watching because it was so. Bad. I couldn’t believe it was real. I watched till Ben and Adrien hooked up and then I was done.

Waaaiiiiit. There are people... on this earth... who prefer Secret Life over One Tree Hill?? I'm truly speechless...

Idc One Tree hill theme song was a bop and Chad Michael Murray can still get it to this day. Thank you lol

Wait why haven’t you watched degrassi??

There are at least three and a half thousand kids that go to my high school. Know how many got pregnant in the four years I’ve been there. Two a senior who wanted to get pregnant and a foreign exchange student. Not one of them got married so I guess my high school is not fetch or whatever bye 👋

I'm glad Grace's mom divorced that second guy she married. He was stale.

I never actively watch Secret Life. I saw bits and pieces while I waited for Pretty Little Liars to come on. But even as a 12 year old, I didn’t like Secret Life. As I got older, I started to dislike it more, especially as it got increasingly more ridiculous. Everything was over dramatic, the topics were handled poorly, everything was sensationalized, but in the most bland way possible.

Thanks for mentioning Skins that was such a good show; at school it was such a big deal if you were allowed to watch it or not when it first come out xx

Wait wait wait.... I adored Red Band Society. Secret Life sucked I couldn't finish the second season. But I love Shayline(? Can't spell)

I remember at some point I was bored and desperate for content, so I watched this. No one ends up together, no one ends up happy, by the end of it the only character I actually enjoy was Ricky who was a total dick in tbe first season, but by the end, he was the only one who WASNT a douchebag. I'm not joking all of the characters deserved a nice punch in the face after the first season.

ive never watched gossip girl so that lil bit where you detail some of the plot gave me whiplash jesus christ

is the audio not synced or am i just crazy

red band society feels like a FEVER dream

I hated the ending where Amy (?) broke up with Ricky and he was crying. It broke my heart because he was my favorite character. Also Ben (?) is a freaking creep.

ok red band society was MY SHIT i feel like i was in an alternate dimension or in a fever dream or some shit lmao bc legit no one knew what it was maybe it just didn’t happen lmao

baylee watching/playing the sims at 2:12 is me

Degrassi The Next Generation is actually a great show, it's so overdramatic and over the top it's great. Degrassi Next Class, on the other hand, is garbage.

As rude as Amy’s assumption be that her mom take care of the baby, I think it’s fairly accurate to a teen’s mind. I remember seeing that episode and basically coming to the same assumption that Amy did. Since I’ve grown up, I of course now see how presumptuous and irresponsible that was, but this is one case that I think the show more-or-less landed on some realism and decided to comment on it to address the right approach. Don’t get me wrong, looking back I have realized the rest of the show is garbage. I’m glad Shailene Woodley has gone on to better things

I tried watching Secret Life all the way through twice, back when Netflix still had it, and I kept giving up somewhere in season 3 or 4, because the plots and characters got so ridiculous. Side note: did those kids ever go to class?? I swear, as many scenes there are that take place in their school, I never see them go to class. They do like 5-10 minutes of exposition dialogue, and one of them would be like "we're gonna be late for class" or something.