While watching episode after episode of the TV show 7th Heaven, it became clear to me that the family-drama of Lyndsley Parsons III was behind one of my favorite TV show. I began to gather that each episode deals with a moral lesson or controversial theme the family is forced to deal with. Some of these themes range from traumatic to trivial lessons. Despite the moral lesson in each show, there are also longer-running arcs. The interest in Parson’s 7th Heaven, led me to his most recent show The Secret Life of the American Teenager. These episodes also provide moral lessons, mostly regarding premarital sex and real life scenarios. After a brief profile, I will discuss the elements in which the episodes are related back to several moral life lessons; drug addiction, teen pregnancy, and sexual abuse.
I recall in an episode of 7th Heaven when Eric Camden’s (the father and reverend of the church) sister comes to visit and the children found out that she was an alcoholic. The kids, Matt, Mary, Simon and Lucy, were so excited to see their Aunt Julie. A baby sister of Rev. Camden, supposedly a very responsible youngling, physically threatens Simon and her secret about her addiction is revealed. During the episode it was discovered that which every child is dealing with some kind of addiction, even including Ruthie, the youngest little girl. Addictions are very series issue in American society today. A lot of people suffer from the disease of alcoholism, drug abuse, and many others.
A serious lesson seen in The Secret Life of the American Teenager is when 15-year old Amy Juergens (Shailene Woodley) confesses she is pregnant. The first season focuses on relationships between families and friends and how they deal with the unexpected pregnancy of Amy. After losing her virginity to Ricky Underwood at band camp, Amy discovers she is pregnant. She struggles with the news and is unsure how to tell her parents, since they have been dealing with their own marital problems. The second season focuses on Amy juggling motherhood and high school, while her family and friends are also dealing with relationship challenges. Kate Juergens, executive vice president of original-series programming and development for ABC Family, says of the series, “We’re not sugar-coating teenage pregnancy, but dealing with the very real consequences of it.”
Brenda Hampton, creator of the television series of 7th Heaven and The Secret Life of the American Teenager, said in comparing the two that:
“It’s the same show in that hopefully it’s kind of a serious topic with teen pregnancy but at the same time there’s funny things running underneath it and although a lot of people never saw the humor in 7th Heaven I thought there were some pretty funny thing about it. It certainly wasn’t Fat Actress but still I come out of a background of comedy so I hope there’s always something fun about the show but there is the serious and dark side with teen pregnancy.”
I also see a dark side with the example of addictions from the episode of 7th Heaven that was stated above. Larry Novenstern, Executive Vice President of National Electronic Media for Optimedia Intl., calls The Secret Life a cross between 7th Heaven and Juno.
What I enjoy most about these two series is that they relat to real life scenarios today. Teen pregnancy is continuously on the rise. I think it is important to show series of The Secret Life because it can happen to you. At the end of every episode, ABC Family has a public-service announcement delivered by Amy Juergens (Shailene Woodley), generally from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy urging parents and teens to communicate with one another about sex. Another public-service announcement was made about sexual abuse and was delivered by Daren Kagasoff at the end of episodes on January 19th and 26th. This is such an important topic to stress to teens, not only about teen pregnancy, but also about sexual abuse victims.
7th Heaven is reliant on the very attempt to introduce contemporary social issues to lend greater emotional resonance to episodes. Episodes of 7th Heaven lead to high ratings for the show. According to Wikipedia, the January 34, 2005 episode, which featured the birth of Lucy’s daughter Savannah, garnered 7.99 million viewers---highest WB rating since 2003 (Lucy is the daughter of Rev. Eric Camden). Another example included the would-be series finale; now simply know as the Season 10 finale, which scored 7.56 million viewers on May 8, 2006.
Wikipedia has stated that the first season of The Secret Life seemed to have received negative reviews from mainstream critics, but received relatively higher reviews among viewers. The pilot episode ratings were broken by the second series premiere with 2.82 million viewers. The season finale had 4.5 million viewers. The Secret Life has received mostly positive reviews on its second season from critics and highly praised by viewers. The show has also earned the Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer TV Show during its premiere season.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0663764/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7th_heaven
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Life_of_the_American_Teenager
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&search=lindsley+parsons+III&ns0=1&redirs=0
The Office feat. The 'Nard Dogg
14 years ago
I find it interesting that The Secret Life had received negative reviews from mainstream critics while young viewers gave the show high reviews. I feel that Hampton’s work with such powerful issues such as teen pregnancy on The Secret Life may have been harder for mainstream critics to grip. It seems that this issue is much more freely talked about and accepted by our generation, and I feel this is the main reason the reviews came back so differently. In thinking this way, do you think that a group with the same age demographics would have embraced this issue in the same manner at the time 7th Heaven began in 1996?
ReplyDeleteI have personally never seen The Secret Life but have seen commercials for it. It seems to me that on the Family Channel it is a little risque. I have however seen many episodes of 7th Heaven and remember towards the end seeing more and more episodes dealing with real and controversial issues in life. Mary's character had a rebellious phase at one point in the series. I am curious to why the Family Channel thinks that The Secret Life is a show for families to watch together...to me it seems like a younger but still provocative version of Gossip Girl. Interesting though, this made me want to re-watch old episodes of 7th Heaven!
ReplyDeleteSimilar to Paige I have never seen The Secret Life... but your analysis certainly made me interested in watching one day. I especially like how you conscisely tied the auteur to the work as well. It is interesting that so many serious and controvercial topics are looked into. Do you think there was a specific reason for this?
ReplyDeleteI never knew that The Secret Life and 7th Heaven were made by the same person but knowing that now makes a lot of sense. I like how you made a point about how Hampton's work addresses serious issues going on in adolescents lives. I especially liked how you included the quote about "not sugar coating" facts about teen pregnancy. Although I have personally never seen The Secret Life...I was intrigued by your analysis to at least check it out. I agree with your stance on enjoying Hampton's work because it deals with real life scenarios. Issues like teen pregnancy need to be portrayed how it sounds like Hampton is portraying it and it sounds like she is trying to make a statement with her work which I like. Although you said that The Secret Life of received negative reviews, I think it is more important that the show is well received by the younger audience because that is where the show will make a difference.
ReplyDeleteI used to be an huge 7th Heaven fan when I was younger, but have only seen an episode of two of The Secret Life. I can see the resemblence and think Hampton's work opens up a lot of parents eyes. Both shows are/were on channels that draw in both children and parent audiences and I like that she connects with both. The negative reviews are probably caused by naiveness to real issues. Like Hope said it could make a difference in the younger audiences lives.
ReplyDeleteHey Danni!
ReplyDeleteIt was awesome to see your blog! We seriously watch every tv show that is the same! About a year ago when The Secret Life of an American Teenager began to show previews I was instantly hooked. For whatever i find teenage pregnancy to be fascinating, maybe it is because 85% of my hometown seems to be pregnant these days. It wasn't until a month ago that I finally got to sit down and watch every episode of the first season and cannot wait until January when season 2 starts. I agree that for the ABC Family Channel took a risk airing a show that talks about teenage pregnancy considering it's audience is supposed to be for families. I think it's also hilarious considering they were going to ban Adam Lambert for being gay. Does anyone else find this outrageous? They are picking one controversy other another to talk about. I think that talking about teenage pregnancy is great considering it happens in real life all they time. It will only be worth it if they really portray it as it really is. Overall I think your comparison is great!