ABC Family cancels 'Secret Life of the American Teenager'
Season 5 to be the series' last
"The Secret Life of the American Teenager"
It's the end of the road for "The Secret Life of the American Teenager."
ABC Family has cancelled the Brenda Hampton series after five seasons, according to Deadline. The show will end its run following the airing of its final 12 episodes, the first of which is set to debut in March.
Starring Shailene Woodley as a high school student forced to deal with the ramifications of her unplanned pregnancy, "Secret Life" was a ratings bonanza for the then-fledgling cable network when it premiered in June 2008, opening the door for a slew of other popular scripted series including "Pretty Little Liars" and "Switched at Birth." Nevertheless, the show's Nielsen numbers swiftly declined beginning in its fourth season.
Woodley, of course, now has a burgeoning film career to attend to, with her role opposite George Clooney in last year's "The Descendants" winning her heaps of critical praise and a Golden Globe nomination. Her next film, an adaptation of the Tim Tharp YA novel "The Spectacular Now" opposite Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jennifer Jason Lee and Brie Larson, is eyeing a 2013 release.
Are you sad to see "Secret Life" go, or do you think the series has run its course?
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Next 58 CommentsAlly
October 10, 2012 at 8:41PM EST Reply to CommentThe show definitely ran its course. I've watched it ever since it began, but I hated Amy's terrible character development. I loved early Amy, but as the show went on she became much more whiny, bitchy, and overall an unlikable character. Also, there were so many unnecessary plots, and the new characters introduced-- Dylan & friends, the new freshman, terrible!
I loved the show, but it's ran it's course. I'm glad they're ending it now instead of dragging it on.
nancy I totally agree. Lets not forget the lesbian scandal stuff. It just made the show seem like a run on thing. I loved it at first cus iM a teen mother but like u said it ran its course!
October 15, 2012 at 6:13PM ESTDevon I can definitely concur that the show ran it's course. I loved it when it began, but as the show drug on I got less and less interested. The plotlines were dumb and confusing, and the right-hand turns they tried to insert just sort of made me sigh and go, "Really?" It was great in the beginning, but I'm glad that the actors can now move on to better projects.
October 17, 2012 at 7:44AM ESTmeggan fuck u bitch i love amy its adrians character that runined the show im glad she lost the baby
October 19, 2012 at 8:58PM ESTKim
October 13, 2012 at 7:16PM EST Reply to CommentI loved this show, and still do! I can't believe it's ending like this. It has good ratings, too. Please bring it back.
elissa i agree , its a really goood show! i wanttt i to stay
October 24, 2012 at 3:09PM ESTgretta
October 14, 2012 at 11:18PM EST Reply to Commenti am very sad if you all don,t finish what you all start it. when it end jack was beat up and was in he hospital.i just want to know will he died or what . please continue the show.i really .love that show.
nancy he died at the hospital.
October 15, 2012 at 6:14PM ESTMelanie Eagan Jack didnt die
October 16, 2012 at 9:15AM ESTMary Its hard to tell. They never said if he died or not. I am anxious to find out.
October 21, 2012 at 1:18PM ESTbrittany jack did die and they are gonna be showing one last season to wrap everything up
October 23, 2012 at 2:57AM ESTTiara He didnt die..I was a preview the other day of him in a hospital bed wake
October 25, 2012 at 6:56PM ESTToni Jack didn't die as we all thought. Watch the preview to the Christmas special and you will see him lying in his hospital bed with Grace talking to him. But sadly I agree the show has run its course; had the writers touched on other issues, like they did with Ricky's character, it might have been able to run longer.
November 12, 2012 at 9:48PM ESTgretta
October 14, 2012 at 11:25PM EST Reply to CommentIt make me very sad that you all don,t want to finish this show.i know everybody what to know did jack die.,and did Ricky and Army really marry.i hope you all can finished the show.i love that show.if you don,t i will really miss it.
Mel
October 17, 2012 at 1:39AM EST Reply to CommentI loved the show, but I really felt like whenever they tried to make the show more interesting, it tended to get more and tangled, for example, the show started with one big problem and ended up with like twenty... I felt like they kept on trying the show live, but it felt like it was just being dragged out in the end, also I really did not like how some of the nicest sweets characters at the beginning of the of the series ended up being the most undesirable ( Ben, Amy and Grace) were really starting to piss me off!
Cori
October 17, 2012 at 1:52PM EST Reply to CommentI really hate to see this show go because I have watched it from the begining and with the way it was left is unfair. I would have liked to see Amy and Ricky get married and having another baby, Adrian getting married and pregnent with Omar, or Ben and Adrian get remarried and pregnant, Grace and Jack back together and not pregnant but getting married while in college. George getting remarried to Grace's mother. Ann with the women from France, Ashley with Toby, Allice with Henry..... That would be the perfect ending, since they are cancelling the show.
brittany they are going to finish the show with 12 more episodes starting in march you should read the whole post it says that towards the bottom
October 23, 2012 at 2:54AM ESTTracy
October 17, 2012 at 2:16PM EST Reply to CommentI LOVED the show in the beginning, but this last season I WAS SO PISSED, cause lets just say honestly it SUCKED, and also AMY was a BITCH the whole time for no reason, BAD IDEA!!! Glad to see it go unless it got better!
sara
October 17, 2012 at 9:27PM EST Reply to Commentthey wonder why? they went to far. I mean te whole thing this past summer calling the fourth of July Our nations Independence day a gay holiday pi$$ed many people off, the promiscuity of the kids and the way the teens talk to their parents Not surprising at all it was cancelled.
Dawn no teenager talks the way they do on this show, in real life. And the way the show had the parents deal with the pregnancies of their kids... my parents would have been yelling,screaming,swearing, threats of getting kicked out,etc. They wouldn't have sat me down, talked for days calmly.... Show was soo unrealistic...
October 20, 2012 at 12:59PM ESTtaylor
October 18, 2012 at 11:59AM EST Reply to Commentnooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo they cant cancel it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :(
Sierra
October 19, 2012 at 3:43PM EST Reply to CommentNope! The show has had less than mediocre acting since day 1. I question why it was even made in the first place.
meggan
October 19, 2012 at 8:56PM EST Reply to Commenti dnt want secret life to end!! :(
britt
October 20, 2012 at 7:39PM EST Reply to Commenti love this show so much
Mary
October 21, 2012 at 1:24PM EST Reply to CommentI think the show has definitely ran its course, though i am sad to see it go because I absolutely love it. Hope they end the last season well. Also would like to know what happened to Jack.
bcatl
October 21, 2012 at 10:43PM EST Reply to CommentIt's about dang time... I'm tired of FB posts about it :)
bcatl
October 21, 2012 at 10:44PM EST Reply to CommentIts about dang time!
Krystal
October 22, 2012 at 8:40AM EST Reply to CommentI totally agree that the show has run its course. If they would have just focused on the origional cast it would have been fine. Yes Adrians character was a bitch but that was the way she was suppose to be. Amy on the other hand was suppose to be the sweet and innocent little victim but she was such a bitch to both Ben and now Ricky when they were together and neither one deserved it because Ben was there for her when she had noone else and Ricky is trying to do the right thing. But if everyone didnt notice it said they are doing 12 more episodes before it ends so hopefully it will answer our questions.
Mrsh
October 24, 2012 at 1:03AM EST Reply to CommentHonestly, they're all pretty bad actors really. They need to move on and spread their wings. It's ran it's course.
Mrsh
October 24, 2012 at 1:04AM EST Reply to CommentIt's ran it's course and honestly they all need to move on to better acting gigs.. Kind of stuck. Some will succeed and some will not.
nikkole
October 24, 2012 at 3:07PM EST Reply to Commentthis is bs i have watched it for all 5 seasons and it pisses me off that all of my shows r getting cancelled. why cant you get rid of the vampire shows instead of shows that teach how teen pregnancy is
sara Nikkole its really not teaching how teen pregnancy is because the parents act way too calm about everything in the show parents in real life do not act that calm not to mention a whole bunch of other unrealistic things that happened that would happen way differently if it were in real life.
November 2, 2012 at 1:48AM ESTKayd They dont cancel the vampire shows cause they have good ratings!!!!
February 26, 2013 at 3:09AM ESTelissa
October 24, 2012 at 3:08PM EST Reply to Commenti love that showww!!!! i dont want it to enddddd.
nikkole
October 24, 2012 at 3:13PM EST Reply to Commenti have been watching this show for all 5 seasons. i think it is bs this show teaches kids how life is when u have kids y not get rid of the vampire shows that r all the same.
Mdejesus Honestly, I don't think it shows what it's like when teenagers have kids at all. I was a teenage mom and this show was nothing like how my experince once. I hate to see it go because regardless I do love the show but it's deffinately run it's course.
March 19, 2013 at 3:42PM ESTKathleen
October 24, 2012 at 5:30PM EST Reply to CommentI Agree that the show has run it's course. I became less interested in the show as it started incorporating hypocritical characters that claimed they were "true Christians" and several scandalous gay/lesbian affairs. It became very unwholesome, which lead me to question why it was on ABC FAMILY. This show is definitely not something I would want my young ones to be watching among other shows on the ABC Family channel. It started going down hill after Amy had the baby because I guess they were desperate for new plots and themes for the show.
kim
October 25, 2012 at 2:45AM EST Reply to CommentI remember when this show came on, I was expecting something much better. I loved how it was about teen pregnancy, and I wish it would have portrayed how teen pregnancy is actually like. ABC turned it into a soap opera for the younger crowd. And they found either talentless or untrained actors to play these characters. Maybe it was the roles they played or the fact that most of them seemed to be fairly new to being on screen, either way a much better cast could have been found. With that being said the cast makes the show, they have to be the ones to bring that character to life. I feel as if they came on way too strong or no where near strong enough. Which is a disappointment. But the writers also did wrong, they came up with crappy story lines which could have very easily trapped the cast. All around this show was doomed to fail, I'm surprised it lasted this long, I really wish I could have seen better things from this show. From what I can recall it actually looked like a promising show, which made me watch it in the first place. I was just sadly disappointed when it all comes down to it.
Cassandra
October 25, 2012 at 10:14AM EST Reply to CommentI'm sad to see this show go I started watching this with my mom when I was 12 and I feel in love with it. I regretted not watching season 1 even though I was only 11 when the show started. I have seen season 1 now in fact I own the first 2 on DVD. :'( Goodbye Secret Life I'll miss you.
Amy
October 25, 2012 at 11:11PM EST Reply to CommentI liked the show at first but they really ruined a lot of the characters. Grace was supposed to be a Christian navigating life in highschool and she ended up sleeping with everything that walks -what kind of message is that?? Ditto her mother. Her husband dies and suddenly she's all about having her boy-toy home for sex while her kids are in the house? She's suddenly ok with Grace having sex? Agree with what everyone said about Amy. Her character went from sweet to horrible. Ricky and Andian's characters were interesting and the show probably should have had them together since they were both the more intelligent and compatible pair. The lesson of this show seems to be stay with the baby-daddy/mommy for the sake of the kid even if you don't like them and -wear protection cause you're gonna need it with all of the underage sex you'll be having!
Claire
October 30, 2012 at 4:56PM EST Reply to CommentSuper devestated by this news Hope its a good enough ending so it won't be too sad to see it end
Sara
November 2, 2012 at 1:49AM EST Reply to CommentLoved the show but how many more storylines could they actually run? From the begining I didn't expect it to last long.
JHuey
November 2, 2012 at 2:38AM EST Reply to CommentI think the show has a few more seasons. over 1 million viewers for the hiatus finale is a lot even though its not as many as season 2. ABC family needs to bring the show back for a 6th season!
Mandy
November 2, 2012 at 7:38PM EST Reply to CommentCanceling a show about teenage pregnancy.. Is that even a question? I'm glad my daughter never saw it, oh that's right I don't and my family doesn't watch that kinda crap and that includes Teen moms.
Calista your kid will probably be the one who is pregnant at 14.
November 6, 2012 at 8:31PM ESTMichael
November 6, 2012 at 9:10AM EST Reply to CommentIt's sad they are canceling the show! I'd love a 6th season! i love Adrien!! a real and confident character! Go Francia Raisa!! :)
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