"Secret Life" plays it down the middle

A new summer TV series has drawn criticism and outright scorn for its depiction of suburban sex.

No, not CBS's spouse-swapping drama "Swingtown." That's old news. The topic of more recent discussion is ABC Family's "The Secret Life of the American Teenager."

This addictive high school drama focuses on Amy Juergens (Shailene Woodley), a good girl who gets pregnant from her first sexual experience with bad boy Ricky (Daren Kagasoff).

The series features familiar faces such as John Schneider, Josie Bissett and Molly Ringwald in its adult cast and some fresher faces among its teens. Woodley is cute in an everyday way, and her shyness and visible thought processes are very endearing. Instantly, she's someone to root for, as she considers the consequences of her options.

But critical reaction has been mostly negative, and "Secret Life" has taken fire from both sides of the culture wars online. Either it's a sexed-up, bad influence on teens, as some conservative Christian critics have complained. Or it carries a propagandistic "pro-life" message as pop-culture bloggers snipe, mocking show creator Brenda Hampton (also the creator of "7th Heaven," a conservative-friendly, family-values messenger during its 11-season run).

Both sides get it wrong. Teenagers don't have sex because they see it on TV. Teenagers have sex because they're in hormonal overdrive. Influences factor in, but they're more likely to come from peer pressure, not some TV show.

Another reality seems lost on snarky pop-culture bloggers, who disdain what they see as a heavyhanded "pro-life" message. Some project their own fond reminiscences of guilt-free teenage sex onto today's kids and wonder: Why can't these kids just enjoy it like I did? Kudos to them -- but not everyone remembers enjoying sex, unselfconsciously and anxiety-free, as a teen.

The show must be speaking to someone. It's already ABC Family's most successful series, and it reaches more total viewers than CW's steamy "Gossip Girl," a current media darling.

"Secret Life" gets points for not making the evangelical family of cheerleader Grace Bowman (Megan Park) the sort of caricature some would expect from Hollywood. The likable Bowman family includes Grace's teen brother Tom, played by Luke Zimmerman, who has Down syndrome as well as good comic timing, as he projects a stubborn protective-brother attitude.

As worthy of your loyalty as it is, "Secret Life" is no "Friday Night Lights" when it comes to acknowledging small-town values and issues -- it has way too many flaws for that. Though often sharp, the dialogue can get corny. There are too many efforts to tie stories together, such as the recent, contrived development of Amy's philandering dad moving in with the partying stewardess mother of bad-girl Adrian (Francia Raisa Almendárez).

This brings us to another irritant: the good girl-bad girl contrast that has been set up between blond, WASP-y Park and Almendárez, whose background is Honduran and Mexican.

That potentially sends an insulting message, particularly when Adrian stands seductively at her school locker to entice Grace's meathead jock ex-boyfriend and flamenco music plays on the soundtrack. She's written and played as a sympathetic character, but still -- not cool.

That gaffe is mitigated, somewhat, by the realistic presence of many strong minorities in the cast. The coolest adult on the show is Marcelino Molina, the school counselor played by Jorge Pallo, who has wise words for Amy's way-too-earnest boyfriend Ben (Kenny Baumann).

"High school stinks," Molina tells him. "For some crazy reason, I actually thought I could make it better."

In its own small way -- by truly coming off as a story that's about teens, rather than pretty adults playing teens -- maybe this engaging, heartfelt show makes it better.