I’m going to admit something that may damage my reputation: I used to watch The Secret Life of the American Teenager on ABC Family.
I won’t defend the series; it was awful. I started watching it initially because I thought, “Maybe this will be just like 7th Heaven! Remember the bank of Simon?! I want to find out what kind of secret life I missed out on in high school!” After realizing this shit wasn’t 7th Heaven, and that apparently an American teenager’s “secret life” involves lots of pregnancy, marriage, divorce, eye rolling, religion, and some of the most farfetched storylines ever to grace the small screen, I just kept tuning in to see how grievously the show’s writers would insult my intelligence, and they never failed to disappoint. The episode in which one character reasoned that having sex is what caused her dad’s death comes to mind.
Beyond the ridiculous plot twists, what’s perhaps the most shocking about Secret Life is that it starred Shailene Woodley, who’s been popping up pretty much everywhere since appearing alongside George Clooney in The Descendents (a role that earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress). Since then, she’s starred in Divergent, The Spectacular Now, and the upcoming sob-a-thon The Fault in Our Stars. That’s a pretty impressive list of credits for anyone, but especially for an actress who made her big debut as Amy Juergens on ABC Family’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
…And let’s also not forget Shailene also played a very young Kaitlin Cooper on the The O.C.
I loved The O.C.
Let’s all put our pride aside for a second (because I know you’ve probably masochistically enjoyed a show or two on ABC Family) and admit that every series on ABC Family caters to tweens and teenagers who are too busy being hormonal and annoying to realize the crap they’re watching is awful. As a result, most actors and actresses who get their big break on an ABC Family original series don’t typically enjoy much (or any) success after their show ends or gets cancelled. They might score a guest role on a different ABC Family show or on the CW network if they’re really lucky, but usually they’ll just fade into obscurity until they resort to appearing on reality TV once they’ve run out of money.
But Shailene Woodley (who will forever be Amy Juergens to me) somehow managed to defy the odds and land some major movie gigs.
I don’t have anything against Shailene Woodley as an actress, but I always assumed she had the same questionable talent that most ABC Family breakout stars have. Despite playing a teen mom, the role of Amy Juergens wasn’t really one that required a lot of range, just lots of foot-stopping, nailing sarcastic teenager quips, and enunciating “Ricky” in a whiny tone befitting of a less affable Lucille Ball.
But now that I’ve seen her in other roles, I think Shai may be one of the best actresses of our time. Can you imagine actually having talent, enough talent to be in the same room as George Clooney, and for five years you spent your time reading ridiculous scripts from ABC Family?! In addition to making us all believe she was every bit as annoying as her character Amy, Shailene convinced us all her career was going nowhere!
You know how they have method acting? This is like Inception acting. Shailene made me believe she had no range! Can you imagine the talent that must require?! She even sold me on the idea that a teenage girl would want to pursue playing the French horn as a career. And now she’s on the covers of magazines!
Good for you Amy Juergens Shailene Woodley. I’ll always think of you as an infuriatingly selfish teen mom, but I’m glad you managed to escape the ABC Family kiss of career death.
