Teen Pregnancy Hits the Small Screen

Last week we were inundated with the supposed pregnancy pact made by teens in Gloucester, MA that turned out to be false. We're all wigged out because the latest stats show an increase in teen births (girls 15-19) from 40.5 births per 1,000 in 2005 to 41.9 births per 1,000 in 2006 (thanks to the Guttmacher Institute for the stats). BTW births increased for all women during this time period.

Everyone is quick to blame Juno and Knocked Up for what University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor Jane Brown, calls "The Juno Effect."

Professor Brown runs the Teen Media Project and said:

It may have had a kind of agenda-setting effect, and that's what may have happened with 'Juno,' 'Knocked Up' and the celebrity baby-bump watch we're on -- all that is glamorized pregnancy...

Two new shows on teen pregnancy are on the air this summer, one The Secret Life of an American Teenager starts tonight on ABC Family. Molly Ringwald stars as the mom of a "good girl" who gets knocked up. (I still can't believe that Molly Ringwald is playing a mom on TV.) The other show the Baby Borrowers on NBC gives teens babies so they can understand what it's like to be parents.

I remember the good old days of my youth when they gave kids on TV fake babies or even eggs to show how hard it is to be a parent. The Secret Life comes from Brenda Hampton the creator of 7th Heaven. Hampton gave this quote about the show: "I don't have anything to say about the issue of teen pregnancy," Hampton said. "I'm just telling a story about a girl who happens to get pregnant."

Note to Brenda: that's a completely disingenuous quote. I'm not for blaming the culture for teen pregnancy or anything else but I truly believe that it is a part of the issue. TV shows and movies shouldn't take all the responsibility, but people, especially kids, are so influenced by the culture that by shrugging your shoulders and saying I'm not saying anything about teen pregnancy is bunk.

Baby' and 'Secret Life' explore teen taboo (Hollywood Reporter)

The Difference Between John Hughes and Judd Apatow

I am still on my anti-Judd Apatow rant. I still can't quite believe how a schlub from Long Island became one of the most powerful men in Hollywood (I guess I shouldn't be surprised since its been done before...Jerry Seinfeld.) Today's LA Times has a story about the influence on John Hughes on today's comedies. Just in case you were wondering, Hughes has virtually disappeared from Hollywood since the early 1990s and has written a couple of movies (Maid in Manhattan) under a pseudonym.

Of course the LA Times writer, Patrick Goldstein, talks only to male filmmakers especially Judd Apatow about how Hughes brilliantly wrote about the outsider boys in our culture completely ignoring his influence regarding young female characters.

"You see Hughes' influence on all TV comedy, especially the stylized single-camera comedy," says Apatow. "His great film characters, starting with Anthony Michael Hall in 'Sixteen Candles,' were big inspirations. When we were growing up, we were all like Hall -- the goofy skinny kid who thinks he's cool, even if nobody else does. 'Superbad' has that same attitude, that mix of total cockiness and insecurity."

In case you have never seen Sixteen Candles, I just want to state for the record that Sixteen Candles was about Molly Ringwald's character Samantha and her struggle with being noticed and counted in our crazy world as she is on the brink of becoming a young woman.

In the mid 1980s, John Hughes did something that is lacking from today's comedies -- he made movies that spoke to both boys and girls. The list is mind boggling:
Sixteen Candles - 1984
The Breakfast Club - 1985
Pretty in Pink - 1986
Ferris Bueller's Day Off -1986
Some Kind of Wonderful- 1987

Hughes characters shaped the values Gen X's both boys and girls. He wrote young women characters with respect in a way not seen in mainstream Hollywood comedies today.

Molly Ringwald with all her angst and despair was my teenage hero. I even got a ghastly red dye job. Hughes influence can be seen in recent characters like those in in Mean Girls, and The Princess Diaries. Thank you John Hughes, I think the young men making movies today could use your advice.