January 04, 2009

'Secret Life of the American Teen' explores teen pregnancy

Nearly every television season, a storybook stork delivers a plot twist in the form of a baby to a teen drama.

“The Secret Life of the American Teenager," created by Brenda Hampton of "7th Heaven," premiered last summer on ABC Family and introduced us to 15-year-old Amy Juergens, a scrawny, French horn-playing freshman at Grant High School who discovers she's pregnant -- though she's not even sure she actually had sex -- after a rendezvous with bad boy Ricky Underwood at band camp.

The show's first season averaged 3.5 million viewers -- trumping media darling " Gossip Girl." When it returns Monday, viewers can expect Amy's baby drama to intensify as she gets closer to her due date. Is the baby a boy or a girl? Will she give it up for adoption?

Sexual trysts and pregnancy twists are common occurrences in youth-oriented TV land. And a recent study by Rand Corp., which tracked more than 700 12- to 17-year-olds, found that about 25% of those who viewed the most sexual content on TV were involved in a pregnancy, compared with about 12% of those who watched the least.

Son of John Travolta died

John Travolta and Kelly Preston's 16-year-old son Jett died today.

According to TMZ, a spokesperson from Rand Memorial Hospital confirmed Jett died while the family was on vacation in the Bahamas.

Travolta's attorney Michael Ossi says Jett suffered a seizure at his family's vacation home at the Old Bahama Bay Hotel on Grand Bahama Island.

Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful and he died at the scene.

There were reports that Jett was autistic, but Travolta has denied it and said that Jett suffered from Kawasaki Syndrome, a condition which affects mostly boys under the age of 5.

The condition can lead to heart disease and heart attacks even in children.

Travolta and Preston are also parents to Ella, 8.