Secret Life -- CANCELLED!!
I have to admit when I heard the news my overwhelming reaction was, "Thank God!" After the stuff they aired this season I'm surprised the show isn't facing problems from several anti-defamation groups. It just really went too far this season, and in not a good way.
The worst offense was the gay story line. While most shows handle it in a delicate manner and seek to educate and try to breed understanding and acceptance, Secret Life decided to take the opposite route. They decided to spread every stereotype a homophobic brain could come up with, including the Fourth Of July was a gay holiday. They could have actually put a good face on the episode by airing a PSA about the evils of homophobia or spreading false rumors, but instead they aired a PSA on the evils of teen sex. So basically it's okay to spread homophobic rumors as long as you don't have teen sex.
It all started when George started suggesting his ex, Anne, was gay, so it wouldn't be his fault their relationship didn't work. Did I mention that most of the characters are pretty repulsive? Then he told Kathleen that Anne was gay as if it was a fact written in stone. Then she told her daughter Grace the same to prove that George and Anne wouldn't be getting back together again. And on and on the rumor spread. Along the way Amy was also accused of being gay because she didn't want to marry Ricky and George was accused of having the power to turn women gay. George didn't like that, so he spouted some anti-homophobic facts about being gay, but since he's the one who started this whole mess it was too little too late. As it turned out Anne was gay, so I'm surprised George wasn't credited with having gaydar since he was the first one to suggest it. The worst thing was suggesting that our nation's birthday, the Fourth Of July, was a gay holiday.
After that, they went after religion. Grace was curious and got Adrian to kiss her, then she got scared she was gay. So she became a devout Christian. They made a complete mockery of people that have real faith in God. Seeing fake-Christian Grace going around thumping the bible and trying to get everyone on her hypocritical Jesus Train was just too much. Then Jack's coach wanted to play the bible card and insisted Jack embrace the Christian inside of him. Basically, you came away with the picture that people only believe in God because they have some ulterior motive for it. No one was really shown with any real genuine faith.
They even had some fake teacher being accused of being a pervert story when Ben called Omar a pervert for dating his ex-wife, Adrian. Omar demanded he be cleared of Ben's charge, even though Ben didn't really make a charge. This season Secret Life and social issues were not a good mix if you wanted to get a positive message.
The characters were just as bad. Amy whined about wanting Ricky to propose to her and when he did she didn't want to marry him. Turns out she just wanted an engagement ring. Omar wanted Adrian to marry him two weeks after being involved and when she was worried about being alone in her apartment he tried to use that to blackmail her into marrying him, when she told him she wanted to get her education, first. Ben was so repulsive this season that Camille punched him. Amy and Ricky got fake married.
It was just one mess after another. This show deserved to be cancelled just to put us viewers out of our misery.
