"Secret Life Of American Teenager" Smashes "Gossip Girl" Ratings, Sets ABC Family Records

ABC Family's "Secret Life of the American Teenager" smashed network rating records with its season premiere Monday night — and in the process, beat the CW's similarly targeted "Gossip Girl" head to head at 8PM.

The season premiere of "Secret Life" averaged 4.4 million total viewers, 47% more than "Gossip Girl," which averaged 3.0 million total viewers. The episode of "Secret Life," titled, "The Secret Wedding of the American Teenager," was ABC Family's best-ever season-premiere and top telecast in teens 12-17, one of its target demographics.

Last August, "Secret Life" topped ratings for the first season of "Gossip Girl," but its impressive ratings victory Monday evening suggests trouble for the CW hit, which is heavily buzzed-about but has never been a breakout ratings hit.

Monday's season premiere also marked "Secret Life"'s first episode in its new time slot, which, as THRFeed's James Hibberd notes, is series creator's Brenda Hampton's former "7th Heaven" time period.

Comments

[laurenmodery]

I'm a 25 year-old girl and just watched watched every episode of "Gossip Girl" with my 58 year-old Mom over the holiday. We both fell in love with it. The writing is top-notch and blows "Secret Life..." out of the water in terms of wit and self-awareness. However, if I had a kid, I wouldn't let them watch "Gossip Girl" unless I wanted them to grow up to be like Chuck Bass. Which may not be a bad thing...;)

[billthinx]

obviously age has nothing to do with intellect... or that lack of it.

[miriam525]

GG is classic soap -- pure fantasy, which requires the suspension of disbelief. Not a thing in it -- except the mean girl gang -- is believable on a reality scale. The ABC pregnant teenager show is tedious, wholesome and predictable. I can see where people with young teenagers might find it useful, but for those of us whose kids are middle-aged or who have none and just enjoy relaxing with good soapy trash, Gossip Girl wins hands down. XOXO....

[TingTing]

So happy to hear this!! I absolutely love the Secret Life, and I definitely agree that it gives parents and teens a lot to talk about together. I think when facing a morally "loose" series like Gossip Girl, it's nice to see something more wholesome winning out!

[madashellvoter]

yeah like a 17 getting prego! and then having it!! Yeah real morality?

[stefiz]

i watch Secret life with my 13 year old niece although it is somewhat unrealistic it is fun and interesting... most of the actors are really good!!!! i only watched a little bit of gossip girl... it looked kinda superficial and raunchy to me... it seemed to have a decent soap opera aspect. i wouldn't watch it with my niece!

[Chris1345]

The star of the show is a friend of ours, and we are very happy for the success!

[magneato]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[lovethesinner]

Hey, this is off topic, I guess... but this topic seems like it belongs in some other category that doesn't exist. Like, "TV".

This is a real media story, and it's pretty damn interesting, too:

Department of Justice to Prosecute New York Times Over NSA Story?
http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/doj-prosecute-new-york-times-over-nsa-sto

"As Greenwald spells out today, the Justice Department investigation is not pursuing the White House cabal behind the violation of FISA's prohibitions on warrantless eavesdropping of American citizens, but instead those who revealed it. Tamm, whose life has been turned upside-down since the FBI raided his home in August 2007, will likely be subpoenaed to testify what he knows about James Risen and Eric Lichtblau, the Times reporters who broke the story in December 2005."

(from Robert Greenwald at Salon)
"But there is not a peep of protest over the ongoing, life-destroying persecution of the former DOJ lawyer whose conscience compelled him to do what those cowardly Democratic leaders would not do: take action to uncover rampant criminality at the highest levels of our government."

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/01/07/tamm/

[MNmommy]

I watch *Secret* with my 14 year old daughter, it give us a lot to talk about - I think it's a pretty good show.

[happycat]

Thanks for your endorsement, MN! My daughter who is 8 is obviously way too young to watch it. However, the promos look interesting, and I love Molly Ringwald, so I might have to watch it by myself!

[MNmommy]

Funny additional bit of info. The Latina on the show is one of my daughter's favorite hip hop master dance teacher's girlfriend. Ever heard of Shane Sparks?

[jillsond]

OMG! What am I going to do now????OMG!

[113]

zzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...

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ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZ

[jason10006]

"Secret is already a smash-hit for ABC with those numbers.

"My Own Worst Enemy" the very entertaining dual-identity spy drama, staring Christian Slater, NBC had with those numbers got canceled and bad-mouthed by NBC Execs."

ME: APPLES AND ORANGES!!!! Its ABC Family, NOT ABC - so its a cable show. With a SIGNIFICANTLY lower budget than "Enemy." And cable nets get paid by cable companies to carry their channels, so they do not need as much advertising dollars. Finally, they show this show 5-10 times a week, versus once for a serialized drama in a network.

[Budokan]

Both of these shows are for idiots.

[RickCoMatic]

Unbelievable!?
Secret is already a smash-hit for ABC with those numbers.

"My Own Worst Enemy" the very entertaining dual-identity spy drama, staring Christian Slater, NBC had with those numbers got canceled and bad-mouthed by NBC Execs.
All those Execs are gone, now.
But, you expect NBC to pull intelligent programming and put-on mindless crap.
I think NBC has a reality show in development that's being tweaked for a big Fall debut.
"America's Biggest Johnson"
I'm not sure where they're going with it.

[walleymr]

Disgusting how that works out, isn't it?

[walleymr]

Having never watched gossip girl, i have to ask, are they supposed to be highschool students?

[abigail1]

yes. but most people I know who watch it are around 30.
and as embarrassing as it is to admit, I LOVE it.

[walleymr]

so, those are highschool students being glamorized getting into clubs illegally, and drinking that alcohol illegally?

what an amazing portrait of modern america

[loucreattie]

Yeah I'm 31 and me and my friends LOVE Gossip Girl.

Its very well written and I think the cast is fantastic.

=)

[NextYearLions]

Chuck Bass' character looks like he is contemplating nailing her.

[walleymr]

He looks like he smelled the f@rt.