ABC Family once again gives life to its successful teenage drama The Secret Life of the American Teenager.  It was reported that the network's highest-rating show will be back for another season, despite its release being only a few weeks ago.  The cable channel stated that they have ordered 13 additional episodes of Brenda Hampton's promising new drama.

It has been announced at the TCA panel that the total number of episodes for The Secret Life of the American Teenager will amount to 23.  One of the series' new segments will be added to the initial 10-episode run, and will conclude on September 9.  The rest of the 12 episodes will begin airing in January of next year, but no specific dates have been released.

“We just launched The Secret Life of the American Teenager a couple of weeks ago to our highest original series numbers ever. We're thrilled obviously,” exclaimed Paul Lee, the network's president.  He was even  more pleased to announce the additional episodes, created by 7th Heaven pioneer, Brenda Hampton.

The Secret Life brought ABC Family one of its biggest successes. Upon its debut last July 1, it garnered 2.8 million viewers.  The first episode was the second-highest rated among ABC Family's original telecasts as well.  It was a mere thousand away from Kyle XY's first season finale, which drew in 2.9 million.  After a mere three weeks, The Secret Life has been ABC's most-watched original series ever.

The Secret Life of the American Teenager stars Shailene Woodley as pregnant teenager Amy Juergens.  Her mother is played by '80s teen star Molly Ringwald, famous for her performances in films like The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink.  The Secret Life also stars by Francia Raisa, Kenny Bowman and Daren Kagasoff.

The drama series can be seen on Tuesdays, 8pm on ABC Family.


-Maria Gonzalez, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: TV.com, The Hollywood Reporter
(Image Courtesy of ABC)