Riding on the wave of ratings success, ABC Family's The Secret Life of the American Teenager is now going on another venture that is expected to even improve its already impressive 3 million weekly viewers.

Beginning August 13, fans of the Secret Life will have the option of viewing the teen drama online.  They can even schedule viewing parties and chat about while watching the show in real-time.  Teaming up with Lycos Cinema, ABC Family aims to keep the show fresh, it said.

“By teaming with Lycos … we're able to continue to offer our communities of fans this unique, interactive viewing experience,” said Vickie Collier, vice president, digital media, ABC Family.  “Viewers of ABC Family are a very social and tech savvy group, and these online viewing parties are a great new way for them to enjoy our programming and share that experience with friends, even when they are not in the same room.”

Indeed, the unique viewing experience is definitely something, as screening room hosts can even pause, rewind and fast-forward the content of an episode.  Offering paid and free (ad-supported) viewing, Lycos uses Adobe's latest Flash Server 3 Technology to deliver the highest video quality and advanced security features for programming partners.  In order to create or join a Secret Life viewing party, fans can just create a Lycos Cinema account free of charge.

The Secret Life airs on Tuesdays, 8pm on ABC Family.  It stars Shailene Woodley as the girl who gets pregnant and behind it is the creator of the long-running family-oriented show 7th Heaven.  It also stars Molly Ringwald, Mark Derwin, and India Eisley.

Those who'd like to schedule a viewing party can go to either www.abcfamily.com or http://secretlife.lycos.com.


Glenn L. Diaz, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Multichannel News
(Image Courtesy of ABC Family)