The Secret Life of the American Teenager (often shortened to Secret Life) is a television series created by Brenda Hampton. It first aired on ABC Family on July 1, 2008.[1] The show was renewed for a second season consisting of 24 episodes on February 9, 2009,[2] which began airing on June 22, 2009.[3] On January 12, 2010, ABC Family announced that Secret Life would return for its third season,[4] which is scheduled to premiere on June 7, 2010, at 8 pm.[5] The first season focuses on the relationships between families and friends and how they deal with the unexpected teenage pregnancy of character Amy Juergens, who is portrayed by Shailene Woodley. In the second season, Amy Juergens must deal with juggling motherhood and high school, while her family and friends experience relationship challenges of their own.[6][7] The series received generally negative reviews from most mainstream critics when it began broadcasting, but was extremely well received among viewers. The pilot episode broke the record for the highest rated debut on ABC Family, which has been broken by the second series premiere, beating Kyle XY, with 2.82 million viewers. The season one finale brought in 4.50 million viewers, beating the night's Gossip Girl which had almost half its usual number of viewers. Premiering to mostly positive reviews from critics and being well received among viewers, the second season of Secret Life opened with the largest audience the series has seen so far, posting a series high in total viewers with 4.68 million viewers; in adults 18-34 it is the number one scripted original premiere of Summer 2009.[8] Furthermore, the mid-season premiere became ABC Family's most watched telecast of all time with Viewers Ages 12–34 with more than three million viewers watching.[9] The show has earned the Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer TV Show during its premiere season,[10][11] and currently airs on Monday at 8/7c on ABC Family in the U.S. and on MuchMusic in Canada.