‘Teen Mom’ Phenomenon

In the summer of 2009, I found myself in front of my television on a lazy afternoon, watching a re-run of a new show called 16 and Pregnant.

Not only was it awesome because it featured Maci Bookout from Chattanooga, Tenn., but it was also the perfect mix of drama and tragedy, the formula for a truly engaging reality TV show.

I watched the rest of the first season that summer, enjoying the show more each episode as I watched overweight and pregnant Amber Portwood throw up cheesy fries and ‘hot mess' Farrah Abraham get slapped by her mother for talking back and just generally being a disrespectful, insolent child.

As far as reality shows go, MTV's series 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom have it all.

The shows portray the few ups and the many downs of being a teenaged mother.

There are fights with parents, cheating boyfriends and at least one breakdown and cry-fest in every episode.

The shows do what reality TV does best: make you feel better about your life.

I have to be honest and say that I haven't missed an episode of either series.

Teen Mom 2 is wrapping up its first season while 16 and Pregnant is gearing up for a season four premiere next month.

Maybe I shouldn't admit this but every week I look forward to enjoying a morning cup of coffee and watching the newest episode of Teen Mom 2 online.

Along with watching the show, I also find myself following the headlines.

The shows have been surrounded by more than their share of controversy.

From being blamed for causing a rise in teen pregnancies to thrusting these young women into the celebrity spotlight, MTV has been under severe media scrutiny since premiering the series a couple of years ago. Probably the most disturbing aspect of the MTV series' is how the shows subjects have gone from small town teenagers to big city celebrities.

Maci Bookout is walking red carpets in New York City with her new BFF Bristol Palin while teen moms from every season of both shows are covering the front pages of the tabloids.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have been bumped to the front-page sidebar while teen mom superstars like Leah Messer and Jenelle Evans have taken over the covers with their latest drama.

Most of America has been too busy debating whether these shows prevent or promote pregnancy to take notice of what the show is doing to the girls' lives.

By the time a 16 and Pregnant girl makes it to Teen Mom, they're getting paid $5,000 plus per episode, probably about $60,000 to $65,000 a year from the show alone.

They're hanging out with B-list celebrities in New York, endorsing products and doing magazine interviews on a weekly basis.

Many of us are wondering, "How did we get here?"

We remember the days when TV shows like E.R. and Friends ruled the airways, before reality shows like Hoarders and Teen Mom took over as the television standard.

A lot of us are scratching our heads, wondering how this could have happened. The 2007-2008 Writer's Guild of America Strike is how this happened.

When television writers went on strike to demand better compensation, television shows that were in production were put on hold.

The networks and studios initially refused to give in to the writer's demands and to keep their networks alive, they put money into new reality shows. This a great way to get new content on the air without having to pay any writers to write it.

A lot of us may have forgotten about the great writer's strike of 2007-2008 but it's proving to have a lasting effect on the future of television.

As long as reality shows like 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom are cheap to make and full of drama to draw in the viewer, networks are going to continue airing them. Although they're producing the content, the blame for reality shows turning today's youth into infamous celebrities cannot be placed solely on the networks.

We're the ones who are tuning in by the millions to watch Amber beat on her ‘baby daddy.'

We're the ones who tune in to see Jenelle get high on her mother's front porch while her son's playing inside.

As long as there's an audience, there's going to be a show.

The more the media scrutinizes shows like 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom, the more attention they're going to draw to them.

It's a never-ending cycle just as television stardom and celebrity life has always been a never-ending cycle.

We can debate all we want about whether or not these shows are glamorizing teen pregnancy and causing teenaged girls to spread their legs in order to try and get on TV.

But the truth is that even if they are and we're worried about it, we're probably still going to watch them next season on 16 and Pregnant.

Furthermore, we will most likely continue to be enticed to flip through the pages of the tell-all tabloid whenever they are gracing the cover.

These shows, like most reality shows, are a train wreck and we can't turn away.

As long as networks and audiences continue embracing reality TV, shows like 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom are going to rule the air.

No one knows what the future for reality TV or the lives of these teen moms really holds.

I guess we'll just have to keep watching to find out.