Being Maci: A Teen Mom Star Is Reborn

It's difficult for me to take a hard line against MTV's Teen Mom franchise because I...am part of the problem. I've watched 16 And Pregnant; I've watched both Teen Mom and Teen Mom 2; I will certainly watch Teen Mom 3 when it premieres next week. But it's impossible to feel good about it.

I am not a crackpot: I really do think that 16 And Pregnant does important, socially responsible work in documenting unplanned teen pregnancy and the way it fucks up approximately 100% of the lives it affects. Every part of it looks as miserable as it is: the crappy boyfriends who don't pull their co-parenting weight; the career dreams delayed or downsized or abandoned altogether because the babies need their moms more than their moms need to go to college; and, often (though not always), the screwed-up new grandparents whose half-assed parenting led in part to the teens' pregnancy.

When the first spinoff, Teen Mom, was conceived, I'm sure the idea was to carry on Operation Scare Teens Away From Sex even further, by showing that teen parenting wasn't getting any easier as the babies and parents grew up. It did that, sort of: certainly, none of the teen parents or their families seemed to be having much fun. But when the former stars of one-off 16 And Pregnant episodes opened their lives up for a serialized TV season, they started getting wise to the ways of reality storytelling, and so did everyone in their lives. You get a lot of "Have you heard from Kyle lately?" and "What do you think you'll do if you can't drop that class?"

I guess this works partly because by the time they get to Teen Mom, the moms are no longer in child-care crisis mode, and have more leisure to turn their real lives into soap operas. But it's also that the spinoffs turn the girls who appear on them into full-on reality stars. It's harder to remember that they were originally supposed to be cautionary tales when they can get cash payouts from tabloids for exclusive photos of their weddings or houses or kids' third birthday parties. Even the ones who aren't habitually in jail (Amber and Jenelle) don't really come off looking that great when the magazines are only checking in with them at their worst moments -- calling off their weddings or dealing with a child's mysterious congenital defect or starring in porn.

And so, even though Teen Mom star Maci Bookout has never been among the franchise's showier cast members, it sure felt in last night's Being Maci that she was doing what she could to create a storyline that, if the special were well-received, could be parlayed into another spinoff series. On one side, there's Maci, living with her son Bentley and her chosen family -- a bunch of roommates -- and attending college like the responsible young woman we all hope the teen moms eventually become. EXCEPT, Maci can't help getting caught up in the drama surrounding Ryan Edwards, Bentley's father, and Ryan's current girlfriend Dalis (I know), who apparently fight all the time, often about Ryan's contact with Maci. All the scraps seem contrived for the cameras, as does the closing scene in which Ryan and Maci watch Bentley tool around on a dirtbike track, while Ryan asks out of nowhere whether Maci could ever imagine them getting back together, and by the way, did I mention that this pivotal conversation takes place at sunset?

Maci seems like a sweet enough person and I can't begrudge her trying to get hers while she can; lord knows these offers aren't dished out indefinitely, as Heidi and Spencer could tell you. But at the same time, it's a bummer to see her not just exploiting her mostly normal, mostly healthy life to extend her fame, but to gin up camera-ready discussions and disputes to amp up what drama there is. Just because every time Dr. Drew hosts a reunion he tries to get the kids' parents back together doesn't mean that it's a good idea to try out in real life. Not even in pretend real life.