The best and worst cautionary dramas for young people have all the hallmarks of crude propaganda. And “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” (7 p.m., Family) is no exception.

While it may be tempting to see this melodrama about teen pregnancy as a continuation of themes explored in “Juno” and in shows like “Gilmore Girls,” it often seems like a throwback to lurid movies from 1959 like “A Summer Place” and “Blue Denim,” in which wanton teenage desires seemed as pervasive and pernicious as nuclear fallout.

Shailene Woodley stars as Amy, a “good girl” who discovers she’s pregnant at 15 after a one-night band-camp indiscretion with Ricky (Daren Kagasoff), a handsome and troubled boy. Molly Ringwald plays her mother, Anne.

“Secret” may be notable as much for its introduction of strong and credible Christian characters as its central subject. Grace (Megan Park) is a cheerleader who projects a sunny optimism and who wears a promise ring announcing her intentions to remain chaste until marriage. But as her conversations with her boyfriend, Jack (Greg Finley), reveal, promising abstinence is just another way of obsessing about sex all the time.

Kenny Baumann stars as Ben, a wisecracking freshman who develops a crush on Amy before he discovers her big secret. His character makes an awkward lurch from annoying and predictable comic relief to potential romantic lead in record time. Ernie Hudson arrives to play a therapist for the disturbed Ricky and lays on the lessons with a heavy-handed obviousness that may tax even the biggest fans of teen guilty pleasures.

“Secret Life” is clearly meant to inspire conversation between parents and teens. It’s not so much shocking as “provocative.” But viewers will have to decide whether they can stand its one-dimensional approach to its lesson, a focus that is nothing if not relentless.

¢ Former CNN anchor Aaron Brown returns to prime-time news to host a new season of “Wide Angle” (8 p.m., PBS, check local listings), a weekly series examining stories from around the globe. Tonight: “Heart of Darfur.”

¢ “National Geographic Explorer” (9 p.m., National Geographic) goes to the Congo, where civil war has threatened endangered species on “Gorilla Murders.”

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ Scheduled on “48 Hours Mystery” (8 p.m., CBS): Two women vanish.

¢ Judges determine whether “America’s Got Talent” (8 p.m., NBC).

¢ A celebrity doctor hosts “Dr. Drew’s Celebrity Addiction Special” (9 p.m., VH1). If pictures of Amy Winehouse’s decline don’t keep you off drugs, I’m not sure this will.

¢ A celebrity couple’s child vanishes on “Without a Trace” (9 p.m., CBS).

¢ “Primetime: The Outsiders” (9 p.m., ABC): a look at people who raise monkeys as their “children.”

¢ “Election Day” on “P.O.V.” (9 p.m., PBS, check local listings) looks at the 2004 vote from 12 different perspectives.

Cult choice

George Cukor directs the 1939 adaptation of Clare Boothe Luce’s over-the-top stage comedy “The Women” (9 p.m., TCM), set in a tightly wound hive of innocents, divorcees and society types.