New 'Secret Life' Season Biggest Yet for Good Boy Baumann, by Stacy Jenel Smith

Three years into their series life, the "Secret Life of the American Teenager's" young cast has bonded in a way they'll never repeat. That's the considered opinion of Kenny Baumann, who plays Ben, the nice boy among the high school crowd on the show.

"We've all grown up together, and that's not going to happen again. I would like to think that we're all going to know each other and be friends for a long time," says the 21-year-old actor, author and publisher.

They do socialize off the set, according to him. "It's great hanging out with those guys and girls. They're all excellent at having a good time."

In fact, he notes that he, Greg Finley and Daren Kagasoff — aka the show's jock type and sexy bad boy — "recently traveled to Cabo San Lucas and had some cast-friendly bonding time. The girls fawn over Daren, and I get to point and laugh. He's the magnet. We carry him around, and the girls come."

The season that launches March 28 is Baumann's heaviest and "my most exciting and challenging season to play," he says. That's saying an awful lot. Since "Secret Life" fans first got to know Baumann's character, Ben has: 1) fallen in love with a pregnant girl, 2) married her, 3) found out the marriage was invalid on account of they used fake IDs, 4) been at her side when the baby arrived, 5) made friends with the father of her baby, 6) courted a friend of hers, 7) found out she'd kissed the father of her child and then had revenge sex with the father's girlfriend, 8) discovered the revenge sex had resulted in a pregnancy, and 9) decided to wed his pregnant revenge sex partner.

And you thought your high school experience was tough.

"No, I would never have thought this next season was going to pop up this way when I signed on to the show," admits Baumann. "The social web can be manipulated in so many different ways. ... There are all kinds of unexpected twists and turns."

Some viewers want Ben to be with his first love, Amy (Shailene Woodley). Some viewers think he ought to go ahead and marry bad-but-brainy baby mama Adrian (Francia Raisa). By Baumann's unofficial count — that is, people who come up to him and give their opinions — "it's shifted more recently to the point it's about 50-50."

In the new season, "Ben's relationship with Adrian grows and changes. His relationship with his dad gets even more stressed and interesting, with more conflict. I would say that this season was, hands down, my favorite to shoot. It builds and builds and builds."

When he's not on camera or out enjoying himself with his buds, Baumann can often be found writing. He's an aspiring novelist with one book already out to publishers, another in the works.

"I'll keep throwing things against the wall and see what sticks," he says.

The self-admitted art and book nerd also has his own publishing entity, Sator Press. Flying in the face of all current trends, he publishes books on paper, "but limited to small runs, a thousand copies or so. It's a tough business, certainly, books. But it's worth it. When I get an order on my e-mail account, well, I shouldn't be that thrilled going to the post office — no one should be — but I am."

WINNING: Jason Alexander got attention the other day, volunteering to jump in as Charlie Sheen's replacement in "Two and a Half Men." But the former "Seinfeld" foil is actually far more likely to star in the title role in a Broadway production of "Yes, Prime Minister" — the comedy (based on the popular British telly series) that recently played London's West End. Alexander has been pouring his considerable energies into numerous projects as artistic director of the Reprise Theatre Company, "Prime Minister" among them. Casting is going on now, with all hands required to be British or able to speak with perfect British accents.

CELEB SEEN: Kevin Dillon caught the eyes of passersby, holding court at New York's Machi Masala the other day. The "Entourage" star even obliged a few photo seekers. Also at the Amsterdam Avenue Indian restaurant at the same time was Keanu Reeves. It's all in the cardamom, mon.