'CONFIDENTIAL' STORIES MEANT FOR SHARING.

Byline: >David Kronke

"High School Confidential's" title is probably more lurid than it needs to be, reeking of promises of titillation and bad behavior.

Though there's plenty of bad behavior, there's an awful lot of good intentions and genuine, heartfelt struggle on display, as well.

Series creator Sharon Liese spent four years with 12 female students at a suburban Kansas high school, following them from their freshman year through to graduation. Obviously, that's a tumultuous time rife with temptation, heartbreak, confusion and maturation, and so she found drama aplenty.

Compressing 48 collective years into eight hours of television is an impossible task, so Liese is forced to compress some of her subject's stories into mere soundbites, in some cases draining the young women's lives of their drama beyond the rote. Tonight's installment focuses on two girls -- Lauren, whose cushy life is upended when a tumor is discovered in her brain, and Cappie, who quickly strays from her vow to live cleanly, then struggles to recalibrate her life. It's interesting, but one senses the richer stories that are missing.

The next two episodes are better, because they focus only on one student apiece. Well, in Courtney's case, I suppose it's two, because her younger sister goes all Jamie Lynn Spears on her and usurps Courtney's spotlight by getting pregnant. Jessi, in the following week, battles depression, ADD, failing grades and a miscarriage, and almost manages to emerge unscathed.

Subsequent episodes are hit and miss -- some girls have vivid stories, such as Cate, who triumphs over her mother's death, her father's subsequent hasty second marriage and messy divorce, and her own self-mutilation and anorexia with a daunting resolve, while others fade into the woodwork. In the series' resonant finale, the girls prepare for prom and graduation and reflect on how they've survived four of the toughest years they may ever endure.

"High School Confidential" is clearly hamstrung by budget limitations -- Liese obviously didn't get to spend a lot of time with the girls. Mainly it looks like she flew into Kansas at intermittent intervals, interviewed them individually, then returned home.

She was around to capture Lauren's brain surgery and Courtney's helping her sister through her pregnancy. Mainly, however, the series consists of talking-head interviews, generic B-roll footage of students milling around the high school or students strolling through their neighborhoods, home movies shot by the kids themselves (amazing how many didn't mind filming compromising footage of their getting wasted). There's not a lot of the fly-on-the-wall footage documenting the sort of emotionally devastating moments that most projects of this sort truck in.

But though more handsome production values would've resulted in a more polished series, Liese still manages to capture important truths about the challenges confronting young women as they come of age.

And, as opposed to most reality-based series these days, it's clear Liese liked and appreciated these girls and didn't cast them with any cynical exploitation in mind: Even when they're at their worst, they remain empathetic and a number of them are downright admirable.

"High School Confidential" is an invaluable series for parents and their daughters to watch together: kids, so they understand that they're not alone in their struggles, and parents, to better appreciate the everyday pressures confronting contemporary teens.

HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL - Three stars

>What: Documentary series exploring the lives of a dozen female students at a Kansas high school from their freshman years through graduation.

>Where: WE tv.

>When: 10 tonight.

>In a nutshell: Despite obvious budget limitations, the series still manages some absorbing portraits of young women struggling with the difficulties of adolescence.