Pretty Little Liars

Pretty Little Liars
Genre	Teen drama Mystery Thriller
Created by	I. Marlene King (series) Sara Shepard (novels)
Developed by	I. Marlene King
Starring	Troian Bellisario Ashley Benson Holly Marie Combs Lucy Hale Ian Harding Laura Leighton Chad Lowe Shay Mitchell Sasha Pieterse
Opening theme	"Secret" by The Pierces
Composer(s)	Michael Suby
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	47 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Leslie Morgenstein Bob Levy I. Marlene King Oliver Goldstick Keegan Allen
Producer(s)	Lisa Cochran-Neilan
Location(s)	Los Angeles, California Pilot: Vancouver, British Columbia
Cinematography	Dana Gonzales
Camera setup	Film; single-camera
Running time	41–44 minutes
Production company(s)	Warner Horizon Alloy Entertainment
Distributor	Warner Bros. Televison
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC Family
Original run	June 8, 2010 (2010-06-08) – present
External links
Website

Pretty Little Liars is an American teen drama mystery-thriller television series based on the popular series of novels written by Sara Shepard. The show premiered on June 8, 2010 on ABC Family.^[1] Set in the fictitious town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania, the series follows the lives of Spencer Hastings (Troian Bellisario), Hanna Marin (Ashley Benson), Aria Montgomery (Lucy Hale) and Emily Fields (Shay Mitchell), four girls whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their queen bee, Alison DiLaurentis (Sasha Pieterse). One year later, they begin receiving messages from a mysterious figure using the name "A" who threatens to expose their secrets. At first they think it's Alison herself, but after she is found dead, the girls realize that someone else knows their secrets—including long-hidden ones they thought only Alison knew.^[2]

After an initial order of 10 episodes on June 28, 2010, ABC Family ordered an additional 12 episodes for season one.^[3] These episodes began airing on January 3 and ended on March 21, 2011.^[4] The ratings success of the first 10 episodes prompted the book series to be extended beyond the initial eight novels.^[5] On November 29, 2011 ABC Family renewed the series for a third season, consisting of 24 episodes.^[6] The third season will premiere on June 5, 2012.^[7]

Cast

• Troian Bellisario plays Spencer Hastings, who is the "preppy girl" of the group. She is an extreme perfectionist and is always afraid she won't live up to her parents' high expectations of her. Spencer was the only person who was brave enough to stand up to Alison, and may have been one of the last people to see her alive. She falls in love with Jenna's step-brother Toby but later breaks up with him to protect him from A. They reunite in the season 2 finale.

• Shay Mitchell plays Emily Fields. Emily is the jock of the group and was closest to Alison before her disappearance. She was in love with her former best friend, Ali, and was outed as a lesbian by "A" in Season 1. Emily falls in love with a Girl named Maya and Maya lives in Alison's old house. When Emily's mom finds out that Maya smokes she tells Maya's parents and they ship her away to the North Rehab School. During that time she dates a girl called Paige who hates her at first she then breaks up with Emily for a guy. Emily then dates a girl called Samara and they hit it off until they have a misunderstanding. When Maya comes back she is with Emily again until she leaves to go to San Francisco, Emily is looking for Maya. They think the body is Maya's in the 2nd season Finale

• Ashley Benson plays Hanna Marin, the Queen Bee of Rosewood Day who later reunites with her former best friends. Towards the end of season 1 she meets a phone hacker, Caleb, who is new and flirts with her. She starts to flirt back and ends up losing her virginity to him. Caleb leaves but Hanna's friend Lucas brings him back. Mona was her best friend until all the girls came back and formed the group again.

• Lucy Hale plays Aria Montgomery, the former "weird girl" who moves back to Rosewood with her family after a year long absence in Iceland. At a bar, she meets Ezra Fitz and kisses him. On her first day of school, she discovers he is her English teacher. They decide to continue their relationship in secret. Later in the series Ezra tells Aria's parents that he loves her, he also gets a job at Hollis College which he is later fired when the school board finds out about the relationship.

• Sasha Pieterse plays Alison DiLaurentis, was the leader of her clique and was the most popular and beautiful girl in the school before her disappearance and death. Although she cared for her friends, she knew their deepest secrets, which she used to control them. She started damaging rumors about those she didn't like, and was a master at manipulating people, as she seemed to have some kind of blackmail over everyone in Rosewood. She was killed and her body was found in the pilot. The show's main premise revolves around the mystery of Alison's murder.

Production

Originally developed as a television series by book packaging company Alloy Entertainment, the idea was described as "Desperate Housewives for teens."^[8] Alloy met with author Shepard, and gave her the property to develop into a book series.^[8] With Alloy and Warner Horizon interested in producing a Pretty Little Liars television series for years, it was first planned for The WB in 2005 with a different writer until the network shutdown in early 2006.^[9] The first novel was published by HarperTeen in October 2005.^[10] In June 2008, Alloy noted that it was developing a Pretty Little Liars television pilot for ABC Family,^[8] with the novels adapted for television.^[9] After the pilot was shot in Vancouver, filming for the rest of the series has since moved to Los Angeles.^[11][12]

Casting

ABC Family began casting for a Pretty Little Liars television pilot in October 2009.^[9] Lucy Hale was cast as Aria Montgomery in the project,^[9] followed by Troian Bellisario and Ian Harding (as Spencer Hastings and Ezra Fitz, respectively) in November 2009.^[13] In December 2009, The Futon Critic confirmed the casting of Ashley Benson as Hanna Marin and Shay Mitchell as Emily Fields, as well as the addition of Laura Leighton as Ashley Marin, Alexis Denisof as Tom Marin, and Bianca Lawson as Maya.^[14][15] The Hollywood Reporter also noted that Torrey DeVitto and Sasha Pieterse landed recurring roles in the pilot.^[15] The Alloy website later confirmed that Pieterse would be playing Alison DiLaurentis and DeVitto would be Melissa Hastings, also mentioning the casting of Janel Parrish as Mona Vanderwaal.^[16] On January 27, 2010, ABC Family picked up the series for 10 episodes, set to premiere in June 2010.^[2] In April 2010, the role of Aria's father Byron was recast with Chad Lowe,^[17] and Holly Marie Combs was cast as Aria's mother Ella.^[18]

On January 7, 2011, Tilky Jones was cast as Logan Reed.^[19] On April 8, 2011 Annabeth Gish was cast for the role of Anne Sullivan, a therapist who tries to find out the characters' secrets.^[20] On May 23, 2011, Andrea Parker signed up to appear as Jessica DiLaurentis, Alison's mother.^[21] On June 29, 2011, it was announced that Natalie Hall would be replacing Natalie Floyd as Hanna's soon-to-be stepsister, Kate.^[22] Series star Chad Lowe directed the tenth episode of the second season titled "Touched by an 'A'-ngel".^[23] On January 30, 2012, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Tyler Blackburn had been promoted to series regular for the third season.^[24] It was later announced that Keegan Allen would also be promoted to a series regular. In March 2012, Janel Parrish was also promoted from recurring to series regular for the third season.^[25]

Promotion

Pretty Little Liars was called one of the most spectacular new shows of summer 2010 thanks to heavy promotion by ABC Family, including "spicy promos and hot posters".^[26] ABC Family encouraged fans to host a "Pretty Little Premiere Party" for the show by sending the first respondents a fan kit,^[27] and selected applicants to become part of an interactive "Secret Keeper Game" played with iPhones provided by the network.^[28] The show's official Facebook and Twitter accounts also promoted special fan features, including a "Pretty Little Lie Detector.^[29] Los Angeles department store Kitson showcased the show in their shop window.^[30]

A tie-in edition of the 2006 first novel in the Pretty Little Liars series was released on the date of the show's premiere,^[31] as was the final book of the original book series, "Wanted".^[32] Wanted later decidedly became the eighth book of the series, as Shepard later confirmed she would extend the series.

Music

The theme song for Pretty Little Liars is "Secret" by The Pierces, which was suggested by one of the show's stars, Ashley Benson.^[33] The pilot episode made use of music from artists such as The Fray, Ben's Brother, MoZella, Orelia, and Colbie Caillat.^[34] It has also used music from Passion Pit, Pink, Selena Gomez & the Scene, and McFly. Music from Katie Herzig and can be heard multiple times throughout the show. A few songs being "Hey Na Na" and "Where the Road Meets the Sun". Madi Diaz has been heard on the show with her song "Heavy Heart", as well as Joy Williams with "Charmed Life" and Foreign Slippers with "What Are You Waiting For?". The last episode of season one featured a song by Alexz Johnson that she originally recorded for the soundtrack of the Canadian hit TV show Instant Star. On June 14, 2011, "Jar of Hearts" by Christina Perri was featured in the first episode of the second season. The song "Follow Suit" by Trent Dabbs has also been featured on the show. In the episode "The Perfect Storm", Aria sings a cover of the song "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" by British band Fairport Convention.

Broadcast

Pretty Little Liars premiered on June 8, 2010 in the United States, becoming ABC Family's highest-rated series debut on record across the network's target demographics.^[1] It ranked number one in key 12–34 demos and teens, becoming the number-one scripted show in Women 18–34, and Women 18–49. The premiere was number two in the hour for total viewers, which generated 2.47 million unique viewers, and was ABC Family's best delivery in the timeslot since the premiere of The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

The second episode retained 100% of its premiere audience with 2.48 million viewers, despite the usual downward trend following a premiere of a show, and built on its premiere audience. It was the dominant number one of its time slot in Adults 18–49, and the number one show in female teens.^[35] Subsequent episodes fluctuated between 2.09 and 2.74 million viewers.^[36][37] The August 10, 2010 "Summer Finale" episode drew 3.07 million viewers.

On June 28, 2010, ABC Family ordered 12 more episodes of the show, bringing its total first-season order to 22.^[3] On January 10, 2011, ABC Family picked the show up for a second season that premiered on June 14, 2011. During the summer of 2011, Pretty Little Liars was basic cable's top scripted series in women aged 18–34 and viewers 12–34.^[38][39] The second half of season 2 will air on Mondays at 8/7c, beginning on January 2, 2012.^[40]

Internationally, the show premiered in the United Kingdom on October 21, 2010 at 8 pm on Viva, in the Philippines on November 22, 2010 at 8 pm on ETC, in Spain on January 17, 2011 at 8:20 pm on MTV Spain, in Australia on Go! at 8:30 pm on Mondays, in Croatia on February 3, 2011 at 8:45 pm on Doma TV, in Brazil and Mexico on March 30, 2011 at 8 pm and 9 pm (respectively) on Boomerang, in Saudi Arabia on September 22, 2011 at 8 pm on MBC 4, and has finished its first season in New Zealand which was aired on TV2 at 5:30 pm on Sundays. After its midseason break, Pretty Little Liars moved to MTV in the UK and Ireland on March 24, 2011 at 8 pm due to popularity; the second season began airing on November 16 at 10 pm. In Israel the show premiered in 2011 on HOT3 and currently aires the second season. In Sweden the show Premiered June 26, 2011 on TV3 and the Season 2 finale will air on June 3, 2012. In Croatia the Season 2 finale has already aired on April 29, 2012.

On November 29, 2011, ABC Family renewed the show for a third season, which will consist of 24 episodes.^[6][41][42]

Critical reception

Pretty Little Liars opened with initially mixed critical reviews. Metacritic gave the pilot episode 52 out of 100, based upon 14 critical reviews.^[43] The New York Daily News gave the show its highest score, with 80/100, commenting that it "makes most popular vampire romances look anemic", while concluding, "Pretty Little Liars could go in several directions, including mundane teen clichés. It's got an equally good shot at making us care about these imperfect pretty girls."^[44] The New York Post gave the show three out of five stars, stating, "OK, so we've established that there is no socially redeeming value in this series and that your kids shouldn't watch it if they are too young and impressionable. But if you can distract them enough to miss the first 15 minutes, the show isn't half-bad. Actually, it is half-good, if that makes sense."^[45] The Los Angeles Times wrote that the series is "one of those shows that manages to mildly, and perhaps unintentionally, spoof its genre while fully participating in it, and that's not a bad thing at all."^[46]

Entertainment Weekly had a less favorable review, giving the show its lowest score of 16 out of 100, saying, "Imagine the pitch for Liars: It's I Know What You Did Last Summer meets Gossip Girl, but like not so subtle. The new ABC Family drama, based on the popular young-adult book series about a high school clique whose missing leader continuously causes problems and she ends up dead comes back to haunt them via locker-room notes, IMs, and text messages, hits every racy teentertainment mark so hard (everyone's hair is so full—of secrets!) that it feels like the only thing missing is a visit from the ghosts of Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze, Jr."^[47] The Hollywood Reporter compared the show to those on The CW and noted, "Sure, there's a lot here that sustains more eye-rolling than interested stares, but a little patience might be warranted."^[48]

Awards

DVD releases

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Pretty Little Liars

• Official website
• Pretty Little Liars at the Internet Movie Database
• Pretty Little Liars at TV.com