Pretty Little Liars (TV Series)

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Current revision as of 00:20, 14 November 2022

This article is about the original 2010 television series. For the following franchise, see Pretty Little Liars (franchise). For other uses, see Pretty Little Liars (disambiguation).

Pretty Little Liars is an American teen drama mystery thriller television series developed by I. Marlene King. The series, loosely based on the novel series of the same name written by Sara Shepard, follows the lives of five best friends whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their leader Alison. One year later, the estranged friends Spencer, Hanna, Aria and Emily are reunited as they begin receiving messages from a mysterious figure named "A" who threatens to expose their deepest secrets. The series features an ensemble cast, headed by Troian Bellisario as Spencer Hastings, Lucy Hale as Aria Montgomery, Ashley Benson as Hanna Marin, Shay Mitchell as Emily Fields, Sasha Pieterse as Alison DiLaurentis and Janel Parrish as Mona Vanderwaal.

The series premiered on June 8, 2010, on Freeform (then known as ABC Family)^[a] and ended on June 27, 2017. After an initial order of 10 episodes, ABC Family ordered an additional 12 episodes on June 28, 2010. The ratings success of the first 10 episodes prompted the book series to be extended beyond the initial eight novels. From its debut, the series received mixed reviews from television critics, but remained a relative success for Freeform, garnering a large fandom. The series finale was viewed by an estimated 1.41 million viewers. It had the second-highest rating of any cable TV series that aired that night but received a lukewarm reception from both critics and audiences.

It is the first series in the Pretty Little Liars franchise, with the series having two spin-offs: Ravenswood and Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, both of which were cancelled after one season. A fourth series titled Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin premiered on HBO Max in 2022, which focus on a new cast of characters in a different setting.

[edit] Premise

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Pretty Little Liars episodes

[edit] Cast and characters

Main article: List of Pretty Little Liars characters

• Troian Bellisario as Spencer Hastings, an extreme perfectionist who likes to please her wealthy and high-achieving family and her friends. She is very competitive and an overachiever. Hailed as the smart one of the group, Spencer is fiercely protective of her friends. Her main love interest throughout the series is Toby Cavanaugh (Keegan Allen) who she ends up with in the finale. She also has a few other flings during the show.
• Ashley Benson as Hanna Marin, a popular girl who used to have an eating disorder. She used to be overweight, and was given the nickname 'Hefty Hanna'. After Alison DiLaurentis disappeared, Hanna lost weight and gained popularity along with her new best friend Mona Vanderwaal &ndash taking over Alison's title as Queen Bee and as such Hanna's style and personality seemed to imitate Alison's as she wanted to be like her. Over the course of the series, Hanna started to care more about the people around her and tries to protect herself and her friends. She is strong-willed and unafraid to voice her opinions. She has had some love affairs through the series. Her main love interest and eventual love interest is Caleb.
• Holly Marie Combs as Ella Montgomery (main season 1-3; recurring season 4-6; guest season 7), the mother of Aria and Mike, as well as the wife of Byron, and on-and-off English teacher at Rosewood High. She is often in the crosshairs of "A" and is protected by Aria.
• Lucy Hale as Aria Montgomery, an artsy chameleon who is very intelligent, caring, and has a good sense of style. She's the one who keeps her family together. Before Alison's disappearance, she wore black, punk-like clothing and had pink highlights in her hair. Aria and her family moved to Iceland for a year because of Alison's disappearance and her father's infidelity before returning to Rosewood. When Aria and her family moved back to Rosewood, her style became more bohemian and eclectic. She is extremely protective of her family and friends and will go to new heights to help them. her main love interest is Ezra who she marries in the finale.
• Ian Harding as Ezra Fitz, an English teacher at Rosewood High who begins a relationship with Aria which causes a lot of tension within the series. He is Aria's primary love interest throughout the series whom he marries in the finale.
• Bianca Lawson as Maya St. Germain (main seasons 1-2, recurring season 3), a new girl who moves into Alison's old house in Rosewood and develops a romantic relationship with Emily, becoming her first girlfriend. She had a tense relationship with the other girls at first, but they warmed up to her quickly.
• Laura Leighton as Ashley Marin, Hanna's mother. She works at a bank until she is arrested as the suspected murderer of Darren Wilden. She is released when Mona takes the blame for murder and Pastor Ted, her love interest for part of the series, posts her bail. She then begins working for Mr. DiLaurentis. She turned Radley into a hotel during the five-year time jump and is working as its manager.
• Chad Lowe as Byron Montgomery (main seasons 1-3; recurring seasons 4, 6; guest seasons 5, 7), Aria and Mike's father, and Ella's husband. He is the reason "A" is able to coerce Aria, as he has an ongoing affair with Meredith, one of his students at Hollis College. Chad Lowe was the first cast member to direct an episode of the series, preceding Troian Bellisario.
• Shay Mitchell as Emily Fields, the sporty one in the group. She is the captain of the high school swim team and becomes the team's coach after the time jump. Emily is a kind hearted and loyal, often the most calm and collected of the group. Emily is a closeted lesbian at the beginning of the series, coming out during season one upon meeting Maya.
• Nia Peeples as Pam Fields, Emily's mother and Wayne's wife. Through the first two seasons she struggles to accept and understand her daughter's sexuality, but grows to accept her daughter and is henceforth supportive. She is an accomplished home cook and fond of hosting dinner parties. She stays with Wayne in Texas for part of the series at Emily's encouragement. Peeples was dropped as a series regular in the second episode but continued to make recurring appearances throughout the series.
• Sasha Pieterse as Alison DiLaurentis, the former "queen bee" of her clique, and the most popular girl in school before her disappearance. She often uses people's deepest secrets as blackmail. Charming and manipulative, Alison managed to manipulate her friends and many adults into doing her bidding. It was later revealed that Alison is alive and on the run from "A".
• Tyler Blackburn as Caleb Rivers (recurring seasons 1-2; main seasons 3-7), He is adept at technology and the resident hacker. Caleb is Hanna's primary love interest throughout the series - they marry later on in the series.
• Janel Parrish as Mona Vanderwaal (recurring seasons 1-2; main season 3-7), the original and first "A". She is Alison's stalker prior to her disappearance and saw being "A" as her chance to avenge the way Alison treated her. After Alison disappeared, she became best friends with Hanna Marin. Together, they transformed into the most popular girls at school, taking Alison's place.
• Andrea Parker as:
  • Jessica DiLaurentis (guest season 2, recurring seasons 4-6), mother of Alison and Jason
  • Mary Drake (main season 7; guest seasons 4, 6), the biological mother of the second "A", Charlotte Drake (Vanessa Ray) and was admitted to Radley Sanitarium for most of her life but has now returned to Rosewood.

[edit] Production

[edit] Development

[edit] Casting

[edit] Music

[edit] Release

[edit] Broadcast

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[edit] Reception

[edit] Critical response

[edit] Ratings

Since the series premiere, Pretty Little Liars has remained popular. In 2016, a New York Times study of the 50 TV shows with the most Facebook Likes found that the show's "popularity is tilted toward women more than any other show in the data — over 94 percent of 'likes' come from women".

The series earned its highest rated episode with 4.20 million total viewers, ranking among ABC Family's top 5 telecasts in adult viewers 18–34, total viewers and women viewers. The highest rated episodes include season one's finale, with 3.64 million, and season two's premiere and finale episodes, each yielding nearly 3.7 million viewers. The show stands as the most watched series on ABC Family, maintaining a steady viewership of over 2.5 million and currently standing as the only show to yield an average of over 2 million viewers.

[edit] Accolades

[edit] In other media

Main article: Pretty Little Liars (franchise)

[edit] Spin-offs

[edit] Ravenswood

Main article: Ravenswood (TV series)

Ravenswood is a supernatural teen drama mystery-thriller series. Set in the fictional town of Ravenswood, Pennsylvania, the series follows five strangers whose lives become intertwined by a deadly curse that has plagued their town for generations. They have to dig into the town's dark past to solve the mysterious curse. It stars Nicole Gale Anderson, Tyler Blackburn, Steven Cabral, Brett Dier, Britne Oldford and Merritt Patterson.

[edit] Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists

Main article: Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists

Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists is a crime thriller mystery drama series, based on the novel The Perfectionists by Sara Shepard, which serves as a sequel to the original series. In a town of Beacon Heights, Washington, where everything seems perfect, from their top-tier college to their overachieving residents and the stress of needing to be perfect leads to the town's first murder. Sasha Pieterse and Janel Parrish returned for their roles as Alison DiLaurentis and Mona Vanderwaal. The series also stars Sofia Carson, Sydney Park, Eli Brown, Hayley Erin, Graeme Thomas King and Kelly Rutherford.

[edit] Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin

Main article: Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin

On September 2, 2020, it was announced that a new series is in development at Warner Bros., with Riverdale creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa taking over as showrunner from I. Marlene King. Although called the series a "reboot", but was later confirmed to be taking place within the existing universe of the franchise and will introduce new characters and storylines. The series was set in a new town where the main characters will pay for their parents' sin nearly 20 years ago. On September 24, 2020, HBO Max gave the spin-off series order and was named Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, as Aguirre-Sacasa teamup with Lindsay Calhoon Bring to create the series. The series will consist of 10 episodes. In July 2021, Chandler Kinney, Maia Reficco, and Bailee Madison were cast in lead roles, joined by Zaria and Malia Pyles the following month.

[edit] Web series

[edit] Pretty Dirty Secrets

Main article: Pretty Dirty Secrets

[edit] Reunion

[edit] International adaptation

[edit] Turkish version

Main article: Tatlı Küçük Yalancılar

[edit] Indonesian version

Main article: Pretty Little Liars (Indonesian TV series)

[edit] Other adaptations

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

^ ^{a b} Known as ABC Family until 2016.

[edit] Citations

[edit] External links

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