Just watched ABC Family's new teen drama Pretty Little Liars and yup, I'm hooked. Parts were cheesy and overdone but I didn't care. No matter how old I get I'm always in the mood for a good, campy, soapy teen show and this one definitely fills the bill. It's about five friends but one dark eerie night during some sort of slumber party, Alison disappears. Flash forward a year later and she's presumed dead; Aria is back in town after her dad moved the family to Iceland and the rest of the friends have grown apart. Quickly these girls amass a whole boatload of secrets and start getting texts, notes and emails threatening to out them all from someone that signs them with the initial "A." Everybody instantly thinks Alison's the culprit which means she's alive and well. Seriously, these girls work fast. Aria is back in Rosewood, Pennsylvania one day and she sleeps with her high school English teacher. Of course he thought she was in college. Spencer is sporting jealous roots over her big sister's fiance. Meanwhile Emily's exhibiting some lesbian tendencies with the new girl in town and may have shown the same tendencies in the past with her missing friend. As for Hanna, she has become the latest Mean Girl. She also gets her Winona Ryder on when she steals some sunglasses from the Rosewood Mall. The twist comes when Alison's body is found. There's a funeral but that doesn't stop the texts from coming, this time stating that "A" is back.
A lot of the action moved a little too fast but at least it didn't drag. And I'm not quite buying Aria and Ezra her teacher. Speaking of Ezra, don't he and the guy who plays Wren look a lot alike? Just saying. Anyway, there's still more mystery because apparently the girls did something bad to a girl named Jenna who shows up at Alison's funeral. Blind (we think). The secrets are in abundance, ones the audience knows and ones the audience does not know. The key for TPTB (the powers that be) is to keep the secrets intriguing yet let them out before they get annoying. Not the big overarching one mind you, but right now those "friends" are keeping things from each other, from their parents and from society. Another thing that could get annoying is the police investigation. It's weird to see the cop having sex with Hanna's mom one minute and then playing hardball with the teenagers the next. It seems he's out to find out what happened last summer.
My pop culture radar was going crazy with the casting for this new series. You ready? It's a doozy.
-Lucy Hale plays Aria. She was in the CW's Privileged, a show I thoroughly enjoyed.
-Troian Bellisario plays Spencer. Troian is Don Bellisario's daughter. Don created NCIS, Magnum P.I., JAG and Quantum Leap among others. Troian also guest-starred a couple of times on NCIS as McGee's sister Sarah. You know, the sister that was accused of murder.
-Amber Benson is Hanna. But Days of our Lives fans will know her best as Jack and Jennifer's daughter Abby.
-Shay Mitchell is Emily. She's a relative newbie to the biz. Sasha Pieterse who plays Alison seems to have some experience but I think this is my first time seeing her in action.
Can we talk about the parents and a few of the other recurring cast members for a second? First of all, parents on TV shows keep getting younger and younger. Pretty soon, grandparents on primetime dramas will be 30-years-old.
-Holly Combs: I really don't think that Charmed's Holly Combs has aged even a smidge since she starred on the Aaron Spelling drama. Seriously, this girl has not aged. So I have to say it's a little odd believing she's a mom to teenagers. But I'm glad she's on the show and looking forward to when her character finds out her hubby cheated on her.
-Chad Lowe: I still see him as Spencer from an old 80s sitcom so again it's odd that he's playing a father to teenagers. But I'm suspending all disbelief and going with it. I'm glad to see Chad back on TV.
-Laura Leighton: Just please don't kill her off like they did to her on Melrose Place. As Hanna's mom, she's morally challenged, just as all Laura Leighton characters should be.
-Nia Peeples: Loved her in Fame back in the day. As for today, Nia's looking absolutely fierce. She's no longer on the daytime soap The Young and the Restless and I'm glad. Now we get to see her back on primetime television.
Four other actors got my attention as well:
-Tammin Sursok: Speaking of The Young and the Restless, the daytime soap unceremoniously got rid of her character when Colleen Carlton drowned (not too long after the show killed off her character's dad). Now she's on Pretty Little Liars as the mysterious Jenna. I definitely wonder what her story is.
-Bryce Johnson: Loved him on the WB's Popular although the jury's out on his character on PLL. I'm trying not to let my first impression cloud my judgment. So I'm curious to see how the cop is going to develop as the series moves on.
-Bianca Lawson: I'm wondering just how old a character she's playing because this casting decision made me say huh? I just saw her rockin' The Vampire Diaries and will always remember her from her Buffy days. But I can't ever forget that the first time I ever saw Bianca was as Megan on Saved by the Bell: The New Class in 1993. And now her character's sparking up some interest in Emily. Not sure about the character's hair but Bianca's looking awesome and she's another one that hasn't really aged a bit. But I couldn't tell from the pilot. Is she slightly older than Emily? She mentioned parents being away so inquiring minds basically want to know.
-Torrey DeVitto: After a stint over on The CW's One Tree Hill, she's back on ABC Family. Some of you may remember her from another teen soapy drama that starred on the network called Beautiful People. Again Torrey's playing an unsympathetic character this time in the form of Spencer's bitchy older sister.
Okay, consider me on board with Pretty Little Liars, I definitely want to see where all these secrets lead. Plus, the same secrets that tore these girls apart are bringing them back together. Let the drama ensue. What did you guys think?
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