Pretty Little Liars (season 1)


The first season of Pretty Little Liars, based on the books of the same name by Sara Shepard, premiered on June 8, 2010 and concluded on March 21, 2011 on ABC Family.
The show premiered to [|2].47 million viewers and retained a regular audience of 2.5 million viewers during its summer run. The summer finale scored [|3].07 million viewers, achieving a series high. The show went on hiatus and returned with its winter premiere on January 3, 2011, with 4.20 million viewers, becoming one of ABC Family's top telecasts to date.

Overview

Spencer Hastings, Aria Montgomery, Hanna Marin, Emily Fields, and Alison DiLaurentis are enjoying a sleep-over at Spencer's family's barn in her backyard. The girls drink alcohol and tell secrets, before passing out. When the girls wake up they discover Alison and Spencer missing, however Spencer returns claiming she heard Alison scream and went to look for her. Following Alison's disappearance, the four remaining girls drift apart without their clique leader and Aria's family moves to Iceland for a year.
One year later, Aria returns to Rosewood, and hooks up with Ezra Fitz at a bar and later discovers he is her new English teacher. Hanna has taken Alison's role as the most popular girl at Rosewood High School, along with formerly nerdy Mona Vanderwaal. The girls regularly shoplift from the local mall, until Hanna is caught, and her mother resorts to beginning a sexual relationship with Detective Darren Wilden so Hanna isn't charged. Spencer develops romantic feelings for her older sister Melissa's fiance, British doctor Wren Kingston, while Emily befriends a new girl named Maya, whose family has moved into Alison's former home.
As the story unfolds, each of the girls receive text messages from an anonymous blackmailer, known only as "-A", who threatens them with secrets only Alison would have known. The girls suspect Alison is the one sending the texts, until her body is found buried in her old backyard. The girls begin to search for answers since Alison's body has been found.

Cast

Main cast

Development and production

Originally developed as a television series by book packaging company Alloy Entertainment, the idea was described as "Desperate Housewives for teens." Alloy met with author Shepard, and gave her the property to develop into a book series. 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. The first novel was published by HarperTeen in October 2006. In June 2008, Alloy noted that it was developing a Pretty Little Liars television pilot for ABC Family. The novels are being adapted for television by I. Marlene King.

Casting

ABC Family began casting for a Pretty Little Liars television pilot in October 2009. Lucy Hale was cast as Aria Montgomery in the project, followed by Troian Bellisario and Ian Harding in November 2009. 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 Byron Montgomery, Bianca Lawson as Maya, as well as Jean Louisa Kelly and Nia Peeples. The Hollywood Reporter also noted that Torrey DeVitto and Sasha Pieterse landed recurring roles in the pilot.
The Alloy website later confirmed that Pieterse would be playing Alison DiLaurentis and DeVitto would be Melissa Hastings, also noting Janel Parrish as Mona Vanderwaal and Cody Allen Christian, as Mike Montgomery. In April 2010, Chad Lowe replaced Alexis Denisof as Aria's father, Byron Montgomery. Also in April, Holly Marie Combs was cast as Ella Montgomery.

Ratings

Live + SD ratings

DVD release