User:Codywarren08/Pretty Little Liars Season 1

The first season of Pretty Little Liars, based on the books of the same name by Sara Shepard, which began airing on June 8, 2010, and will conclude on March 21, 2011. It tells the story of a clique of five girls - Spencer, Aria, Hanna, Emily, and Alison - until one of them goes missing, Alison. One year later, the girls have grown apart and start getting messages from a mysterious 'A', and thinking it's Alison, they soon find out that Alison is dead, and someone else is taking her persona. The show will follow the basic premise of the novels.

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 4.22 million viewers, becoming one of ABC Family's top telecasts ever.

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 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 (as Spencer Hastings and Ezra Fitz, respectively) 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 Igor Hudacek, Jr. as Mike Montgomery. In April 2010, Chad Lowe replaced Alexis Denisof as Aria's father, Byron Montgomery. Denisof portrayed the role in the pilot. Also in April, Holly Marie Combs was cast as Ella Montgomery.

Cast and characters
The four central characters, the titular 'Pretty Little Liars', in alphabetical order by last name, involve Troian Bellisario as Spencer Hastings, Ashley Benson as Hanna Marin, Lucy Hale as Aria Montgomery, and Shay Mitchell as Emily Fields. The mysterious "A" has everyone to believe the sender to be Alison DiLaurentis, played by Sasha Pieterse.

There are several supporting characters in recurring roles in the town of Rosewood. Aria's family consists of Holly Marie Combs as Ella, her mother, Chad Lowe as Byron, her father, and Cody Christian as Mike, her younger brother. Spencer's family consists of Torrey DeVitto as Melissa, her older sister, Lesley Fara as Veronica, her mother, and Nolan North as Peter, her father. Hanna's family consists of Laura Leighton as Ashley, her mother, and Roark Critchlow as Tim, her father. Emily's family consists of Nia Peeples as Pam, her mother, and Eric Steinberg as Colonel, her father.

Regular

 * Ashley Benson as Hanna Marin
 * Troian Bellisario as Spencer Hastings
 * Lucy Hale as Aria Montgomery
 * Shay Mitchell as Emily Fields
 * Sasha Pieterse as Alison DiLaurentis
 * Ian Harding as Ezra Fitz
 * Laura Leighton as Ashley Marin
 * Holly Marie Combs as Ella Montgomery
 * Chad Lowe as Byron Montgomery
 * Bianca Lawson as Maya St. Germain

Recurring

 * Janel Parrish as Mona Vanderwaal
 * Tammin Sursok as Jenna Marshall
 * Torrey DeVitto as Melissa Hastings
 * Bryce Johnson as Darren Wilden
 * Keegan Allen as Toby Cavanaugh
 * Chuck Hittinger as Sean Ackard
 * Brendan Robinson as Lucas Gottesman
 * Brant Daugherty as Noel Kahn
 * Ryan Merriman as Ian Thomas
 * Nia Peeples as Pam Fields

Guest stars

 * Cody Christian as Mike Montgomery
 * Nolan North as Peter Hastings
 * Diego Boneta as Alex Santiago
 * Parker Bagley as Jason DiLaurentis
 * Lesley Fera as Veronica Hastings
 * Roark Critchlow as Tom Marin
 * Lindsey Shaw as Paige McCullers
 * Bryce Johnson as Darren Wilden
 * Tyler Blackburn as Caleb

Special guest stars

 * Tilky Jones as Logan Reed
 * Sara Shepard as Teacher
 * Julian Morris as Wren Kim
 * Jill Holden as Mrs. Welch
 * Amanda Schull as Meredith Sorenson

Storylines
The main storyline involves the aftermath of the disappearance of Alison DiLaurentis. A year later, her friends - Spencer, Hanna, Aria and Emily - all seem to grow apart, but are brought back together when Alison's body is found, and an anonymous "A" sends them messages involving their deepest secrets they thought only Alison knew.