Pretty Little Liars

Okay so I haven't posted in forever and now I post about Pretty Little Liars? You are probably thinking "what is this girl on?" I agree. Point taken. However, sometimes it takes something really ridiculous, frustrating, humiliating or infuriating to get my thoughts going. Let's just say watching Pretty Little Liars today stirred up a combination of all of these aforementioned feelings.

Pretty Little Liars is summed up on IMDB as "Four friends band together against an anonymous foe who threatens to reveal their darkest secrets, whilst unraveling the mystery of the murder of their best friend."

Well add that, some contrived acting and the unnecessary return of Holly Marie Combs to our television sets and there you have Pretty Little Liars. Okay, that was a little harsh. I know what you are saying, why was I even watching it if I thought it was absolute crap? Let me explain a little further. If you had asked me what I thought of the show a few hours ago I would have laughed at you. Ask my roommate. Laughing is exactly what I did when I saw the show on our television this evening. An hour later, when she finally looked up with a strange look and asked, "What the f**k is this?" I sheepishly replied, "another episode of Pretty Little Liars."

The first time I watched Pretty Little Liars was when I was in Australia for Christmas. I can't put it in a more eloquent way than it was 3am in the morning and I was semi-intoxicated. My friend turned it on and exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, this is the worst show ever!" "Okay" I thought, "then why is it we are watching it?" After an hour watching fellow Aussie Tammin Sursok play a blind girl who has some strange, lets just say "unconventional" relationship with her brother I was even more confused at why this ridiculous show was still on the air. Well, after the episode tonight, I now understand.

It is the addictive nature of Pretty Little Liars that makes you overlook the horrendous acting and mediocre dialogue. The show is Desperate Housewives meets Jawbreaker. The intrigue has me hooked. Now, this does not mean I will actually sit down and watch any more episodes. One problem I have for example is "Holly Marie Combs, you look way too young to have a teenage daughter!" (Please do not take that as a compliment but merely a casting mistake). Also, in what world as a parent would you be okay to your daughter dating a teacher? My parents would have murdered any teacher that looked my way at that age! The christian 23 year old did not go down well in my house, let alone a teacher! Next issue, Tammin Sursok I hope you didn't pay for those "acting like a visually impaired person" lessons like I read in the newspaper. What a waste. I am pretty sure I had a million more criticisms but I can't remember them.

The truth is... Pretty Little Liars has done their job as a TV show. They pulled me in, entertained me and now have me wanting more. It is kind of like the effect Degrassi has on you (but the actors are a million times hotter so it makes more sense). After the show ended I immediately googled what happens next. I may or may not actually watch it again. We will see if I can endure the agony of pretending that Holly Marie Combs and Laura Leighton should be back on prime time television.

Okay, I am being harsh again. My final conclusion is nearly as cliche as the show's dialogue: you can't judge a book (or adapted TV show) by its cover. Nor can you trust your interest level at 3am in the morning under the influence of too much vodka. I judged too harshly. I can definitely see Pretty Little Liar's appeal, especially to the younger audience. I am sure if I was a teenager I would be addicted. Addicted to the point that I would pray to live the characters lives and then hold a life long grudge against the show and its actors when I didn't turn into them (yes, Holly that is why I hate you. I was determined to be a Charmed one and it never worked out.)

On that majorly dorky note. I will be signing off.

My verdict for Pretty Little Liars is as follows:

DO: Watch Pretty Little Liars, just enough to make you laugh but not enough to get you addicted. Then you will suddenly find yourself the victim of being laughed at. It already happened twice tonight when I mentioned what I was watching.

DON'T: Get addicted. If you want a show to get addicted to my vote is still for Bones or Castle.

Pretty Little Liars = 3 out of 5 Stars

TV Guide - Exclusive Castle Postmortem *SPOILERS*

Obviously, if you follow my twitter you will know I have become absolutely addicted to Castle.

I knew this like most TV Shows that addiction to Castle was a possibility for me, especially with the amount of Unresolved Sexual Tension the show has.

I managed to get through the three seasons of the show and write a spec within a month. Now, with nothing but old episodes and youtube clips to watch until next season I am furiously going through interviews with Andrew Marlowe.

I understand this one is old... but I only started watching the show after this interview was posted so I think this time I can get away with it.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Why did you decide to kill Captain Montgomery?

Andrew W. Marlowe: It grew organically out of the series, out of who he is to Beckett and why he's been such a mentor [to her]. We realized when we got deeper into Beckett's mother's murder mythology that somebody had to be protecting Beckett from herself when she was looking into this, so it made sense that the Captain was involved. It gave us this great sense of completeness and tragedy that I really responded to.

Were you worried that fans might be too jarred by the betrayal?

Marlowe: We wanted them to be jarred. Beckett's jarred. But the reality is we all have secrets and things in our lives we don't talk about that, when they come to light, we're forced to deal with. I think there will be some fans who will be frustrated and angry and some fans will be interested in how this will affect Beckett. What's Beckett's life going to be like when she doesn't necessarily always have somebody she works for in her corner?

Captain Montgomery at least got a little bit of redemption.

Marlowe: [The whole story] made the character of the Captain much more noble to me. He participated in something that was a sin in his youth, but he had done everything in his life to correct it, to overcome it. He'd done everything to serve and be a good man, but he could not outrun his sins.

So will you be adding a new boss at the precinct next season?

Marlowe: That's one of the opportunities we're looking to take. Everybody's getting along really well in the precinct, and we think there can be a little more conflict. We think it's interesting to grow Beckett and Castle by having somebody who may not look as favorably on Beckett as the Captain did or may not look as favorably on the Castle-Beckett relationship. That's all stuff we're plotting out for next year as we speak.

The finale also reveals that there's still a mystery man out there connected to Johanna Beckett's murder.

Marlowe: We have a great concept of how we want to follow that up in the next couple of seasons. That's going to be vital in some decisions I'm making going into next season. We foreshadowed it a bit with Castle having to protect Beckett from herself at the end of the episode. Next season, with Castle knowing somebody is out there, [Beckett] becomes his responsibility. It changes the nature of their relationship and makes it significantly more interesting, especially given what happens the last 10 seconds of the show.

Indeed. Let's talk about that cliff-hanger. Are you prepared for the hate mail?

Marlowe: I do have an expectation that certain fans are going to be really, really frustrated. We have really tremendous, loyal fans and to make them wait all those months I think is going to be really frustrating to them. Hopefully people will be interested to see how we deal with it next year. I do think, for the relationship fans, having Castle admit his feelings to Beckett is a great moment for them.

Did Beckett hear and understand Castle say "I love you" before she went unconscious?

Marlowe: I think in that moment she does. I know exactly how I'm dealing with it next season, but it would be unfair to the experience of the audience to tell them right now.

What can you say about that relationship moving forward?

Marlowe: I think people will be frustrated until I do the next set of reveals at midseason. My feeling about TV audiences is that they love to be frustrated and then fulfilled. What we're telling here is a great love story, and great love stories take a long time to resolve. Feelings ebb and flow, relationships are complicated, timing is wrong. I do know where I want to end up with these people. I know what the resolution is between them but there's a lot of great storytelling between now and then.

Are you concerned with dragging it too long and losing viewer interest? You recently commented about Bones doing just that.

Marlowe: When I express some concerns about models of the other shows, it's when the relationship becomes stagnant. When there is no movement, there is no growth and the characters start to feel like brother and sister because they lose the spark. My goal is to not lose the spark, and I know that's a challenge when you keep people apart for a long time. Keeping them apart can be frustrating, but I also feel like moments at the end of the swimmer episode are enormously gratifying because of everything that's come before. The hero's journey is about going through all sorts of difficulty to obtain your prize and having little victories along the way. My hope is that at the end of the day, it feels like a hero's journey.

Will there at least be some payoff to Castle's admission of love?

Marlowe: During Season 4 there will be some payoff to what he said in that moment. It's not going to necessarily come the way the fans like. And I'm sure some of them will feel like I've skirted the issue initially and then come to realize that I've dealt with it in an interesting character way. The questions are going to be answered. I think people felt like we dropped the kiss or we dropped the freezing together, but it was always my intention to bring it up as a relationship issue [in the finale]. Hopefully people will be interested to see how we deal with it next year, and how we overcome the argument they've had in the middle of this episode. The issue of "Why aren't we talking about this? Why aren't we confronting it?"

Is Beckett's boyfriend Josh still a possible obstacle?

Marlowe: He's still out there, and he's somebody we're going to have to deal with. He's an element moving forward and it'll be interesting to see how that functions.

What's going to be the driving force in Season 4?

Marlowe: There's going to be a real push and pull between Beckett and Castle. Beckett's going to want to look into [this new mystery man] and Castle's going to have very specific reasons why he doesn't want her to. He'll end up with a little more information than she has, and he can't be honest with her about it. It's going to cause a complexity in their relationship that's going to be interesting.

Click here to read the entire article on TV GUIDE

Natedogg: Legacy

A very good friend of mine is having an event... Its legacy will live on.

Oh and also, just for the record... He is a Bad.Ass.Mother.Fker.