TV Talk: Pretty Little Liars

Yes, that's right. I've taken the plunge and started Pretty Little Liars on Netflix, with it's fancy shmancy little thumbnail picture mocking me daily under, "Top 10 for Blythe!" This is what I get for rating The Vampire Diaries five stars (NO JUDGING): I get shows like Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, and *shudders* Keeping Up with the Kardashians - all in my top ten. Now, while any normal person would simply watch some episodes of a show or a movie that would override those recommendations, I, being far from normal (being normal is vastly overrated) (if you understand that reference, let's be friends), decided to watch all of Pretty Little Liars, sure I would hate it, and then Netflix would stop recommending me shows similar to Pretty Little Liars after seeing my one or two stars given to it. 

I think I may have only dug myself deeper into this hole by starting Pretty Little Liars. 

I'm only seven episodes into season one of Pretty Little Liars as I'm writing this (admittedly, by the time you're reading this post, I'll probably be at least halfway through season on), and there are already so, so many things that are wrong with it, and so many things that I'm sure would lead to a book-sized dent in my wall if I read them in a book (which tells me I should probably stay away from reading this series), but, oddly enough, I have a much higher tolerance for certain things in television shows than in books. For instance, I abhor cheesy melodrama in books, but in shows I actually find it quite entertaining, hence my love for TVD (NOT 'VD'. Please don't go around proclaiming your love for 'VD' and wishing for it to come back after this excruciatingly long hiatus (again, by the time you're reading this, the hiatus will be over, but dammit I'm writing this on Monday and I need my Klaus and Damon fix!). Saying you love 'VD' and want it back will only give you dumbfounded stares.). I'm not sure why I have a higher tolerance for melodrama in TV shows than in books, but I think it's because, with books, I have a more personal experience reading the words than watching them play out on screen, so I take more issue with it in books. Anyway, I'm getting slightly off-topic. Where was I? Oh right, that there are so many things wrong with Pretty Little Liars so far. Such as: 

1. The acting is pretty awful, with the exception of Lucy Hale (Aria, or as I like to call her, Deer Girl), who I think is actually pretty good. Oh, god, the acting in this show. I knew what I was getting into concerning the acting before I started this show, but DAMN. 
2. Hanna is unlikable so far, which I'm guessing is the intention, and while it's obvious the characters will be met with a good deal of character development as the show progresses, and even though Hannah already has been met with some character development (if hitting something with the expensive car of your boyfriend who just refused to have sex with you because he's saving himself counts as character development), I find her to be incredibly inconsiderate and I just doubt I'll like her any more as the show goes on. 
3. Toby. Every time he looks at the camera, I feel like he's planning to kill me.
4. The predictability of the show so far, concerning the progression of the romances and plot, which is slightly less predictable than the romances so far, but not by much. Within the first fifteen minutes of the pilot I was able to map out (and correctly), who would end up with who, who will have an affair with who, who will do what, etc. 
5. The dialogue. No need to expand on that one, just watch the pilot and you'll see what I mean.
6. I am not lying to you when I say this, but in the pilot (the pilot, people), I counted a total of three, maybe four affairs/incidents of infidelity, and at least two more possible future affairs (PS: I was right about the future affairs). Two of the main characters get into affairs - however brief - one even with her sister's fiance, and the other with her teacher - and then one of the main character's father has an affair with another woman. [ETA: welp, add a quasi-incest affair to that list.] And the list of infidelity and inappropriate relationships go on and on, leading me to my next and final negative...
7. THIS:

The gif depicted above is between one of the main characters, Aria, and her teacher Mr. Fitz. 

Yeah.

As a teacher, this weirds me out in so many ways. And even if I weren't a teacher, this relationship would weird me out in so many ways, because really? If your boyfriend ever uses the phrase, "When I was your age..." in a lecture, that's when you should run, realizing what you're doing is fucking creepy, not to mention illegal. Mr. Fitz is likable and all, but please tell me he gets locked up at one point in the show. 

***

So there, one negative for each episode I've watched so far, and there are probably a few more that I'm just too lazy to think of at the moment. But that isn't to say there aren't good things about Pretty Little Liars - the only things that come to mind really are the creepiness of A and his/her stalking tendencies, and the wittiness of Spencer, but really, the bad largely outweighs the good in Pretty Little Liars.

And in a weird, masochistic way, I actually like it. 

So, do any of you guys watch Pretty Little Liars? If so, do you like it in the same masochistic way as me? Or do you feel like taking a hammer to every single DVD of it in existence? Let me know in the comments! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to go watch another episode of Pretty Little Liars (or more likely two, because damn this is show is addicting).