The Secrets End Tonight! l-r Ashley Benson, Shay Mitchell, Sasha Pieterse, Lucy Hale & Troian Bellisario
Tonight is the two hour series finale of one of my favorite shows ever, Pretty Little Liars, if you haven't seen it, don't judge me, and if you have and are a fan like myself, well you get it! I remember when PLL first came on the air it received enormous buzz thanks to the savvy use of Social Media. The buzz was strong, it was a noise that I ignored at first. How could a gay man in his 40's possibly get into a show aimed a tween girls on ABC Family (now Freeform.) Cut to one day when I had nothing really pressing to do, I decided to check out my On Demand and saw it listed, I thought: OK let's give it a shot. I was hooked and immediately binge watched the whole season. The thing that strikes me odd is the people who watch the show and complain about who "A" is being drawn out too long. To me that was never really the point of the show, sure it made it fun and who doesn't love a good freaky suspense/mystery/horror show. The real driving force behind the show has always been the characters and story. Besides think about it everyone on the show really pretty much was "A" even though there was the big "A" reveal - all of them have done some shady things that gave them all some "A" ness. So tonight after seven entertaining and fun seasons it all comes to an end with the reveal of Uber "A."While I do think it is time for the show to bid farewell and I can't wait for the biggest reveal, I will miss seeing the "Liars" every week. Hey there's always reruns! PLL on IMDB: www.imdb.com/title/tt157887
The heartwarming film about following your dreams, having faith and keeping love alive despite tough times attracted 13 million viewers and a 1.8 in adults 18-49. It was the most watched movie on broadcast TV in more than 3 years.
Reviewers across the country raved about the NBC TV-movie:
Los Angeles Times, Dec. 10, 2015 “‘Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors' manages to be clear- and misty-eyed at once” “Like Parton's music, it manages to be somehow clear- and misty-eyed at once, a mix of the natural and the sentimental” “…a handsome piece, with some sweet performances.” - Robert Lloyd
Huffington Post, Dec. 10, 2015 “Lind has a winning screen presence. In fact, she dominates the film…” “Dolly Parton offers to wrap you up for two hours in a world that's cozy, comforting and warm.” - David Hinckley
Washington Post, Dec. 9, 2015 “Leave it to Dolly Parton to bring out an innocuously sweet, faith-based, prime-time Christmas movie right in the middle of a religious and political culture war …” “… pure-hearted and credible…” - Hank Stuever
The film is set in the Tennessee Great Smoky Mountains in 1955. It is neither a biopic nor musical about Parton’s whole life and performing career, but rather a family-oriented faith-based story about the incidents in her and her family’s life around the time she was 9 years old.
"Riley is a single mother living in a small Texas town and leading a shocking double life. Her secret would send shockwaves through the community and possibly land her in jail if it was ever exposed. Riley's taken a job at a seemingly traditional day spa, but soon realizes that the parlor offers a little more than just massage therapy. It's not the happy ending she was expecting but it does open her eyes to a world she's never seen before" - So goes the synopsis for the Lifetime series "The Client List" starring Jennifer Love Hewitt. While bored with everything on TV one night and having pretty much exhausted all of the things on my On Demand feature, I saw this listed on Lifetime and decided to give it a shot. Now I know I am coming into season two (I was aware of the show, just never saw it before) and may have missed a lot of set-up from the first season, but as it turns out "The Client List" is much like tuning into a daytime soap you have not been following, not that hard to fill in the blanks and fit the pieces together as so you know what is going on. What can I say about this show, it is one of those things that is a guilty pleasure, like a plateful of cheese smothered nachos, you know it's bad for you, but damn it's fun!
Cybill Shepherd on The Client List
I happened upon the second episode of season two. The opening scene proves just how handy Jennifer Love Hewitt can be, literally. As Riley Parks the now owner of the abovementioned spa we see Ms. Hewitt giving a client a half hour long hand job and having having issues with wrist and shoulder fatigue in the process, that scene alone would have made the episode worth watching. Grudgingly I admit to being a fan of JLH, there is something very appealing about her, she is a good actress, but let's face it she's got a nice pair of assets and she is adorable even while giving a hand job. Thus her casting, I am sure, in the lead role, after all who is going to get offended by JLH being bad? No one, you actually sympathize and root for her, even while she is pressing high heels into the back of a public official. JLH brings humor, sexy and likability with her to every role she plays. BTW, can we talk about Cybill Shepherd as Riley's Mom "Linette Montgomery" who is blissfully unaware (although I'm not so sure) of Riley's double life.
Loretta Devine with Jennifer Love Hewitt "The Client List"
And the great Loretta Devine as "Georgia Cummings" Riley's best friend and former owner of the spa that Riley started at and now owns.... PS - there are plenty of hot guys on the show, but the female characters are definitely in charge! "Oh what a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive" - Sir Walter Scott Get your guilty pleasure on, and tune in to "The Client List" on Lifetime... http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/the-client-list
Valarie
Pettifordis
that rare breed, a triple threat. From the stages of Broadway to the
sound stages of Hollywood, she has charmed audiences with her
performances. A Fosse-trained dancer, Pettiford was Tony nominated
for her work in the musical revue, “Fosse”,
which paid homage to her mentor.
As
an actor, she is most recognized as Big Dee Dee Thorne on the hit
sitcom, “Half and Half”, and Aunt Geneva, whose rehearsal
dinner musical number in “Jumping the Broom” pretty
much stole the show from her Co-Stars.
Valarie
has released her second solo album, “Velvet Sky”, a collection of
original lullabies.. This new album, all of which were written
especially for her by two legendary writing teams – Ron
Abel (music)/Chuck Steffan (lyrics) and Michael
Orland (music)/Jamie Wooten (lyrics).
Here
to sing you a soothing lullaby as only she can is Ms. Valarie
Pettiford...!
VP:
Hey, it's Valarie Pettiford.
MS:
Hey, how are you?
VP:
I'm awesome how are you?
MS:
Great! I was giving “Velvet Sky” a listen before you called, it's
very nice, did your Mom sing you lullabies when you were a kid?
VP:
She did. She has a beautiful voice, it's so nice to see her now with
singing to her Great Grandchildren, she has always sang, and so does
my sister. Lullabies have always been a part of my life.
MS:
I always wondered if people really sang lullabies to their kids.
(laughs)
VP:
They do, they actually do. (laughs)
MS:
There was something I read that stated you thought your voice was
well suited to them, I agree with that.
VP:
Thank you, thank you. People always ask me: “Valarie what do you
usually sing”? Of course I do Jazz and Musical Theatre, but my
heart is in Rock-N-Roll. But I just don't have a Rock-N-Roll voice,
so I have thought about where my vocal sensibilities lie. I think
they do lie in this particular vein.
MS:
Interesting, because I wouldn't know by hearing you sing that you
didn't have a Rock-N-Roll voice. Because as we all know Pat Benatar
was trained as an opera singer and she has a Rock-N-Roll voice...so
someone listening to you would not necessarily know you didn't have
that type of voice.
VP:
You're right, I mean I could do it, but it's not the way I want to do
it. I would want to sound like Pat Benatar or Tina Turner, but I
don't.
MS:
Rumor has it you pretty much stole “Jumping The Broom”.
VP:
(laughs) Somebody said that, not me. My role was very delicious, it
was amazing to, I was surrounded by the best cast and had the best
director. It was a wonderful experience.
MS:
I heard you had an off color musical number in it.
VP:
I did. (laughs) The movie is about a wedding and I did a song during
the rehearsal dinner, that was inappropriate but, funny as Hell.
MS:
Since I haven't seen it, can you tell me what it was?
VP:
Well....the movie has been out for a while so it won't spoil it for
anyone. But sometimes I hate saying it, because it will spoil it for
people who have not seen the movie and still want to see it.
