ABC Family Pick Up “Huge” & “Pretty Little Liars”

Paul Lee, president, ABC Family, today announced the pick-up of two one-hour dramas, “Huge” and “Pretty Little Liars.” Each series has been given a 10-episode order and is scheduled to premiere in 2010.

“Huge,” based on author Sasha Paley’s book of the same name, follows the lives of six teens and the staff at a weight-loss camp, as they look beneath the surface to discover their true selves and the truth about each other.

“Pretty Little Liars” follows four estranged best friends who are reunited one year after their best friend and queen bee of the group, Alison, goes missing – only to discover they are receiving messages from an anonymous “A” who knows all their secrets. The drama stars Lucy Hale (“Privileged”) as Aria, Troian Bellisario (“Navy NCIS”) as Spencer, Ashley Benson (“Eastwick”) as Hanna and Shay Mitchell as Emily. Also starring are Laura Leighton (“Melrose Place”) and Nia Peeples (“The Young and the Restless”). Additionally, Bianca Lawson (“The Vampire Diaries”) has been cast in a recurring role as Maya.

While “Huge” sounds like it could be an incredible fit for the ABC Family lineup, “Pretty Little Liars” not only sounds like a tamer “Gossip Girl” rip-off but it seems that whomever wrote this log line was going out of his or her way to make the similarities to “Gossip Girl” obvious (queen bee, messages from the mysterious “A” who knows all their secrets…come on) As much as I adore Lucy Hale, I’m not yet sold on a show that does so little to distinguish itself. Not to say I won’t give it a shot, but how about a little originality?