I've barely even heard of PLL, never saw so much as a fragment of a single episode of PLL, so I've got zero "investment" in this series, either positive *or* negative. I'm a blank slate as far as "Ravenswood" is concerned.
That said, I got hooked pretty quickly on it. I was late to the game, hadn't even heard of the show until episode 4-5 was being aired, was curious about it, and viewed several episodes in one sitting. And I liked it, a lot.
I didn't dissect the show and try to make sure it fit neatly into the PLL-universe, I didn't care who's back in PLL-land or what they were doing... I only concerned myself with what was going on in Ravenswood (the town *and* the show).
Maybe the fact that there's "supposed" to be a PLL tie-in is what's polarising people so strongly to either love it or hate it. I don't know, nor do I particularly care. I like *this* show for what it is.
Complaints about "bad acting"? Umm, what kind of acting were you expecting in a show about ghosts and seances and such? We ain't exactly talking "Brian's Song" or even "Gandhi" here.
Things "not making sense" from a PLL perspective? "He wouldn't do that", "She wouldn't do that"... feh. Cut the cord, forget the tie-in, imagine "Ravenswood" as its own series, and rewatch it.
You've got a wonderfully creepy Meg Foster (and I mean that in a good way!), so soft-spoken and genteel but you can't quite guess if she's truly eeee-vil underneath it all and would slip poison in your chamomile tea just for fun. You've also got Steve Cabral playing a taciturn and oh-so-creepy Eddie-Munster-looking undertaker. And of course, you've got a cast of generic good-looking teenagers from pretty much any/every teen-soap-drama-whatever show, all doing their respective things. So what's not to like? I'm disappointed that the show got cancelled, and I hope it's properly wrapped-up within the 10 episodes it has, but even if not, for me it's been a fun ride, at least so far. I might chime in further after I watch the remaining episodes, but I'm hopeful they'll be at least as good as the first few.
