Lesley Fera – Pretty Little Wine Moms

By starrymag | August 25, 2020

By: Lisa Steinberg

 

 

Q) I feel like the Pretty Little Wine Moms podcast really bridges the gaps in the demographics that the series was really based around. How did you integrate that with the podcast just as much as the series has done?

 

A) I am sort of stunned that there hadn’t been a re-watch podcast for this show.  My husband and I were doing our own little podcast and we had The Wine Moms on and it was so great that we thought, “Okay, let’s do this.”  It is really terrific because A) so many of our viewers are older now and are parents themselves some of them.  So that demographic gets changed and we have all the new viewers who are streaming it.  Then, of course, B) the parents that watched the episodes with their children.  Yeah, we have a pretty wide variety of demographic.  Although, looking at our demographic for the podcast lately it has been predominantly 18-34. That demographic, that prized demographic.

 

Q) The series really had such a wide range where young viewers could relate to the girls and a semi older range that could still relate but also enjoy the escapism, and then there are the older fans as well who watched with their children and had important conversations.

 

A) There were a lot of single fathers watching.  A lot of the gay community tuned in because of Emily’s (Shay Mitchell) amazing storyline.  So, a lot of the LGBTQ community tuned in to “Pretty Little Liars.” The writers were so good that they kept it really entertaining for older viewers.  They did.  It was campy enough and I always say it was sort of a teenage “Desperate Housewives” meets “Twin Peaks.”  It was appealing to a lot of different people.  Surprisingly, for a teenage show.  That’s why I think it was the phenomena that it was.

 

Q)  I mean, for me, when the series was on, I didn’t care what was happening or if the world was in shambles. I just had to know who A was and my life had no meaning or wasn’t complete if I didn’t live to find that out.

 

A) It kept viewers guessing.  I think it’s a testament to the show, the writers, and the producers, and to all of us really that we kept them engaged for seven seasons. I don’t know a lot of shows that can really do that.  A lot of shows peter out and they might go seven seasons, but the audience really suffers.  That just didn’t happen for us.  I think there were some seasons that might have been more successful than others.  You can’t really please everyone with the outcome of the show; for sure.  But I think it’s pretty astounding that we retained the audience that we retained for seven years.

 

Q) I believe that back in June was actually the ten-year anniversary for the series.  Even the cast and of course you ladies coming together to do the podcast, you all remain so close and connected with each other.  What did the series really bring to you in that regard?

 

A) I think it’s a testament to the fact that Marlene (I. Marlene King) as showrunner and Lisa Cochran-Neilan who really ran the nuts and bolts of the show.  It’s really a testament to them that they created a family environment.  Even today, the graciousness of everybody on the show.  It hasn’t been challenging getting people to be on the show.  I don’t know if a lot of shows would have that kind of desire to reminisce and desire to talk about it.  The warmth and graciousness that we have received from everybody that has been on the show has been overwhelming.  I think it’s just because it was like a family.  It is like a “PLL” family.  Even ten years since, talking to all of our guests, it’s clear that the memories are so vivid and just was such a great, positive experience for everybody.

I think also for the girls, even talking to Lucy [Hale] and Shay, I think the realization post “Pretty Little Liars” of not every show is like that, it’s so really so rare actually that you kind of have a family dynamic like that which is so tight on a show.

 

Q) You think about the significance of the ten-year time period. 

 

Oh, yeah. Everyone’s lives from the show, everyone has evolved.  I mean Shay and Troian (Bellisario) are parents now.  Their lives are completely different and they can look back and have a fresh perspective on their experience.  That’s what’s been so exciting talking to everybody. It’s like where are they now.  Where are they are in their lives and how different they are now and what their memories were and what they have learned from the experience.  It’s just so much fun.

 

Q) So much of the series was layered in mystery and twist upon twist, it was easy to miss clues or nods or winks and nudges. Going back have you recognized or noticed anything while doing the podcast that you might have missed being a part of the series bubble? 

 

Oh, geez, yeah.  I think for a lot of us, because the parents…Even though we were involved in the stories, we were more in the periphery. We came in and we did our thing and we left.  So, even though we had the camaraderie with everybody in the cast, it was like a family for us, when you come in sporadically or a little more sporadically than some of the other characters the story is a little bit disjointed.  I tried to get caught up.  I would read the scripts and watch the show, but it’s a different experience watching the show now.  There is a lot a lot that I didn’t get a chance to watch.  I don’t think Nia [Peeples] watched much of it at all.  It’s seeing the show and appreciating it in a whole new way.  A lot of times the things that we shoot I don’t watch.  I did actually start watching more as the seasons progressed because I was tweeting along with the shows and we were encouraged to do that, so I watched more.  But Season One was so great because I really didn’t watch much of this season.  I feel like I am experiencing it for the first time and it’s so fun.

 

Q) As much as we talk about the girls, it has to seem like a family reunion or a class reunion sense as well for you getting to watch back with Holly [Marie Combs] and Nia. 

 

The memories of shooting the wine mom stuff are some of our favorite memories, even though we shot during a span of seven years, that episode was so much fun in season six.  Even when we got reunited again in the final season, those were so fun.  It really is like a reunion.  Lucy said yesterday…She’s like, “This just made my week.”  Everybody is so appreciative and loving revisiting this portion of our lives because it was so positive the first time around.  To revisit it is really just so great to be able to have gratitude for what we experienced.

 

Q) There were so many iconic moments from “PLL,” but so many fans always come back to the moms. I don’t know what was the bigger stand out question of the series, who A was or if the moms ever got out of the basement after being trapped together with wine? 

 

I know! There are so many theories that go around about how we got out of the basement.  Marlene had her own that we just sort of did a human chain and stacked upon each other and greased up Pam who was naked and she slipped out a window.  Crazy theories!

 

Q) I mean, alcohol tends to give you a lot of honesty and courage that nothing else really does.

 

Exactly.  So, I can buy it.  We were pretty soused by that point.  My theory is that Mr. DiLaurentis had a big stash in the basement that we were partaking in too when we were stuck in there.  Yeah, it means a lot that that episode has stuck with people or those moments that people cared about how they got out of the basement.  That people really enjoyed that storyline.  I don’t think that we could ever have anticipated that that would be so successful.  We had fun shooting it for sure, but we had no idea that it would have the response that it had.  Where people were like, spinoff the wine moms!  People really responded to it and had fun with it.

 

Q) Well, we got “Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists” – why not the PLL Wine Moms!

 

I know that they talked to me. I was set to do some “Perfectionists.”  I am still intrigued.  I have to find out from Marlene after the fact.  The series didn’t get a chance to go to season two, but I always wanted to ask Marlene in what capacity, how were you having me back on the show?  I was just so intrigued.  We never got a chance to talk about it.  I need to ask her one of these days.

 

Q)  I definitely feel like Veronica Hastings didn’t get enough due or respect that she deserved for being such a strong, smart, independent, empowering woman and mother.

 

I love the Hastings.  I mean, Norman Buckley (who directed thirty-three episodes of our show and who really is phenomenal) – he always said he wanted a spinoff of The Hastings.  I wish our family had more.  But they had so many storylines to balance and I loved the moments that I had when we were together as a family.  It was just so fun and authentically dysfunctional in a way that I really appreciated.  The writers really wrote for the Hastings really well I feel.  I mean, my scenes with Troian were amazing. The stuff we had together was pretty few and far between, but always so fun to shoot.  Anything to shoot with Nolan [North] was a hoot because he’s just so funny.  I loved working with Torrey [DeVitto].  She’s coming up in our episode thirteen and we are so excited to have her.  It would have been great to have a little more Hastings, but they had so much to juggle.  It was a blessing to have as much as they had.

 

Q) I really loved that their intelligence was a huge asset for the Hastings women. They weren’t having to dumb themselves down or weren’t shrinking violets.  Their intelligence was part of their biggest asset.

 

A) Yeah and probably ironically enough part of their weakness, too.  They were so intelligent to their detriment sometimes.  But, yeah, I really appreciated we were strong women with strong points of view.  We weren’t shrinking violets for sure.  We definitely had our opinions and I really appreciated how they wrote for us.

 

Q) Every podcast has a new special guest to help you break down episodes. Whose insight has really surprised you and/or engaged you the most? What are you still learning about the people you worked with that you may never have known?

 

I mean, we have had so many great interviews.  I loved speaking to Troian, but you know I am biased because I got to play her mom for seven years and she will always be my child in a way.  I am so proud of her.  I am so immensely proud of her and the woman that she has become and to have her speak about just motherhood and how she has evolved as a director, that was a lovely interview.  Ian [Harding] is so entertaining to speak to.  Ian was just so fun and had such funny stories.  He’s good at gab.  Nolan had some stories that were really surprising that I had never heard before in all the years working with him.  Norman’s interview was particularly special I thought just about directing and he has such a wealth of experience that way and to get his point of view about the show and how it evolved. That was a particularly strong interview.

We just spoke to Bryan Holdman, who is a writer on the show, and that’s such a good interview.  It’s about writing and creating the show on a weekly basis.

I think they have all done that and more.  Lucy speaking so candidly, she has a great section where she speaks about everything going on in the world with this pandemic – how it’s really forced her to slow down and look at her life.  A lot of people have said that, that they have been able to really slow down and focus on priorities and family.  That was really lovely to hear. But everybody has been so great to talk to.

 

Q)  I love that you feature not just the core cast members, but it’s also the writers, costumer designers who were all such an integral part of making “PLL” such an exceptional series just as much as well.

 

We really want to branch out with more of that next season and even have some recurring guest stars on.  People from crew.  We want to branch out because that will show the full picture of the series.  I think speaking to people who were not just on the show is fascinating. We look forward to having more of that.  We have Mandi [Line] our costume designer coming up and we have Lisa Cochran who ran the ship.  She is going to be on with us and Joe Dougherty who was a writer/director/producer of the show.  Then we have some great cast members coming up.  We really try to mix it up.

 

Q) I wish that we had something at the same time as we were all watching the series weekly as a kind of companion, but at the same time, it’s always amazing to have a second, third, etc. look back at the show that makes it even more enjoyable to reminisce or people who are watching the first time can have this as a way to connect with the cast and crew like we all did during live tweets when the show was airing.

 

And the great thing is, what we love about the show, is that we can be authentically ourselves.  We are not putting on a character or something. We are just really being ourselves and having fun. It’s really pure entertainment.  We are not out to solve the hunger crisis or something, although that would be really great.  We know what the show is; and it is entertainment.  It’s just fun and we are just trying to provide something to just forget life for a bit.  Also, the fact that we can be authentic, and we can talk about so many other subject matters besides the show, I think that’s what’s appealing to us.  The situations in the show bring about conversations that are candid. That’s also been really a wonderful aspect to the show for us.

 

Q) I really feel like Twitter exploded and expanded due to the “PLL” nights when everyone would be online to live tweet and watch together for both coasts.  There were so many different hashtags to tweet and we all felt like a community by using social media as we all experienced episodes together and twists as they unfolded weekly.

 

I agree!  We were talking about it yesterday with Lucy.  Twitter is the house that “Pretty Little Liars” helped build.  I really do think that.  It was the most tweeted show.  It still is the most tweeted show in cable television history.  I might have that wrong, but I think we contributed to the rise of Twitter. Truly.

 

Q) You talked about this season of the podcast.  I am hoping that means there will be many more to come after October.

 

We are trying to flesh out what we are doing.  Right now, we are wrapping up and we have five more episodes to record.  Seventeen onwards to twenty-two.  We actually did Lucy’s interview early because she is going to Spain to shoot a film, so she was very accommodating which was great.  But she is actually going to be in our final episode.  But, yeah, we have some amazing people coming up which I am not saying quite yet.  Yeah, there are a lot of good people in the last coming up.  We will finish seventeen through twenty-two and then we will be kind of wrapped in terms of recording it by early September.  Then, we are going to take a little breath. We have a lot of episodes in the can so we can take a little breather and put out episodes.  Then, we will probably start Season Two possibly. Hopefully, we will start that in October.

 

Is there anything else about the Pretty Little Wine Moms that you want to make sure we mention?

 

I should probably mention to direct people to our website because that has everything on there.  It’s PrettyLittleWineMoms.com.  That has links where you can subscribe to the podcast and Spotify and any place that podcasts are available.  We encourage you to go there.

Also, we have a great premium subscription site called Rosewood Clubhouse, which is on Patreon and we have some beautiful patreons on there.  We provide so much extra material.  I mean the full video podcast.  We have sidecars, which are just really fun candid conversations from our taping which have nothing to do with “Pretty Little Liars” that we couldn’t use because we were short on time.  Sometimes they are about “Pretty Little Liars,” but they are just fun candid conversations and those are on there.  People can get early access and ad free and all kinds of perks.  We also have a monthly Q & A with VIPs that we do where we take questions and connect with them.  That’s a pretty special site.  They get a lot of extra fun stuff.

Also, the full podcasts are on YouTube as well eventually.  I mean, once they have been on Rosewood Clubhouse, we have our YouTube channel as well.  If people want to watch the video version of our podcast, which is a lot of fun, they can click on YouTube.  It’s a full video version of the podcast itself.  The soundbytes from the show and our music that we include isn’t in there, but it’s a full video version of most of the podcast.