The pilot episode broke the record for the highest-rated debut on ABC Family with 2.82 million viewers, surpassing a record previously held by Kyle XY.

The show's second season premiere drew 4.68 million viewers, becoming the series' highest-rated premiere and cable's number one scripted series premiere of the 2008/2009 season among key demographics.

Despite strong early ratings, viewership steadily declined, and by the fifth and final season the show averaged only around 1.5 million viewers per episode.

Critical reception was largely negative to mixed: the first season holds a 38% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 48/100 score on Metacritic, with critics like The New York Times calling it a 'Prime-Time Cautionary Tale' and Variety suggesting it 'should probably stay a secret'.

The show's theme song is an upbeat cover of Cole Porter's 'Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)' sung by Molly Ringwald, star of 1980s teen films.

Avril Lavigne's 'Girlfriend' bookends the first season, appearing in both the premiere and finale episodes, and a piano version was later used in the mid-fourth-season finale.

A tie-in novel, 'The Secret Diary of Ashley Juergens', was published in 2010, written by Kelly and Courtney Turk, chronicling the character's thoughts during the first two seasons and introducing original characters not seen on the show.

Season one was originally broadcast in two separated halves (11 episodes in mid-2008, then 12 more in early 2009) that were marketed as if season two, despite both halves actually constituting season one, totaling 23 episodes.