I love Gossip Girl. I resisted the urge to watch it at first. The last thing anyone needs is another show to watch. But somehow it lured me in. Perhaps it was Blake Lively who was so wonderful in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. She plays Serena, the eye at the center of the hurricane that is Gossip Girl.
The CW show revolves around a group of socialite high school girls and their various sociological paradigms. Like the former WB, the CW prides itself on slutty innocence – girls who aren’t quite ready to go all the way but who are right on the brink. They are thought to be more scandalous than they actually are.
Gossip Girl herself is an anonymous blogger who taps out observations of the world she sees. The stars of her show are Serena; Serena’s best friend Blair (Leighton Meester); Blair’s childhood sweetheart and designated future husband Nate (Chace Crawford), whose obsession with Serena broke them up in the first season; Serena’s love interest Dan (Penn Badgley), who is reluctantly thrust into this Upper East Side world; and his little sister Jenny (Taylor Momsen), who desperately wants to be a part of the inner circle of popular girls.
In the beginning of the series, Serena has returned from a stay at a boarding school after leaving under a shroud of very bad gossip. Serena left the ruler of the school, and returns to see that her friend Blair has now taken over that mantle. Serena attempts to come back, only this time she’ll stay away from the bad people and drugs and try her best to leave her shady past behind. Mind you, the girl is still in high school.
Like other WB/CW shows, Gossip Girl includes the parents as well. The rich and powerful parents are corrupt and dismissive, though occasionally caring. Part of the lure of the show is that it spans the generations. Without that aspect, no self-respecting over-40 woman would be caught dead watching it.
The show is very different from the books upon which it is based, but if interest in the show draws out more girls to visit their local library, where is the harm? Then again, perhaps impressionable young minds ought to be reading something else. Leave Gossip Girl to the youngish women and older women. Right, good luck with that. Young girls are magnetically drawn to Gossip Girl for a variety of reasons, and once they hear it’s a “shouldn’t,” it will become all the more mesmerizing.
Gossip Girl has just been nominated for a whopping 14 Teen Choice Awards, proving that this show has already become more popular than ankle Uggs. Do these teens have the wisdom to know that watching Gossip Girl is akin to eating Red Vines? So much pleasure, so little benefit.
Gossip Girl is currently re-running its first and second season, making Monday nights something to look forward to. It’s as bad as it can be, but even harder than cigarettes to give up. Let’s hope the show jumps the shark very soon so we can all go back to living out our normal lives of quiet desperation.
