August 2009 News Archive

The people have spoken (with more than 8,000 votes) and by about a 54-40 percent margin, they have chosen GG Insider's new banner from two sexy options.

But the people - on our staff and in our Gossip Girl forum - have also suggested we add a newer, sexier challenger. So, why don't we let the people vote again?

The teal and gray cast photo is out, as is the current Gossip Girl Insider banner. With only six percent voting for no change, we are going to make a change.

But to what? The winning photo, appearing below, sans NYC landscape, has been criticized by some fans for being too old. Some suggested a newer option.

Ask and you shall receive.

Compare below, and vote in our second (and final) survey. Do you like:

• Picture #1, the older pic, and previous poll's winner
• Picture #2, the newer cast photo, released more recently and including Rufus and Lily (this will be edited somewhat to fit current banner dimensions)

Vote for our new banner below the Gossip Girl photos ...

Gossip Girl Insider's new banner picture should be ...

Back in Boston as she shuttles between filming Gossip Girl and her new movie The Town, Blake Lively was spotted filming a backyard BBQ scene on the set of the upcoming Ben Affleck project in the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts today.

Also on hand was a cute little girl! Click to enlarge some photos of Blake Lively on the movie set, along with her co-star and director, Boston native Ben ...

Big news, we know.

Gossip Girl co-stars Blake Lively and Penn Badgley, who are dating in real life, held hands as they took a stroll down Fifth Avennue in New York City.

On Friday, Penn told JustJared what he got for Blake for her birthday (she turned 22 last week): “I got her a painting from a Russian street artist.”

Blake is really into art and paintings, telling the website about how an elephant drew a painting for her while she was in Thailand earlier this year.

Penn added to that story, saying, “Surprisingly, the most spiritual thing [we did in Thailand] was riding the elephants. They are incredible creatures."

"They’re unbelievably smart and communicative. I literally had a physical feeling in my chest ... I’m not religious but riding them was unbelievable.”

Blake Lively and Penn Badgley in New York City.

“It’s really mind-blowing. We paid $300 for six hours with our own elephant. We rode into the river, we bathed them, got back on them, rode them into the jungle and they painted! Blake’s painting is beautiful. Mine didn’t come out so well.”

Aww. Poor Penn. At least he's lucky in the girlfriend department.

Gossip Girl's production coordinators have moved swiftly to deny reports that high-profile guest star Hilary Duff has held up production on the hit show this summer with her bratty behavior and a number of diva-like demands.

Rumors swirled that Duff had infuriated the show's cast after refusing to leave her trailer as the others waited to film near Manhattan's Gramercy Park neighborhood, causing a massive delay in Gossip Girl filming that day.

A source said, "No one could believe they would actually hold up taping for her. Nobody in the cast behaves like that." But a rep for the hit CW series, however, tells the New York Post that the Duff rumor is "absolutely not true."

The 21-year-old is currently in New York City filming episodes as a guest star on the hit TV teen drama, in which she plays a movie star who enrolls at New York University with a number of the Upper East Siders we know.

We also know she'll be kissing Dan Humphrey.

This evening's Gossip Girl, "Valley Girls," was the penultimate episode of Season 2.

It featured parallel mother-daughter conflicts spanning multiple generations and a ton of '80s fashion and music, which was pretty fun and harmless enough.

But for many fans, the backdoor pilot for the spinoff that never ended up happening is also remembered for what it did not feature - more than a few short sequences of the Upper East Siders' prom, and the drama and romance behind it. Alas.

While we thought the spinoff idea featuring young Lily was kinda cool, we'd prefer if future gimmicks didn't impede on Gossip Girl. Okay, Josh and Stephanie?

With that out of the way, follow the link for our recap of "Valley Girls."

Also sure to check out our gallery, videos, music guide and list of quotes from the episode, as well as our staff members' always-entertaining Round Table discussion.

Just two more weeks until the Season Three premiere of Gossip Girl! Thanks for watching along with us and visiting our website all season long!

Snowed Out (No Doubt) rocks out and ruins prom on Gossip Girl.

The CW has released this brief summary of the September 14 Season Three premiere of Gossip Girl, "Reversals of Fortune." We've read plenty of spoilers and gossip, but these details are the first to be officially released by the network so far.

Take a look below and let us know what you think. Sounds like a pretty good Gossip Girl episode in the making, doesn't it? We're excited to hear your thoughts ...

As the summer is drawing to a close, Blair (Leighton Meester) and Chuck (Ed Westwick) are madly in love and adjusting to their new “in a relationship” status, breaking all the traditional rules of dating as would be expected.

Serena (Blake Lively) returns from her European adventure with many secrets to hide and a complicated relationship with Carter Baizen (guest star Sebastian Stan).

Nate (Chace Crawford) returns from his travels with a mysterious brunette, Bree Buckley (guest star JoAnna Garcia, pictured below) in tow.

Rufus (Matthew Settle), Dan (Penn Badgley) and Jenny (Taylor Momsen) spent the summer in the Hamptons, adjusting to the van der Woodsens' glamorous lifestyle surprisingly faster than any of them expected.

Jessica Szohr also stars.

J. Miller Tobin directed the episode written by Joshua Safran.

Welcome, Gossip Girl fans, to the 66th Gossip Girl Insider Caption Contest!

This week's winner is Matt. Congrats! The winning entry appears below.

Honorable mentions go out to Katherine53, PernilleKjrs and m0nobody.

Thank you all for playing and good luck again in this week's contest!

They found out I stole the Sisterhood pants, great.

As we posted two weeks ago, Elle has an upcoming feature on Ed Westwick and Leighton Meester, featuring the Gossip Girl stars as we've never seen them before.

Now we're pleased to announce that some additional photos from their shoot with the fashion magazine have surfaced online. Needless to say, they look amazing.

Get ready for more smoldering Meestwick:

It's come to our attention in reading the forum that many of you want Gossip Girl Insider to update its banner (which has been the same since before the pilot episode) with a more current photo that includes all the young hotties we love (and Vanessa).

Well, ask and you shall receive!

We're trying to decide between the two images below. The first (top) is a lot like our current theme, only with the seven young stars as opposed to just three.

The second option (bottom) would probably require changing our site's entire color scheme, which we are willing to do if you prefer the teal and gray combo.

Which do you prefer? Vote in the survey below and whichever receives more support between now and Monday morning will be incorporated into our banner!

UPDATE: Because we broke the poll by mistake, and there was confusion over which was which, we had to start over. Which is okay, since it was nearly tied as it was. Sorry. We've also added an option to not change it, period. Vote below ...

The photo for the new Gossip Girl Insider banner should be ...

We already knew this was happening, both from general Gossip Girl gossip and the video we posted earlier today, but here's a cool picture of Penn Badgley and Hilary Duff, as Dan and Olivia, kissing on the set of the show in New York City ...

NEW COUPLE: Do you think Dan and Olivia are cute together?

With the premiere of the show less than three weeks away, we are getting more excited by the day. Click to enlarge some more Gossip Girl pictures from recent filming, featuring a number of our favorite stars (and a certain mystery fellow) ...