Gossip Girl returned with its first new episode in over three months last night, and in our opinion, it was actually worth the wait.

Who would have predicted that Jenny would challenge Blair's social queen status so aggressively - or that Chuck Bass was somehow not behind those mysterious packages involving booze, drugs and porn?

Whether you missed it or just want to relive the action, check out our full recap of "The Blair Bitch Project." Our staff covers the Gossip Girl drama, scandal and humor from beginning to end credits!

Blair Waldorf is cruelly greeted by her former cronies.

You can check out our photo gallery from last night, and soon enough, we will have our lists of Gossip Girl music and quotes from last night for you, as well as our staff's fun Round Table discussion.

And, as always, you can discuss the episode and anything related to the show in the Insider's exclusive Gossip Girl forum! Enjoy!

Below you will find thumbnails of photos from last night's terrific Gossip Girl episode, "The Blair Bitch Project." Click to enlarge any of the photos in our gallery - and follow the jump for even more quality pics!

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It's finally here: The return of Gossip Girl!

In the first new episode since January 9, "The Blair Bitch Project" picks up where we left off - tonight at 8 p.m. on The CW.

Tonight, Dan meets Rufus' new girlfriend, Blair struggles with her return to school, Serena adjusts to living with Chuck and receives a blast from the past, Jenny's drive to be popular hits a new high and more.

We can't wait to see what goes down. You can discuss the episode before, during and after the show in our Gossip Girl forum!

As soon as we can following "The Blair Bitch Project," we'll have an official episode recap posted for you, along with the Gossip Girl music played and the quotes and pictures from the show. Enjoy!

The stars of Gossip Girl are on the latest cover of New York Magazine, which boldly proclaims GG as the Best. Show. Ever.

No argument from us!

New York Magazine, which diligently recaps each episode, talks about how Josh Schwartz (producer), six tabloid-ready stars, an army of bloggers, and a nation of texting 'tweens are transforming TV.

The Gossip Girl article begins with a sound that is low but insistent, a hum that gradually develops into something recognizable.

OmigodOmigodOmigod. Dan DanDanDanDan.

Gotalktohimgotalktohimgotalktohim!

Samantha Ahern and a group of her girlfriends, in from Smithtown, Long Island, for Samantha's 16th birthday, are scurrying down 51st Street all at once, their legs moving quickly and purposefully.

Their eyes are glassy, their camera phones outstretched. DanDanDanDanDan. It's the Ultimate Sighting.

Gossip Girl cast, clockwise from left: Taylor Momsen, Penn Badgley, Blake Lively, Chace Crawford, Leighton Meester, Ed Westwick, Jessica Szhor.

Penn Badgley, who plays sensitive and wise Dan Humphrey, is standing outside the Palace Hotel, where much of the Gossip Girl action takes place.

It is there that, later today, Penn's character will hold his girlfriend Serena (Blake Lively) in his arms after she has missed the SAT for reasons unknown.

He will gaze deeply into her eyes as he says tenderly, "I'm not mad, Serena. I'm worried. Please help me understand what's going on."

He will do this with complete un-self-consciousness, despite the fact that his arch-nemesis Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), who also happens to be Serena's newly acquired stepbrother, is standing there smirking.

Dan is not the sort of teenager who fears public affection. He is sensitive, smart, and loving, not to mention hot, and to teenage girls, for whom such creatures exist only in daydreams, he is perfect.

Continue reading in New York Magazine ...

The success of Gossip Girl's "OMFG" campaign and other buzz-making efforts have proven too successful, driving so much traffic to The CW's website that hundreds of thousands have been watching the show there.

Which was pretty much the whole point, right?

Of course, now the network is shutting down the web streams over fears of this eating away at Gossip Girl's TV audience.

Since the target demographic of young people are so Internet savvy, The CW thinks they're becoming too lazy to bother catching the show on Monday at 8 p.m., where advertising revenues are much greater.

Instead, younger Gossip Girl fans are growing accustomed to catching full episodes of the show online, and that - in an industry-wide trend - has proved much more difficult for advertisers to monetize.

So it goes for a hit / non-hit show that's had a big time impact on pop culture, yet remains a ratings disappointment. Will that change this spring? You can do your part by tuning in to The CW tonight at 8!

This is definitely OMFG material.

We've uncovered a photo of the amazing Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley) in an upcoming episode of Gossip Girl. He's kissing another character ... and it's not Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively).

Consider yourself warned. Follow the jump for a scandalous Gossip Girl spoiler you never saw coming ... or who knows, maybe you did.

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Ed Westwick lowers his head, narrows his eyes and curls his mouth into his signature Chuck Bass snarl.

Hovering at the edge of the Gossip Girl schoolyard set wearing one of the dandy's trademark candy-colored garments (this one's a traffic-cone orange trench coat), Westwick hops up and down, shaking out his arms like a boxer about to enter the ring.

His foes? Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) and Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), the lead characters on Gossip Girl, the modestly rated but wildly buzzed- and blogged-about CW teen drama that's arguably permeating pop culture in way not seen since The OC.

According to USA Today, Ed Westwick completes his Chuck transformation as he strides across the ersatz courtyard in front of the rolling cameras and sidling up to Serena, who's sitting on a bench.

"It's been awhile since I saw the old Serena," he growls.

Gossip Girl's gaggles of fans are thinking the same thing.

On Monday, Serena, Blake, Chuck and the rest of the groomed gang of private high schoolers are back on the Upper East Side to continue the cavorting begun before the writers' strike.

Gossip Girl's Blake Lively and Leighton Meester.

Shenanigans then included breaking into the school pool for a martinis and bikinis party; sleeping with a boyfriend — and his best friend — as Blair did; and (OMG) taking a pregnancy test.

All of which, of course, "everyone does," jokes Meester, especially within the same week. At the end of the last episode, Blair's reputation is in ruin, and Nate, her ex, is adrift, having lost Blair and his best friend, Chuck.

Expect ratcheted-up raciness in the final five episodes of Gossip Girl's Season 1, the cast members themselves reveal. "These scripts have been really juicy and exciting," Blake Lively, 20, says.

For one, Serena's oldest frenemy, Georgina Sparks (Michelle Trachtenberg), returns to reveal why the blond heroine was mysteriously whisked away to boarding school, only to come back in time for the start of the series.

Georgina's presence promises to shake up Serena's uptown girl-Brooklyn boy romance with Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley). Oh, and one character is coming out as gay, though no one will reveal whom.

It will all be chronicled, of course, via the must-read blog of the anonymous Gossip Girl (voiced by Kristen Bell).

Continue reading this USA Today expose by clicking here. Also, check out the newspaper's interactive map of Gossip Girl locations and its cool slideshow of the cast members on set.

On Gossip Girl, Leighton Meester plays Upper East Side penthouse princess Blair Waldorf. But in real life, Leighton is a lot more down to earth. In her recent chat with People, she talked about music, Gossip Girl fans and co-stars, media attention and (of course) clothes...

Q: What did you miss most while you were away during the strike?
Leighton Meester: I missed the people, the cast and the crew and the producers. Everyone is amazing. Also, [I missed] New York. I love New York. I came here a couple times but I'm getting back into the swing of things. New York is such a wonderful city.

Q: We heard you've been working on an album. Can you tell us about it?
Leighton Meester: I'm not signed to a label or anything. And I'm not really worried about that right now. I'll probably be done in June so I don't know when I might release it. It's a collaborative effort. I write the lyrics and I work with my friend — a lot of the actual music we've made together and some of them are borrowed from other people that have given us music.

Leighton Meester as Gossip Girl's Blair Waldorf.

Q: Can you describe the sound?
Leighton Meester: It's very pop but not too bubblegum. It's just fun. I have a million things to write about. I'm having fun just exploring and experimenting. I'm not going too moody and sorrowful. It's more fun music. There are infinite possibilities. We're such a good team. It pretty much doesn't feel like work. It's fun and easy. It's one of the most exhilarating things I've done.

Q: What do you think of all the fans that come out to watch you shoot your scenes?
Leighton Meester: We love the fans of Gossip Girl. They're the reason the show is on. It's cool to have them come and show their appreciation. They're usually really cool people.

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Is there anything more beautiful on this planet than Blake Lively? If so, that's got to be a pretty short list. In the picture below, the Gossip Girl star wore a flowy blue outfit in New York City on Thursday ...

  Blake Lively lights up the Gossip Girl set.

A striped and typically handsome Chace Crawford gets a nice jump start on the day with an early appearance on New York's CW Morning Show Thursday to promote Gossip Girl - which returns Monday!

Check out Chace Crawford's character, Nate Archibald, in some of the videos we've posted from Monday's all-new Gossip Girl episode.