Penn Badgley was our favorite actor on the season premiere of Gossip Girl. He made us feel Dan's loneliness, awkwardness... and absolutely pining for Serena.

Below, the actor talks about the role:

Q: Can you tell me more about Gossip Girl and your character, Dan Humphrey?
A: Gossip Girl itself as a show, I think walks a nice line between you know flair and glamour and gloss and gossip. And all that that culture is. And then it also has a nice heart and soul to the show. That is most represented by the Humphrey family. Like Dan and his sister Jenny and his father Rufus. The Humphrey's, they live a much less-privileged lifestyle than the rest of the characters. So what they lack financially, they make up for (like any other family) in the more rewarding things. They have...

Q: Soul?
A: The heart and soul. So Dan being so sensitive with so much heart is an outcast. All his life, he has pined after the girl who represents...

Q: Everything that he does not.
A: Right, exactly. And it's also a lifestyle... he doesn't want to encourage it and he doesn't really agree with the extravagant life. You know what I am saying? So he kind of battles with that. The girl that he loves embodies everything that he...

Q: Doesn't.
A: You know? Doesn't have, yeah, but I don't think he wants that. He wants, I think, the social aspect of it all but he's not planning for Prada shoes or anything.

Q: Totally, totally. Are there any similarities between you and Dan?
A: I think definitely. I would like to think that I have the same integrity as his character. I am a little more socially-confident. I am not the loner.

Q: You're not the guy that hides behind the dress. (Laughs).
A: No. But I was very introverted as a kid. So there are more similarities in that way than people might at first think. But yeah, overall, I think we are very similar. And on a television show, over time, the character really becomes you or rather you become the character. You kind of switch into that mode very easily. As time goes on, you might see more similarities.

Read the full interview here.

Ready to get up to date on Gossip Girl fashion? Let's see what Blake Lively, Leighton Meester and all the cast's alter egos are wearing this season on The CW, courtesy of In Style...

Scene: Serena returns
One year after abruptly leaving New York to study abroad, Serena returns home to find how things have changed. In a scene filmed in Grand Central Station, she looks chic and prepared to re-enter her Manhattan life.

The Look
Blake Lively wears a vintage coat, Cheap Monday jeans, a Petit Bateau striped T-shirt, a Ralph Lauren scarf and belt, Coach bag and carries a vintage Vuitton suitcase.

Travel a la Serena in these French-inspired basics:
Jacket by identify, $565; at 212-398-0370. Nobody jeans, $219; at American Rag. Ralph Lauren belt, $595; at ralphlauren.com. Petit Bateau shirt, $69; at Barneys New York.

Scene: Going-out glitz
"We based Serena on a Kate Moss type," says costume designer Eric Daman. "She just throws things together and looks amazing." In a scene at the Palace Hotel, the star awaits her date for a night on the town.

The Look
Blake Lively wears a sequined Tory Burch minidress over Wolford tights.

Sparkle for your next night out:
Zoe D. dress, $275; call 212-764-4100 for stores.

Scene: A new spin on the uniform
While on the steps to the Metropolitan Museum, Blair and her sidekicks Katy and Isabel (Nicole Fiscella) welcome Serena home in a cold manner: by telling her she isn't invited to the upcoming dance. Though they have a school uniform, each girl interprets her accessories in her own way.

Get Blair's Look:
Gold headband @ www.claires.com
Ruffled shirt @ www.bluefly.com
Black sweater @ www.bluefly.com
Patent handbag @ www.shopsueyboutique.com
Ruffle-trim coat @ www.urbanoutfitters.com

Here's an exciting Gossip Girl spoiler: it's a scene from this week's episode, "The Wild Brunch."

Dan and Jenny are discussing the fallout from The Kiss on the Lips Party... and it doesn't sound as though our man ended the evening on such a romantic note:

Outside of sex and drugs, what plays the most prominent role on Gossip Girl?

Costume Designer Eric Daman certainly hopes its the show's portrayal of upper class fashion in New York.

From Serena to Chuck, the socialites on Gossip Girl are portrayed as knowledgeable of the latest look within the fashion industry, as their eyes are constantly on the newest and brightest designers.

As you'd expect from any show situated in New York and focused on the richest of the rich, Gossip Girl characters must always be impeccably dressed. It's the job of Daman - who was also a stylist on Sex and the City - to base choices on real-life East Coast socialites such as Tinsley Mortimer and Lydia Hearst-Shaw.

Daman also said he shops in the Meatpacking District and frequents fashion boutiques such as Opening Ceremony and Stella McCartney, while also mixing it up with better known fashion houses such as Chanel and Ferragamo.

In closing, he acknowledged that male actors (e.g. Chace Crawford) on the show are given equal attention to their female co-stars, with Daman describing his decisions as: "It's all [still] very Upper East Side-y but just not old fogy socialite-y."

Simply out, Chace Crawford love New York. And need you ask the Gossip Girl star why?

His face is on billboards all over town alongside the rest of the gorgeous cast in this soap set in the exclusive world of upper East Side children of privilege.

The handsome actor portrays Nate Archibald, a latchkey teen with platinum credit cards but who drowns his sorrow in Champagne, pot and limo rides to hot spots. As Crawford jokes: "The research for this show was rough."

The 22-year-old admits he hung out at certain upscale nightspots a little bit growing up, but knows little about that life; he showed a rough cut of the pilot to the kinds of kids it portrays, and then asked them: "Is this even remotely real?

And they said, 'Yes, it is.'"

Crawford's character is at the center of the show's main triangle, a tug-of-war between onetime BFF's Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) and the mysteriously disappeared and just-returned Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively).

"Nate is definitely conflicted," says Crawford. "So now I'm working hard on finding a lot of different ways to play conflicted."

He doesn't feel as ambivalent about New York City, however, after a childhood living in Plano, Tex. Chace's mom helped him move into an apartment in Chelsea he shares with fellow cast member Ed Westwick - and Crawford gets to explore the city he fell in love with via the movies.

Click here to read the full interview.

Here's another interview with Gossip Girl star Blake Lively:

Hollywood.com: How did you get the role?
Blake Lively: Josh Schwartz called me about it. Maybe he watched The Sisterhood, I don't know. I hear a lot of fans of the Gossip Girl books had seen me, and maybe because I had long blonde hair, they were blogging, 'She has to be Serena.' He told me "I wrote the show for you. You have to do this. I will not give it to anyone else." We sat down and we talked about it. I thought about it for a little while. It felt right.

Josh has so much heart in everything he does, from his locations to the actors he uses, to the wardrobe, and that was very important to me. That's the reason I did the show.

HW: What intrigued you about the character? What kind of journey will it be for her?
BL: Serena is very complex. She was what you can call a bad girl before and now she's trying to be good. She's been pulled in all different angles, from her mom, to her brother, to her best friend to this new good guy, Dan, to Nate, who she still loves. She's got all of these people pulling on her and she needs to find her place in this universe where they're handed everything on a silver platter.

She wanted her best friend's boyfriend, she went after him, and now she's back in this world after going away to boarding school and she realizes she was wrong and she needs to reform herself and make herself a better person.

HW: Can you relate to any aspects of her world?
BL: Definitely. I think in high school there are so many cliques. You're never safe. I did Sisterhood between my junior and senior years of high school and while I was away my friends made other groups of friends. I came back after three months ready to do what we used to do, and things had changed.

People get older and there are inside jokes that you don't know about that have happened, and you feel a little lost for a while. And it's a little bit hard to slip back into that. And then the friends that they've replaced you with are a little territorial.

Click here to read the full interview.

Gossip Girl debuted to decent ratings on Tuesday night.

The show was watched by 3.65 million people, losing a great chunk of its America's Top Model lead-in audience (5.15 million). However, this rating is on a par with what One Tree Hill used to average in the same time slot.

And that show has been a success for years. It's even in syndication now.

Still, many expected more from Leighton Meester and company - but we have faith. Just give them a few episodes.

Readers have been clamoring for the Gossip Girl commercial, featuring the Aqualung song "Something to Believe In."

So here it is. Remember: check back every week to sort through our Gossip Girl music library.

During our previous round of Gossip Girl spoilers, we have readers a sneak peek into episode two of the show, entitled "The Wild Brunch."

Now, for those that simply cannot wait, here's a glimpse into the third episode, "Poison Ivy."

Ivy week is full of drama, as the teens from Constance Billard and St. Jude's prepare for a much-anticipated visit from Ivy League college representatives. Meanwhile, Blair uncovers a scandalous secret about Serena... and it most likely have to do with a certain bar stool sex romp.

Dan has his heart and future set on the coveted usher position for the Dartmouth rep, only to be beat out by Nate, who has no interest in the university despite pressure from his controlling father.

Lastly, Jenny (Taylor Momsen) bonds with Serena's younger brother, Eric, and Rufus must swallow his pride in order to ask Lily for a favor to help his son.

It was hard to miss the sex scene between Serena (Blake Lively) and Nate (Chace Crawford) in the pilot episode of Gossip Girl.

At least go in the coat room or something, guys.

Anyway, here are a couple of tidbits/inside jokes from the show many viewers may not have been aware of:

• The Constance Billard School for Girls is based on The Nightingale-Bamford School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Cecily von Ziegesar, the author of the Gossip Girl books, in which the series is based on, attended this private school.

• As Dan rushes to catch his ride to school, we see the side of the bus; it has an advertisement with a logo that reads Smallville. This, of course, is another show on The CW.