Gossip Girl News (Page 6)

As we discuss the terrific recent episodes and await next week's Gossip Girl season finale, it's never too early to start thinking about next fall and the amazing drama that is still to come!

Inside sources confirm that Gossip Girl will have an extra-long season next year, to make up for the ones missed this year due to the strike, E! Online reporter Kristin Veitch has revealed.

While nothing will be made official until next week when the CW announces its schedule in New York City, sources say Gossip Girl has been confirmed for 24 episodes for its second season!

Also, E! caught up with Leighton Meester on the set of Entourage (she's there shooting a guest stint for the HBO comedy), and Gossip Girl's Queen B said Gossip Girl will be in the Hamptons at the beginning of season two.

"Because you gotta go to the Hamptons, right?" she said with a giggle. "And, by the way, we aren't shooting in Staten Island like they did on Sex and the City. We're shooting in the real Hamptons."

Touche!

Leighton added that the cast calls Michelle Trachtenberg's character "Geor-gina" in the way that rhymes with a female body part.

Get it? Figure it out.

Just how real is Gossip Girl? More so this week than ever before, New York Magazine says in its patented (nonsensical) rating system, taking into account real and surreal moments from each episode.

According to the show's unofficial publication, this week's episode, "All About My Brother," rated +1 overall on the realism scale! Below are some excerpts from this New York Magazine feature.

WARNING: As with much of the content on Gossip Girl Insider, this article contains some Gossip Girl spoilers. If you have not seen the episode, avert your eyes until you do. It's well worth it!

• Georgina sends Serena a copy of the mysterious video on a memory stick. Plus 1, because sometimes it's the little things.

• Isn't Vanessa (Jessica Szohr) supposed to be the skeptical outsider? Wouldn't she see through Georgina immediately? Minus 2.

• Dan and Serena make out in the hallways as though it is not completely revolting and rude. Plus 2.

• Where is Nate in this episode? What happened to his dating Vanessa? Wouldn't he know Georgina — and thus unravel it all? Minus 1, especially since Chuck is also completely absent.

• All of Jenny's snotty conversations and arguments, either with her dad or with Dan, are really accurate (if a little too well composed and lacking in wobbly lower lips). Plus 3.

Continue Reading...

The Gossip Girl cast - Jessica Szohr, Penn Badgley, Ed Westwick, Blake Lively, Chace Crawford, Taylor Momsen and Leighton Meester - collectively made People magazine's Most Beautiful list. No argument here!

The beautiful and talented cast of Gossip Girl.

On-screen, they are gorgeous, scheming, back-stabbing high schoolers. Off-screen... oh who are we kidding, they are still gorgeous. But fortunately, they're somewhat kinder to one another.

"I assure you," Badgley says, "we are all fun and charming as hell."

It's our favorite show no matter what, but just how realistic is Gossip Girl? The fun New York Magazine rating system attempts to answer this, taking into account the real and surreal moments from each episode.

According to the show's unofficial publication, this week's new episode, "Desperately Seeking Serena," rated even on the realism scale. Below are some excerpts from this New York Magazine feature ...

• They exclusively refer to Nelly Yuki by both of her names, even when addressing her to her face. In high school Asians are always two-namers. Plus 3.
• Ooh, new Sex and the City ad! Plus 1.
• Nelly Yuki likes Flo Rida? No, no, no. Minus 2.
• Nate Archibald's dad going into rehab was "on the front page of every newspaper in the city"?? We didn't get to see that in an episode? Robbed! Minus 2.
  
• We love how, on TV, people sit down for one drink and it always automatically cuts to them being drunk. Serena has one Cosmo and then we cut to her being a whore. Let's be honest, that's exactly how it happens in real life. Plus 2.
• Georgina drinks Cosmopolitans? She has her own COKE dealer. Crazyface is not drinking Cosmos. Minus 1.

• Serena van der Woodsen can never solve her own problems. She always calls Chuck, Dan, even Blair to help her out. So real. She's pretty. Other people fix things for her. Plus 2.
• Isabel made a joke about booking a flight to Tel Aviv in reference to going to study at Jenny's? Is that a joke about Kati fleeing the country? Or the Humphreys living in war-torn territory. Either way, not clear, and probably offensive. Minus 2.
• Nate did that thing all attractive boys do when they want to kiss you. All they have to do is get their face near yours, not even saying anything, and you have to kiss them. It's a law of nature. Plus 2. Another Plus 2 because nervous Vanessa (Jessica Szohr) is making wry commentary throughout the whole thing.
• Georgina finds Dan in the park (Minus 2, you can't randomly find someone in the park, and where the hell did that golden retriever come from). Another Minus 2 because Dan would clearly be too worried about Serena to flirt with someone else.

It's our favorite show no matter what, but just how realistic is Gossip Girl? The fun New York Magazine rating system attempts to answer this, taking into account the real and surreal moments from each episode.

According to the show's unofficial publication, this week's new episode, "The Blair Bitch Project," rated about even on the realism scale. Below are some excerpts from this New York Magazine feature ...

• It may seem ridiculous that Rufus lets Jenny go to Aspen with her friends (that she seemingly just made), but it's so real. Remember, he and Jenny's mom just got a divorce. He's overcompensating! Plus 3.
• The Waldorf maid, Dorota, plays the Will & Grace card. "Club Bed is over," she says, yanking Blair out of bed. Sorry, =cartoonishly sassy maids only exist in the fantasy minds of gay men. Minus 1.
• Eric van der Woodsen's hair has really improved, probably per the influence of Chuck. Plus 1.
• Jenny puts a large stuffed animal in her bed to fool her brother and father into thinking it's her. Plus 2 for introducing this trick to a generation of kids too young to have seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

• Serena and Dan, adorably and annoyingly, sit outside the Palace with a blanket and hot chocolate. Like homeless people. Not in that courtyard, kids. Minus 1.
• A deliveryman pulls up to Constance Billiard. "Serena van der Woodsen?" he asks, casually. Just dumping three cases of Champagne in the entrance to a school? Not even on the Upper East Side, friends. Minus 5.
• Isabel observes that Jenny's dad is a hottie. She's right. Plus 2.
• Blair Waldorf is walking to school wearing sunglasses and head scarf ... and what is that billowing, royal blue robe? Is she one of the FLDS wives? If so, then where's her Gibson girl cut? Minus 1.
• As nausea-inducing as it is, this Gossip Girl quote has a gross ring of truth to it — Serena: "I don't want to share your DNA." Chuck: "Then you should get new hand towels." Plus 2, for going there.

According to the Nielsen ratings, just 2.44 million viewers tuned in to "The Blair Bitch Project" (the return of Gossip Girl) - only slightly better than its last original episode, which aired January 9.

However, these Gossip Girl ratings did help The CW score its highest ratings ever in the Monday 8-9 p.m. time period among total adults ages 18-34 (1.9/6) and specifically women 18-34 (2.9/8).

What did taking down streams of new Gossip Girl episodes online do for the show's audience? Apparently, not a lot. Hopefully, these ratings continue to grow. Tell your friends about Gossip Girl

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!

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.

While the CW has yet to turn our beloved Gossip Girl into any sort of ratings hit, they're certainly good at creating buzz for it.

With 13 episodes aired to date, the series returns after a long hiatus on Monday, April 21, at 8 p.m., with the first of five new episodes.

To promote the new episodes, the network recently launched a scandalous ad campaign that can be summed up in four letters: OMFG.

There are two sexy new posters promoting the return of the teen soap / drama, both of which will be seen all around the country.

The thing that makes these Gossip Girl posters controversial? Well, they show several couples from the series in seriously erotic poses...

"Oh my (f*%k!ng) God," indeed, Gossip Girl.

It's not hard to see why this ad campaign would stir raise eyebrows. Gossip Girl is a show aimed primarily at teens, and here we have Chace Crawford giving Blake Lively what appears to be a mind-shattering orgasm. Gulp.

Of course, the ad is lot like the show itself that it's edgy, daring, scandalous, and (let's face it) hot. Here's a second version of the OMFG campaign featuring Blair (Leighton Meester) and Chuck (Ed Westwick)...

What do you think? Which of the two new Gossip Girl ads do you like more - and is the show going too far with the whole "OMFG" angle?