Gossip Girl News (Page 9)

The New York Observer believes it is - because Gossip Girl is now spreading throughout the U.S. a disjunctive, distorted, ultimately dangerous, view of New York City, mostly through its depiction of real estate.

Like Friends in the 1990s and Sex and the City earlier this decade, Gossip Girl is giving the impression to those outside New York that real estate there is as affordable as anywhere and that being middle-class in New York means you live in a $2 million Williamsburg loft.

In last Wednesday's episode, the impossibly WASP-y grandmother of Serena (Blake Lively) who lives with her mom in the Palace Hotel, doesn't want Serena going to the ball with Dan, because Dan lives in Williamsburg with his dad, Rufus (Matthew Settle) a fading rock musician turned artist, and his kid sister, Jenny (Taylor Momsen) a wannabe socialite.

To Serena's snooty grandmother, poor insignificant Dan (Penn Bagdley) from Williamsburg, like Rufus (pictured) is just a working-class chum, good for feeding upon but not for taking around the Upper East Side.

That's just one example of Gossip Girl spreading the gospel of a New York City where affordability and leisure are easy to come by.

We must dash these notions quickly, lest a fresh wave of flyover country folk flock to neighborhoods like Williamsburg (just like they did in the 1990s) to waste some of the choicest years of their life coming to grips with the reality that $1,000 in this city is like $100 elsewhere.

Continue reading this commentary by the New York Observer ...

Take that, Nielsens. Turns out the mighty ratings system has met its match in a plucky freshman teen drama named Gossip Girl.

She may not have the biggest numbers, but raging word of mouth, mad style and a rules-rewriting DVR draw have made the CW's snazzy adaptation of the novels the stuff teen dreams are made of. Here are five things TV Guide loves (as do we) about a little show called Gossip Girl.

1. It's the smartest ensemble this side of Fashion Week.
Teen soaps usually have a weak link, but not in this cast. Blake Lively, as sassy Serena van der Woodsen, lives up to her name; Leighton Meester's broken-doll sadness saves Blair from bitch cliché; and Taylor Momsen is a find as the prep-school Eve Harrington nipping at Blair's well-heeled world. Chace Crawford's soulful Nate and Ed Westwick's snotty Chuck are hot as buds born of privilege, and Penn Badgley simply rocks as adorable outcast Dan Humphrey. The show's parents — namely Matthew Settle and Kelly Rutherford — are equally convincing. And hot.

2. Finally, a voiceover that doesn't make us want to scream.
Unseen overseer Kristen Bell's purr is the sexiest disembodied fun you can have without paying $4.95 a minute. Whether she's describing burlesque Blair ("no matter how long you try to be good, you can't keep a bad girl down") or Sunday brunch ("it comes with champagne, a dress code... and 100 of our closest friends"), even mundane tidbits sound delicious.

Continue Reading...

Three new Gossip Girl episodes have been finished but have not yet aired, according to TV Guide's log of TV shows' completed, unaired content before "going dark" due to the Writers Guild of America strike.

The next new Gossip Girl episode is "Roman Holiday," scheduled for a week from tomorrow, Wednesday, December 19, at its usual time.

Hopefully the striking writers and the companies that employ them will reach a pact so that season one of Gossip Girl doesn't end at 13 episodes, but signs point to a prolonged strike as of now, unfortunately.

Last week, we posed the following question: Just how realistic is Gossip Girl? New York Magazine answers that question each week, with a rating system of surreal and real moments from the show.

According to the publication, this week's new episode, "Hi, Society," was deemed to be equally realistic and unrealistic, tallying 26 points in each column. Here are some highlights from their latest evaluation ...

• CeCe is way too young to play Serena's grandmother, especially since Blake Lively herself is approximately 35. Minus 1.
• "I don't like my ice to get lonely dear," says Serena's grandmother, asking for another gin. We have no idea whether this is accurate, but we are using this line for the rest of our lives. Plus 5.
• The New York Times doing "A Night Out With Blair Waldorf" is laughably inaccurate. A moderately prominent Upper East Side teen? She's way too famous for that column. Minus 3.
• We need to award points for the whole summer-abroad explanation. We wonder if this has to do with the mysterious "night in Santorini" that is referred to between Carter and Serena. Plus 5.
• At Blair's tea, what the f*%king hell are the black and Asian sidekicks wearing? Minus 1.
• Between Blair and Chuck, the making-out scene is so accurate. They care so much about the kissing part, including the random rubbing of the leg through her tights without any further goal. Also, it is so high school that Blair went from virgin to nympho in like a week. Plus 1.
• How can these kids have a huge important dress-up party every weekend? No humans could ever really keep that up. Minus 2.

Funny stuff as always... and pretty accurate. Follow this link for New York Magazine's full commentary and Gossip Girl scoreboard ...

You could tell the tribes apart by variations in dress: the tartan kilts and pleated skirts of Nightingale-Bamford, Sacred Heart and Spence; running shoes on the girls who had made their way over from Chapin and Hewitt; leggings and anoraks for students at Dalton, with its relaxed dress code.

These are the real life students of Manhattan's Upper East Side, and they are clamoring for a glimpse of the cast and crew of Gossip Girl, the CW network series based on the young adult novels.

The have been camped out on 93rd Street between Madison and Park Avenues, the New York Times reports, as the producers are shooting a Gossip Girl episode at the grand Georgian complex that in its workaday life houses the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

With a simple application of bronze plaques at the entrance, it became the site of St. Jude's School for Boys. That is the school where in an early episode ("Poison Ivy"), Dan (Penn Badgley) and Nate (Chace Crawford) fought over who would get to escort a Dartmouth rep around campus.

In any case, the normally tranquil block is now a small mob scene of 11- to 15-year-olds, particularly after 3 p.m. when classes let out.

They came in groups of four and five, in pairs and alone, and massed on Park Avenue and in front of the church entrance on 93rd Street.

At first, it could be difficult to figure out who was a part of Gossip Girl and who was merely watching. Where did real life end and fiction begin?

"I totally want to see Chuck," said 14-year-old Catherine, who appeared to be the ringleader of a group of eighth graders and who was wary of sharing her full name. She meant Chuck Bass, played by Ed Westwick (pictured).

"Blake Lively is my idol," she said, referring to the actress who plays Serena van der Woodsen. "But if Chuck walked out here, I think I'd jump him."

Continue reading in the Times' Upper East Side Journal ...

How realistic is Gossip Girl? Ask the natives. New York Magazine answers that question each week with its funny ranking system of the most real and surreal moments from the newest Gossip Girl episode.

This week's episode, "Blair Waldorf Must Pie," was deemed more realistic than not, coming in at +16. To be precise, real defeated unreal by the count of 37-21. Some key components of this week's realism scale ...

• They've supposedly put Serena's tryst with Nate behind them, but Blair's occasional flare-ups of rage about Serena sleeping with her boyfriend are totally realistic. Plus 10.
• For the love of God, Brooklyn is not that hard to figure out. If we still maintain the charade that the Humphreys live in Williamsburg, why do they keep showing the Brooklyn Bridge. Why do they play football in Brooklyn Bridge Park? Minus 2.
• When Dan picks up Serena, he notices the book Lily is reading. "Nicholas Sparks," young Humphrey scoffs with amused derision. Has he ever been more Williamsburg? Plus 4.
• The opening scene shows Serena all wasted, swanning around what looks to be Nolita or the Lower East Side. Why is she downtown? Why is Dan? "Who gets drunk on Thanksgiving?" asks Blair, forgetting that everyone gets drunk on Thanksgiving. Minus 4.
• "You know what's really weird," Blair Waldorf observes during a rare visit to Dan's apartment in Brooklyn, "there's a garage door in your room." THANK YOU, BLAIR. Plus 2.
• Nate's weird, highlighted Zac Efron hairstyle is the same in all the flashbacks, even though we know that he had normal, not Aqua Netted hair at the beginning of the school year. Minus 1.
• How funny is it that the first time we see Blair's future gay dad, he's wearing a cheesy Banana Republic half Argyle sweater. Plus 1.
• Allison sucks. Period. Minus 5.
• Okay, so Blair is bulimic. Plus 3, but only 3, because even though it's totally accurate, it doesn't bode well that the writers went to the eating-disorder place so early.

Funny stuff... and pretty much spot-on. Follow this link for New York Magazine's full commentary and Gossip Girl scorecard.

Where are the kids from Gossip Girl smoking, drinking, kissing, plotting, scheming and occasionally going to school? Funny you should ask.

If you're looking for details on the New York locales your favorite Gossip Girl characters are hanging out in real life, Jaunted.com - an online pop culture travel guide - has put together an interactive Gossip Girl map. Follow the link, then open up the bookmarked points for more info!

Spotted: Gossip Girl cast cavorting all over Manhattan and Brooklyn!

On a crisp autumn day in November, on the ice at Central Park's Wollman Rink, Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) is pissed.

It's several hours into a shoot for Gossip Girl, the teen soap about well dressed, shockingly loaded, and occasionally evil private high school students on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

During the episode filming today, tortured princess Blair is hanging with her recently outed, frequently absent father (John Shea), who brought his Boy Toy along on what was supposed to be an afternoon with his daughter.

As Boy Toy skates past, Blair Waldorf looks up from her Sidekick, shoots a chilly glare, sticks out an ice-skate-clad foot, and... splat.

You'd think such a spectacle would draw attention from passersby, but strangely, nobody walking past the set seems even slightly intrigued.

If you look at ratings, however, that might not seem so surprising.

On paper, this Sex and the City / Mean Girls style TV drama is not very successful, drawing a relatively lame 2.6 million viewers per show and languishing near the bottom of the Nielsen chart (#105 to be exact).

Blake Lively and Gossip Girl are a new breed of smash hit.

But in a season with few new breakouts, Gossip Girl is redefining what it means to be a TV hit. Based on Cecily von Ziegesar's hugely popular book series about an anonymous blogger who chronicles private-school scandals, Gossip Girl is luring a new breed of viewer.

"This show is a bigger deal than ratings are reflecting," says executive producer Josh Schwartz, who also created and ran The OC.

"We have a great formula," adds Leighton Meester. "Really great characters, great clothes, hot people, good locations, and rich people with really messed-up lives. What's not to love?"

So where are all the obsessive fans during this shoot? Well, probably just finishing up second period. And why doesn't anyone seem concerned about Gossip Girl's early performance?

As it turns out, slumming at the bottom of the ratings chart isn't so bad if you're the only show kids are talking about.

Continue reading this article in Entertainment Weekly ...

Fans familiar with Nicole Fiscella and Nan Zhang haven't exactly been pleased with the amount of screen time these actresses have received on Gossip Girl this season.

According to a recent article on Gawker, there's a reason behind this:

"Originally, the Katy and Isabel characters on Gossip Girl were actually listed in the breakdown as "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Jimmy Choos,' writes a tipster who auditioned for the show, but wasn't ultimately cast. "They were actually the funniest part of the show - they had these totally bizarre three line conversations at the end of each scene.

Unfortunately, for those of us who went in 19 times for every part on the show and ended up coming down to the very end for those roles, the network decided that they had to go "ethnic," and they claimed couldn't find any black or Asian girls who were funny, so they, at the last minute, cast models and decided to just make them sight gags.

No joke."

The 2007-08 NFL season has been marked by enigmas, disappointments, upstarts inspiring stories. Not unlike the debut season of Gossip Girl!

Let's take a look at the parallels between our beloved Gossip Girl characters and some of the NFL's Super Bowl contenders (and pretenders) ...

Dan Humphrey: Pittsburgh Steelers. Going up against New York's private school elite, working-class Dan is the innocent, quiet contender no one expects a lot from or knows too much about. But he looks like he's up to the task. The Pittsburgh Steelers - with unheralded leaders and a rookie coach - bring heart and solid fundamentals. As with the reserved but likable Dan, they might just quietly upstage the favorites when it matters most.

Like Big Ben (left) and Pittsburgh, quiet underdog Dan goes for broke with Serena, who, like Jon Kitna and Detroit, looks to rewrite history.

Serena van der Woodsen: Detroit Lions. Serena van der Woodsen has plenty of talent, yet is always being told she isn't living up to her potential. But could this be the year that all changes? For now, at least, signs point to yes. Serena and the surprising Lions (6-3) would rather not mention their history - and are making great strides to rewrite it.

Jenny Humphrey: New York Giants. Jenny shows promise, but is not quite ready to duke it out with the big boys (girls). One week, she stands up to Blair. The next, she reverts and becomes Miss Waldorf's lackey. At 6-3, the Giants have a lot to show for themselves this year, but fold - as Jenny did when she got caught wearing that bracelet to the masquerade ball - when the stakes are highest. Jenny is also overshadowed by her older brother, Dan. Eli and Peyton Manning, anyone?

Jenny Humphrey & Eli Manning: Just not champion material... yet.

Nate Archibald: Dallas Cowboys. At 9-1, the 'Boys have the swagger and the substance to back it up. Very much like the multifaceted Nate. Also, actor Chace Crawford, who plays Nate, is not only a Dallas-area native, but may be dating country singer Carrie Underwood, who may have dated the Cowboys quarterback, Tony Romo!

Lily van der Woodsen: Green Bay Packers. On the surface, Lily is viewed as a member of the city's social elite. Same with Brett Favre's Packers in this year's NFL. But it's just a matter of time until both are exposed as pretenders. Green Bay hasn't been fully tested, and Lily has already shown that she'd be more comfortable at home, hangin' out in sweats with Rufus.

Blair Waldorf: Indianapolis Colts. Blair is everybody's sexy pick to go all the way (just ask Chuck), and at first glance, this rich, gorgeous babe appears out of everyone's league. Like the Colts, though, Miss Waldorf may look a lot better on paper. If you're aggressive enough and show her a variety of looks, both Blair's and Indy's defenses are prone to letdowns. Special teams play? Also an issue.

Blair's BFFs: Miami Dolphins: Blair Waldorf's bitchy, two-headed posse has had about as many lines of dialogue, collectively, as Miami has wins. So irrelevant, one wonders why they even bother to suit up each week.

Gossip Girl: New Orleans Saints. Shrouded in mystery, the omniscient blog queen who gives Gossip Girl its name remains an enigma. The up-and-down New Orleans Saints (4-4) can certainly relate - we have no clue what team to expect from week to week. Also, both have nice Bush (we think).

Rufus Humphrey: Philadelphia Eagles. This guy - and team - used to really rock. Now they're past their prime and can't seem to realize it. However, both may have something left in the tank. Rufus has been nothing if not smooth while putting the moves on uptight Lily, and the Eagles sold 700,000 copies of their new album in one week! Oh, wait, that's the band.

Chuck Bass: New England Patriots. Pure evil.