Recently in Gossip Girl Category
There have been many strange Gossip Girl episodes, but probably none as bizarre as last night's installment, which somehow hinged on a combination of cabaret, Lady Gaga, Snow White, and, of course, a threesome. None of it really should have made sense, and I'm not saying that it really did, but the end product was still highly enjoyable, even if the central premise of the hour was a bit contrived.
It all began with Blair announcing her desire to take over the Tisch drama kids, an endeavor that felt a bit ridiculous in this post-Constance world of NYU. Still, we like Blair when she's on a petty mission, and none could be as petty as this latest adventure, which sent her into that awful coffee shop in an effort to ingratiate herself into the world of blue blood acting wannabes. Unfortunately for Blair, this social takeover wasn't the cakewalk she was expecting. These kids hailed from showbiz royalty (the word "Weinstein" was thrown about), and they weren't just about to let Blair into their fold, even if she was stepdaughter to a major entertainment lawyer (speaking of which, where the HELL has Cyrus been this season? Bring back the Waldorf clan!)
It's been a few weeks; so I thought I'd check back in on Gossip Girl, my favorite nighttime soap, which continues to be silly fun, even if the storylines this season have veered into ridiculous territory. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the show works best when the leads are engaging in age-appropriate problems. Making friends at NYU? Perfect. Dealing with dorm gossip? Great. Opening a hotel? Eh... Launching a speakeasy? EHHHH.... Addressing the press corps about your cousin's congressional campaign? Dumb. See what I'm getting at here?
The saving grace of Gossip Girl, however, (and this too I've mentioned before) is that no matter how ridiculous the plot gets, the tongue-in-cheek tone of the show always reminds us that no one's taking any of this stuff too seriously, and therefore, neither should we. Still, despite that, this week's episode really pushed our abilities to suspend disbelief. I'm still a fan of the show 100%, but I'm starting to take issue with a few items.
After the jump, some vital questions that my friend Lil Grans and I had after the latest episode.
We're about three episodes into Gossip Girl's third season, and I'd be loathe to let another week go by without discussing this most wonderful of teen soaps — the best ever, I might be so bold to say (disclaimer: I never watched 90210 or really any other teen soap except for The OC. My sample size is very small). Anyway, most of the clan has moved on to college, and while we've lost some major wonderful elements of the show (Penelope, Nelly, Hazel, et al.), Gossip Girl still remains greatly watchable and totally fun. I do have some fears about how next week's Tyra Banks-starring episode will play out (see clip above), but if there's anything this series has proven, it's the ability to rebound from daffy storylines and silly diversions (ahem, Jenny's fashion career).
In fact, Gossip Girl should be credited for moving its central characters to college so seamlessly. Perhaps Josh Schwartz learned his lesson after the utter failure which was The OC's college season (which I believe was its last). I don't know what that lesson was, but he learned it, and Gossip Girl seems to be on strong footing. Of course, it helps matters when all the kids are still in NYC, with four of them attending NYU and a fifth, Nate, stranded in the as-yet-to-be-seen netherworld of Columbia (which in real life played the role of Yale on this show last season — maybe they want us to forget that before any further location shoots).
This is very brief and yet totally enjoyable. What more can I say?
One of my major regrets over the past year — at least in regards to this blog — has been my lack of consistent Gossip Girl coverage. I can't promise that I'll improve this season (dare to dream), but in the meantime, I will provide content when I'm able to. Case in point: this new teaser trailer for the upcoming Gossip Girl season. It looks as snappy and fun as ever; although, when Dan Humphrey asks a rooftop of people "Who wants to drink cheap beer with me?" I hardly think the response would be rousing cheers. We all know a Humphrey-led drinking session will just lead to bitchy, do-gooder judgments and a whole lot of lameness. And besides, we all know that if Dan's having a party, Vanessa's gonna show up, and what do I always say about Vanessa? That's right: VANESSA RUINS EVERYTHING (especially rooftop beer binges, which she would most certainly destroy with her little camcorder and ever-evolving documentary about who knows what). Wow, I'm reading a lot into this. But isn't that the fun? Here's to hoping the writers make Nate fun again (not to mention Little J).
Via Best Week Ever
"Huh?"
A funny thing happened on the way to the Upper East Side last night: the writers of Gossip Girl decided to do something with Nate for once. That's right, the woeful Vanderbilt heir finally got to do something more than just make out with awful Vanessa or moan about tomatoes. He had a whole episode focused on him, and I, for one, was relieved — not because I have any sort of jonesing for Nate, but more because his character finally seemed headed back to where it should be: a proudly entitled preppy rich kid. Enough slumming with the BoHo crowd. Between Vanessa, Dan, and Jenny, we have plenty of have-nots. Nate needs to be with the haves. After all, Chuck can't be the only male rich kid to represent his demographic, especially since he's not even womanizing anymore.
It was so nice to have Gossip Girl back last night. I haven't written about the show in quite some time, but don't take that as a lack of interest in my part. The show is still awesome, even when it does dabble in absolutely ridiculous and idiotic storylines (ie. anything Vanessa, the WRECKER, is involved with). Believe it or not, Vanessa wasn't actually the worst part of last night's episode. Granted, she still managed to wreck something (she caused chaos on the stage as she sat next to the director of the school play, thus prompting Nate to get "mad" and causing a general rebellion by all the young student thespians). The real stinker of the episode, however, was Chuck, who had to plod his way through a stinker of a plot involving a secret society and some high class whore / con-artist that he had somehow fallen in love with for no real reason. When this plot was introduced in the previous episode, it was groan-worthy. This time around, it just felt tiresome. After all, we were having so much fun everywhere else in the show with its perfect blend of comic snappiness (Blair, Nelly Yuki) and teen soap scandal (Dan and the teacher). Poor Chuck seemed like he was roving though an entirely different TV series.
"We Run LA" by Ya Boy Ft. Dr. Hollywood.
Reality Blurred: Judges may get a veto on American Idol; two will leave
Gawker: In Memoriam
LAist: Chris Brown Won't Be the Kids' Choice This Year
Socialite Life: Brittany Snow Is Young Lily Van Der Woodsen! — surprisingly perfect casting
Eater LA: Week in Reviews: Salute Gets the Single Star
ESPN: Tomlinson remains with Chargers
New York Times: TELEVISION REVIEW | 'THE CHOPPING BLOCK' — Preparing a Fresh Batch of Chefs
Epicurious: Los Angeles Restaurants: Hot Spots And Holes In The Wall — courtesy of IndianJones
Via D-Listed
Reality Blurred: 13th finalist will get a different, non-sex number; Fox exec: “we knew†IDOLS-13 wasn’t available
Lisa Timmons: Creation of Shia
LA Rag Mag: Amazing Race Winner Eric Sanchez's Naughty Webcam Photos!!!
Midseason Replacements: AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL: THE FALL OF TYRA
TV Week: Defeating the DVR to Promote Shows
Socialite Life: 'Gossip Girl' Star Arrested
Flickr: Feb09 757
Franklin Avenue: Spot Today's Downsized L.A. Times Mistake
Jokers Updates: Big Brother Casting Has Begun
LAist: Man Dies After Eating Mushrooms Picked in a Park
2008 was a curious year for television, what with the writers strike and all. Seasons got messed up, late night shows went without comedy, and CBS aired a bonus edition of Big Brother â€" which sadly was universally loathed by pretty much everyone but me. That's okay though. I don't mind being a maverick when it comes to reality TV (hence my devotion to Greatest American Dog â€" one of the most underrated gems of the year).
Strike be damned, there was still plenty of great stuff to watch. My list of the best shows after the jump...
I think we can all agree that Ed Westwick, a.k.a. Chuck Bass on Gossip Girl, is universally awesome and one of the best young actors on television right now. That being said, his melodramatic turn as the grieving, embittered son of Bart Bass on last night's episode was a bit much. Not a single line went by when he didn't cock his head dramatically or sneer like a bull in Pamplona. The whole thing reeked of Acting 101 — as if he were about to unfurl a banner that proclaimed "I AM A THESPIAN! HERE ME ROAR!!!"
I actually don't blame Westwick as much as I do the director. He should have reined him in, but instead we got a ridiculously over-indulgent mess. Let's not overlook that Very Dramatic Moment when Chuck lay in Blair's arms, a solitary tear falling down his cheek. I don't necessarily have a problem with the waterworks, per se, but the way Chuck lay there so oddly, like a lazy sea lion catching some rays — it was all so deliberate and forced.
Luckily, even though Westwick hit some major acting missteps, the show more than made up for it by a) keeping Vanessa gloriously absent for a full hour, and b) putting Lily front and center for nearly the whole episode. I mean, the writers should have just renamed the show Lilyfest 2008. And yes, that's a good thing. Kelly Rutherford is also sadly overlooked as an actress, and the truth is that she's really as close to perfect as can be. Her hostile attack on a tuna tower was worth the price of admission alone.
"I'm mad!"
"So am I!"
I'm very happy to report that Gossip Girl got back on strong footing this week. The past several episodes have been fun, but definitely flimsy, thanks to a tedious Jenny storyline, not to mention a hapless Nate who's spent much of the season arbitrarily pining after various women. I did like him hooking up with Jenny, but that whole arc seemed to wrap up too quickly. Or has it? Apparently he still has feelings for Little J, which would have been much more exciting had she still been concerned with social climbing. Back in season one, Jenny was one of my favorite characters as she constantly proved to be a bright, young upstart rival for Blair Bear. This year, however, she's been nearly irrelevant to everything on the show, which has rendered her a bit tiresome.
Of course, she's not as awful as Vanessa, the true standard-bearer for terrible television characters. Once again, Vanessa spent this Thanksgiving episode doing little more than pop up and make stupid references (Alexanderplatz? Please). She really gets more intolerable every waking minute. At least at the end of the show, she did something mildly interesting by intercepting Nate's love letter to Jenny. That's kind of fun; although, it lends more credence to my overarching theory about her character: namely that VANESSA RUINS EVERYTHING!
Okay, everyone, I'm blatantly shilling The Haunting of Molly Hartley. I'm working on a script with the producers of this horror movie (out today!), and they're really cool, nice people; so support their movie! Besides, it's got Chace Crawford — a.k.a. Nate Archibald from Gossip Girl. Just think of the potential: Nate AND ghosts! He can barely deal with The Captain, let alone the Humphrey bathroom schedule. I can't even imagine how he'd fare with some otherworldly spectral visions. Sounds like nothing short of a great time!
Vanessa was only in a handful of scenes on tonight's Gossip Girl, but she still managed to ruin EVERYTHING by planting a seed of distrust in Dan that he later passed along to Blair, who then botched up her big "I love you" moment with Chuck. Anti-LOL on that, yo. It seems like every episode, her character screws up everyone else's best laid plans, and while I know she's not a real person, dammit if I don't tense up when I see her boho-lovin' face on screen.
The only one worse than Vanessa is, well, Dan, but thankfully, he's been in slight remission the past episode or two. Any attempts he's made to get on a high horse have been skillfully undercut by other's sarcasm (most notably Blair), and as a result, his preaching has been kept to a minimum. Nate, on the other hand, seems to have had some Humphrey wear off on him now that he's traded in his empty townhouse for the invisible guest bedroom at Casa Rufus (who knew that loft had a bathroom? We learn something new each episode!). When Nate saved Jenny from a potentially embarrassing situation with a sketchy photographer named Max, he did so with Ryan Atwood bravado, which is not a good thing. Look, I'm all for Nate being the knight in shining armor, but let's not forget that he's one of the cool kids. Albeit, he's a brooding cool kid, but this is a guy who shtooped his girlfriend's best friend at a wedding. He knows a little about partying. His suddenly squeaky clean and protective impulse felt just a tad off. This is Gossip Girl. We like when our teens do mischievous things. Just as it was great to see Serena be a wild child for a few episodes there, I think we need to see Nate loosen up a little. Resist the urge to Atwood-ize him, Josh Schwartz!
Monday's Gossip Girl had plenty of wonderful moments (none of which included Vanessa), but perhaps the best part of the hour was something that didn't even happen in the show. Instead, it was a nifty little promo made by The CW to promote what else? Chuck Bass. Set to this fall's catchiest pop ditty, "Womanizer" by Britney Spears, the spot reminds us why we love Chuck Bass, Gossip Girl, and pop culture as a whole. I could go on, but I'll just stop myself before I embarrass myself with further gushing.
• CHUCK BASS IS A WOMANIZER! [Popbytes]
How good was Gossip Girl last night? It was THIIISSS good (imagine me spreading my arms out as widely as possible). After a fairly silly episode featuring the ups and downs of Eleanor Waldorf's fashion show, Gossip Girl rebounded with an installment so chock-full of great one liners that it instantly deserves classic status. The My Fair Lady opening alone was worth tuning in for, thanks mostly to Leighton Meester who continues to steal every scene she's in (Blake Lively, sadly, is not a master of British accents. Same goes for French too, but Blair thankfully cut her down to size on that point). I'm still torn about my favorite line of the episode — all the Brown bashing or merely just the Lauren Conrad reference — but I think I have to go for Chuck Bass's announcement that he was evaluating colleges based on the merit of their secret societies. Say what you will about teen soaps, this show has some of the sharpest writing on TV.
Of course, it also has some wildly uneven writing too, as evidenced in the entire Jenny Humphrey storyline, which continues to pale next to everything else on the show. This week, Little J tried to convince Dad that a career in Eleanor Waldorf's sweatshop was more worthwhile than completing a high school education. Annoyingly backing her up was Vanessa, whose awfulness seems to know no bounds. Smiling obnoxiously like some transplant from a squeaky clean Disney show, Vanessa would appear at random intervals to support Jenny and boast the merits of homeschooling. Just exactly who homeschools Vanessa is still a mystery, and why Rufus treats her like an equal is simply bizarre. She needs to be run over by a bus, STAT. Luckily, it looks like next week she'll be the butt of some fantastic Chuck Bass prank.
There's been so much good TV in the past few days — I just haven't had time to write about it all. So while I tend to the Hills recap, I open the floor to you all: Has Charlie found a true friend in Marcus on Survivor? Or, more specifically, how long until Marcus shatters Charlie's world? And how hard is it to find a crater in the middle of a field?
On The Amazing Race, who do we love, who do we hate? Actually, no need for that last question — Terrence is obviously this season's villain. And I love the previews for next week when his girlfriend complains that "they didn't even say HI to us!"
And let's not overlook a brilliant episode of Mad Men, the deserving winner of Outstanding Drama at this year's Emmy Awards. One word: JANE.
And lastly, Gossip Girl. This week's fashion episode (featuring Vitamin Water) seemed rather silly, but despite a general unevenness, it proved to be just as fun as always (the brooding Chuck Bass subplot was worth the price of admission alone). Was this the first semi-tolerable Dan Humphrey storyline since the pilot? And wasn't it refreshing to not have Vanessa around? Plus, how many naive adolescents are going to get in trouble at school when they do a Google image search for Mapplethorpe? (High-five, Gossip Girl).
Okay, I've started the discussion. The rest of you talk while I get back to work...
This season of Gossip Girl has been getting stronger and stronger, especially now that all awkward attempts at integrating Vitamin Water into the proceedings have been relegated to a mere refrigerator in Vanessa's stupid gallery café (attendance: zero). Last night's episode, with its crackling dialogue and deft plotting, proved to be the best so far as it showcased Blair in über bitch mode (despite occasionally wearing clothes that one might find at a Shaker museum), and Serena finally standing up to Dan and reminding him why he should feel so lucky to have her in the first place. Yes, it seems as though the days of flighty, sweet Serena might be behind us (at least for a few episodes) as she seems poised to recapture the Alpha Dog status she once held long before her storied trip to boarding school. I couldn't be more delighted with this creative decision. For too long, her character put up with the lame, whiny ramblings of Dan Humphrey, who reached new levels of self-righteousness in this latest installment. He's really become insufferable — perhaps more so than his spiritual cousin Ryan Atwood — and I can't help wondering if the writers are aware that their male lead is so unlikable.
Chuck Bass, meanwhile, has always supposed to be the loathsome snake of the series, and yet every time he appears on camera, he's a pure joy. Granted, he has a tendency to pop up and linger for no real reason, but that's okay. He always has something smarmy yet awesome to say, and discovering that all of last night's drama was his masterwork was nothing short of genius.
Last Thursday, I engaged in a whirlwind of activity that started with meeting Julie Chen and ended with a trip to The Soup. But my pop-culture odyssey did not end there. Less than a day later, I found myself standing on the set of Gossip Girl in New York City, a nifty twist of fate that completed my trilogy of TV experiences. Yes, this past weekend I headed to New York for a wedding, and as luck would have it, my favorite teen soap was being filmed on the same street as my friend's apartment (where I was staying on Friday night). It was almost too much for me to deal with: Gossip Girl, Big Brother, and Joel McHale in less than twenty-four hours? My dreams had come true!
So in proper stalker fashion, my friends and I all went out to dinner and then moseyed on down the block to the set where we drunkenly snapped dumb photos and kept a leery eye out for any errant cast members. The results of our quest after the jump...
Last night, I received a very exciting message from my friend Meeshie: Gossip Girl was being filmed on her street in New York City! Almost immediately I sent her on a mission to take photos and report back any gossip, no pun intended. The results after the jump...
Gossip Girl triumphantly returned for its second season last night, and the overall feeling I experienced was generally positive with some light disappointment mixed in. After all, an episode set almost entirely in the Hamptons seemed to offer so much potential, but instead, it was merely OK. But even an okay Gossip Girl episode is better than most stuff on TV; so I really can't complain too much. Still, I couldn't help feeling like this first episode of season two was merely a giant settup — a revving up of the motor, if you will. My list of what worked and what didn't after the jump.
Tri-Delt and Psi-U, here they come!
SPOTTED: white hot television show's script floating around the Internets!
It's inevitable that a show about leaking things to the blogosphere would itself get leaked to the blogosphere. Case in point: a few pages from an upcoming Gossip Girl episode have surfaced over at Gawker. They don't reveal much, but then again, I only read the first page as I am loathe to have my GG experience spoiled. In my brief glance at the dialogue, I discovered that Dan Humphrey will be eschewing Dartmouth for Yale because according to him, the New Haven institution has poached all of Big Green's English Department — perhaps even my freshman year professor / activist / crazy-bio-writer Shelby Grantham. Whatever. We don't want someone lame like Dan anyway. I like to think of Dartmouth as a Blair-Bear / Chuck Bass kind of place. No need for someone whiney from DUMBO.
Nevertheless, there's still no word as to who found the Gossip Girl script, and even if Gawker did know, I'm sure that's one secret they'd never tell!
xoxo,
Who killed Laura Palmer? That's one secret I'll never tell.
--XOXO, Gossip Cougar.
Holy umlaut! What happens if you take three of my favorite subjects — cougars, Twin Peaks, and Gossip Girl — and mix them together? You get Mädchen Amick, who according to EW.com, will be joining the buzzworthy CW teen soap this fall as a recurring character. Perhaps most famous for playing Shelly on Twin Peaks, Mäds (that's what I call her) will be playing "a sizzling cougar named Catherine Mason [who] will tempt young Nate (Chace Crawford) with a little May-December love." Sounds intriguing (and slightly season one of The O.C., but that's okay. I always liked the Luke-Julie storyline). I just hope the writers introduce some David Lynch-esque touches in honor of their new castmate. Heck, they've already got a creepy midget thanks to Hazel. Maybe one of Blair's sidekicks can start carrying around a log? Just thinking out loud.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I highly recommend catching up on both series.
With The Hills done for the season, I had nothing to write about on TV tonight — especially since my DirecTV DVR recorded nothing but BLACKNESS instead of the House season finale (shaking fist!). I hope to procure the episode electronically (no spoilers please), but in the meantime, there is one little show I know I can take some time to write about. What's it's name? I'll never tell.
Fine, I will. GOSSIP GIRL.
Yes, to celebrate the triumphant (yet bizarrely low-rated) first season, I decided to liveblog the season finale, which was a fun, if slightly disorganized, romp. Going into the episode, I wanted certain things to happen — you know, like Vanessa spontaneously evaporating into an odorless gas. What? She sucks. Besides, it's not unheard of for such sudden disappearances. Anyone remember Bex — intrepid seducer of the Brooklyn art world? I have a feeling she's still loitering around DUMBO, waiting for Rufus to call her again. As for Dan, I would have liked someone — anyone really (perhaps The Captain on a coke-fueled rant) — to just PUNCH him upside the head. He's getting too Ryan Atwoody with his righteous indignation over everything, and I'm having a hard time accepting him as our protagonist.
Did I get what I wanted? Eh, not really. But it was still a good hour. Live blog after the jump.
When all is said and done, tonight's episode of Gossip Girl will be remembered for one thing: sound effects. And a random Lisa Loeb cameo. But mostly the sound effects. Just watch the clip.
I just discovered I can make clips from The CW on RedLasso. In honor of this feat, I've decided to immortalize this little interaction, which was one of many on this week's show that made me say "Holy shit!" (which of course was followed by "I LOVE THIS SHOW.")
FOR SHAME, SERENA! FOR SHAME!
Who would have thought last night's Gossip Girl gay pride celebration could ever be upstaged, especially by anything stemming from the previously tiresome (now AMAZING) Michelle Trachtenberg storyline? BUT IT WAS. OH IT WAS. If you haven't seen the episode, you must watch it immediately. Not only did it have a killer cliffhanger, but there were about a dozen vicious zingers scattered throughout the show. Katie Holmes and Vanessa Hudgens became back-to-back butts of gay jokes, which were both bold, funny, and incredibly true to the characters saying them. Also earning bonus points: swishy Asher threatening to pop Jenny Humphrey's cherry to Dan. Finally: teenagers that sound like teenagers (even if they seem to be a bit precocious with their whisky swilling and whatnot). That's what makes Gossip Girl so fantastic: no kid gloves. The only downside to last night was that there could have been plenty more Eric-Asher-Jenny intrigue to be had (I'm talking a few episodes' worth), but sadly, it was all dissipated entirely too quickly. That's okay though. It was still an incredibly awesome hour.
I don't really have time regrettably to write a whole thing about last night's episode, but feel free to discuss it here. Here are some discussion points: is it me, or does Michelle Trachtenberg have distractingly pointy canine teeth? And is there anything worse than watching Nate kiss Vanessa?
