“Gossip Girl” — Pilot
Wow! Look at all of those gorgeous people!
How did this happen? How did a 27-year-old, heterosexual, baseball and Nintendo DS fan with a receding hairline and an unhealthy love of guitar solos turn into a giggly fourteen-year-old girl? There has to be an explanation. Why else would this individual be as inexplicably wowed by the new CW soap Gossip Girl (which kicks off tonight at 9pm following Top Model) as he is? It doesn’t make any sense. And yet it’s true. More after the jump…
I’ll admit it. I’m the guy. I know, you probably thought I was talking about someone else. Anyone else! Nope, it’s me. Gossip Girl follows a long lineage of teen-based prime-time soaps and completely delivers — assuming you’re the type of person who loves this trash. This hot, hot trash. I never used to, but then I rediscovered The Hills and old episodes of Laguna Beach and now I’m hooked. Now I’m “that” guy. Please do not judge me.
I never watched 90210 or Melrose Place back in the 90s (I was far too busy watching Batman: The Animated Series and reruns of Get Smart), but it doesn’t take a media historian to tell you Gossip Girl follows more or less the same template: rich kids, sex, pot, alcohol, viagra, paxil, text messaging — well, the text messaging might be something new, and there’s a lot of it. A lot. There is so much text messaging in this show it almost — ALMOST — rivals the amount of text messaging that is actually done in real life. Oh, and this show is set (and filmed!) in New York, not Los Angeles, and thank god for that.
I’m sure LA is great, but if you can film right here in the big apple, why wouldn’t you? Gossip Girl is about a group of rich kids from an upper east side private school involved in all sorts of nefarious love triangles, quadrangles and scandalous behaviors (and a few good kids just trying to fit in). It’s the type of show where two character will have a hardcore make-out session on the bar at the Campbell Apartment.
The narrative glue of the series focuses on an anonymous blogger “Gossip Girl” who writes about our characters sordid interactions and is voiced on the series by Kristin Bell (if I didn’t need another reason to watch).
This obviously isn’t a show like Mad Men or The Wire where not watching could be considered a serious injustice to the art of narrative storytelling. Gossip Girl isn’t for everyone and as art it’s merely OK, but for those who think they might like it, let me assure you this: you will. It’s a series that knows its audience and delivers. What more could you want?
Speaking of: I’m curious if this is the year The CW finally breaks through. Since its inception it’s mostly been comprised of holdovers from The WB and UPN. This year the schedule seems very focused. It’s like when a college football coach comes in but has to wait a few years before his recruits are ready to play. This is that year. Between Gossip Girl, Reaper, Aliens in America and the usual crop of standbys, The CW might finally get some people to watch.
