Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl
Gossip Girl title card
Developed by	Josh Schwartz Stephanie Savage
Starring	Blake Lively Leighton Meester Penn Badgley Chace Crawford Taylor Momsen Ed Westwick Jessica Szohr Kelly Rutherford Matthew Settle
Narrated by	Kristen Bell
Opening theme	Transcenders
Composers	Transcenders
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	33 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Josh Schwartz Stephanie Savage Bob Levy Leslie Morgenstein John Stephens
Original release
Network	The CW
Release	September 19, 2007 – present

Gossip Girl is an American television teen drama inspired by the popular novel series of the same name, written by Cecily von Ziegesar. Gossip Girl revolves around the lives of socialite teenagers growing up on New York City's Upper East Side who attend elite academic institutions while dealing with sex, drugs, jealousy, and other issues.

Each episode is narrated by omniscient yet unseen narrator "Gossip Girl" (voiced by Kristen Bell). Most of the main characters are private high school students, primarily consisting of Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively), Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford), Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen) and Vanessa Abrams (Jessica Szohr). Their family members and other recurring characters play supporting roles in the series.

The series first aired on September 18, 2007 in Canada on CTV before premiering in the U.S. a day later on The CW. The show received the first full season order of 18 episodes of the 2007/2008 television season of the five major broadcast networks in October 2007. Following the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, Gossip Girl returned on Monday, April 21, 2008 to close the first season. In March 2008, The CW renewed Gossip Girl for a second season, which began on Labor Day of 2008. The series returned after a Christmas hiatus on January 5th, 2009.

Production

Conception

The project was originally intended to be adapted into a film by Warner Bros. The film never went into production and was ultimately shelved. Later, the series was set again to be re-adapted, but for a TV series for FOX rather than a movie. This project was again cancelled. The novel series was then again reconsidered for adaptation for television on The CW by Alloy Entertainment. Development of the show began in January 2005 when The CW gave it a put pilot commitment, with Josh Schwartz on board to create and executive produce. In January 2007, the network gave the greenlight for the pilot order and it was confirmed that Schwartz's fellow scribe on The O.C. Alana was hereeeeee!, Stephanie Savage, had co-written it with him. Mark Piznarski (Veronica Mars) directed the first two hours of the series. The network gave the series an early pick-up and a thirteen-episode order on May 15, 2007.

Music

Alexandra Patsavas, the noted music supervisor on Tru Calling, Supernatural, Shark, and more notably The O.C. and Grey's Anatomy which both spanned multiple commercially successful soundtracks, will also be credited for the selection of music used on Gossip Girl. In contrast to her consistent use of independent music and alternative artists on those two shows, Patsavas will be incorporating current Top 40 hits on the series explaining, "I'm relying on old favorites while exploring current pop music. And since the show revolves primarily around high school students in New York, we'll definitely be using some New York-based bands. But these kids listen to the radio, too."

Transcenders (Brian Lapin, Terence Yoshiaki and Mike Fratantuno) write the score for the show. They also wrote and recorded the music for Lincoln Hawk, Rufus Humphrey's fictitious band.

Broadcasting history

Originally scheduled to air on September 26, 2007, the premiere was moved up a week earlier as announced during the 2007 Television Critics Association summer press tour. As a result of this, the previously planned two-hour ninth season premiere of America's Next Top Model was edited to one hour. The pilot was provided as a free download at the iTunes Store on September 14, 2007. The first season of Gossip Girl made its television debut on CTV in Canada on September 18, 2007 at 8:00 p.m. whilst The CW, the original broadcast network of the show, aired the pilot a day later at 9:00 p.m. E/P. In Australia, Gossip girl premiered on the subscription channel FOX8 on December 4, 2007 at 8:30pm, and on the timeshift channel at 10:30pm.

The Writers Strike caused the series to be pulled off the air from the months of January to April. During the strike The CW re-aired the first 13 episodes hopefully leading up to the return of the series. After the strike ended, it was later announced that the series would return April 21, 2008, with five new episodes.

Spinoff

In June 2008 rumors surfaced about a possible spin-off based around the character Jenny Humphrey, based on the book series The It Girl, but Josh Schwartz denied the claims, saying that there was nothing in development.

According to Variety in December 2008, "The CW may utilize an episode of Gossip Girl later this year to test the spinoff waters. The TV spinoff would nonetheless likely center on one of the show's nine regular characters -- although there's always a chance a new character could be planted in the backdoor pilot." [2]

However, Warner Bros. released a statement later in December 2008 saying, "Contrary to the rumors and false reports breaking in the tabloids, there is no approved concept and/or confirmation of a Gossip Girl spinoff at this time."

Advertising

On April 11, 2008, 10 days before they returned from their mid-season hiatus, which was extended by the Writers Strike, the controversial "OMFG" ad-campaign was unveiled. These ads featured provocative images of the cast with the acronym "OMFG" stamped across them in bold. In a smaller size below "April 21" was written, the premier dated of the final five episodes of season one.

In July, 2008 ads for the second season of the critically acclaimed show began appearing. In accordance with their predecessors these ads again featured provocative images of the show's stars and the now infamous "OMFG" acronym in bold. These ads, however, were even more controversial then the last. In one ad, Leighton Meester, who stars as Blair in the show making out with someone while topless in a pool. Many people who were appalled by this image were further enraged when one media outlet pointed out that in the original image, taken from the first season episode entitled "School Lies", Leighton Meester was wearing a top, which was edited out for a greater shock value.

Cast and characters

Casting

Featuring nine regular speaking roles, the majority of the ensemble cast was assembled from February to April 2007. Blake Lively and Leighton Meester were the first two actresses to be chosen in February for the lead roles of Serena van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf respectively. Penn Badgley, Taylor Momsen, Chace Crawford, Kelly Rutherford, Connor Paolo and Florencia Lozano also auditioned successfully and landed roles in the series in March. Actors for the roles of Chuck Bass and Rufus Humphrey were found in April when Ed Westwick and Matthew Settle were cast. As rumors swirled about the impending cancellation of Veronica Mars, it was revealed at The CW's 2007 Upfronts on May 17, 2007 that Kristen Bell had narrated the pilot, thus making her the title character of another show on the network. Further additions to the cast included Jessica Szohr who joined the show in September 2007 as Vanessa Abrams.

Characters

Main article: Characters of Gossip Girl

Narrated through the eyes of the omniscient yet unseen character called "Gossip Girl" (voiced by Kristen Bell), this inconspicuous person runs a popular gossip commentary blog which holds the attention of all major characters on the show as she brings up-to-the-minute talk about the opulent, elite Upper East Side social scene. Leighton Meester portrays Blair Waldorf, the Queen Bee who has a strained relationship with her best friend Serena van der Woodsen (played by Blake Lively). Serena is the former It girl that suspiciously left Manhattan for a self-imposed stint at boarding school before the beginning of the first season.

Although Blair was hurt by her best friend's departure, she relishes her new position as the Queen Bee in their circle of friends, along with her boyfriend, Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford), though she is blissfully unaware of Nate's involvement in Serena's sudden departure. All is not well in Blair's household however—her father left her mother for a male model, Roman, (who worked for Eleanor Waldorf), further straining Blair and her mother's already tense relationship.

Nate leads an angst-filled life and struggles with pressure from his parents to attend Dartmouth College. Additionally, his father has a crippling cocaine addiction as his mother remains in denial about the problems in their perfect world. Nate also feels trapped in his relationship with Blair Waldorf, as he is in love with Serena and slept with her directly before she left.

Fueling Nate's demons is his childhood friend, Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick). Cynical and morally bankrupt, Chuck walks on the wild side of life and is not above abusing others to service his own needs. However, Chuck does retain a soft spot for his best friend Nate and for Blair, who is just as manipulative as Chuck. Later in the season, Chuck realizes he has romantic feelings for Blair.

When Serena returns from her self-imposed exile (as first reported by "Gossip Girl"), she finds herself excluded from her old crowd after her former betrayals come to light but she soon finds an ally in Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), an outsider in her privileged world. Thrust into a society where their financial and social status do not match that of their peers by their former rock star father turned art gallery owner, Rufus Humphrey (Matthew Settle), Dan and his younger sister Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen) struggle to find a niche in their new environment. Rufus is struggling to reconcile with his estranged wife and also has a secret history with Serena's mother, socialite Lily van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford), who was once a groupie. Vanessa Abrams (Jessica Szohr) is Dan's best friend, who was secretly in love with him for a time. She was added as a main cast member after the end of the writers' strike and became Nate Archibald's new love interest. Vanessa also appears in season 2 as Nate's love interest.

Actor	Character	Main Cast Season	Recurring Cast Seasons
Leighton Meester	Blair Waldorf	1, 2	NA
Blake Lively	Serena van der Woodsen	1, 2	NA
Penn Badgley	Dan Humphrey	1, 2	NA
Chace Crawford	Nate Archibald	1, 2	NA
Taylor Momsen	Jenny Humphrey	1, 2	NA
Ed Westwick	Chuck Bass	1, 2	NA
Jessica Szohr	Vanessa Abrams	1, 2	1*
Kelly Rutherford	Lily van der Woodsen	1, 2	NA
Matthew Settle	Rufus Humphrey	1, 2	NA
Kristen Bell	Gossip Girl	1, 2	NA (uncredited)

* = Was moved from guest star to main cast member midseason.

Supporting characters

The show is also awash with secondary characters such as Isabel Coates (played by Nicole Fiscella) and Kati Farkas (Nan Zhang). The loyal deputies of Blair (Isabel and Kati) are nonetheless in awe of Serena. During the second part of the first season, other members of their clan were introduced: Elise Wells (Emma Demar), Hazel Williams (Dreama Walker), Penelope Shafai (Amanda Setton), while Nan Zhang left the show. Blair sabotages her over-achieving academic rival, Nelly Yuki (Yin Chang), and quickly becomes the mean queen again after using her minions to enforce the plot against Nelly Yuki. Later on, Nelly Yuki joins the clan without realizing what Blair did to her. In the second season, Emma Demar was released from the show while Nicole Fiscella, Yin Chang, Dreama Walker and Amanda Setton, were asked to return. Other important recurring characters in the series are Eleanor Waldorf (played by Florencia Lozano in the pilot episode, then by Margaret Colin afterward), Blair's fashion designer mother; Howie "The Captain" Archibald (Sam Robards), Nate's strict and cocaine-addicted father; Serena's troubled younger brother, Eric van der Woodsen (Connor Paolo), whose problems finally incite her to come home; and Bart Bass (Robert John Burke), Chuck's father. During the second part of the first season, former Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Michelle Trachtenberg was cast as Georgina Sparks, a ghost from Serena's troubled party past. Creator Josh Schwartz gave Willa Holland, who had previously worked with him on The O.C., a three-episode stint in Season 2 of Gossip Girl. Holland played Agnes, a 16-year-old model working for Eleanor Waldorf, who creates havoc with Taylor Momsen's character Jenny Humphrey.

Season synopsis

Further information: List of Gossip Girl episodes

Season 1

The first season of Gossip Girl made its official debut on CTV in Canada on September 18, 2007 at 8:00 p.m. while The CW, the original broadcast network of the show, aired the pilot a day later on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 9:00 p.m. eastern/8:00 p.m. central.

Serena returns to New York City from her mysterious disappearance to boarding school in Connecticut. She is not welcomed by her best friend Blair Waldorf, who has assumed the queen bee position in the Constance Billard junior class. Meanwhile, Blair and Nate Archibald's relationship goes sour after he admitted he had sex with Serena, which was witnessed by Chuck Bass. Meanwhile, Dan Humphrey (who goes to same school, St. Jude's, with Chuck and Nate) returns to Williamsburg, Brooklyn with his sister Jenny, who campaigns for acceptance by Blair as one of her associates. Dan asks Serena for a date after a chance encounter, only to save Jenny who was being molested by Chuck at a party hosted by Blair. Blair and Serena's relationship take a turn for the worse when Blair publicly reveals that Serena had a nonexistent drug disorder; in reality, it is Serena's brother Eric who tried to commit suicide and is the one inside an institution. Serena's reaction to Blair's revelation impresses Dan and decides to pursue her once more while Eric's revelation to Blair causes the reconciliation between the two best friends. Dan's father Rufus (who was the frontman of the fictional band Lincoln Hawk) and Serena's mother Lily, who was a groupie during the 1990s, rekindle their past relationship.

Serena and Dan's relationship grows fonder despite the arrival of Dan's friend Vanessa Abrams, who backs off after seeing the couple. Meanwhile, Blair and Nate's relationship takes a bad turn when Blair discovers that Nate still has feelings for Serena. This eventually caused her to break up with him and pursue a secret relationship with Chuck. Nate tries to get back to Blair, with his parents' prodding him to help them in their business deal with the Waldorfs, but in the end remains steadfast in ending their relationship. Jenny, while being used by Blair, drags her mother Alison (guest star Susan Misner) back to Brooklyn to make her parents patch up their differences, while Rufus and Lily's relationship is kept under wraps.

Blair finally breaks up with Chuck when he causes a scene at the debutante ball. This causes Blair and Nate to hook up again, but with Chuck blackmailing her, she then avoids Nate. Meanwhile, Lily accepts Chuck's father Bart's marriage proposal, which causes her to end her relationship with Rufus, with persuasion from Serena who'd rather have Chuck as her stepbrother than Dan. Alison and Rufus fail to patch up their differences and Alison leaves for the Hudson after Christmas. Seeking to end the blackmailing, Blair orders Chuck to stop but this causes him to reveal her affairs with two men to Gossip Girl. Nate refuses to believe it but after Jenny overheard Dan and Serena talking about it, she tells Nate what she heard, causing Nate to break up with Blair. It also causes Blair to lose her queen bee position and she almost flees for France, but for Serena urging her to stay.

After spring break, Blair successfully sabotages her academic rival, Nelly Yuki (guest star recurring Yin Chang), in order to increase her chance of acceptance to Yale University. Furthermore, she battles Jenny for the queen bee position, with Blair ultimately winning after she exposes Jenny's boyfriend Asher as a homosexual, but not before having Eric's permission, as he was the mysterious boy seen making out with Asher. An unusual pairing begins once Nate and Vanessa start hanging out and becoming friends. Meanwhile, Serena then has to deal with the arrival of her friend Georgina Sparks (guest star Michelle Trachtenberg) who is determined to expose Serena's big secret - that she caused someone to die. Not wanting Dan to know anything about this, she lies about sleeping with someone else, which causes Dan to promptly break up with her. After telling Blair, Nate and Chuck what happened and talking to the dead person's parents, Serena feels relieved and is ready to confront Georgina when she finds out that Georgina, taking the pseudonym Sarah, has swept Dan off his feet, and is trying to sleep with him in order to hurt Serena. Meanwhile, Nate informs Blair of his relationship with Vanessa, and Rufus and Lily spend the night together after a Lincoln Hawk concert, reigniting their relationship a day before her wedding to Bart. Dan finds out "Sarah" is really Georgina, prompting Georgina to come up with a clever lie to mask the truth about her past. "Sarah" uses this lie to make herself seem vulnerable to Dan. This partially works in the sense that Georgina spends the night with Dan (in which Serena catches her coming out of his bedroom in the morning), however Dan later confirms that he and Georgina did not sleep together. Serena tells Dan the truth about everything, and he calls upon the help of Blair so they can destroy Georgina for good. They call her parents in, giving them the idea to send her to boot camp, and Georgina is presumably gone from the show.

It is revealed that Rufus and Lily had sex the night before her wedding, requiring her to make a decision between him and Chuck's father. Rufus surprises Lily in the bride's chamber and offers to call off the wedding. Lily tells Rufus she loves him and then walks down the aisle to marry Bart.

Because of "Sarah", Serena confronts her own feelings and decides that she doesn't care if Dan did sleep with Georgina, she still wants to save their relationship; however Dan cannot get over Serena's lies and ultimately decides to break up with her.

Meanwhile, Nate's father returns from rehab for his cocaine addiction and is thought to win his court case; unfortunately, Chuck catches Nate's father doing a deal and tells Nate who then confronts his father, only to find out that while his father is sober, it is unlikely he will win in court and he bought a fake passport to leave the country and the U.S. government's sentence. Deciding that he has no time for a girlfriend in his life, Nate break his budding relationship with Vanessa and the two agree to remain friends. Chuck shows loyalty to Nate by telling him about his father, which ultimately rekindles their friendship. Chuck continues his "rekindling" streak by confessing how he really feels to Blair prompting them to get back together.

The finale showed segments of the summer which implied that Chuck and Blair are still going strong and are planning to vacation in Tuscany for the summer, but when Chuck's father tells him he would be a changed man by the time summer ends, Chuck begins to feel that he will be missing out on the fun of the single life. Chuck and Bart are interrupted after Lily introduces her interior decorator Amelia (played by Lydia Hearst). Chuck throws out the flower bouquet he bought for Blair, taking out a single rose and giving it to Amelia. Meanwhile, Blair who is waiting at the airport meets a man who is to board a plane and the two introduce each other. Soon she receives a text from Chuck and realizes that he isn't going to make it and boards the plane with the mysterious man. Toward the ending, scenes are shown having Nate and Serena hanging out, as are Vanessa and Dan.

Season 1 ends with episode eighteen, "Much 'I Do' About Nothing."

Webseries: Tales from the Upper East Side

On August 4, 2008, the first Gossip Girl web series, "Tales from the Upper East Side," debuted. The series of online-only animated videos introduces a mystery involving one of the secondary characters (Isabel, Penelope, Hazel and Elise) as a scandal arises in Manhattan. Part one, "Sinning in the Rain," premiered Monday, August 4th 2008, with new episodes being released on subsequent Mondays.

The series span from spring break to Asher's party. In the first episode Kati and Isabel decide to video chat after Kati reveals she is going back to Israel, then the girls get a message from Gossip Girl, showing a girl making out with two guys. The second episode deals with the girls being in the Aspen, while Jenny has found a cute teacher, the girls go to a sauna when the Gossip Girl reveals a 3rd make-out. Isabel reveals she was videochatting heavily with Kati when the scandal happened while the girls are shocked by the lesbian innuendo. She then slips and breaks her arm. In the third episode, the girls are working for the SAT when Gossip Girl reveals a 4th make-out. Penelope reveals she was stalking Nate during the scandal. The day of Asher's party, in the 4th episode, Gossip Girl reveals a 5th make-out. Elise reveals she was taking care of Penelope's laundry, leaving Hazel as the obvious culprit. Nelly Yuki tells the girls that she is in Central Park. When they get there, Hazel states she won't hide anymore, she is in love and the 5 guys (two baseball players, a trumpettist, a freshman and a man in the library) are one and the same. Disappointed all the girls go back to what they were doing when the scandal happened.

Episodes

01. Sinning in the Rain (August 4th)

02. Snow Country for No Men (August 11th)

03. The Test Years of Our Lives (August 17th)

04. Verti-ho (August 25th)

Season 2

The first episode of the second season is set in the Hamptons and is titled "Summer, Kind of Wonderful," a take from the John Hughes' film "Some Kind of Wonderful." The premiere aired on The CW on September 1st with 3.4 million viewers, an impressive number for The CW network. Season 2 is set to have 25 episodes in all.

It was also announced that The O.C. alum Willa Holland would be reteaming up with Josh Schwartz to star in three or more episodes of Season 2, playing Agnes, a 16-year-old model working for Eleanor Waldorf. John Patrick Amedori was also cast as Aaron Rose, Serena van der Woodsen's new love interest.

Another character who was added during the second season premiere is Catherine Mason, played by Mädchen Amick. She is an older woman who seduces Nate. She is married and begins having an affair with Nate over the summer, while they are spending time in the Hamptons, on summer vacation. She is the stepmother of Blair Waldorf's new love interest, Marcus (guest star Patrick Heusinger). Even though Blair is now with Marcus, who reveals himself to be a rich English Lord, Chuck regrets losing her over the summer, and tries to win her heart back. He becomes friends with Marcus in order to get to Blair. Serena and Dan decide to get back together. Serena wants to keep it a secret, though eventually everyone finds out via Gossip Girl.

During a city-wide blackout Blair "mistakenly" comes close to having sex with Chuck to fulfill her needs, of which Marcus is depriving her. Once the lights come back on, Marcus walks in on Blair and Chuck. He proceeds to punch Chuck, and storm out of the room. Blair quickly follows saying that he is the one she wants, and not Chuck. Marcus accuses her of only wanting his title, however, he wants her as well. Blair then asks him to prove it, and they are seen making out on the stairs of Blair's home.

Meanwhile, during the blackout, Serena and Dan are stuck in an elevator, on their way to Blair's party. There, they are forced to discuss the reasons they broke up in the first place. They decide that they are unable to continue their relationship, and break up, once again. Nate is still secretly involved with Catherine but has a hard time juggling his tryst with her and renewing his relationship with Vanessa. Once Catherine learns of this, she orders Vanessa to steer clear from Nate or she'll go forth with information about Nate's father's whereabouts to the FBI. Vanessa backs off, in order to protect Nate but soon learns that Catherine has been involved with Marcus as well. Instead of going to Nate, she confides in Dan and Blair. Blair composes a plan to blackmail Catherine into paying off Nate's dad's debts but it backfires once Vanessa, out of hurt, reveals to Catherine's husband about her infidelity.

For the first week of their Senior year of school, Dan and Serena avoid each other, until Serena sees Dan talking to the new girl, Amanda (guest star Laura-Leigh). Blair and her minions quickly come to the rescue, inviting Amanda to lunch, and leaving Dan without a lunch buddy for the day. Serena feels wrong about trying to keep Amanda and Dan apart, and heads off to find Dan to apologize. Dan, however, blames Serena for everything, and leaves. During this time Lily goes to Rufus's gallery and he is on his way to a movie and she asks to go with him and he accepts. Later that night Lily comes around to the loft with a bottle of wine and a DVD as she is lonely. Rufus bluntly says that they can't be friends and while talking his girlfriend walks in the door. Lily looks hurt and leaves, giving him the bottle of wine.

Serena then thinks that it would be a good idea if she, Dan and Amanda went to the club that night. While there, Dan and Amanda begin talking about poetry. When Serena tries to add her input, she is proven wrong in what she says and corrected by one of the two. She then decides to go to the bar, and get a drink. There, Blair's friends bring over a guy whom she takes over to the table with her. Serena decides she needs yet another drink, and Amanda goes to the bathroom, leaving Dan and the new guy alone. Dan gets up and heads to talk to Serena. Serena informs Dan that she can not just turn off loving him, and him having a new girl the first week of school hurt. Dan then says that maybe they'll be better off not being around each other for awhile, and Serena suggests that Dan and Amanda leave. Before Dan and Amanda can leave, though, Blair's friends throw a 'Nairtini' (a liquid that most likely consists of the hair removal product Nair) into Amanda's hair that causes part of it to fall out. While Serena is not at fault, Dan blames Serena for this and storms out, after sparking her jealous and mean side. It is later revealed that this whole scheme was plotted by Chuck, having hired Amanda and set up the fake relationship to once again return Serena to her reign as Queen of the school. This sudden shift in Serena's behavior is already evident and brings Blair much chagrin, but delights Chuck in his hopes to knock Blair off of her pedestal once again.

With Fashion week on the horizon, Blair knows she can reclaim her throne by helping her minions get in to Eleanor's show. Soon Blair discovers that not only is Serena on the radar with her new socialite friend Poppy Lifton (guest star Tamara Feldman), but Jenny is the shining star at Eleanor's studio. Jenny has not only changed the seating chart that Blair designed, but she's garnered a lot of attention for her work. Blair soon decides to sabotage the show by sending the models home, (which Jenny saves by having the socialite friends of Poppy and Serena model for the show) and even sends Serena down the runway in a dress that Jenny made. As expected, Eleanor is furious to find Jenny's dress on the runway, but Blair soon realizes Jenny is not the enemy and steps up for her. Eleanor receives rave reviews for Jenny's dress. Serena and Blair have an altercation that can best be described as a "you hold me back, I want to be all that I am," to which Blair is not amused. Tensions are high when Blair sees photographers taking photos of Poppy and Serena while they are leaving the show. A subplot of this episode finds Dan attempting to experience life in Chuck's shoes, which leads him to discover a dark secret about Chuck and Bart's relationship. Lily also unearths that Bart has gone to great lengths to assure nothing from her past can destroy their family, which includes a file on Lily's life before her turn as an Upper East Side mother. Rufus and Jenny are also on the outs, due to Jenny's refusal to attend school. She wants to focus on her talent as a designer, much to Rufus' chagrin.

Jenny's disagreement with Rufus finally comes to an end when he agrees to spend one day with her at Eleanor's studio before making the final call as to whether she must return to school on Monday. A supposedly accidental run-in with Lily causes the single father to realize that he should let his daughter follow her dreams, because even though he wasn't able to follow his, they are in reach right now for Jenny. With the help of Vanessa, she decides to be home-schooled. Meanwhile, Blair, Serena, Dan, Nate and Chuck visit Yale University to give them a taste of college life there. Although Serena was originally going to visit Brown University, she ditches this plan in order to get even with Blair by impressing the Dean of Yale so much that he invites her to an intimate gathering at his house. In a rage, Blair manipulates her way into the dinner, and the night ends in a girl-on-girl catfight between the two best friends. Chuck, Dan and Nate all get themselves into trouble with Dan realizing that none of his recommendation letters were ever submitted, Nate being head-hunted because of his father's actions, and Chuck being kidnapped by a group of Skull and Bones members who want to use him to get even with the Archibald family.

Vanessa uses the picture of Catherine and Marcus on her phone to blackmail Blair into getting signatures for a petition to save a bar in Brooklyn that should be refurbished as a historical landmark. Blair turns the tables by enticing Chuck to seduce Vanessa. However, Chuck realizes that Blair might actually like him and regains control of the situation between them. Meanwhile, Lily and Bart throw an extravagant housewarming party for the sake of gaining attention in the press, but Serena rebelliously speaks out against Lily to reporters, saying that Lily has never been there for her or Eric. Eric, who has a new boyfriend, confirms to Lily that what Serena has said is true; it was Serena who raised him, not Lily. The evening ends in apologies from both mother and daughter to each other. On the same night, Nate moves into Dan's place in Brooklyn after Dan discovers that Nate's house has been seized.

Jenny befriends a young model named Agnes (guest star Willa Holland), who convinces Jenny to confront Eleanor Waldorf after noticing that Eleanor uses Jenny's designs to propel her own career forward, giving neither credit nor gratitude to Jenny. Jenny's decision to walk out on Eleanor leads her to a photo session with Agnes and Agnes' boyfriend, Max, which a worried Nate storms in on, refusing to leave until Jenny comes with him. Jenny is upset that Nate came after her, and asks him why he cares. They kiss. Chuck and Blair continue refusing to say the magic 8-letter phrase to each other, with Chuck stating that they can't become "Chuck and Blair" because it would be the start and end of everything for them. She agrees. Serena and Dan try to spend time together as friends at an opening at Rufus' art gallery, but the artist turns out to be an old acquaintance of Serena's, Aaron Rose (guest star John Patrick Amedori), with whom she has instant chemistry.

Blair disapproves of her mother's new boyfriend, Cyrus Rose (guest star Wallace Shawn). We later find out that he's the father of Serena's boyfriend Aaron. Although she makes it her mission to break up Eleanor and her new man, Blair later learns to like Cyrus for his clever lawyer ways. Jenny runs into trouble when her plans with Agnes to start her own fashion line fall through, with the girls bickering in front of potential manager Scott Smith. Jenny then independently returns to him, telling him that she has ditched Agnes and still wants a manager. Smith says that he would be happy to to represent Jenny, provided that she gets her parents' approval. Both her mom and dad refuse to sign the paperwork, resulting in Jenny looking towards the only remaining option of emancipation. When Agnes finds out about Jenny going behind her back, she burns all of Jenny's dresses. Serena continues to fall for Aaron but is still bewildered by the girls who keep turning up at his place. Aaron finally gives her a talk about how he and Serena never decided to have an exclusive relationship and that he likes to date a lot of people at a time. Although Serena finds it hard to accept this, she meets Cyrus at Blair's 18th party, and he tells her that Aaron really likes her. She decides to give him a chance. Dan meets with his mentor, Noah Shapiro, along with the editor of New York Magazine. Noah convinces Dan to learn about Bart Bass and write about him for a magazine. Through some investigating, Dan learns of how Bart torched a building so that he could collect the insurance money in the 1980s. He writes of this incident, but also of Bart's poor relationship with Chuck. In the end, Dan's conscience causes him to send his story to Bart, and not the press, causing Bart to make more of an effort with Chuck.

Rufus learns that Jenny has been staying with Eric, and Lily finds herself trying to convince Jenny to return to her family. She discovers Jenny's emancipation forms. Nate's father appears and asks Nate and his mother to move to Dominica with him. In the process of packing up, the FBI inform Nate of his father's real intentions. Nate's father ends up surrendering to the FBI. Chuck and Nate become friends again, and Nate clears things up with Vanessa. Blair is upset to be celebrating Thanksgiving without her usual traditions of her father's famous pie and a home-cooked meal; Cyrus plans a restaurant dinner for Thanksgiving. Blair learns from Dorota that Cyrus has proposed to Eleanor and will announce it at dinner. Upset that Eleanor hasn't told her the news yet, Blair forces Dorota outside of the house with her and they end up on the street, aimlessly wandering. They run into a distressed Jenny at the same time Eleanor appears to take Blair and Dorota home. Blair says she will only go home if Jenny does. Everyone goes home and Blair is pleasantly surprised to find her Dad waiting for her, with his famous pie. Chuck lets Eric into Bart's safe where he finds files containing private information about him, Serena, and Lily. Outraged, Lily takes off with her children, the three of them ending up at Rufus' place in Brooklyn for Thanksgiving dinner.

Jenny moves in with her family again. She doesn't know that Vanessa and Nate are together again, but believes that he has just been avoiding her. After one of the girls from school sees and photographs Nate and Vanessa kissing, Jenny seeks revenge by making a see-through dress for Vanessa to wear to the Snowflake Ball as Nate's ball-date. However, Vanessa admits to Jenny that she is going to break up with Nate because she doesn't want him to come in between their friendship anymore. Jenny tries to stop her, but Vanessa goes up to Nate and confesses that she stole the letter Nate wrote to Jenny, which stated that he still had feelings for her. Following this moment, Blair's groupies turn on a huge light, and Vanessa discovers that not only is her dress from Jenny see-through, but that she has just been publicly humiliated. Nate confronts Jenny and then runs after Vanessa. Meanwhile, Serena and Dan are again having trouble seeing each other with someone else. Serena is dating Aaron, and Dan asks Aaron's ex-girlfriend, Lexie (guest star Natalie Knepp), to the dance. However, Serena finds out that Lexie wants to have sex with Dan. She is uncomfortable with this, and has an awkward conversation with Dan about it. Blair and Chuck have a dispute about who is taking who to the ball. They decide to make a bet which involves getting the perfect date for each other. If Blair wins, she gets Chuck's limo for a month, but if Chuck wins, he gets Dorota for a month. Ironically, they both find clones of themselves for each other. Blair then confronts Chuck about how everyone else can work it out, yet they don't seem to be able to. Chuck asks Blair to dance. Lily Bass is still frustrated with Bart. She and Rufus tell each other at the ball that they still have feelings for each other. Chuck overhears and calls his father, telling him to come immediately to the dance. Bart's limo is involved in an accident on the way.

It is revealed in the next episode that Bart Bass died in the accident, although no details are given. At the funeral, an inebriated Chuck demands that Dan leaves, blaming him for his father's death. At this stage, Chuck is the only one who knows about Lily and Rufus. Chuck leaves the post-funeral dinner in a huff, and Blair chases after him, finally telling him that she loves him in the hope that he won't run off. He leaves her on the streets. Meanwhile, Cyrus tells Eleanor at the dinner that he wants to marry her the next day; life is too short. At first Blair disapproves, but later that night she cries to Cyrus about Chuck breaking her heart, signaling to Eleanor that it is OK to go ahead with the marriage. During the wedding, Blair goes up to her room and finds Chuck on her bed. She hugs him while they lie on her bed, crying. Lily admits to both her mother and Serena that she is still in love with Rufus but she did not re-enter into a relationship with him because of Dan and Serena. Aaron has been concerned that Serena leans emotionally more on Dan than him. He asks her to come with him to Buenos Aires for a holiday. She asks Dan for his opinion, and he tells her to go. At Eleanor's wedding however, Dan confronts Serena about his feelings for her. Because she knows about her mother and Rufus, and because she has already said yes to Aaron, Serena turns Dan down and goes ahead with Aaron's trip. Chuck finds dirt on Lily and lets her know what he knows, although she begs him not to tell anyone, and to not turn away from those that love him. Lily's secret is revealed to Rufus by her mother and Rufus says that he cannot ever be with Lily. Various scenes show an overview of the casts' lives at this point: Lily sitting alone in front of the fire; Blair and Chuck laying down together; Serena and Aaron in a limo together. Serena ignores a call from Dan. Blair wakes up the morning after the wedding to find Chuck missing. He has left a note on the pillow next to her which says he is not good for her, and that she should not look for him. Rufus approaches Lily at the train station, where they'd plan to meet and go away. He says to her, "Just tell me one thing: was it a boy or a girl?" It is assumed that the trip Lily took to the French hospital years back was due to her having a child.

A new year begins and with it more secrets develop. Rufus and Lily go off together on a search for their son. Dan and Serena meet with each other and they both decide there are better off back together. Dan soon learns he shares a sibling brother with Serena and becomes ridden with guilt when Rufus asks him to let Lily tell Serena the news. Jenny decides to go back to school much to her dad's excitement. She is determined to start making a few changes at the school regarding the popular girls. Much to Blair's determination to distract herself from Chuck over the fact she had told him she loves him, she finds it hard as he becomes more rebellious and self destructive. She eventually stops him from jumping of a roof by pleading that she couldn't handle losing him. Chuck soon realizes that his life is important to at least one person he loves. Chuck's uncle Jack Bass (guest star Desmond Harrington) returns and tells Blair he will now take care of him much to Blair's annoyance. Blair hints to Jack not to mention to Chuck that something had happened between them on New Year's.

Reception

U.S. Nielsen ratings

The first episode of the show was watched by 3.65 million viewers, coming in last place in its 9:00 p.m. timeslot on Wednesday nights. Despite this, the show was noted to have held the best audience retention of America's Next Top Model in spite of a decline of 30% in the advertiser-craved 18-49 demographic and in total viewers. The show wasn't able to cling to its viewers in its second outing, however, losing more than half of ANTM's audience and 22% of its own debut numbers in the face of strong competition from other shows such as ABC's Private Practice and NBC's Bionic Woman each of which made impressive debuts that night. The eleventh episode of the first season marked the lowest rating to a date with only 1.80 million viewers, but ratings steadily increased leading up to the finale. In its second season, Gossip Girl has neared and on one occasion exceeded the viewership of its series debut.

Season 1

Gossip Girl averaged 2.61 million viewers for each new episode of its first season. (Ratings for the Gossip Girl: Revealed special were not factored into the season average.) The episodes of the second season have thus far (as of January 6th , 2009) averaged 3.19 million viewers.

#	Episode	Air date	Rating	Share	18–49 (Rating/Share)	Viewers (M)	Rank (#)
1.01	"Pilot"	09-19-2007	2.4	4	1.7/4	3.65	82/96
1.02	"The Wild Brunch"	09-26-2007	1.8	3	1.3/3	2.55	88/97
1.03	Poison Ivy	10-03-2007	1.8	3	1.3/3	2.80	94/102
1.04	Bad News Blair	10-10-2007	1.8	3	1.3/3	2.90	88/97
1.05	Dare Devil	10-17-2007	1.7	3	1.3/3	2.41	92/97
1.06	The Handmaiden's Tale	10-24-2007	1.8	3	1.2/3	2.54	90/97
1.07	Victor, Victrola	11-07-2007	1.8	3	1.2/3	2.51	92/101
1.08	Seventeen Candles	11-14-2007	1.9	3	1.4/4	2.90	89/101
1.09	Blair Waldorf Must Pie!	11-28-2007	2.1	3	1.4/4	2.98	84/98
1.10	Hi, Society	12-05-2007	1.7	3	1.2/3	2.49	91/102
1.11	Roman Holiday	12-19-2007	1.3	2	0.8/2	1.80	TBA
1.12	School Lies	01-02-2008	1.6	2	1.0/2	2.20	82/94
1.13	A Thin Line Between Chuck and Nate	01-09-2008	1.7	3	1.1/3	2.34	85/95
Special	"Gossip Girl: Revealed"	01-28-2008	1.2	2	0.9/2	1.72	TBA
1.14	The Blair Bitch Project	04-21-2008	1.8	3	1.3/3	2.44	TBD
1.15	Desperately Seeking Serena	04-28-2008	1.8	3	1.3/3	2.53	88/96
1.16	All About My Brother	05-05-2008	1.6	3	1.0/3	2.11	91/97
1.17	Woman on the Verge	05-12-2008	1.8	3	1.2/3	2.71	84/96
1.18	Much 'I Do' About Nothing	05-19-2008	2.0	3	1.4/4	2.97	69/84

Season 2

The episodes of the second season have thus far (as of January 5th , 2009) averaged 3.2 million viewers.

#	Episode	Air date	Rating	Share	18–49 (Rating/Share)	Viewers (m)	Rank (#)
2.01	Summer, Kind of Wonderful	09-01-2008	2.3	4	1.7/5	3.38	TBD
2.02	Never Been Marcused	09-08-2008	2.2	4	1.7/5	3.16	TBD
2.03	The Dark Night	09-15-2008	2.5	4	2.0/5	3.73	TBD
2.04	The Ex Files	09-22-2008	2.3	4	1.6/4	3.35	TBD
2.05	The Serena Also Rises	09-29-2008	2.4	4	1.9/5	3.54	TBD
2.06	New Haven Can Wait	10-13-2008	2.3	4	1.6/4	3.34	TBD
2.07	Chuck In Real Life	10-20-2008	2.1	3	1.4/4	3.03	TBD
2.08	Pret-a-Poor-J	10-27-2008	2.3	3	1.6/4	3.02	TBD
2.09	There Might Be Blood	11-03-2008	2.3	4	1.7/4	3.16	TBD
2.10	Bonfire of the Vanity	11-10-2008	2.1	3	1.5/4	3.01	TBD
2.11	The Magnificent Archibalds	11-17-2008	2.1	3	1.5/4	2.88	TBD
2.12	It's a Wonderful Lie	12-01-2008	2.2	3	1.5/4	3.08	TBD
2.13	O Brother, Where Bart Thou?	12-08-2008	2.1	3	1.5/4	3.01	TBD
2.14	In The Realm of the Basses	01-05-2009	2.1	3	1.4/4	2.94	TBD
2.15	Gone With The Will	01-12-2009	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD

Seasonal ratings

Seasonal ratings based on average total viewers per episode of Gossip Girl on The CW:

Season	Timeslot (EDT)	Season Premiere	Season Finale	TV Season	Rank	Viewers (in millions)
1	Wednesday 9:00 P.M. (September 19, 2007–January 9, 2008) Monday 8:00 P.M. (April 21–May 19, 2008)	September 19, 2007	May 19, 2008	2007-2008	#196	2.6
2	Monday 8:00 P.M. (September 1-)	September 1, 2008	2009	2008-2009	#108	3.2

The second season premiere scored 3.38 million viewers and a 1.7/5 among adults 18-49, this made the second season premiere the most rated hour ever in the demo for a Monday night on The CW. On September 15 2008, Gossip Girl pulled in a series high of 3.73 million viewers, it also scored it's highest ever demo ratings with 2.8/6 among 18-34 and 2.0/5 among 18-49 year olds.

iTunes

Before the series officially made its debut on air, the first episode was made available as a free download on iTunes.

With its initial struggle for ratings, CW entertainment's president Dawn Ostroff alluded to the fact that strong sales on iTunes was a deciding factor in the series being picked up for a full season.

Critical response

Gossip Girl initially received mixed reviews. Due to the show's pedigree as an adaptation of the New York Times bestselling novel series, the show was considered to be one of the more anticipated new shows of the 2007-2008 television season. An August 2007 survey by OTX, a global media research and consulting firm, placed the show on the list of top ten new shows that viewers were aware of. Though the pilot was the recipient of positive reviews from publications such as Variety, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle and the Boston Globe, other reviewers described it as a guilty pleasure rather than an hour's worth of must-watch television. Metacritic gave it a score of 54, based on the reviews of 26 different publications. However, author Cecily von Ziegesar has expressed support for the show, noting that all of her major plot points were present in the pilot. The Parents Television Council has shown particular criticism of the series, especially with its "OMFG" ad campaign from April 2008. It also named the episode "Victor/Victrola" the worst television program of the week in which the episode originally was broadcast. These critical reviews are now on new Season 2 advertisements, featuring the San Diego Union-Tribune, Parents Television Council, New York Post and the Boston Herald.

The Hartford Courant chronicled a variety of negative responses to the ads.

As the show continued its first season, the response become considerably more positive - and by the second season critical response was favorable. Metacritic gave the new season an improved score of 71. "Summer's been good to this girl," claimed Entertainment Weekly, who awarded the series its highest grade of "A." The New York Daily News claimed the show had found its footing by stating "It knows exactly what it wants and needs its new hybrid product to be. The hockey fights video of teen romance drama." The Boston Globe called the new season "dishy, farcical and funny." Gossip Girl was designated the "Best. Show. Ever." in April 2008, by NY Magazine.

DVD releases

Complete season	Release dates
	Region 1	Region 2	Region 3	Region 4
1st	August 19, 2008 [3]	August 18, 2008	October 22, 2008	November 13, 2008 November 24, 2008

In Taiwan, the DVD is now available. "Gossip Girl" is called "Hua Bian Jiao Zhu" in Mandarin. In the Philippines, the DVD is now available. A limited edition Gossip Girl notebook was included for the pre-order. In Brazil, the DVD is now available. The pre-order included a hand-bag holder. The Australian Region 4 DVD release of the first season has been submitted for classifcation via the OFLC, but a release date is yet to be confirmed.

Awards

Year	Result	Award	Category	Recipient(s)
2008	Winner	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV Show Drama
2008			Choice TV Breakout Show
2008			Choice TV Actress Drama	Blake Lively
2008			Choice TV Breakout Female	Blake Lively
2008			Choice TV Breakout Male	Chace Crawford
2008			Choice TV Villain	Ed Westwick
2008	Nominated		Choice TV Actress Drama	Leighton Meester
2008			Choice TV Actor Drama	Chace Crawford
2008				Penn Badgley
2008			Choice TV Breakout Star Female	Leighton Meester
2008				Taylor Momsen
2008			Choice TV Breakout Star Male	Ed Westwick
2008	Nominated	People's Choice Award	Favorite New TV Drama

International distribution

The show airs on CTV in Canada (For season two, CTV will send the series down to the relaunched A), the Warner Channel in Latin America, Pro7 in Germany, ETC Entertainment Central in the Philippines, Zee Café in India, ITV2 in the United Kingdom, FOX8 in Australia, VT4 in Belgium, AXN in Spain and Portugal, Mya in Italy and TVN Siedem in Poland. It will air on 8TV in Malaysia, TV Norge in Norway, MTV3 in Finland,Xtra HOT in Israel, Kanal 5 in Sweden, Stöð 2 in Iceland, TF1 in France, On Style in South Korea, and Trans 7 in Indonesia .

World airings

Country	Date of Premiere	Channel
Argentina	November 2007	Warner Channel
Australia	December 4, 2007 December 3, 2008	FOX8 (Pay TV) Nine Network (free-to-air)
Austria	March 21, 2009	ORF 1
Belgium	July 24, 2008 Episodes 1-6	VIJFtv RTBF 2
Brazil	November 8, 2007	Warner Channel (cable) SBT (free-to-air)
Bulgaria	December 16, 2008	Nova Television
Canada	September 18, 2007	A (Present) MuchMusic (Present) CTV (2007-2008)
Colombia	March 2008	Warner Channel
Denmark	July 2008	Kanal 4
Dominican Republic	November 8, 2007	Warner Channel (cable)
Estonia	September 2008	Kanal 2
Fiji	April 2008	Fiji One
Finland	March 18, 2008	sub
France	September 6, 2008	TF1
Germany	Unknown	ProSieben
Greece	September 20, 2008	Star Channel
Guatemala	November 8, 2007	Warner Channel
Hong Kong	October 18, 2008	TVB J2
Hungary	December 28 2008	Cool
India	July 20, 2008	Zee Cafe
Indonesia	August 11, 2008	Trans 7
Israel	2008	Xtra HOT
Ireland	January 08, 2009	TG4
Italy	January 19, 2008 January 8, 2009	Mya (Pay) Italia 1 (free-to-air)
Latin America	2007	Warner Channel
Malaysia	April 23, 2008	8TV
Mexico	November 8, 2007	Warner Channel
Netherlands	June 3, 2008	NET 5
New Zealand	August 15, 2008	TV2
Norway	January 2, 2008	TVNorge
Peru	November 18, 2008	Warner Channel (cable)
Philippines	February 12, 2008	ETC (cable) ETC on SBN (free-to-air)
Poland	April 8, 2008	TVN Siedem
Portugal	November 9, 2008	Sony Entertainment Television, AXN
Singapore	July 23, 2008 (Season 1) September 8, 2008 (Season 2)	Mio TV Favourites-on-Demand (Season 1) Mio TV Season Pass (Season 2)
Slovakia	November 23, 2008	Markíza
South Korea	March 3, 2008	On Style (cable)
South Africa	September 3, 2008	Go
Sweden	January 29, 2008	Kanal 5
Switzerland	August 30, 2008	TSR1
Thailand	April 25, 2008	True Series
United Kingdom	March 27, 2008 (Season 1) January 21 2009 (Season 2)	ITV2
United States	September 19, 2007	The CW (Present)
Turkey	September 9, 2008	CNBC-e
Iceland	Unknown	Stöð 2
Trinidad and Tobago		Channel TV6
Spain	December 15, 2008	AXN
Ukraine	Unknown	Novyi Kanal

External links

• Official ITV GOSSIP GIRL Site
• Official Site
• Gossip Girl at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show
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