Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl
File:XoXo Gossip Girl..jpg Gossip Girl cast
Developed by	Josh Schwartz Stephanie Savage
Starring	Hilary Duff 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	3 (2 completed, 3rd filming)
No. of episodes	43 (Seasons 1 and 2) (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
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Gossip Girl is an American drama television series based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. Narrated by the omniscient yet unseen blogger "Gossip Girl," the series revolves around the lives of wealthy teenagers at an elite prep school growing up on New York City's Upper East Side.

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 Mondays, April 21, 2008 to finish the first season. The CW has renewed the show for a third season, which premieres on September 14, 2009.

Cast and characters

Main article: List of characters in Gossip Girl

The ensemble cast of Gossip Girl features nine regular speaking roles and was gathered from February to April 2007. For the television adaptation, the creators initially chose Serena van der Woodsen, Blair Waldorf, Dan Humphrey, Nate Archibald, Jenny Humphrey, Chuck Bass, Lily van der Woodsen, Rufus Humphrey to be the main focus of the series. Jessica Szohr as Vanessa Abrams and also Hilary Duff as Olivia Burke were later added to the main cast.

Starring

Actor	Character	Year	Notes
Hilary Duff	Olivia Burke	2009-	Originally supposed to be recurring, later added to main cast.
Blake Lively	Serena van der Woodsen	2007-
Leighton Meester	Blair Waldorf	2007-
Penn Badgley	Dan Humphrey	2007-
Chace Crawford	Nate Archibald	2007-
Taylor Momsen	Jenny Humphrey	2007-
Ed Westwick	Chuck Bass	2007
Jessica Szohr	Vanessa Abrams	2008-	Previously recurring.
Kelly Rutherford	Lily Bass	2007-
Matthew Settle	Rufus Humphrey	2007-
Kristen Bell	"Gossip Girl"	2007-	Uncredited; voice only.

Recurring

Actor	Character	Year	Notes
Connor Paolo	Eric van der Woodsen	2007-
Zuzanna Szadkowski	Dorota	2007-
Michelle Trachtenberg	Georgina Sparks	2008-
Amanda Setton	Penelope Shafai	2007-
Yin Chang	Nelly Yuki	2008-
Nicole Fiscella	Isabel Coates	2007-
Dreama Walker	Hazel Williams	2007-2009
Margaret Colin	Eleanor Waldorf-Rose	2007-	At "Pilot", she was played by Florencia Lozano
Sam Robards	Howard Archibald	2007-2008
Robert John Burke	Bart Bass	2007-2008
Tamara Feldman	Poppy Lifton	2008-2009
Wallace Shawn	Cyrus Rose	2008-
Joanna Garcia	Bree Buckley	2009-

Season synopsis

Main article: List of Gossip Girl episodes

Season 1

Serena van der Woodsen unexpectedly returns to the Upper East Side, Manhattan from her mysterious stay at a boarding school in Connecticut. She is initially met with hostility by her former best friend Blair Waldorf, who was hurt by the lack of contact during Serena's absence, and who has in her absence assumed the position of queen bee of the Constance Billard junior class. At first the two struggle over their alienation, and after Blair discovers that her longtime boyfriend Nate Archibald had slept with Serena and led to her departure, Blair is unwilling to continue their friendship. Serena meets Dan Humphrey, a new St. Jude scholarship student and outsider to Upper East Side life, and begins a relationship with him. At the same time Dan's father, Rufus, and Serena's mother, Lily, rekindle their past relationship. Blair and Serena continue to fight until at an Ivy School Mixer Blair informs the group that Serena is battling a drug addiction, after her friend Chuck sees her visiting the Ostroff centre for the addicted and disturbed . Serena's brother, Eric van der Woodsen then informs Blair that he had attempted suicide and was receiving treatment, which explains both why Serena was visiting the Ostroff centre and her sudden return from boarding school. After Blair gives a tearful explanation of how she felt Serena had abandoned her, Serena and Blair mend their friendship.

While Dan is adamant about keeping a distance from the upper east side, his sister Jenny desperately attempts to fit in, performing menial tasks in order to be a part of high society. This involves a game of truth or dare which could have potentially ending in Jenny's arrest, acting as a "Handmaiden" and slave to Blair and a hazing from her friends. Despite Blair's attempts to rectify and mend her relationship with Nate, it slowly begins to fail due to Nate's personal problems with his father, which include his father's drug addiction and money problems and the fact that he still loves Serena. When Nate gets his father arrested, Blair informs him that she doesnt need him, but his family does and leaves him. Distraught Blair performs a strip tease at his club, Victor Victrola which ends with Blair losing her virginity to Chuck Bass, Nate's best friend, in the back of his limo. Chuck eventually develops feelings for Blair, admitting to them on her birthday while she waits for Nate to come (no one knows they are broken up), however Gossip Girl sends out a picture of Nate blowing off Blair's party with Jenny causing Blair to admit to everyone that they aren't together and she once again hooks up with Chuck, something Serena witnesses. After their fling Blair tries to mend things with Nate, however Chuck prevents her from reviving her relationship with Nate by threatening to tell him of their shared intimacy. Throughout the year, Serena and Dan's relationship is continually tested by the elite class and the return of his best friend Vanessa Abrams who Dan confessed his love for the year earlier. Yet, despite such problematic situations, their relationship grows stronger and Serena moves past her insecurities over Vanessa knowing Dan so well and he moves past his own over their different worlds.

Blair's relationship with Nate is going well, certain that Chuck won't reveal anything to Nate of their illicit encounter. Gossip Girl sends out pictures of Serena buying a pregnancy test and Dan professes his love for her, though she she informs him that she isnt pregnant. Later, Serena informs Dan that Blair slept with Chuck and Nate during the same week. Jenny overhears this, and her desire to become a part of the upper east side, coupled with her hatred of Blair's belittlement, moves her to confirm Blair's indiscretions to Nate.

Nate then confronts Chuck in front of the entire school, destroying Blair's reputation dethroning her as the 'queen bee'. Blair has a breakdown, compelling her to move to France in order spend a semester with her father and his lover. Serena intercepts her before she leaves and promises to help her through the scandal, telling her not to make the same mistake she did. In Blair's absence, Jenny begins to climb the rungs on the social ladder at Constance Billard, and terrorizes Blair when school comes back after Spring Break. Blair however, seeks revenge and later embarrasses Jenny by organizing a party which reveals that Jenny stole a Valentino dress belonging to Hazel's mother (one of Blair's minions) to sell to a pawn broker for a Dolce. The girls shun Jenny and go back to Blair before Jenny makes a return by asking Nate, now a close friend, to talk to Penelope, who has had a crush on him for a while.

Meanwhile Lily and Chuck's mogul father, Bart Bass, get engaged after Serena tells her mother that she would prefer to have Chuck as a step-brother over Dan and saying that she loves him. All is well for a while until Serena starts receiving racy gifts that she first links to Chuck. However, she soon discovers that they are from Georgina Sparks who Serena partied with a year earlier. Georgina returns and Serena claims she isnt interested in partying with her anymore. However, Georgina has befriended Dan under the alias of Sarah, and continues to meddle in Serena's life, threatening to tell Dan about the night before Serena left. Georgina invites herself to dinner and outs Serena's little brother, Erik, as a homosexual, exposing his relationship with Jenny's boyfriend. Serena is disgusted at Georgina, saying that she never wants to see her again. Georgina still doesnt leave, and as a result Serena and Dan's relationship begins to suffer. Lily then finds a USB which contains a video of Serena, Georgina and a boy named Pete Fairman. The video shows Serena refusing to have sex with Pete, who subsequently inhales a line of cocaine which results in his death. This event, in concert with her night with Nate, is revealed to be the reason behind why she left. Serena tells Blair all of this, claiming that she killed Pete, holding herself responsible for his death. Chuck, Blair and Nate decide to take Georgina down.

Unfortunately Georgina has seduced Dan, and Serena walks into his loft and finds them in a compromising position. The closing of junior year is marked by the Bass wedding in which Lily walks down the aisle, despite having spent the previous night with Rufus, while Dan, who is unable to cope with the lies and class differences separating him from Serena, breaks up with her at the Bass wedding. Blair and Chuck rectify their broken relationship, which later fails due to Chuck's fear of commitment, bailing on their planned trip to Europe.

Season 2

As the summer vacation comes to a close, Blair Waldorf arrives in the Hamptons with James (guest star Patrick Heusinger). Although Blair is uninterested in James and is only using him as a tool to make Chuck jealous, he professes his love and reveals himself to be Marcus Beaton, an English Lord. Blair is interested in his title. Throughout the summer, Serena and Nate lead a fake relationship in order for him to continue an affair with Catherine Mason (guest star Mädchen Amick), a married woman. Blair and Chuck feud over saying that they love each other. They attempt to seduce and destroy Vanessa, however, the night ends with Chuck telling Blair he has chased her long enough and that she must now chase him. Blair attempts to seduce Chuck with the help of Dan, but the attempts prove unsuccessful and the pair are once again faced with the dilemma of saying they love one another. Dan finds out what Chuck and Blair did to Vanessa and gives Blair bad advice, resulting in her decision not to tell Chuck that she loves him. Later, Chuck and Blair decide to wait for the future to be together.

Dan decides to try something out of his comfort-zone so he can write a story, and ends up going to Chuck for help. While Chuck educates him on the "ways of Chuck Bass", Dan defends Chuck and they both go to jail, where Chuck tells Dan how his mother died giving birth to him and how his father hates him for it. He takes this back when he finds out that Dan was using him to write a story. Dan writes the story anyway. Dan finds out that Nate is living in his seized apartment and invites him to live with his family. Meanwhile, Jenny ends up in an internship for Blair's mother, Eleanor Waldorf. However, Eleanor ends up using Jenny and not crediting her for all of her hard work. Agnes, a model for Eleanor, sees this and tells Jenny to quit, which she does, and the two start hanging out as Agnes introduces her to a new crowd of bad influences. She becomes rebellious, wants to start her own clothing line, and she decided she would become emancipated to do it. In the end everything works out for the best.

Frustrated with Bart, Lily 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 limousine is involved in an accident on the way, and he dies.

Lily's mother reveals that Lily and Rufus had a child, although Rufus did not know. Rufus and Lily go off together on a search for their son.

Chuck's uncle Jack Bass (guest star Desmond Harrington) returns and tells Blair he will now take care of Chuck, much to Blair's annoyance. Chuck inherits his father's fortune as well as 51% share of Bass Industries. The Bass Industries chair people witness Chuck in his father's office with a group of prostitutes, and give the company to Jack. Lily is very much unhappy when she hears about Jack Bass's plans for Bass Industries. She hires a lawyer and convinces Chuck to sign papers to make her his legal guardian instead. Chuck decides that he wants to rejoin Lily's family making her the owner of Bass Industries.

Dan and Serena are accepted to Yale, but Blair is wait-listed. Serena learns that if she turns down Yale, Blair will be accepted. Blair, unaware Serena has been accepted to Yale, plots revenge on a new, young teacher, Ms. Carr(guest star Laura Breckenridge), who had recently given her a grade B. When Serena learns this, she reveals to Blair that she has passed on Yale, and that Blair will be accepted. Blair invites the teacher, Ms Carr, to the opera as a prank. The headmistress informs Blair her acceptance to Yale is suspended, and Blair spreads a rumor that Dan and Ms. Carr are in a relationship. Serena becomes suspicious. Blair is discovered to be the rumor's creator, when Nelly confesses to the headmistress, and Blair is expelled.

Serena sees Dan and Ms. Carr in a coffee shop together, and sees Dan intimately comforting Ms. Carr. Serena captures a photo where it is displayed at a PTA meeting, and Ms. Carr is fired and Blair is readmitted to Constance Billard. Dan defends himself, but he and Serena break up. Serena admits to Ms. Carr that she was the one to take the photo. Dan later visits Ms. Carr, where the two kiss and have sex. Meanwhile, the headmistress decides to give Ms. Carr her job back, afraid of negative publicity. Reinstated to her job, however, Ms. Carr decides to take revenge on Blair and calls Yale, telling them she had been given detention for hazing a teacher. Blair's acceptance to Yale is rescinded and given to Nelly instead. Blair tries to find out who called Yale. In the meantime, Dan and Ms. Carr have been carrying on their affair, and have sex in the costume room. But Dan discovers that it was Ms. Carr who ratted Blair out to Yale, and ends things with her, telling Blair that it was Ms. Carr who called Yale. Blair tells Ms. Carr that her punishment will just be to 'live with it'. Ms. Carr leaves a note for Dan telling him she's returning to Iowa.

Chuck is mistakenly invited to a Skull and Bones society meeting by a mistress in place of his father. He becomes obsessed with Elle, the woman who met him there, and attempts to help her flee the country when she tells him she's in trouble. But he finds out that she was just using his money for an escape route, and when she leaves, Chuck goes to Blair's to wait for her there. Meanwhile, Blair sits in a bar drinking alone. Carter Baizen sits next to her and offers to buy her a drink, putting his hand on her knee.

Blair is devastated about what has happened to her life, so she goes to Carter Baizen for help. However, Chuck and Serena realize Carter is encouraging the worst of Blair by letting her loose and changing her to a new Blair. They clear him out, but Blair only gets worse. Vanessa urges Nate to reconnect with his family, despite the fact that they weren't there during his father's financial trouble. The Vanderbilts throw a party for prominent members of NYC society. At the party, Blair goes off the deep end, insulting everyone she meets, getting drunk, and seducing Chuck to no avail, as he says that this isn't the Blair he wants. Finally, everything hits her and she is devastated. Nate finds her crying and comforts her, reminding her that she is Blair Waldorf, someone who doesn't let a mishap get in the way of what she wants. Chuck tells Serena that he is losing her and she said fight for her. When Nate accepts an internship provided by his grandfather instead of going on a summer vacation with Vanessa that they had been planning for a while, she walks out on the party, leaving their relationship in the air. Chuck goes to visit Blair to tell her he loves her but he see's Nate's jacket after Dorota tells him she is asleep.

Serena decides to throw Jenny an intimate party for her sixteenth birthday, but things get way out of control when Poppy Lifton (guest star Tamara Feldman) turns the small gathering into a huge social event. In a moment of weakness, Vanessa agrees to help Chuck with a scheme having to do with Blair and Nate. Rufus learns that Dan will not receive financial aid at Yale and tries to figure out another way to cover the cost of his education.

Serena returns from her trip to Spain with Poppy and Gabriel (guest star Armie Hammer). Blair makes a secret deal with Nate's grandfather, William (guest star James Naughton), and Nate learns some disturbing information about his father's arrest. Dan takes a job as a cater-waiter to earn money for college, but is distressed when he discovers the gig is a Passover seder at the Waldorf penthouse and several of his friends and family are guests and he has to soon lie to cover up his actions.

Georgina Spark (guest star Michelle Trachtenberg) returns to the Upper East Side after undergoing a major transformation. Chuck and Nate find themselves at a major crossroads in their relationship as it pertains to their mutual interest in Blair, he tells Chuck to man-up and tell Blair how he feels otherwise let her go. Serena finds her relationship with Gabriel growing more complicated by the day as she finds out he may have been involved with a scam to steal money from investors including Rufus, who invested Dan's college tuition money with him. Nate asks Blair to move in with him.

Blair pressures Georgina into making amends for her past bad behavior by helping her in a scheme to get the money back from Poppy. The rivalry between Nate and Chuck over Blair comes to a head. Lily hatches a secret plan to help Rufus with Dan's college tuition. In an effort to protect Serena's reputation, Lily puts Serena in jail for stealing a bracelet. Blair asks Chuck if he loves her or whether its just a game and he says it is just a game. Serena overhears and asked why he said that, and he says it was because he loves her, but can't make her happy.

In a flashback to the 80s, 17-year-old Lily Rhodes (Brittany Snow) gets kicked out of boarding school and runs away to Los Angeles, reconnecting with her parents, Rick (Andrew McCarthy) and Cece (Cynthia Watros), and sister, Carol (Krysten Ritter). Back in present day, Blair and Nate attend prom together, and the mean girls try to rig the votes for prom queen so that Nelly will win. But Chuck over hears them and votes for Blair 150 times so she will win and be happy. Serena and Lily don't see eye-to-eye over Serena's recent run-in with the law and Serena refuses to come out of jail until Lily apologizes. Blair and Nate break up. No Doubt performs in the flashbacks as an 80s band called "Snowed Out."

Gossip Girl sends out a damaging email blast at the Graduation commencement ceremony in which she calls Nate a class whore, Dan, the ultimate insider, Blair a weakling, Chuck a coward and Serena, officially irrelevant. She also exposes the fact that Blair had a one-night-stand with Jack Bass a.k.a Chuck's uncle on New Year's Eve. It makes Serena so angry to have these secrets out for all the world to see, so she tries to unmask the real Gossip Girl. They text Gossip Girl and Jonathan's phone rings. It turns out that he hacked into Gossip Girl's server so he had control over the site but was indeed not Gossip Girl. The identity of Gossip Girl is still a secret. At the after party at Nate's house, Jenny challenges Penelope and the mean girls in an effort to become the next Queen Bee of Constance (but use her title for the good). During the party, Gossip Girl sends another text to everyone, revealing a secret about everyone including Dan's relationship with Rachel, Blair's relationship with Jack Bass, Chuck sleeping with Vanessa, and more, adding that if anyone has a problem about it, they should blame it on Serena because of her obsession with wanting to find out who Gossip Girl is. Serena sends another text message to Gossip Girl telling her to meet with her alone, but Gossip Girl calls everyone else to meet Serena instead, saying that without everyone, Gossip Girl wouldn't exist. One last text from Gossip Girl says that she will keep making posts during college. Georgina Sparks returns and requests to be Blair's roommate at NYU next year, implying that she will cause trouble. Meanwhile, Nate, Dan and Vanessa unknowingly meet Scott, the presumed dead child of Lily and Rufus. Carter Baizen informs Serena that he's located the whereabouts of her and Eric's father. Lily and Rufus finally get engaged. Chuck meets Blair in front of his limo and brings her all of her favorite things from Europe and finally says "I love you too". They kiss making their relationship official.

Season 3

The CW has renewed Gossip Girl for a third season, which will start airing in on September 14, 2009. The cast began filming season three on June 29, 2009 in New York City.

Hilary Duff has confirmed that she will be joining the show for a multi-episode guest arc in the 3rd Season as Olivia Burke, Vanessa's NYU roommate. Joanna García has confirmed that she will also be joining the 3rd season as Bree Buckley.

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.

Seasonal ratings

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

Season	Timeslot	Season Premiere	Season Finale	TV Season	Rank	Viewers (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	2.59
2	Monday 8:00 P.M.	September 1, 2008	May 18, 2009	2008-2009	#168	2.8
3	Monday 9:00 P.M.	September 14, 2009	May 2010	2009-2010		TBA

Costume design

The series is known as much for its costume design as it is for its plot. Eric Daman, the series stylist, incorporates rising designers to the series costume design. He said in an interview, “Alexander Wang and Vena Cava were definitely not mentioned in the books but are essential on the fashion scene in today’s NYC. I felt it really important to incorporate these young designers into the vocabulary of the show as the socialite girls that GG is based on would know these designers, be the first to find them and the first to wear them. Think Zac Posen and Lola Schnabel.”

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, is also being 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 incorporates 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 wrote the score for the show. They also wrote and recorded the music for Lincoln Hawk, Rufus Humphrey's fictitious band. Also featured are a mildly known Australian band 'Eskimo Joe'.

The show features a musical mix of indie rock, pop-tronica and local NYC artists. Some well-known bands whose songs have featured on the show include Angels & Airwaves, The Virgins, The Kills, Nine Inch Nails, Lady GaGa, Republic Tigers, The Ting Tings, Say Hi, Kings of Leon, The Little Ones, Bloc Party, Cold War Kids, Coconut Records and MGMT. An original soundtrack, OMFGG - Original Music Featured on Gossip Girl No. 1, was released in October 2008. The iTunes version includes two original songs from the show: "Everytime" by the fictional band Lincoln Hawk, and "Glamorous" a cover of the Fergie song by The Constance Billard Choir, a fictional choir in the show.

The Pierces, Cyndi Lauper, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, and No Doubt (as the fictional band "Snowed Out") have guest starred in the show as of season 2.

Locations

Gossip Girl is filmed in New York City and many recognizable locations can be seen on the show. The opening shot of the series takes place in Grand Central Terminal with Serena Van der Woodsen's return to New York City. The terminal is located at 15 Vanderbilt Avenue. Inside Grand Central is the Campbell Apartment, where the infamous Shepard wedding took place and where Nate and Serena hooked up right before she skipped town.

The Museum of the City of New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Synod of Bishops serve as the exterior shots for Constance Billard School for Girls and St. Jude's School for Boys, the schools attended by many of the characters on the show.

The Bass and Van der Woodsen families live in the New York Palace Hotel, which is located on Madison Avenue between 50th and 51st street. The Waldorf apartment is located at 1136 5th Avenue. The home of the Archibald family can be found at 4 East 74th Street.

Eleanor Waldorf's boutique is actually Rubin Chappelle, located at 410 W 14th St. The favorite shopping place of many characters on the show is Henri Bendel, which is located at 712 5th Avenue.

Critical response

Gossip Girl poster featuring critical review

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. Quotes from the Parents Television Council review, as well as negative quotes from the San Diego Union-Tribune, New York Post and the Boston Herald, were used on various advertisements for the second season. The Hartford Courant chronicled a variety of negative responses to the ads. The ads included quotes like "Every Parent's Nightmare", "Mind-Blowingly Inappropriate" and "A Nasty Piece of Work" in what appears to be an effort to continue the 'rebellious teen' style of the show.

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." Gossip Girl was designated the "Best. Show. Ever." in April 2008, by NY Magazine.

DVD releases

Complete season	Release dates				Extras	Disc #
	Region 1	Region 2	Region 3	Region 4
1st	August 19, 2008	August 18, 2008	October 22, 2008	November 13, 2008 (Brazil)/April 15, 2009 (Australia)	Unaired Scenes, 3 All-New Featurettes, Music Videos, Gossip Girl Featurette, GG Couture Featurette, A Gossip Girl Wedding Featurette, Gag Reel and Free Download of the Original Bestselling Book, read by Christina Ricci.	5
2nd	August 18, 2009	Part 1: April 13, 2009 Part 2: August 10, 2009 Complete: September 28, 2009	TBA	November 18, 2009 (Australia)	5th Ave. Meet Gossip Girl: Click icons on a graphic map and tour the Gossip Girl crowd's favorite haunts. Faces Behind the Design: Creative forces behind the show's art and fashion. Chasing Dorota Webisodes. Gag Reel. Downloaded audiobook of the bestselling novel Gossip Girl, You Know You Love Me by Cecily von Ziegesar, read by Christina Ricci. Uniaired Scenes. For a limited time, the DVD release of Gossip Girl: The Complete Second Season will also include an exclusive excerpt from the upcoming book Gossip Girl: I Will Always Love You by Cecily von Ziegesar, which will be released on November 3, 2009.	7

Awards

Year	Result	Award	Category	Recipient(s)
2008	Winner	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV Show Drama
			Choice TV Breakout Show
			Choice TV Actress Drama	Blake Lively
			Choice TV Breakout Female	Blake Lively
			Choice TV Breakout Male	Chace Crawford
			Choice TV Villain	Ed Westwick
	Nominated		Choice TV Actress Drama	Leighton Meester
			Choice TV Actor Drama	Chace Crawford
				Penn Badgley
			Choice TV Breakout Female	Leighton Meester
				Taylor Momsen
			Choice TV Breakout Male	Ed Westwick
	Nominated	People's Choice Award	Favorite New TV Drama
2009	Nominated	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV Show Drama
			Choice Music Soundtrack
			Choice TV Actor Drama	Chace Crawford
				Penn Badgley
			Choice TV Actress Drama	Blake Lively
				Leighton Meester
			Choice TV Villain	Ed Westwick
			Choice TV Parental Unit	Matthew Settle

International distribution

The show aired on CTV and MuchMusic in Canada (For season two, CTV sent the series down to the relaunched A), the Warner Channel in Latin America, ProSieben in Germany, ORF 1 in Austria, NET 5 in the Netherlands, ETC Entertainment Central in the Philippines, Zee Café in India, ITV2 in the United Kingdom, Nine and FOX8 in Australia, VIJFtv in Belgium, AXN, Cosmopolitan and Cuatro in Spain, in Sony Entertainment Television in Portugal, Mya and later on Italia 1 in Italy, TVN Siedem in Poland, PRO TV in Romania and Nova in Bulgaria. It will air on 8TV in Malaysia, TV Norge in Norway, Sub (TV channel) (season 2) in Finland, HOT3 in Israel, Kanal 5 in Sweden, Stöð 2 in Iceland, TF1 in France, On Style in South Korea, TV2 in New Zealand, Trans 7 in Indonesia and Cool TV in Hungary. Currently airing Season 2 on TVB J2 in Hong Kong.On TG4 in Ireland.On CNBC-e in Turkey.Season 1 currently airing on CBC TV 8 in Barbados. The first season has also been shown in South Africa on the Go channel (now called Vuzu). The second season has finished airing in Greece on Star Channel.

External links

• WebSite
• Official Book Site
• Gossip Girl Boards
• Gossip Girl Episodes
• Gossip Girl at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show