By Katherine Doublet
No one knows who she is, but she is everywhere you don’t need her to be and knows more about the high school students of the Upper East side than they do about themselves. And you cannot help but love her.
In the classic tradition of meaningful prime-time soap operas about beautiful elite teenagers with problems like “Beverly Hills 90210,” “One Tree Hill and The O.C.”, comes “Gossip Girl.” Based on Alloy Entertainment’s best-selling book series by Cecily von Ziegesar, the raved about television program presented by the CW (channel 11) will feature fresh faces alongside a few familiar ones and scandalous plots that will hopefully keep viewers coming back for more.
Everything seems perfect for Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester). She is intelligent, gorgeous, has the perfect life and boyfriend and is the envy of her friends and enemies. This all quickly changes as her ex-best friend, Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively of “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”), returns to everyone’s life after spending an unsuccessful year in a Connecticut boarding school. The anonymous blogger, Gossip Girl, however, has no mercy on Serena. Gossip Girl’s bash-board blog dishes out everything about Blair, Serena and everyone connected to them, causing an unforeseen amount of drama.
With many unanswered questions as to why Serena left for Connecticut and returned, Blair along with her entourage and even Serena’s own mother shun her. So much has changed in one year that they underestimate Serena’s understanding of the situation and ignore her presence.
For devoted readers of the immensely popular books, it is good to hear that the CW series closely follows the original “Gossip Girl” plots. But this is television, so the drama is upped and the people are much better looking. Von Ziegesar says it is a faithful rendition of her ideas. “What works for a [print] series, doesn’t necessarily run with broadcast,” the successful author says, “but I am delighted how the pilot follows the books.”
What makes this show so different from those that have come and gone? After all, “Gossip Girl” is written and executive produced by Josh Schwartz, the same man who showed the world how problematic life in Orange County can get.
“There is always a void that needs to be filled,” says producer Joe Lazarov. He is proud that the shooting is all done in New York City, which makes for more realistic drama and an easy shoot.
In the end, however, watching the show is not just a guilty pleasure. “Not all of the readers are rich spoiled brats,” says von Ziegesar, adding that viewers will relate to the characters. “[They] are teenagers like everyone else and have similar problems.”