TV Watch

Gossip Girl Recap: TV’s New Guilty Pleasure

09/20/2007 at 12:00 AM EDT

Gossip Girl starts off with one-time reigning It girl Serena van der Woodsen (played by Blake Lively of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) slinking back into Manhattan after a year of mysterious exile. Her return upsets the tidy social order of her Upper East Side prep school–not to mention current queen bee Blair Waldorf's (Leighton Meester) world. Blair happens to be Serena's BFF, and she's got every reason to worry: Her boyfriend Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford) has a thing for Serena. He's not the only one: Add Dan Humphrey, a less privileged outsider, and Chuck Bass, a pot-smoking bad boy, to her list of admirers. As the two queen bees Serena and Blair struggle for power, the guys buzz around–all against a backdrop of parties, cocktails and furious text messaging. Remind you of The O.C., at least the first season of The O.C.? It should, it's written by Josh Schwartz, the creator of the Fox teen drama. The premiere episode hints at much more gritty, maybe downright nasty drama. After all, can a one-time bad girl go good–for long? And what's behind her self-imposed exile?

Maybe Blair's mom captures the heart of the show best when she tells Blair: "You will never be more beautiful or thin or happy as you are right now. I just want you to make the most of it." And from last night's episode, Gossip Girl is living up to all its catty teen glory. –Aaron ParsleyTell us what you thought of last night's episode?



Photo: THE CW