Arizona Reporter - Entertainment - 03/03
Fan Demand - Bring Back The Real Gossip Girl


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By Alessandra Hickson - NEW YORK, NY - TV’s Gossip Girl returns for its third season March 8, amid fans’ complaints that the show, known for its spicy formula of sex and scandal among rich Manhattan teens, needs a revamp.

The show, billed as "Every Parent’s Nightmare," exploded on the pop culture scene in 2007 with a bang: a reported 3.5 million viewers tuned into the premiere episode. Though ratings took a dive in season 2, Gossip Girl thrived online, as many teens now watch their favorite programs on Hulu, YouTube and official web sites. The controversy around the shocking, highly-sexual story lines continued, and for two years Gossip Girl maintained its title as the hottest show on TV.

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In Season 3 viewership for the CW network show dived to two million, driven down by the show’s dearth of scandalous stories, and the ridiculous, short-lived plots.

The first two seasons of Gossip Girl were filled with smart social commentary. It was about high school hierarchy, girls fighting for status, teen sex, drugs, and bad parenting. Now that the girls and guys are off to college - at a version of New York University that exists in only in fantasy-land - the show has lost its mojo.

Here’s what Gossip Girl needs to do to reclaim it’s old dirty, snobby, outrageous self:

1.Bring back old school Chuck and Blair! They used to be the meanest, harshest, scariest people on the show. Now that they’ve found love, they’ve become whiny, harmless pussycats. And it’s awful! Their struggle to find romance was the highlight of Season 2. Now that the struggle’s gone, fans are yawning. Please make them bad again.

2.Bring back Gossip Girl. Don’t we all miss the sudden beeping of cell phones in the Oak Room? Of course we do. The show is called "Gossip Girl" for a reason. Why isn’t she blogging on air anymore? If Nate can find time to travel from Columbia to NYU for Dr. Phil chats with Dan Humphrey, surely Gossip Girl has time to send out a shocking blast. (Perhaps the problem is that there hasn’t been much shocking behavior, huh?)

3. Stop Trying to Make Serena the Star. We get it, it was supposed to be all about Serena. But no one has cared about Serena since she thought she killed a man (great episode). Blair is your star - so let her shine! Meanwhile, send Serena to school.

4. Stop trying to make Vanessa more Relevant. Bloggers agree, most fans don’t understand why Vanessa is even on the show. Despite being a less popular character, Vanessa does serve an important role as Dan’s friend (and general lover of all things Humphrey), but she’s not meant to be a major character. Bring on more Little J!

5. No short stints for annoying characters. One buzz kill for The O.C. was the writers’ instance to bring in annoying characters (Johnny, Oliver, etc.) Why was Hilary Duff’s Olivia on the show? Lizzie McGuire doesn’t match well with Gossip Girl. Please don’t do it again.

6. Frenemies! Dear writers, you tried to bring back some of the feisty Blair/Serena frenemy fun. But it was a dull disappointment. Blair and Serena should be at each others throats. Or perhaps another Chuck/Nate dispute? Try spicing it up with some Jenny/Vanessa or Dan/Nate drama. Give GG something to blog about!

7. Does anyone care about Rufus and Lily? Obviously, no one wanted the spin-off about Lily’s young life. Maybe it’s time to stop pushing Lily and Rufus on your viewers. After all, Rufus is no Sandy Cohen. Whenever they take up more than ten minutes in an episode and there’s no mention of chili, it’s useless.

8. Oh Georgina! How we miss her. She is the only character more diabolical than Queen Blair. So, bring her back with a new evil storyline. Seduce Chuck! Get Little J hooked on drugs! Force Vanessa into a sex tape! Just come back.

Stop wasting hours of our lives, CW. Bring back the real Gossip Girl, because while a Tory Burch cameo is great, it can’t fix this problem. And neither can Vanessa’s lack of underwear.

Xoxo

Image by Julia-Freeman-Woolpert

NYU LiveWire is a publication of the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute @ New York University; whose students have been regular contributors to AZR since 2006.



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