Drawing inspiration from the novel series by Cecily von Ziegesar, Gossip Girl is an American teen drama broadcasted on The CW from September 2007 to December 2012. It ran for a total of six seasons.
Gossip Girl was developed for television by Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz.
Cast Members
The main characters from the show include Blake Lively as Serena van der Woodsen, Leighton Meester as Blair Waldorf, Kelly Rutherford as Serena’s mother, Lily, and Penn Badgley as Dan Humphrey.
Chace Crawford plays Nate Archibald. Ed Westwick plays Chuck Bass, Taylor Momsen plays Jenny Humphrey, and Jessica Szohr as Vanessa Abrams. Matthew Settle plays the role of Rufus Humphrey, and Kaylee DeFer plays Ivy Dickens.
Kristen Bell narrates the story as the anonymous blogger, Gossip Girl.
Premise
Gossip Girl revolves around the lives of upper-class teenagers from Manhattan’s UES, and an anonymous blogger called ‘Gossip Girl narrates the story.
Season 1 focuses on the return of Serena to UES after a mysterious disappearance, and how the lives of the people changes after Serena’s return forms the storyline of the debut season.
The second season explored Blair and Chuck’s love story and the gang’s senior year at school. The third season showed Blair, Dan, and Vanessa getting into NYU, Serena taking a break from school, and Chuck trying to run the Bass Industries.
The central mystery of season four was the character of Juliet Sharp, played by Katie Cassidy, who has a personal vendetta against Serena. Season five focuses on the characters and their careers’ ups and downs, with their personal lives forming an exciting subplot.
The sixth and the final season had ten episodes and aired on The CW from October 2012 to December 2012. In the season finale, the story took a five-year leap to show us the future lives of our main characters.
Episode Format
The titles of every episode are inspired and adapted from the name of a novel or a film. Each episode began with the home page of the Gossip Girl’s website.
The show has also been an excellent example of product placement. Brands such as Verizon Wireless, VitaminWater, HP TouchPad, L’Oreal, Target, Johnson & Johnson, and others successfully promoted their products on Gossip Girl, earning the show an advertising revenue of $28.2 million.
Sequel
A sequel series, also called ‘Gossip Girl,’ premiered on HBO Max in July 2021. The new series follows the same plot, and Kristen Bell narrates it.
Though the executive producers and the narrator remain the same, the cast is new, and the story is narrated in the same setting but from a different perspective.
Accolades
Although the show received mixed reviews from the critics, it was a hit amongst the teens and enjoyed a pretty loyal fan base of teenagers.
Given its popularity, Gossip Girl had several adaptations around the globe. The soundtrack and fashion from the series also became quite influential with the youth, especially women.
The show received several award nominations and has been the recipient of 18 Teen Choice Awards.