Gossip Girl

The show Gossip Girl is an insider's guide to the life of the elite. It is filled with teenagers acting like adults and adults acting like teenagers, with one person exposing their every move with the help of the entire Upper East Side. Secrets and betrayals are two things that this show revolves around, along with putting friendships and relationships to the test. If you are not interested in on going drama that seems to always circle back around to where it started, I would not recommend. However, if a show filled with interesting characters, dramatic plot twists, and an appealing setting, you will be hooked.

Usually, I'm not a huge fan of something like Gossip Girl, but it seems that it has become a trend for me to enjoy shows like these. First, The Hills and now this.

At first, I watched GG just to make fun of it. The drama that these young and spoiled (but i must say handsome and beautiful) people have to deal with seemed so distant from my own life experience. But, the more I watched the show, the more I got hooked, to the point that Gossip Girl became my addiction (I know, that sounds sad, especially considering the fact that I'm a guy!). Though, I have to say that the reasons for this are pretty logical or at least I hope they are.

First of all, I like the setting. Glamorous-New-York-type surrounding are something that attracts me. I've never been in New York, or in USA for that matter, but that is exactly why I like Gossip Girl.

And second, I like the middle class characters in this show - Dan, Vanessa, Rufus Humphrey and so on. Especially Dan with his adventurous, almost Peter Parker type lifestyle and, of course, his huge... emmm... bookshelf.

Currently I'm trying to get rid of my addiction. We'll see what comes out of it.

It's 2020 and I finally got around to watching this series. From start to finish there is so much wrong with it and so much right it left me loving it and hating it. At one point during my binge I felt enough is enough is enough and almost stopped. But, and there is always a but, I just had to know how the series ended, having no fore knowledge. The first two seasons showed me why it was such a talked about series. Then the roller coaster ride started. Same old stuff over and over only with a make over. The scheming, betrayals, and back-stabbing was getting on my nerves. If not for the occasional surprise to breakup the predictability and add new characters I might have given up. Fortunately, the guys kept it together enough to keep me interested. Not that the young ladies were not fantastic in their collective rolls. It was just that their characters were getting soooooooo annoying. The concept alone was great and even the worst episode had it high points. In short my rating started with a 10, bounced between 9 and 5 and was saved by the ending with 8 as the result.

I started to watch this series last month on Netflix (2015), and was so hooked I couldn't wait for the next episode. I also agree with all the positive comments. Being born and raised in Manhattan, I loved that it took place in my city. Even though I was not raised in affluence, The series made me imagine that I did. The acting was so superbly done by everyone, especially Ed Westwick and Leighton Bleester. Their chemistry was so intense and real, it seemed amazing they didn't get together in real life. I'm so sorry that it's over, but happy that I can play it over again whenever I want. I think that we will be seeing a lot more of Ed Westwick in the future; he is an amazing talent.

So one of my big annoyances is that from the off it's clear that one of the main plot lines will be "who is gossip girl?". But, realistically does it really matter? Any sort of justification on why they need to know is executed really poorly and in 6 seasons I recall them wanting to know who it is about twice (before the very end, obviously). It becomes such a pointless plot line. Because it's just a website that people post gossip on and very quickly the important plots end up being "will this character end up with this character?".

The "will this character end up with this character" got incredibly tedious the more it went on. We all know who's going to end as a couple and yet after 60-80 45 minute episodes and still not together, just becomes annoying and not fun to watch. Characters falling in love after about 15 seconds with other characters, then going nah I want the original one again. Tedious and repeated over and over. Really needed to mix it up a little, just became tiresome.

The characters I found to be frustrating, yet I think this was the point. These rich upper east teens do act this entitled. So although it can be very frustrating and almost making characters unlikeable, it's actually very well done from the writers/directors.

Although I've basically shunned the entire plot purpose of this show, it was still entertaining in parts. I just wish they did the whole romance plots better and a bit more in depth.

So I'll give it a 6/10. It's still watchable at the end of the day and I've seen much much worse TV shows in the past.