Gossip Girl last night aired a pretty satisfying coming out episode.
As we all already know, Serena’s super-little brother Erik found his way out of the closet - and with predictably sensational results.
Hey? Internet tards and Gossip Girl fanatics? Did you know that the phrase "OMFG," Internet slang for exactly what you think it is, is actually "an expression of surprise" and could mean "Oh My Frickin' Goodness"? That's what The CW marketing vice prez Rick Haskins tries convincing one cynical CNN anchor. Video here (via).
Ratings on all the networks, except NBC, may be dwindling, but the amount of swag fans are picking up on eBay shows good news for all the networks. Or at least some of their shows. On ratings happy NBC, The Office-related items have increased by 4%, while Heroes–related items have decreased by 28%.
But most important, what about Gossip Girl? Despite the crappy merch they offer in their contests, the goods on eBay show promise. CONTINUED »
After 45 Internet years late to the debate, the notorious overreactors at the Parents Television Council, who like to hear the sound of their own voice more than we, are complaining about Gossip Girl's rampant use of explicit sexual imagery and tweenage acronyms. The "sexually suggestive photo showing a teenage boy kissing a girl’s cleavage" in the ads, as well as the use of the phrase "OMFG," is much too much for PTC. The whole campaign is just a "deliberate use of profanity and sexual imagery to exploit and further corrupt young viewers, and has warned its members about the show and the new ad campaign." As for the show itself? It's "the most-watched show among girls 12-17 and glamorizes casual sex and drug use among teens. Storylines have featured a would-be teen rapist, threesome among teens, and teenage girls having sex with adults." WHICH IS WHAT MAKES IT AWESOME.
The CW network spent a fortune promoting the return of Gossip Girl with that OMFG campaign and, unintentionally, with actress Kelly Rutherford's plot spoiler. So how come their latest ploy – a contest giveaway with Us Weekly – is the most obvious low-budget effort ever?
In exchange for your name, address, and email, you have a chance to win a tote bag and mirrored compact courtesy of the CW network. Yes, THAT IS ALL.
GOSSIP GAY Gossip Girl mom Kelly Rutherford can expect a lashing from The CW's publicist after revealing which character is a big 'mo, AS IF YOU DIDN'T ALREADY KNOW. [Us]
The Breakfast At Tiffany's nod that kicked off last night's Gossip Girl will hopefully be the last of Jason Schwartz's ploys to ruin a good thing. Or will it? News arrives that Lydia Hearst, now that she's in acting school, is joining the cast for a bit part. First Michelle Trachtenberg, now Hearst. We give it 1.5 seasons before they're booking America's Next Top Model cast offs.
If this New York magazine cover is any indication, Gossip Girl is the second coming of Jesus. Jessica Pressler & Chris Rovzar make the case that this show, despite the lackluster ratings, is a game changer. They even give their reasons in listicle format!
We're going to do one better: We're gonna refute each bullet point. In listicle format! CONTINUED »
The success of Gossip Girl's "OMFG" campaign and other buzz-making efforts have proven too successful, driving so much traffic to The CW's website that hundreds of thousands of people have been watching free streams of the show … WHICH WAS THE WHOLE POINT OF ALL THIS.
Now the network everybody talked about behind its back is shutting down the web streams over fears they're cannabilizing the show's television audience. And since the target demographic of young people are so Internet savvy, The CW thinks they're becoming too lazy to bother catching the show in primetime, where ad dollars are much more grand, and instead growing accustomed to catching the show on the Information Superhighway, which nobody has figured out how to monetize.
Perhaps you've seen the homepage takeover for Gossip Girl … that you're staring at right now? Turns out, it's sort of racy! Because The CW's marketing team decided to add the "F" in the common Internet slang "OMG," the message when from "Oh My God" to "Oh My Fucking God," which is dicey! That means family-friendly media rejected the campaign: Entertainment Weekly, In Touch, Soap Opera Digest, TV Guide, and People all said no to the "OMFG" version, even though all of these magazines, perhaps with the exception of Digest, have talked about Heidi Montag at one time or another, and what's more offensive to readers than that? No matter: The CW had campaign spots ready to go sans the "F," which was deemed more acceptable. Not for us, of course.
If it weren't for parties at a Theory store, we might be left wondering whether Chace Crawford really is dating Michelle Trachtenberg. After all, they were spotted "flirting heavily" at Upstairs, so they must be banging each other, right?
Let's get Michelle on the record about this matter: "I mean, did you not just hear me? I don't talk about tabloid bullshit, and Chace is a co-worker of mine, so … Tabloids make up crazy shit, and I don't have to play into it." There you have it — they're totally together!
GATECRASHER, G'BYE EDITION Gossip Girl's token Asian, Nan Zhang, gets booted from the show for feuding with Leighton Meester. (Or, as one side tells it, Zhang enrolled at Brown without telling anyone.) And Dirty Sexy Money's female twin, Samaire Armstrong, is effectively written off the show thanks to her rehab requirements.
From blogs! Down By The Hipster spotted Gossip Girl's Chace and Michelle Trachtenberg at Soho's Upstairs. [Earlier]
Chace Crawford's camp moves fast to plant an item that he's now enjoying a fling with new Gossip Girl castmate Michelle Trachtenberg, a rebound tryst following his heartbreaking split with Carrie Underwood — a relationship she pretty much denies ever having. But don't get jealous, JC Chasez; it's the same melancholy ploy as before. What one spy refers to as Chace and Michelle "flirting heavily" could easily be mistaken as the oldest in fag-hag conversation: "OMG this Cosmo is sooooo good!" "I know!!!@!%!@!"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Michelle Trachtenberg on the set of Gossip Girl yesterday, where she'll play Georgina Sparks, a society lass who recently left rehab. This is so the Lindsay Lohan-Dori Cooperma story. CONTINUED »
FROM THE LAND OF MAKE BELIEVE "Carrie Underwood confirmed to Isthishappening.com sources this morning that she is no longer dating Chace Crawford!!" [ITH]
Just because Gossip Girl co-stars Ed Westwick and Chace Crawford live together doesn't mean they're gay, silly! It just means Chace and is playing cabana boy with JC Chasez. See how that logic thing works? [Earlier]
One of Gossip Girl’s male characters will soon come out of the closet. Our - and everyone else’s - guess: Sabrina’s troubled, formerly suicidal younger brother: Eric van der Woodsen.
Here, yesterday on the set of Gossip Girl, Blake Lively and Penn Badgley play a fictional couple. Just like these two.
