Jody writes:

lol @ the ep 10 montange (just youtubed it). Awful. So is it like Sex and the city only with hot, rich power teens (who have unrealistically perfect pecs)? Because the vo writing is basically co-opted word for word in that scene. BTW why are you guys watching this shit?

That’s a good question, Jody. A lot of people seem to have to the same reaction when they have fleeting interactions with Gossip Girl, especially if they are outside the target demographic of women aged 18-34. I remember my first encounter was when a girl in my house was watching the show; I spent 30 seconds watching Blair whining about something (I believe it was about a fashion show) before leaving the room, announcing that “this show is fucking retarded”.

I started watching this show based partly on a strong recommendation from my editor George Ding and partly because of the show’s brilliantly subversive ad campaign (recalling the DVD package for Fight Club in which every review blurb was about how awful the movie was). When a giant billboard on Wilshire Boulevard announces that a show is “Mind-Blowingly Inappropriate”, it makes you want to take a second look.

But I suspect that’s not what you mean when you ask “Why?”  As much as I support and defend female-centric programming, Sex and the City was really a tale told by idiots, full of Manolos and Versace, signifying nothing. When the voice-over in that show, representing the protagonist’s viewpoint, was shallow and inane, it only made you disappointed at how the show didn’t bother to aim higher. (It’s surprising how often a show with four female leads can fail the Bechdel Test, because all they ever talk about are men — except for that one time when Samantha went lesbo.) When the voice-over in Gossip Girl is shallow and inane, it shows that for all the purported total ubiquity and omniscience of the titular hearsay maven, she can’t penetrate beyond surfaces and explore the characters’ rich inner lives like we can. It’s a trenchant insight.

And it’s those rich inner lives that make the show worth watching; like the sociological principle that states that our larger social structure is reproduced in our small-scale interactions, Gossip Girl is full of signs and signifiers. Margaret Mead would dig this show. So would Walter Benjamin. Jane Goodall would say, “Who are all these hairless apes and how did they get inside this magic box?”

In the past twelve episodes, Gossip Girl has explicitly or inadvertently touched on the following topics: the relationship between art and capital, the rise of the creative class, the persistence of neofeudalism and wealth condensation, the corrupting nature of consumerism, patriarchy and its effect on female self-image, the image-conception theory of identity, the pervasive nature of Western imperialism (Chuck Bass is basically Kermit Roosevelt), the fluid nature of the modern family unit, technological voyeurism and the permanence of information, the Prisoner’s Dilemma and the Nash Equilibrium, the double standard inherent in the concept of honor, the fetishization of commodities, and the commoditization of sexuality. (In my style of analysis, I am greatly indebted to Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky’s commentary on Lord of the Rings. Seriously, if you want to read a real critique, that one will knock you on your ass.)

But most of all, and the reason most relevant to this blog, can be summed up in how George Ding got hooked on the show. He was, like me and like many others, initially turned off by the seeming shallowness of the show. It was only until his English-language class in Beijing convinced him to give Gossip Girl another chance that he realized the true quality of the show.

So basically a graduate from an American film school, an expert on American television, had to be convinced by a class of Chinese teenagers to watch an American show. If that doesn’t exemplify the reach and power of American media and how important it is to decode it and figure out exactly what we’re telling the rest of the world, I don’t know what will.

Also, I don’t know how many episodes of Sex and the City featured a guy getting his lights punched out, but Gossip Girl is up to three.

1.13 “The Thin Line Between Chuck and Nate” (tv.com) Gossip Girl reports that Serena van der Woodsen was seen buying pregnancy tests. Of course, on the Upper East Side, the truth is often even juicier and more scandalous than the gossip. Nate finds out about Blair and Chuck’s affair. And when everyone else finds out what happened Blair’s life comes crashing down. Meanwhile, Dan struggles to tell Serena those three special words.

1.14 “The Blair Bitch Project” (tv.com) Having been recently dethroned as Queen Bee, Blair returns to school with the support of her BFF, Serena to find she is still on the outs with her old friends. Dan visits his mother over Spring Break, and when he returns Jenny is on the verge of becoming a full-fledged member of the A-List crowd. Jenny must go to dangerous and even illegal lengths to fit in. Serena struggles to adjust to living with Chuck, and receives disturbing packages from an unknown sender.

1.15 "Desperately Seeking Serena" (tv.com) Serena's world descends into chaos when a former friend, the evil Georgina Sparks returns to town. Dan sees Serena preoccupied and he assumes that it has something to do with Chuck, her soon to be step-brother. Nate connects with the last person he expected, Vanessa.

1.16 “All About My Brother” (tv.com) Georgina informs Serena that she can reveal a deep dark secret from Serena’s past, but no one is prepared for what Georgina does next. Blair and Jenny’s power struggle continues when each of them start spreading scandalous rumors about each other on Gossip Girl. Dan sees Jenny’s new beau, Asher, cheating on her, but Jenny doesn’t believe him. Rufus goes to Lily for advice on how to handle Jenny’s new behavior. Serena tries to confront Georgina, but she leaves before Serena has a chance. After this Serena says that she and Georgina are not friends.