Gossip Girl was one of the most famous teen soap operas. Now, it is getting a revival and we can’t wait to see it!
So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about this series that everyone loves to hate!
- Gossip Girl is an American teen drama television series
- It is based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar
- The series, created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage
- It originally ran on The CW network for six seasons from September 19, 2007, to December 17, 2012
- Narrated by the omniscient blogger “Gossip Girl” (voiced by Kristen Bell), the series revolves around the lives of privileged upper-class adolescents living in Manhattan’s Upper East Side
- The series begins with the return of Upper East Side teenage it girl Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) from a mysterious absence
- She is reunited with her frenemy Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) and her mother Lily van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford)
- While she also meets Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), an aspiring writer from Brooklyn
- Other main characters are played by Chace Crawford, Ed Westwick, Taylor Momsen, Jessica Szohr, Matthew Settle and Kaylee DeFer
- The success of Gossip Girl led to adaptations outside the United States
- The show has received numerous award nominations
- Winning 18 Teen Choice Awards
- The CW officially renewed Gossip Girl for a sixth and final season on May 11, 2012
- The final season, consisting of 10 episodes, premiered on October 8, 2012 and ended on December 17, 2012
- The Gossip Girl book series was originally supposed to be adapted into a film starring Lindsay Lohan
- With head Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino
- When the film project did not get off the ground, Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz took over the project to create a television series
- As of October 2006, Schwartz was working on the pilot
- The characteristics for each character in the pilot were based on the first Gossip Girl book
- The O.C. creator Josh Schwartz and fellow writer Stephanie Savage served as the show’s executive producers throughout the series’ run
- Followed by Bob Levy and Leslie Morgenstein of Alloy Entertainment
- They were assigned in aiding the adaptation of the novels into the series
- Following the success of Gossip Girl, Gilmore Girls co-producer, John Stephens was approached by Schwartz and Savage
- He was hired him as an executive producer
- Joshua Safran, who started as a writer/consulting producer before becoming co-executive producer, was later added as an executive producer
- On April 24, 2012, it was announced that he would leave the show at the end of the fifth season to be the new showrunner of NBC’s now-cancelled musical series Smash
- To fill in Safran’s void, co-executive producer Sara Goodman was promoted to executive producer for the sixth season
- Alexandra Patsavas who worked with Schwartz on The O.C. was in charge of the music
- Eric Daman was at the head of the costume department
- He previously had assisted Patricia Field on Sex and the City
- Featuring nine regular speaking roles, the majority of the ensemble cast was assembled from February to April 2007
- Leighton Meester and Blake Lively were the first two actresses to be chosen in February for the lead roles of Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen, respectively
- Penn Badgley, who had previously worked with Stephanie Savage on The Mountain, Taylor Momsen, Chace Crawford, Kelly Rutherford, and Connor Paolo also auditioned successfully and landed roles in the series in March
- As did Florencia Lozano who appeared only in the pilot
- She was later replaced by Margaret Colin
- Badgley at first turned down the part of Dan
- As did Lively for the role of Serena
- Actors for the roles of Chuck Bass and Rufus Humphrey were found in April when English actor Ed Westwick, and Matthew Settle were cast
- Westwick first read for the role of Nate but was then asked to try Chuck
- As rumors swirled about the impending cancellation of Veronica Mars, it was revealed at The CW’s 2007 Upfronts on May 17, 2007, that Kristen Bell had narrated the pilot
- Thus making her the title character of another show on the network
- Jessica Szohr was signed on to portray the recurring role of Vanessa Abrams
- And received regular status during the fourteenth episode of the first season
- Kaylee DeFer joined the series in the eighteenth episode of the fourth season
- She was promoted to series regular for the show’s fifth season
- At the conclusion of the fourth season, Momsen, who went on an indefinite hiatus during the season while retaining regular billing
- Jessica Szohr left the show
- Throughout the series’ run, Connor Paolo consistently declined to elevate his recurring role of Eric van der Woodsen to regular status
- Citing personal reasons for his decision
- After becoming a regular on the ABC series Revenge, Paolo confirmed his departure from Gossip Girl in August 2011
- As the show progressed, numerous recurring guest stars appeared in the show
- Michelle Trachtenberg signed on to portray Georgina Sparks
- The role had previously been offered to Mischa Barton who declined the role
- Francie Swift and Sam Robards took the parental roles of Anne and Howard Archibald, respectively.
- Caroline Lagerfelt portrayed Celia “CeCe” Rhodes, Serena and Eric’s grandmother and Lily’s mother
- Sebastian Stan made several appearances as Carter Baizen throughout the show’s first three seasons
- All of the episodes’ titles are based on the name of a film or a novel
- For example, episode “The Wild Brunch” evokes western film The Wild Bunch and “Seventeen Candles” Sixteen Candles
- Episode “All About My Brother” refers to Pedro Almodóvar’s All About My Mother while “Pret-a-Poor-J” came from Prêt-à-Porter
- “There Might Be Blood” took its title from 2007 film There Will Be Blood
- “The Serena Also Rises” was titled after novel The Sun Also Rises
- The fifth-season episode “The Big Sleep No More” was named for the film The Big Sleep and the New York-based production Sleep No More
- Episode “Easy J” was titled after Emma Stone’s hit movie Easy A
- Episode “The Age of Dissonance”, which was titled after Edith Wharton’s novel The Age of Innocence, saw a high school production of the novel taking place
- And “The Blair Bitch Project” was named after The Blair Witch Project
- “Victor, Victrola” is named after the British-American musical comedy Victor/Victoria
- “Bad News Blair” was named after the 1976 movie The Bad News Bears
- A reboot is scheduled to be released on Warner Media’s upcoming streaming service HBO Max
- The series has received a 10-episode order and picks up eight years after the original Gossip Girl site went dark
- A new generation of private school teens are introduced to the watchful eye of Gossip Girl
- CW executive Dawn Ostroff later compared Gossip Girl’s role as the show that defined its network to House of Cards for Netflix
- Its television audience was never very large
- But the show was influential on culture
- Savage recalled that the crew likened working on it to working for a lifestyle magazine
- A hairstylist for the show compared media interest in Lively’s hair to that for Jennifer Aniston’s “The Rachel”
- In 2008, The New York Times reported the show has had a profound impact on retail, saying Gossip Girl is probably “the first [show] to have been conceived, in part, as a fashion marketing vehicle”
- While it has had middling success in terms of ratings, it “may well be the biggest influence in the youth culture market”, said a trendspotter
- However, for Maheen Humayun of The Tempest, the show emphasized toxic cultural traits, like rape culture, that “messed up a whole generation”
- According to Zoe Fox of Mashable, the show popularized social media networks and mobile communication
- Becoming “a pioneer in its use of mobile”
- In 2008, New York Magazine named the series as “Best Show Ever”
- In 2009, Rolling Stone named the series as “TV’s Hottest Show”
- On January 26, 2012, in honor of the series’ 100th episode, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited the set and proclaimed the date Gossip Girl Day
- Viting the show’s cultural influence and impact on the economy of the city
- The popularity of the series was also indirectly responsible for the creation of the reality series NYC Prep
- Which ran for one season on Bravo
- The series has been referenced in films such as Fired Up!, Get Him To The Greek, Vampires Suck, Easy A, Just Go With It and Horrible Bosses
- And TV series such as Royal Pains, Entourage, Parks and Recreation, Skam, 30 Rock, Skins, and Shameless, among others
- Popular among teenagers and young adults, the Gossip Girl cast has posed on the cover of numerous mainstream magazines
- Including Rolling Stone, People, Nylon, New York Magazine, TV Guide, New York Post, Vogue, Out Magazine, Details, and Entertainment Weekly
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