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| Available at Amazon.com |
Gossip Girl has been a controversial book series aimed at the “tween” audience about teenagers who use drugs, have sex, fall in love and do all the sort of soap operatic things that teenagers do. Spawning a dozen novels and two spin-off series, it’s proven to be popular enough to be adapted into a television series for The CW.
Narrated by Kristen Bell (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) as the owner of a blog dedicated to following the gossip of Upper East Side New York teenagers who happen to come from money, the series is a sort of 90210 for the East Coast, except with prettier people. It follows a small but eclectic group of characters:
Serena (Blake Lively) – an It girl who left the scene for a year to go off to a boarding school and whose arrival back starts the series.
Blair (Leighton Meester) – Serena’s former best friend who is now the Queen Bee of the side. She’s also been in a relationship with Nate since they were very young.
Nate (Chace Crawford) – Blair’s boyfriend whose dealings with Serena make their relationship more difficult.
Chuck (Ed Westwick) – Nate’s best friend and a wild child at heart, doing nearly everything to excess.
Dan (Penn Badgely) – A middle class kid whose father was once a member of a semi-famous rock band in the 1990s.
Jenny (Taylor Momsen) – Dan’s little sister, she finds herself becoming quick friends with both Blair and Serena.
The series is a teenage soap opera at its finest, delivering fast and furious plot movements. This isn’t a film that has a slow build or long character development; this is a fast paced series where the usual sort of story arcs that takes weeks happens in about 20 minutes. It’s fascinating in the “train wreck” variety, as the series is just blatantly over the top to the point where it finds a unique rhythm of sorts. Everything happens at a breakneck pace, but the show keeps it interesting the whole time with a lot of young, talented actors. Balanced out by some older adult character actors, the series isn’t just a vehicle of Blake Lively (who the advertising is centered around).
It’s a solid drama and good to view if you’re a fan of a show like Nip/Tuck, et al. . . i.e. a drama that tends to go overboard but in the good sense.
Presented in a full screen format with a Dolby Digital surround, the film has a terrific audio/visual transfer. Complete with the original soundtrack, the DVD transfer takes full advantage of the format provided. The show has a lot of colors and makes for an interesting palette to watch and it comes through wonderfully on DVD.
The features are pretty light. Two Music Videos, “Boring” and “Secret” by the Transcenders, are included. LOLis a series of out takes. The Audio Book of the novel is included as well.
When it comes to teenage drama, Gossip Girl is one of the best. It’s cheesy and schmaltzy but good, mindless fun.
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Warner Home Video presents Gossip Girl The Complete First Season. Developed by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage. Starring Blake Lively, Penn Badgely, Chace Crawford, Kelly Rutherford, Kristen Bell. Not Rated. Running time: 1,024 minutes. Released on DVD: August 19, 2008. Available at Amazon.com.
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