Twelve years ago, Gossip Girl invaded the lives of America’s teenagers and a guilty pleasure for millions more! The teen drama originally ran on The CW network for six seasons from September 19, 2007, to December 17, 2012. The CW hit made waves following the popularity of the book series written by Cecily Von Ziegesar quickly catapulting Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Ed Westwick, Chace Crawford and Penn Bagley to fame. The show was also inspired after The O.C.’s success! Thanks to Netflix introducing it to a new generation of fans, our cultural obsession with the show remains as strong as ever. (You heard it right! It can be streamed from Netflix)
Primarily filming in New York, Gossip Girl documents the lives of Manhattan’s elite or the wealthy teenagers residing on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Each episode begins with the home page of the Gossip Girl website and with a narrative. The narrator is Gossip Girl and is voiced by actress Kristen Bell. Well, Bell only lends her voice to the series and appears in person (as herself) only for a surprise cameo in the final episode!
Oh! Did you know that Gossip Girl has its own day that we like to call “Gossip Girl Day”? That’s right! Then-mayor Bloomberg proclaimed January 26 a national holiday in celebration of the “most wonderful drama’s 100 episodes” and was sealed with and XOXO’d tweet.
Episode Titles or Movie Pun?
Already a lot of drama … isn’t it? Here comes another interesting part of the show. Every Gossip Girl episode title is a movie pun! Yep, it’s true, and it turns out it was glaringly obvious every single time you clicked play. If you haven’t seen any of the episodes yet (which is totally heart-breaking), get a glimpse of the titles with the below:
- The Wild Brunch (evoking western film The Wild Bunch)
- Seventeen Candles (Sixteen Candles)
- All About My Brother (Pedro Almodóvar’s All About My Mother)
- The Serena Also Rises (novel The Sun Also Rises)
- The Big Sleep No More (The Big Sleep)
- Easy J (Emma Stone’s hit movie Easy A)
- The Age of Dissonance (Edith Wharton’s novel The Age of Innocence)
- The Blair Bitch Project (The Blair Witch Project)
- Bad News Blair (1976 movie The Bad News Bears)
A rendezvous with the Upper East Siders! (Big-Time Spoilers Ahead XOXO)
The it Girl – Serena Celia Humphrey (née van der Woodsen)
Regarded as the “it girl”, Serena is best friends with Blair Waldorf and also has a close relationship with Nate Archibald and Chuck Bass. Throughout the series, Serena has an on-again, off-again relationship with Dan Humphrey. Serena is often surrounded by her disastrous relationship choices and her struggle to find where she fits in the world outside the Upper East Side. She is loved because of her faithfulness, altruism, fashionable and gregarious behaviour.
The Queen Bee – Blair Cornelia Bass (née Waldorf, previously Grimaldi)
Blair’s storylines often surround her struggle with the constant feeling that she is in Serena’s shadow. And finding how she can shine in her own light preoccupied her. They also surround her romantic relationships, namely with Chuck and Louis. Did you notice that Dan and Chuck have always represented two different sides of Blair’s personality? And she had some Audrey Hepburn moments throughout the show!
Ever heard about Audrey Hepburn? She was a British actress as well as a humanitarian! Famous for being a fashion icon, she was active during Hollywood’s Golden Age. To the extent where her beauty inspired many software developers to come up with creations such as Golden Era Slot. Drop by Regal Wins Casino and rediscover the glitz and glamour of that period with this title! Lights, camera and action!
The Womaniser – Charles Bartholomew Bass (aka Chuck)
Chuck is generally shown throughout the first two seasons as the group’s bad boy and is frequently manipulative. However, we get to see a softer side to his personality for people he cares about as the series progress, most notably for Nate and Blair. He often blames himself for his mother’s death even though it isn’t his fault! He has a tendency not to trust people completely and is always in search of ways to succeed.
D, Lonely Boy – Daniel Randolph Humphrey (aka Dan)
Dan is the smartest in his class, as well as witty and patient. Although inexperienced with plotting and manipulating, he demonstrates promise when scheming with Blair. Dan reveals at the end of the series that he was Gossip Girl… as redemption! It was a way for him to win back Serena by writing about himself into the Upper East Side. A middle-class boy from Brooklyn who never liked the life of Upper East Side but he falls for Serena van der Woodsen… isn’t it romantic?
The Golden Boy – Nathaniel Fitzwilliam Archibald (aka Nate)
Throughout the show, Nate has been involved in numerous romantic relationships. It turns out that none of them has been successful. He spent all his life chasing girls that have been wrong for him. Guess what? In the season finale, he is the only main character who is single! (He dated a total of 13 girls! Not to mention the one-night stands)
A fashionably farewell to remember
In the sixth and final episode of the American teen drama series, the gang joins forces for one more soiree with more drama (just the way we like it)! Following a series of drama preceding the evening, the shocking identity of Gossip Girl is finally revealed in New York, I Love You XOXO episode. Drum rolls, please! It’s none other than… Dan Humphrey!
Gossip Girl Reboot… XOXO
Yes, Folks! A Gossip girl reboot is officially in the works! It is scheduled to be released on WarnerMedia’s upcoming streaming service, HBO Max. Rumours have it that the new series will pick up eight years after the original Gossip Girl site went dark. Brace yourself for a new generation of private school teens!
