Is Original and Fresh Always Better?

Posted at 09:08, 2007-Sep-25 in On TV

Networks tend to put new shows on after an established and successful show. This way, viewers are too in awe of whatever fabulous episode they had just seen and are too dumbfounded to change the channel. This has worked for shows such as October Road which had a time slot after Grey’s Anatomy as well as Brothers & Sisters which premiered after Desperate Housewives.

This past week, a brand new show titled Gossip Girl aired after cycle nine of America’s Next Top Model. Gossip Girls had been heavily promoted for a couple months on the CW. The theme song for the commercial was Fergie’s “Glamorous,” a song which has had popular radio play for mainstream music. The lyrics couldn’t have fit any better as the CW flashed images of young hotties that were either ethereal looking legs-up-to-there blondes or bachelors with the bluest of blue eyes lusting and then preying on their next victim. The commercial gave its viewers the impression that the show was to be another “The OC” type of show complete with the same creator, Josh Schwartz. A few familiar faces among the cast include Blake Lively (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Accepted), Penn Badgley (The Mountain, The Bedford Diaries) and a grown up Taylor Momsen (How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Underdog).

The show shares its title with a popular novel series that served mainly as a foundation for creators of Gossip Girl. Written by Cecily von Ziegsar and read mostly by teen girls, the plot of the novels revolve around rich teens in New York’s Upper East Side whom all deal with melodramatic problems that involve sex and drugs. Unpredictably, for the seasoned readers of Gossip Girl, each episode will build upon the fact that these problems eventually disrupt the flow of their socialite culture. Although the series has been criticized to be too racy for young girls, many parents and organizations have just been happy enough to see more teens reading.

Perhaps it is this teen audience that will help the ratings of the new CW show. If the drama in these books has been that captivating then having a visual and concrete story on the screen can’t hurt… can it? For the past couple of years the movie industry has been having great turnouts with screenplays based on books, such as Notes on a Scandal, The Namesake, and The Devil Wears Prada. Will it turn out the same for a TV show such as Gossip Girl? Whether it is their TV or the theater, are viewers still searching for something original and fresh to come to the screen? Or are we getting comfortable with watching a familiar story come to life?

Some readers don’t mind seeing a show or a movie after they have read the book, because they have already gotten the chance to create the characters in their minds. But alas, there are some readers that are too distracted by the changes the entertainment industry makes. There are already a couple of changes producers have made in Gossip Girl, such as Jenny Humphrey’s physical looks not matching the dark brown curly hair description given in the book. Her straight blonde hair is something unexpected for Gossip Girl readers but perhaps the slight alteration will grow on them as viewers.

We’ll just have to wait and see. HBO didn’t have any problems with Candace Bushnell’s Sex and the City coming to life. Bushnell’s characters even managed to get their own movie which comes out in 2008. Perhaps, it will work out for Gossip Girl as well.

- sl

Official Gossip Girl Site