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Tuesday
19Aug2008

DVD Review - 'Gossip Girl: The Complete First Season'

DateTuesday, August 19, 2008 at 12:51AM
ggcover.jpgWelcome to the world of New York City’s young and privileged Upper East Side. From The O.C. creator Josh Schwartz comes Gossip Girl, based on the popular novels by Cecily von Ziegesar. Fortunately, you don’t have to be familiar with the books to enjoy the series; Gossip Girl quickly possesses you with its seemingly endless glitz and glamour, the traditional markings of Old Money.

The premise for this teen drama is simple enough: Notorious and anonymous blogger Gossip Girl, voiced by Kristen Bell, is our one and only source into the scandalous lives of Manhattan’s prep school elite. Think TMZ-style paparazzi made up of teenagers with camera phones and bad attitudes. 

Spotted: former It girl, Serena van der Woodson (Blake Lively) is back from boarding school after being gone for a year. But why did she leave so abruptly and why has she returned? More importantly, why isn’t BFF Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) happy she’s back? Could it be that Blair’s long time boyfriend Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford) has always had a thing for Serena?

Then there’s lonely boy Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), the sensitive outsider who carries a constant torch for Serena, as well. Can the more genuine Dan exist in her material world? Of all the characters, Dan and the Humphrey family are the most easy to relate to for the audience, making them our way into this world.

And of course, Gossip Girl wouldn’t be complete without the brooding, pompous, you-know-you-love-to-hate-him bad boy Chuck Bass (brilliantly embodied by Ed Westwick).

The first season is filled with cat fights between frenemies Serena & Blair, Serena’s budding romance with Dan, the complicated on-again-off-again relationship between Blair and Nate, the infinitely mischievous exploits of Chuck and Blair, a pregnancy scare, a drug addiction, blackmail, and a wedding, just to name a few highlights. 

Among the best episodes is The Handmaiden’s Tale, a beautifully filmed episode that centers on a masquerade ball; all masks come off in this story of mistaken identity. Victor Victoria is a brilliantly wicked hour, in which Chuck tries to persuade his millionaire father to purchase a burlesque club. As it often does on Gossip Girl, mayhem ensues.  

Hi Society takes a look at the class system – a constant refrain within the show’s subtext - and the troubles it presents for Serena and Dan. It appears that history does in fact repeat itself since Dan’s father, Rufus (Matthew Settle), experienced the same struggles when he dated Serena’s mother, Lily van der Woodson (Kelly Rutherford), in their checkered pasts.

The DVD is as attractive as the show itself, complete with plenty of eye catching cast photos. The menu resembles the Gossip Girl website, with episode descriptions that read like a blog. You’ll find four episodes on each of the five discs, the last of which also includes bonus features.

It’s not uncommon to find deleted scenes on DVD sets for TV series. Rarely, though, do you find a deleted scene that has a lot of relevance. Scouring the pilot episode, you’ll find a quick depiction of Blair’s eating disorder, something that is regularly implied on the show, but not displayed. 

Bonus features for Gossip Girl: The Complete First Season include a 22-minute making of featurette, The Beginning, XOXO; Gossip Girl Couture showcases the importance of fashion trends to the show, and the importance of the show to fashion trends; A Gossip Girl Wedding goes behind-the-scenes to capture the details of Lily van der Woodson’s mid-season wedding.

Because music is so pivotal to the story, as well as to some of the characters, it gets its moment in the sun on the DVD, with music videos and a quick look in on the composers for the series, Transcenders, as they assemble the score for a scene. And every episode features popular artists such as Justin Timberlake, Fergie, Rihanna, Amy Winehouse, Gwen Stefani, One Republic and Timbaland, among many others.

But if this is just a catty teenage drama about rich kids, why should you watch? That’s just it: This is not your typical teenage drama.  It’s witty, engrossing, devious, sexy, and well-crafted; the visuals and the music are as young, vibrant, and attractive as the cast and their impeccably manicured style. You certainly don’t have to be a teen to enjoy it and, in fact, it might help if you’re not.

Also, fashionistas will like hearing that it’s as fashion forward as Sex and the City - you can watch merely to keep tabs on current fashion trends. Similar to Sex, Gossip Girl pays homage to New York City as if it’s an additional character. So if you’re suffering from Sex and the City withdrawal as I was, you’ll be endlessly satisfied by the catwalk appeal of each new scene. 

Every detail appears to be perfectly planned and flawlessly executed, but because of the high stakes/high fashion melodrama, I’m not ashamed to admit that it’s my guilty pleasure.

I would expect no different from Gossip Girl.  You know you love it…

XOXO.

AuthorAmparo Elizabeth | | in , , , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | Comment1 Comment |

Reader Comments (1)

A top-secret news.
Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden came to an agreement about the future of US. It's the new page in US history. :(
There is no America now at whole!!!!!!!!!!!! Only terrorists and money, it's all Obama intrested in.

Watch the video !!!. :(
http://best-top.us/news

Watch quickly. The video will be deleted by hoster because of politics. !!!

Sunday, December 21, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterdontbesilent

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