Gossip Girl - The Complete First Season
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Blake Lively, Chace Crawford, Kristen Bell, Leighton Meester, Taylor MomsenBrand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; Chinese (Subtitled); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Korean (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Thai (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Portuguese (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 810 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-08-19
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- AC-3; Box set; Color; Dolby; Dubbed; DVD; Subtitled; Widescreen; NTSC
Movie Reviews of Gossip Girl - The Complete First Season
Movie Review: The premiere guilty pleasure show of the 2007-2008 season
Summary: 5 Stars
GOSSIP GIRL could well be the first and last hit show developed by the CW in the wake of the merger of the WB and UPN. With multiple industry sources indicating that the network is in serious trouble and may cease operation following the 2008-2009 season, GOSSIP GIRL could well find itself at a new network in the 2009-2010 season, assuming that it maintains its "buzz" well into its sophomore season. But if the CW is able to reverse its current difficulties, GOSSIP GIRL could well be the reason it survives.
For a while in this past season, GOSSIP GIRL and DIRTY SEXY MONEY were fighting it out for title of top new Guilty Pleasure Show. It was neck and neck at the break for the writers' strike, but with DIRTY SEXY ending its season prematurely, GOSSIP GIRL roared past it in the second half of the season.
GOSSIP GIRL was one of two shows created by Josh Schwartz that debuted in the fall of 2007. The other was CHUCK. Both shows were heavily indebted to Schwartz's previous big hit show, THE O.C. It was as if he separated out the cool nerd elements of THE O.C. and distilled them into CHUCK (the lead role of which is reputed to originally have been offered to Adam Brody, Seth on THE O.C., though Rachel Bilson, who played Seth's girlfriend Summer, did guest on CHUCK) while the social politics of the idle rich were distilled into GOSSIP GIRL, though transposed to the East Coast. The result was two thoroughly likable shows, though also two very different shows. Which one prefers will depend exclusively on personal taste.
THE O.C. was seriously marred in each of its first three seasons by the introduction of a series of thoroughly despicable and evil characters, emblemized by the infamous and desperately hated Oliver from Season One. My guess has always been that Schwartz and his co-creators never sufficiently distinguished between characters we love to hate and characters we merely hate. Season Three of THE O.C. largely led to the show's demise with a long string of horrid and evil guest characters, even though the abbreviated Season Four was one of the series' best. So far GOSSIP GIRL has done a splendid job of avoiding this pitfall. The most prominent evil character so far has been Georgina, played by BUFFY's Michelle Trachtenberg (though Dawn has definitely grown up), and unlike Oliver was an utter delight. So perhaps they've finally gotten this down.
My lone problem with the show has been the focus on the children of New York City's social elite, a group of human beings I could not possibly have less interest in (well, perhaps I find them more interesting than the history of wood lice in Iceland). This is largely redeemed by a good-looking and talented group of young actors. The show is an adaptation of a series of juvenile novels that I have not read, so I suppose that is why some of the lead characters were stuck with such god awful names like Serena van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf (though I'll hasten to add that Serena is the best character on the show and the actor who portrays her, Blake Lively, the show's break out star). But whatever the limitations of the source, Schwartz and his team of writers did a great job of making the characters interesting and, in their own way, likable. The central interest in the show is the Manhattan/Brooklyn romance between Serena and Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley). The cast of characters is rounded out by Queen B Blair, her romantic interests/entanglements Chuck Bass and Nate Archibald (odd to have a character on a TV show with the name of a famous athlete). Dan's younger sister, Jenny, is played by Taylor Momsen, who is the only teen character who is the age she is supposed to be playing. But she does a great job of hanging with the oldsters. Everyone in the cast does at least a creditable job. Ed Westwick is quite good as my least favorite character on the show, Chuck Bass. Why do I hate him? Well, early on he is presented as a serial rapist. 'Nuff said. In Hays Code Hollywood it would be a strict requirement that he would have to atone for his sins by dying before the final curtain rings down. I'm not sure how you can redeem a rapist on a show like this. My guess is that they are going to ignore that he is a sex offender and instead just pretend that he is just sowing his wild oats. But drugging a woman for sex is rape, pure and simple. I hope the series sees him going to prison. There are also some great adult characters, much as in THE O.C., but so far the adults have not been as interesting as those in Schwartz's earlier show. I like Dan's father and Serena's mom, but neither is as interesting as Sandy and Kirsten Cohen, let alone Julie Cooper. And why, precisely, does Serena's mom Lily ALWAYS have a glass of champagne in her hand?
One other member of the cast deserves special mention and that is the one who portrays, entirely off screen, the title character: Kristen Bell. I was and still am devastated that VERONICA MARS was cancelled, but in that magnificent show's demise Kristen has been, like Elvis, spotted almost everywhere. One of the things that made VERONICA MARS so successful (at least artistically, if not in terms of viewers) was Kristen Bell's wonderful voice-overs. The premise of the show is that an anonymous blogger is posting online all the adventures of Serena, Blair, Dan, Jenny, and company. Bell's narration is simply the supposed content of that blog. I'm not sure if they will reveal precisely who Gossip Girl is, though you figure it would have to be someone acquainted with the major character. Perhaps it will turn out to be the Waldorf maid.
One other thing to mention as contributing to the show's success: it is filmed on location in New York. I've found so many shows irritating because of their supposed location. I live in Chicago and while I enjoy SAMANTHA WHO, every exterior shot of Chicago in that show drives me batty. Who could have guessed Chicago looked so much like L.A.? Ditto UGLY BETTY. At least that show will be moving to NY for its third season. But GOSSIP GIRL benefited at every point from its setting in New York.
All in all, this was a delightful show in its first season. A great show like BUFFY or BATTLESTAR GALACTICA or FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS or SIX FEET UNDER? Absolutely not. Those shows aspire to be more than merely popular entertainment. But if you need a guilty pleasure show, a series that has little in the way of redeeming qualities apart from delighting in the wicked, wicked exploits of the idle rich, you can't top this.
Summary of Gossip Girl - The Complete First Season
Want to know a secret? A really juicy secret? Look no further than the latest message from Manhattan's notorious blogger Gossip Girl. She keeps tabs on the city's most elite teens as they make the rounds from the preppiest school events to the most lavish, decadent parties. And between Serena and Blair's explosive friendship, Dan and Serena's budding romance, Nate and Blair's fairytale relationship (or is it?), Chuck's escapades and Jenny's introduction to the glamorous life, there's a lot to track! In this 5-disc, 18-episode Season One, friends, lovers, rivals and enemies abound. Even the darkest secrets don't stay hidden for long. You know you love it. XOXO!Similar DVD Movies
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