Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage and based on the series of novels of the same name by Cecily von Ziegesar. It follows a group of students in Manhattan's Upper East Side whose private and social lives are chronicled by the unidentified blogger "Gossip Girl". The series was broadcast on the CW from September 19, 2007, to December 17, 2012, spanning six seasons and 121 episodes.

The series' main characters include socialite Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively), her popular frenemy Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), her mother Lily van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford), and her love interest Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), an aspiring writer and scholarship student. Other main characters include Serena's ex-boyfriend Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford), his best friend Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), Dan's sister Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen), Dan's childhood friend Vanessa Abrams (Jessica Szohr), his father Rufus Humphrey (Matthew Settle), and the troublesome Ivy Dickens (Kaylee DeFer).

A ratings hit in its early seasons, Gossip Girl received generally positive reviews from critics and audiences but became known for using negative critical reviews in its marketing. The series won numerous accolades, including 18 Teen Choice Awards. It gained a large cult following, influenced other teen dramas and spawned several international television adaptations.

The series was followed by a standalone sequel, also titled Gossip Girl, which aired for two seasons between 2021 and 2023 on HBO Max.

The series focuses on a group of privileged teenagers who attend a prestigious high school in the Upper East Side of New York City. Their private lives are constantly commented upon by an unknown blogger under the pseudonym "Gossip Girl".

Gossip Girl chronicles the scandals and intimate details of the characters' lives during high school, college and in the years that follow. All of their ups and downs are available for the public to read about. Throughout this time, the characters strive to unveil Gossip Girl's true identity.

The series featured uncredited narration by Kristen Bell, who appears in every episode. Bell portrays herself in the series finale.

The Gossip Girl novel series by Cecily von Ziegesar was originally supposed to be adapted into a film starring Lindsay Lohan with head Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino. When the film project did not get off the ground, Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz took over, to create a television series. By October 2006, Schwartz was working on the pilot. He said: "I was very skeptical [of the series]. I don't want to [repeat] The O.C.. [von Ziegesar's] books are smart [and] the characters are worldly". The characteristics for each character in the pilot were based on the first Gossip Girl book. In January 2007, the show was given the green light by the CW.

The O.C. creator Josh Schwartz and fellow writer Stephanie Savage served as the show's executive producers throughout the series' run, followed by Bob Levy and Leslie Morgenstein of Alloy Entertainment, who were assigned in aiding the adaptation of the novels into the series. Following the success of Gossip Girl, Gilmore Girls co-producer, John Stephens was approached by Schwartz and Savage, having previously worked with him on The O.C., and hired him as an executive producer. Joshua Safran, who started as a writer/consulting producer before becoming co-executive producer, was later added as an executive producer. On April 24, 2012, it was announced that he would leave the show at the end of the fifth season to be the new show runner of NBC's now-cancelled musical series Smash. To fill in Safran's void, co-executive producer Sara Goodman was promoted to executive producer for the sixth season. Alexandra Patsavas who worked with Schwartz on The O.C. was in charge of the music. Eric Daman was at the head of the costume department; he previously had assisted Patricia Field on Sex and the City.

Featuring nine regular speaking roles, the majority of the ensemble cast was assembled from February to April 2007. Leighton Meester and Blake Lively–who started auditioning in December 2006–were the first two actresses to be chosen in February for the lead roles of Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen, respectively. Penn Badgley, who had previously worked with Stephanie Savage on The Mountain, Taylor Momsen, Chace Crawford, Kelly Rutherford, and Connor Paolo also auditioned successfully and landed roles in the series in March, as did Florencia Lozano who appeared only in the pilot, and was later replaced by Margaret Colin. Badgley at first turned down the part of Dan since he originally auditioned for Chuck Bass. In an interview with Vulture, he stated that he turned down the role of Dan at first because of frustration; Lively—who planned to attend college—also initially turned down the role of Serena. Actors for the roles of Chuck Bass and Rufus Humphrey were found in April when British actor Ed Westwick, and Matthew Settle were cast. Westwick first read for the role of Nate but was then asked to try Chuck. As rumors swirled about the impending cancellation of Veronica Mars, it was revealed at the CW's 2007 upfronts on May 17, 2007, that Kristen Bell had narrated the pilot, thus making her the title character of another show on the network. Of the casting, Bell said:

Jessica Szohr was signed on to portray the recurring role of Vanessa Abrams and received regular status during the fourteenth episode of the first season. Kaylee DeFer joined the series in the eighteenth episode of the fourth season and was promoted to series regular for the show's fifth season.

At the conclusion of the fourth season, Momsen, who went on an indefinite hiatus during the season while retaining regular billing, and Jessica Szohr both left the show. Throughout the series' run, Connor Paolo consistently declined to elevate his recurring role of Eric van der Woodsen to regular status, citing personal reasons for his decision. After becoming a regular on the ABC series Revenge, Paolo confirmed his departure from Gossip Girl in August 2011.

As the show progressed, numerous recurring guest stars appeared in the show. Michelle Trachtenberg signed on to portray Georgina Sparks. The role had previously been offered to Mischa Barton who declined the role. Francie Swift and Sam Robards took the parental roles of Anne and Howard Archibald, respectively. Caroline Lagerfelt portrayed Celia "CeCe" Rhodes, Serena and Eric's grandmother and Lily's mother. Sebastian Stan made several appearances as Carter Baizen throughout the show's first three seasons.

Primarily filming in New York, Gossip Girl has been declared by New York Magazine as the "Most Restauranty Show Since Sex and the City", citing the pilot episode filming locales such as the Japanese restaurant Geisha, the Campbell Apartment where Nate and Serena were filmed having sex, and the New York Palace Hotel bar Gilt. Other New York City landmarks and well-known establishments were filmed throughout the first season. Victor/Victrola filmed the fictional infamous Chuck Bass burlesque club, Victrola, at The Box Manhattan, a sister club to The Box Soho in London. The fictional Constance Billard-St.Judes School, based on novel writer Cecily Von Ziegesar's alma mater, Nightingale-Bamford used external shots of the Museum of the City of New York.

The second season premiered at the Hamptons and began filming in mid-June. The season premiere opening montage showed a scene at Cooper's Beach that was instead filmed in Rockaway Beach followed by an elaborate white party. For the sixth episode of the season, Columbia University was used to film the Yale campus, an episode that followed disappointment from Yale fans due to its erroneous portrayal of the admissions process and reliance on Ivy League university stereotypes. During the season's seventh episode, the Brooklyn Inn was integrated into the show. Remaining true to its New York locations, the show filmed at the Russian Tea Room.

The fourth season premiered on September 13, 2010, with the first two episodes filmed in Paris. New York Magazine revealed several locations shot at the French University, La Sorbonne in the Latin District (or Quartier Latin) of Paris on July 5. Other locations include the Musée d'Orsay, the Eiffel Tower, the Gare du Nord, Avenue Montaigne and Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Columbia University became the primary filming location for the first few episodes of the season following the Paris story arc.

The fifth season premiered on September 26, 2011, with the first two episodes filmed in Los Angeles, California.

Because of its location in New York, executive producer Stephanie Savage said: "We were quickly told it would be too expensive, too complicated" at the beginning of the series. She said that it had been proposed to shoot in a Los Angeles studio that would recreate Central Park, but they eventually filmed the series in New York. Savage explained their choice to film there: "There's no New York City on TV, or there wasn't when we started making the pilot, except what you could see in the background behind the dead bodies on cop shows. We've never seen the city from the point of view of teenagers. It felt like a world with high stakes for young people." Schwartz added: "What's funny about these teenagers is they grew up watching Sex and the City, even though it wasn't about them. And I think they've probably incorporated that into how they mythologize New York. I fought really hard to shoot the show in New York because we want New York to be a character in the show." Many scenes were filmed in the Empire Hotel on the Upper West Side.

Each episode begins with the home page of the Gossip Girl website and Serena's picture from the pilot episode. Afterward, a recap of events relevant to the upcoming narrative is shown, which ends again with the home page of the website, only this time with a picture from other character(s) with a text about a recent event connected with the picture.