Gossip Girl’s Blair Waldorf is no angel. Blair is not above acts of violence such as taking a field hockey stick to her frenemy Serena van der Woodsen’s leg, Tonya Harding-style; nor is she above canoodling with smarmy date rapist Chuck Bass. But this just proves that Leighton Meester, who plays Blair, is a talented actress. In real life, it appears that Meester is as far away from the twisted and destructive Blair as one can get. The only similarity is that both the actress and the character she plays are delicious and have impeccable style.

Whereas last Monday on Gossip Girl Blair attempted to torpedo Serena’s moment on the runway by handing her the wrong dress, last Thursday Leighton Meester took to the runway in New York City’s Union Square to raise awareness about domestic violence.

“I think it’s an issue that everyone can take part in because it applies to everyone,” said Meester. “You can be a victim or someone you love can be a victim. The more people are aware, the more it can be prevented.” … continue reading

The celebs seem to be lining up to get in on Liz Lemon's action — and who can blame them? This week, the media queen herself, Oprah Winfrey, confirmed that she, too, will guest star on 30 Rock this season. Gossip Girl's Blake Lively and Leighton Meester will follow suit.

Oprah is slated to play her very famous self, and is no stranger to guest stardom. In 1997, she played therapist to Ellen's character, Ellen Morgan, on quite possibly the most famous Ellen episode ever, urging her to come out to friends and family. Leave it to Oprah to be on board for such a historical event: Ellen’s coming out was the first time a gay character ever came out to audiences on primetime television.

You go, O. … continue reading

Oprah’s episode is tentatively scheduled to air Nov. 6, and she reportedly will share a lot of screen time with Tina Fey.

Oh, boy! Oh, boy! I mean, oh, guurl! They are back. If you have to ask, “Who’s 'they'?” then where ya' been? They are the most lesbian-subtextually-obvious-pairing-that-will-probably-never-get-together-on-TV-because-TV-screens-would-explode couple in teen drama history, that’s who. Gossip Girl has returned along with my smile and the hyperbole! (OK, so, it wasn’t the most OMG to infinity episode ever aired but it sure felt nice to have Blair and Serena back being all Blair and Serena-y. Blake Lively and Leighton Meester bring the show its life.)

The episode, “Summer, Kind of Wonderful,” showed the Upper East Siders venturing even further up and east in the Hamptons. The episode gets us all caught up on the summer happenings.

Serena spent the summer with Nate (solely as friends, thank goodness), wandering aimlessly around the beach trying to figure out why Dan wasn’t as happy as she was that she really didn’t kill anyone. I mean that is good news, right? Dan Humphreys are really hard to please.

Dan spent the summer being a playboy. (I know, huh?) It seems that the best way to get over Serena van der Woodsen is by dating girls that wouldn’t have given your broke no name behind the time of day if you hadn’t ever dated Serena van der Woodsen. For some reason, he seemed perfectly fine with this good fortune, though it’s a fortune that he would have pilloried any other person for engaging in. Dan was also being mentored by a well-known writer and had a chance to be published again, but he suffered from writers block because he couldn’t write the ending to his break up story.

Chuck Bass spent the summer being Chuck Ass because he was missing the B. B was in Europe licking her wounds like a kicked puppy. During the summer, Chuck had his flings and his romps but as soon as he read a text from Gossip Girl that B was arriving in the Hamptons, Chuck threw on his smirk, gathered some flowers and was waiting to make amends. Of course, B didn’t come alone. She would never do that. … continue reading

Do you ever think to yourself that you'll never date a gorgeous celebrity because you have nothing in common with a Hollywood star? Well, guess what — you're wrong! If you love "Guitar Hero" — like most people do — you have all the makings of a great relationship with some super hot, super famous women.

Last week on her MySpace blog, Jenna Fischer of The Office wrote: "If you heard a rumor that I covered myself in fake tattoos and played "Guitar Hero" until 3 a.m. this weekend, that rumor is true. I rocked it."

How about No. 1 AfterEllen.com hottie Tina Fey — does she like "Guitar Hero"? Yes!

… continue reading

What does America Ferrera do on the set of Ugly Betty? "One of my favorite pastimes to do while I'm at work in between setups is to play "Guitar Hero," Ferrera told USA Today.

Earlier this week when the New York Times reported that The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art has taken to shooing away visitors from their steps because of some indefinable construction project, my first reaction was: but where will the Constance Billiard social hierarchy sort itself out? Where will Upper East Side teens go to grope one another? For God's sake, where will Blair and Serena eat their breakfast?!

Then I realized I was being ridiculous: Blair and Serena aren't in Manhattan right now. Serena is in the Hamptons recovering from her murder confession, and Blair is in France sharpening her talons for an impending death match with a couple of Humphreys. They don't need those steps in front of the Met this summer!

Serena and Blair's alter-egos — Blake Lively and Leighton Meester — have busy summers ahead of them as well. Lively will be starring in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 alongside America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel. The movie was originally slated for release on August 8th, but Warner Brothers announced this week that they'll be moving it up two days to August 6th, hoping to generate some good buzz because the film has been getting great reviews in pre-release screenings. Ann Brashares wrote four books in the best-selling Traveling Pants series, and this movie covers the last three. So in addition to the the things the trailer promises — laughter, tears, and that generally awesome feeling that comes from just being a girl — there should be plenty of story to go around. … continue reading

As power-teenager Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl, Leighton Meester rules her Upper East Side school (most of the time.) And why shouldn't she? The 22-year-old former model is a beautiful brunette (though she's admittedly a natural blonde.)

Leighton (who has such a hot name, right?) has appeared on hit shows like House, Law and Order, and Entourage, so it seems to me that she is a smart girl, too. Or perhaps ratings pick up just after she appears on-screen. … continue reading

This episode of Gossip Girl, "Much ‘I Do’ about Nothing," had the perfect title. The entire episode felt like much about nada! Zilch. Sometimes I wonder why this show is called Gossip Girl because home girl is stingy with the gossip, ya’ll. I seem to know more than she does and that’s not saying much.

The episode picks up the following morning from last week’s ending. Lily and Rufus, having kissed the night before wake up in bed together on the morning of her wedding to Bart. (Ah, nothing says love quite like screwing around the night before your wedding with some one you actually have feelings for versus, say like, screwing around with a paid stripper at the bachelorette party.) Lily went way beyond tradition here.

While in bed trying to decide if going through with the wedding is the right decision, Rufus gets a call with an offer for his band, Lincoln Hawk, to go on tour for the summer. Lily then gets a call from Bart with an offer to come and meet him for a bizarre heart-to-heart about letting go of past loves or something like that.

Lily ultimately is faced with a choice of love and reliving her youth as a rock band groupie or with like and hoping her soon to be fourth rich husband either dies or wrongs her badly enough to warrant getting to keep some of his cash in a divorce. Life’s choices are so complex: tour buses and lofts in Brooklyn or limos and penthouses in, well, in every beautiful city worldwide that’s worth having a penthouse in.

Much to Blair’s horror, she and Chuck also wake up all snuggly together but fully clothed, thankfully. Blair is Chuck’s kryptonite: he seems to have lost all of his predatory ways as of late. OK, fine — these two are very cute together in that bitchy loves company sort of way, but they certainly are not as cute as Blair and Serena would be if they were to ever explore that inner girl-loving-girl side of themselves. Wake up, ladies, your Sapphic lives await you! We’re here for you.

Anyway, Chuck and Blair stayed up late plotting how they could get rid of Georgina. Of course, two sinister minds are better than one so the pay back is going to be great! Right? Well, uh, no, not really.

Serena’s day starts off by going over to Dan’s and finding Georgina there after having spent the night. Serena actually rushes toward Georgina like she’s going to wring the horns out of Georgina’s head and wrestle her for her little red pitchfork but Dan stepped between them (darn it.)

All photos by Giovanni Rufino / The CW

After Georgina leaves, Serena finally tells Dan her, “I killed someone” secret. Surprisingly Dan isn’t relieved that Serena really isn’t a murderer — he’s more stuck on the fact that she mislead him and lied to him and didn’t trust his love for her or his open non-judgmental mind and all of the other me, me, me, junk that self-righteous guys named Dan Humphrey from Brooklyn are prone to say.

Oh, remember that sure fire great plan Chuck and Blair devised as Georgina’s payback? Well, it was so sinister and so wicked that Blair had to enlist innocent Dan for help. He gets Georgina to agree to meet him at their favorite spot by the pond in the park where Blair shows up with … Georgina’s parents.

That’s it? Georgina, the daughter of Satan, the third cousin twice removed of Hades, is scared of her parents? They plan to send her off to a boot camp reform school. Now, I was expecting a bang (like the gallows) not a whimper (like reform school), but reform school does leave the door ajar for the possible return of Georgina next season. Yippee! (Not.)

Now, on to the wedding. Yes, the wedding. What, you thought Lily was choosing tour buses, Brooklyn and love? What are you, a romantic? Hell, no — money, limos, penthouses make the world go ‘round. Well, if not around, then at least it makes the world comfy when it’s stationary.

The wedding was the social gathering of the year. Everybody who was anybody was there, including Rufus who wasn’t even invited. He popped in trying one last time to convince Lily that she’d like Brooklyn and that tour buses were just enormous limos with their own bathrooms on board. She smiled, patted him on the head and then walked down the aisle merrily. … continue reading

This week’s episode of Gossip Girl, "Woman on the Verge," had me on the verge, as well – on the verge of slapping Dan upside his head and kicking Georgina’s behind all the way back to the gates of Hell from which she apparently escaped.

Serena’s "I killed someone" revelation last week left us eagerly awaiting the who, the why, the how, and surprisingly, it was all answered. Not surprisingly it was a tad anticlimactic. Isn’t that the case sometimes in life—the anticipation is more fun than the reality?

The episode starts the day after Serena tells Blair her secret and Serena is nowhere to be found. Georgina calls her a trillion times (getting angrier with each new voice mail), Dan calls her (sounding more desperate with each new attempt), and Serena’s mother (Lily) is annoyed because she’s waiting for Serena to get home and be helpful as it’s the day of her wedding rehearsal dinner. (Recap: she’s marrying Bart Bass, Chuck’s father, even though she still has feelings for Dan’s father Rufus. It’s all so complicated.)

Blair asks her two exes, Chuck and Nate, (who now hate each other) to meet at her place and she arrives home with a horribly hung-over Serena. Blair’s housekeeper secretly calls Serena’s mother to tell her that Serena seems to have fallen off the Good Girl wagon and has been run over by it.

Dan arrives at Blair’s and, when confronted for the umpteenth time about why she’s being weird, Serena tells Dan that she slept with some guy the night before because lying about that is better than telling the truth about being a murderer. (She has a point.)

Heartbroken Dan announces that he’s "done" and walks away from Serena as their friends look on. I mourned the loss of their relationship for 4.3 seconds and then wondered when Serena would begin mulling over Blair’s "I love you," from the night before. Fine, Serena had other things on her mind but she’ll get around to mulling, I just know it!

Dan, feeling all rejected, agrees to meet "Sara" (AKA Georgina’s alter-ego) for some quality crying on the shoulder time. Poor Dan is getting played like a nickel slot machine at a Vegas mini-mart. An all day sucker, that Dan.

All photos by Patrick Harbron/The CW

After Dan leaves, Serena finally opens up about the details of the secret. We have been lead to believe that Serena left town because she couldn’t deal with the guilt of having slept with her BFF’s boyfriend, but we learn that the night drunken Serena had sex with Nate , she met up with Georgina afterward to get even drunker and more drugged out of guilt. … continue reading

Uh-uh. Nope. Don't even pretend you knew all along that the big secret was that Serena thinks she killed somebody! Naw. I ain't hearing it! Heh.

Was that reveal fun or was that reveal fun? Goodness. Blackmailing with plain ol' sex tapes is so last year. The rage this year is sex tapes and suspicious deaths. But come on, she didn't really kill anyone, did she? Georgina has her believing she did, right? Right? Fingers crossed?

All photos by Patrick Harbron/The CW

This week's episode of Gossip Girl , "All About My Brother," was sort of about Serena's brother — her feelings for her brother and her guilt for leaving her brother as she fled town under mysterious circumstances. Oh, and also about her brother coming out as gay.

And it was sort of about Jenny's general assery toward her brother … and her father, too, for that matter. And who knows? Maybe he's somebody's brother, as well. … continue reading

At last the infamous Georgina Sparks (Michelle Trachtenberg) has hit the Upper East Side, and frankly I'm anxiously waiting for the Upper East Side to hit her back! I knew that I was going to love to hate Georgina, but I haven't quite mustered the love just yet. OK, maybe a little.

All photos by Giovanni Rufino/The CW

In this week's Gossip Girl episode, "Desperately Seeking Serena," Dan spends his time looking for Serena, who is not showing up where she's supposed to (like her college exams). Once again, Serena has desperately been trying to find herself, and when all the dust clears, the SAT review board is going to be desperately searching for Serena, too. Heh.

In contrast, Georgina — who I thought might be the one desperately seeking Serena — seemed to spend no time in looking for her, and what little searching she did appeared to be more calculated than desperate. She just sort of supernaturally appeared out of nowhere at Serena's school as if this episode were a spinoff of Buffy.

See, that's just it: Evil just shows up. And evil is never desperate. … continue reading

Some TV shows you love. Some TV shows you hate. It's pretty simple. But then there are those shows you love to hate, and others you hate to love! Well, dang it, I hate to love Gossip Girl. But I do. I have fallen for it.

Photo credit: The CW/Andrew Eccles

I'm sure it'll break my heart, though. I know that Gossip Girl could so easily slip and slide into the trite and predictable vortex of suck that has swallowed up many of its teen drama predecessors. But the show, in its first year, is still trying to find its way, and it's actually doing it with much more skill and poise than I would have ever imagined after watching the pilot.

But rather than be concerned about the future, I will live in the now and simply say Yay! to the return of the show tonight on the CW on a new night (Monday) and at a new time (8:00 p.m. ET). Yes, I have a show crush!

There are five new episodes in store, and I'm as joyful about this as a 14-year-old who's been given an iPhone with a free unlimited text plan! The show stars Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Taylor Momsen, Penn Badgley, Chace Crawford, Ed Westwick and the voice of Kristen Bell as Gossip Girl. Oh, and for Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans, you may like to know that Michelle Trachtenberg is hitting the Upper East Side of Manhattan soon for a few episodes, and it should be fun to see what damage she may cause. … continue reading

Anyone (if there is anyone) who has been following my blog regularly over the past few weeks might have noticed that there have been, well, rather a lot of references to the totally trashy teen soap Gossip Girl.

Now, I will readily admit that a large part of my interest in this show comes from the relationship between the main two female characters, Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen (played respectively by Leighton Meester and Blake Lively, pictured below in a shoot for this month’s issue of Vogue).

But even if it wasn’t for all the chemistry between Blair and Serena, there’s a reason I might still be watching. Sarah and Lori may have declared themselves in favor of Blake, but for me it’s all about the lovely Leighton (who, although she plays a teen on the show, fortunately turns 22 in April): … continue reading