Gossip Girl is an
American television teen drama based on the popular
novel series of the same name written by
Cecily von Ziegesar.
Gossip Girl revolves around the lives of socialite young adults growing up on
New York's
Upper East Side who attend elite academic institutions while dealing with sex, drugs, jealousy, and other teenage issues. Featuring an
ensemble cast, the series begins by introducing Serena van der Woodsen (
Blake Lively) and best friend Blair Waldorf (
Leighton Meester), as well as Blair's on-off boyfriend Nate Archibald (
Chace Crawford) and Nate's best friend Chuck Bass (
Ed Westwick). And Dan Humphrey (
Penn Badgley), who dated Serena during most of the first season and Jenny Humphrey (
Taylor Momsen), who become involved in the lives of the main characters despite being less inclined to merge with the upper-east-side crowd. The series is narrated by a seemingly omniscient character, "Gossip Girl" (voiced by
Kristen Bell), who runs a
blog about her fellow Upper East Siders — consequently stirring the pot and creating potential rivalries in this exclusive and vicious circle of friends.
The show was developed by
Josh Schwartz and
Stephanie Savage, who also serve as
executive producers alongside Bob Levy and Leslie Morgenstein.
[Gossip Girl at The Futon Critic [1]] It is produced by
Warner Bros. Television, College Hill Productions and Alloy Entertainment.
The series first aired on
September 182007 in
Canada on
CTV before premiering in the U.S. a day later on
September 192007 on
The CW, following
America's Next Top Model.
["Fall 2007 Premiere Dates," CTV, August2007. Retrieved on September 12007] The premiere episode also became available on the
iTunes Store as a free download on
September 142007, four days before the series' debut. The show received the first full season order of 22 episodes of the 2007/2008 television season of the five major broadcast networks when The CW picked it up in October 2007.
