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Gossip’s gaggles of fans are thinking the same thing. On Monday (8 p.m. ET/PT), Serena, Blake, Chuck and the rest of the preternaturally groomed gang of private high schoolers are back on the Upper East Side to continue the cavorting begun before the writers’ strike. Shenanigans then included breaking into the school pool for a martinis-and-bikinis party; sleeping with a boyfriend — and his best friend — as Blair did; and taking the inevitable pregnancy test. All of which, of course, “everyone does,” jokes Meester, especially within the same week. At the end of the last episode, Blair’s reputation is in ruins, and Nate, her ex, is adrift, having lost both his girlfriend and his best friend, Chuck.
Expect ratcheted-up raciness in the final five episodes of Season 1, cast members say. “These scripts have been really, really juicy and exciting,” Lively, 20, says. For one, Serena’s most formidable frenemy, Georgina Sparks (ex-Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Michelle Trachtenberg), returns to reveal why the blond heroine was mysteriously whisked away to boarding school, only to come back in time for the start of the series. Georgina’s claws-out presence promises to shake the stability of Serena’s uptown girl-Brooklyn boy romance with Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley). Another jolt: One character is coming out as gay, though no one will reveal whom.
And it will all be chronicled via the must-read blog of the anonymous Gossip Girl (voiced by Kristen Bell).
Every episode will elicit an “OMG!,” Lively says, “at least three times.” They’re brimming with “a lot of ‘Oh-my-goodness-gracious!’ moments. … That’s one part of the advertising that’s accurate.”
“Our show has come in with a bang, and now they wish it will come back with a bang,” says Lively, immediately aware of the unintended prurient pun.
In fact, Gossip isn’t quite the broadcast bang: The first 13 episodes averaged only 2.5 million viewers per episode. But sales on iTunes have been robust, regularly spiking to the top-selling slot. And among network shows, the show ranks No. 9 among that coveted demographic — female teens. Among total teens, it reaches No. 30, tied with Dancing With the Stars. Gossip’s impact on the broader culture, from music to fashion, is fierce, drawing comparisons to the marks that Sex and the City and The OC made. Because it’s set and filmed in New York, it’s introducing a new generation to the city Sex glamorized a decade ago. And it’s key to the struggling CW network’s future.

usatoday.com