"Gossip Girl": The New (and Best) Successor to "The O.C."

The new Fall Season has barely started and I am already in love with a new show. Wednesday night was the premiere of the new teenage soap opera Gossip Girl (based on the hit books by Cecily von Ziegesar) and from the first ten minutes, I was hooked. The show isn't as smartly written as The O.C. was in its prime, but it's delightfully trashy and so over-the-top it makes shows like Laguna Beach and The Hills look almost like documentaries in comparison.

The show revolves around the students of an elite private school in New York City: There's Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively), a former wild child who has come back from a semester at boarding school a whole new person. Blair, her former best friend, has turned into a cold bitch with her departure. Nate, Blair's boyfriend, cheated on Blair with Serena before she left and is really in love with her. Chuck, Nate's best friend, is a druggie prick who hits on naive freshman. And, finally, there are the newcomers to this world: Jenny Humphrey, a freshman trying to fit in with all the right girls and her brother...


Dan (played by Penn Badgley), the loveable outcast of the school who is hopelessly in love with Serena. All I have to say about Dan are two things:

1) Awwwwwww!
2) We finally have a new Seth Cohen!

He was so sweet, whether it was when he was helping his sister pick out a dress for the big party or punching Chuck out after he tries to seduce/rape his sister, that my friend Shannon and I went "Awwww" practically every time he came on screen. And I was so happy when he, through a coincidence, got a date with Serena. They didn't get much of a chance to be together (they had to stop what they were doing and rescue his sister in the middle) but they have amazing chemistry. Plus, that final shot of them in the taxi cab together was so amazing, I'm still thinking about it for some reason. I know this relationship is way too easy for a show of this nature, and there are bound to be major ups and downs, but it will be nice while everything is happy.