TV Barn and TeeVee.net nutshell guide to the Fall 2007 premieres

Gossip Girl

Official "Gossip Girl" web site

Dan and Jenny Humphrey (Penn Badgley and Taylor Momsen) are middle-class kids, but their ex-rock star dad insists on putting them in the very best school money can buy. And so these nice, normal kids are inserted in a private school on NYC's Upper East Side populated with spoiled super-rich kids who spend their days shopping, having sex, and reading trashy blog items about themselves. Sounds like a nice premise, except that our underdogs take a back seat to the ludicrous triumphs and tragedies of the aforementioned rich brats, including the backstabbing Blair and date-rapist Chuck. Where there are underdog kids (as well as a sympathetic deposed Queen Bee played with style by Blake Lively), there's hope -- but judging by the "Gossip Girl" pilot episode, this show is much more obsessed with the characters you'll hate than the small collection you might actually like. (However, if you'd like to witness what a teenager's fantasy world -- complete with bartenders who think nothing of serving mixed drinks to 16-year-old girls -- looks like, this ridiculous show's got you covered.)