“It’s the 21st century — shouldn’t it be Gossip Woman?” is one comment made about the titular dealer-out of secrets in the first episode of HBO Max’s new take onGossip Girl, dropping one episode a week beginning today. This comment is made by a character who was in fact born in the 21st century, but so was the originalGossip Girl, and that is the sort of detail that is not worth dwelling on for too long while watching this show, lest madness set in.
Recreated byJoshua Safran(who was eventually an executive producer on the original series),Gossip Girl: The New Classtakes place in the same universe as the OG, but in a post-vaccine New York City (presumably, the fall of 2021, though really all teen dramas, in one way or another, function in a timeless void to some degree). The kids are young, horny, and quick with the social media; ifGossip Girl: Lost In New Yorkdelivers anything, it’s a primer on the terminology “the kids today” are using on the ‘gram.
As other outlets — not to mention the first episode itself — have revealed, the identity of Gossip Girl is not a mystery in this iteration (and if fans of the original series are curious, it’snotDan Humphrey, which makes sense given thatPenn Badgleyis currently busy being the source of far more scandalous scandal). However, the original’s legacy is more than honored here; while the technology has been upgraded from blogging to Instagram, the tone, once again embodied by the wry cynicism ofKristen Bell’s voice-over, remains consistent.
At the center of the story officially are half-sisters played byJordan AlexanderandWhitney Peak— Julien, the elder, being a well-established influencer and model who initially takes new freshman Zoya under her wing, though there’s clear tension between them for both surprising and unsurprising reasons. The supporting cast of high schoolers is inclusive enough to escape any accusations of tokenism when it comes to LGBTQ+ representation, with plenty of drama brewing in the complex triangles (and potential quadrangles and more) that come when you’re young and cute and fluid AF.
The changes made to keep this series as fresh as… Okay, I have no idea what the kids call fresh these days, butGossip Girl With a Vengeancedoes certainly feel like it is of the moment. However, the originalGossip Girlhit the zeitgeist just when it was thirsty for the misadventures of a new crop of adolescents who act a whole lot older than they are, and it could be argued that right now, we’re not exactly lacking for similar content. In fact, I had a surreal moment launching the first episode today on HBO Max (so I could rewatch with subtitles, for the sake of my aged and decrepit ears), and being hit with a pre-roll ad forGeneration. Another HBO Max original,Generationpremiered just four months ago, while the HBO original seriesEuphoriais currently in production on a second season, due out by the end of the year. In short, just within the WarnerMedia family there is no shortage of brand-new teen drama available, and while of course each series has its own unique spin on the subject matter, it certainly doesn’t feel like the audience here is being underserved.
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That does lead to the question of who the audience for these shows is, most especiallyGossip Girl 2.0, which feels more conscious than ever of being on the outside looking in. I’m sure that plenty of youths watch these shows as well (when not making Tiktoks and advocating for climate change reform), but to speak to my own experience, when I was a teenager, I didn’t watch a lot of TV focused on teenagers (unless you count Jake Sisko onStar Trek: Deep Space Nine, and you probably don’t). But, then again, I was hardly in danger of attending any wild house parties (see previous parenthetical for perhaps one explanation) and didn’t particularly those shows to remind me of what I was missing.
As an adult, I’ve consumed far more of those shows and enjoyed them for what they are — escapism. For, as a critic who has not yet discovered the ability to stop aging, it’s something I’ve become ever more conscious of with each passing year, increasingly looking to teen dramas as a window into a unique universe about which I know very little, for the same reason I watch shows about Mexican drug cartels and space stations.
What does makeGossip Girl: The Next Generationstand out in this regard is that, without saying too much about it for fear of spoilers, that point of view — the curious spectator, seeking to understand the rites and rituals of rich teenager-hood, as foreign and strange as they might be — is well-represented in the show. Even, at times, to the exclusion of the storylines about the actual teenagers at the center of the narrative.
This leads to the question of for whom, exactly,Gossip Girl: The Teachers Strike Backis intended, a question for which I don’t necessarily have an answer. But I know that I watched all four episodes provided in advance to critics and enjoyed them, especially for the wildly obscure references, from the name-dropping ofGaspar Noéto an extended cameo by Tony-nominated playwrightJeremy O. Harris— though, in fairness, I should say that these are the sorts of references that feel appropriate for over-cultured rich New York teens.
It’s worth noting that the kind of buy-inGossip Girl and the Chamber of Secretsasks of its viewers includes avoiding any questions about the age of consent, especially the fact that one of the lead characters is14 years oldat the beginning of the season. Some borderline inappropriate to flat-out illegal stuff happens in this show! And if you’re watching it with any consideration of what would happen in reality, it might be pretty disconcerting!
That being said, something addictive does lurk here, and while it’s a fix that you can get elsewhere,Gossip Girl Takes Manhattanfor the most part knows what it’s doing and looks good doing it, creating the sense of something aspirational and also totally unattainable. Whether its issues with balance shake out in by the time the season is over remains to be seen, but it does have that magnetic can’t-look-away quality that cannot be denied.
New episodes ofGossip Girl: Here We Go Againpremiere Thursdays on HBO Max.
