I have delayed this for several weeks in my attempt to figure out if anyone will ever respond, but I have finally gotten the courage to open this thread. Gossip Girl is my ultimate guilty pleasure. I know that I do not need to defend my love for this show but I will say that it is the only soap opera like show that I regularly watch and enjoy. Since we have a new episode coming up next week, I decided that this is a good time to start a thread arousing interest around the show. Are there any other dopers out there enjoying the drama between Chuck and Blair, Nate and Vanessa or Dan and Serena?
Vanessa is a character without a purpose. She was introduced to break up Dan and Serena, and ever since she failed, they don’t know what to do with her. She’s with Nate for no reason, then she isn’t for no reason, then she’s fighting with Jenny over Nate, then just one epiosdee later all is forgiven. Also, someone needs to tell the make-up people that Jessica Szohr is quite pretty with her natural complexion, and they don’t need to rouge her up like a two dollar whore.
Once you make your peace with the fact that the writers are totally going by the seat of their pants, nobody’s looking more than one episode ahead, and no characters have any sort of logical arc, everything else on the show is ginchy, especially this season’s focus on the Blair/Chuck battle. Leighton Meester has developed really good comedy chops this year. And I love the addition of Wallace Shawn. I didn’t like shuffling Bart off the stage so quickly after they had started to show a little more depth to his character, and his relationship with Chuck, but depth isn’t exactly this show’s forte. The resolution of the various crises is boring (remember how last season’s “I killed a guy” morphed into “I was half-asleep in the room when a guy OD’s on drugs he’d brought himself”?), but the crises themselves are the fun.
–Cliffy
Oh, Gossip Girl is so much fun! Chuck Bass even made it into my FB update one day, and I actually have a dress in my closet that was in Lily Bass’s closet. I got pretty excited.
I just love all the drama. Fake drama is so much more fun than RL drama.
I also watched The O.C. in a similar guilty-pleasure fashion. But I’m not an addict; I can only take one rich-kid soap at a time.
My best friend and I were discussing Vanessa’s makeup last night. She also thinks that Jessica Szohr is way too pretty to have that much makeup on.
Vanessa and Dan are my least favorite characters because I find it very hard to like or root for either one. Vanessa’s existence just seems to get in the way of everything. That whole Chuck/Vanessa/Nate triangle was pretty useless in terms of developing her character. If she just fell off the show I would not be all that upset.
Blair is by far my favorite. I actually started hunting down other Leighton Meester projects because I really enjoy what she does with the character from week to week.
Vanessa has driven me insane from day one. Her faux-arty appearance and whininess really grate.
Dan has been bad for a while now. Judgmental douchebag, but so very pretty.
I could watch Blaire and Chuck all day.
Oh, I’m the biggest MF-ing GG fan ever. I started a thread like this one maybe a month ago, though, and it didn’t seem like many people were into it, sadly… matter of fact, I haven’t met that many people my age IRL that like it or have even seen it. I think it’s an exposure thing-- I don’t watch The CW or any other “teen” shows, and I doubt I ever would have if not for an acquintance recommending GG rabidly and often; the fact that it’s by the creator of The OC had up to then been plenty enough to deter me. At any rate, it’s got a lot of points against it superficially, so maybe that’s why it’s relatively under Dopers’ radars.
As for the drama, ugh, I hate all the couples! I love the snark and the scheming and bitchiness on this show (esp. Blair; can’t even express my intense love for that character), but the romance is SO fucking heavy-handed and ridiculous. Dan/Serena has irritated me from the beginning; it’s never felt natural or anything but completely cheesy to me, and my throat is sore from having them-as-OTP shoved down it for two seasons now. Nate and Vanessa are as mismatched as peanut butter and onions; he and Jenny aren’t much better, but at least it makes sense for an aspiring fashionista to be in love with the rich dumb hot boy. As much as I love to hate Chuck, he and Blair were actually fairly interesting before the writers tried to cram love into the picture, but now they make me ill. If I had my way, the couples would be much more like they are in the books (yes, I’m reading them)–
Dan would be with Vanessa, Nate would constantly vacillate between Serena and Blair, and they would constantly fight over him but also have big gay feelings for each other, Aaron would have a huge unrequited crush on Blair, and Chuck would be merely an amusing side character with a pet snow monkey.
So, I watch the show for the humor, and mainly for the fighting, but also a lot for the epic gayness. Especially between Serena and Blair. 
(Seriously, rewatch season 1 and the Harvard episode and tell me you missed the gay.)
Missed my edit window but I had to add this re: Vanessa.
I think the best way I have ever heard Vanessa’s character summed up was this (just after Chuck in Real Life):
“Okay, Vanessa. I know. I know the writers are basically using you as their handyman. I know next week you might show up as a plumber. […] Now cheer up and go wear something tragic.”
(if anyone found that as funny as I did, you should read this person’s blog, because her GG recaps will crack you the fuck up.)
GG is the new Melrose. If only I had my gay to watch it with (Damn you, SF!), my experience would be complete. Not only do I enjoy the fashion, I love Blair’s unapologetic snark and underlying insecurity and ultimate decency. Chuck Bass rules.
Serena wears. me. out. No wonder Dan dumped. Even as monotone and self-righteous as he is, he couldn’t find enough redeeming value in her to keep her as a boinkvessel. Vanessa’s monotone, one-note characterization is painful. When she acts annoyed, she just looks sleepy.
The only relationship I get excited over besides Blass is Lily-Bart. Squeesville.