Holy Gossip!

Our Upper East Side batphone just rang with some dish on Gossip Girl, and it is just far too juicy not to share.

Want to know who’s gay? Want to know with whom he’ll be playing tonsil hockey? (Yes, it’s a guy!) Then keep reading…

Sources confirm that the character with the queer eye is none other than little Eric van der Woodsen, little bro to the big S.

Now that might not be all that shocking, given that he’s one of the only characters on the show who hasn’t yet had a steamy hookup, but brace yourselves, GG fans, for it is coming!

Turns out, it’s the way in which Eric is outed that is the true jaw-dropper. Insiders tell me he’ll be caught making out with Jenny Humphrey…’s new boyfriend!

How’s that for another kick in the gut to the girl who just can’t seem to catch a break?! She’s gonna need some serious retail therapy after that fiasco. (So Upper East ladies, hide your couture gowns!)

Now, with all this gay Gossip talk, it’s worth pointing out that in the original Gossip Girl series, it was actually Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), who questioned his sexuality. However, sources tell me there are currently no plans for any same-sex action for Dan. Not surprising, since he is one-half of the show’s cornerstone coupling.

Penn told us this back in October: “I think [Dan] is straight-up gay in the books. But I don’t think network TV really has the balls to make one of its [teenage] series regulars gay. Let’s say the show builds up to become a big hit, then I think they’d maybe explore it in year three or four.”

Note to Penn: Let it be known that the CW does have cojones! Woot woot!

Gossip Girl fan sites and celebrity news blogs have been abuzz that a male, gay character on the CW show will be revealed.

Well, star Kelly Rutherford (Lily van der Woodsen) — who plays the mother of Serena (Blake Lively) and Eric (Connor Paolo) — accidentally let that Gossip Girl cat out of its bag in an interview. It’s Eric!

Kelly Rutherford ends any doubt about this Gossip Girl spoiler.

She let it slip to Us Weekly at a Sylvania event in New York City that it’s “her son” (as unanimously predicted in our Round Table) who comes out of the closet - and that the story line is “very well done.”

How do you think it will be revealed?

Gossip Girl is back with new episodes, and while the show has turned up the
heat with revelations that a character will come out of the closet, things
are getting fiery behind the camera, with New York magazine revealing that
onscreen frenemies Leighton Meester, 21, and Blake Lively, 20, ³avoid each
other like the plague,² leaving their castmates to ³choose sides.² An
insider also tells OK! that Leighton (inset) ³is jealous of everyone. She
doesn¹t like her character¹s wardrobe. She thinks it¹s conservative and
she¹s more fashionable and sexy in real life. She once said, ŒI look like a
dork in my outfits.¹ ² And with the spotlight on the show¹s other actors,
Leighton is feeling left out. ³She wants to be a movie star and wants the
publicity that her co-stars are getting,² says the insider. Leighton¹s rep
denies these claims

Thanks to Micaeh Johnson from OK! Magazine for sending this in!

There comes a time in every TV fan’s life when you just gotta stop, drop what you’re doing and let out a nice, big…

Squeee!

Today is such a day because in just a few hours, this season’s most addictive guilty pleasure returns to our living rooms: the CW’s Gossip Girl.

First, a little exclusive casting news: The CW confirms that Lydia Hearst (heiress of William Randolph Hearst and daughter of Patricia Hearst) will be guest starring in the season finale of GG. She plays Amelia, an interior designer for Bart and Lily’s apartment and has a “moment” with Chuck Bass. (Oooh, she had better hope Queen B doesn’t see!)

Lydia was most recently spotted by our own Marc Malkin hanging out with Gossip newbie Michelle Trachtenberg. Read the rest of this entry »

The success of Gossip Girl’s “OMFG” campaign and other buzz-making efforts have proven too successful, driving so much traffic to The CW’s website that hundreds of thousands have been watching the show there.

Which was pretty much the whole point, right?

Of course, now the network is shutting down the web streams over fears of this eating away at Gossip Girl’s TV audience.

Since the target demographic of young people are so Internet savvy, The CW thinks they’re becoming too lazy to bother catching the show on Monday at 8 p.m., where advertising revenues are much greater.

Instead, younger Gossip Girl fans are growing accustomed to catching full episodes of the show online, and that - in an industry-wide trend - has proved much more difficult for advertisers to monetize.

So it goes for a hit / non-hit show that’s had a big time impact on pop culture, yet remains a ratings disappointment. Will that change this spring? You can do your part by tuning in to The CW tonight at 8!

The stars of Gossip Girl are on the latest cover of New York Magazine, which boldly proclaims GG as the Best. Show. Ever.

No argument from us!

New York Magazine, which diligently recaps each episode, talks about how Josh Schwartz (producer), six tabloid-ready stars, an army of bloggers, and a nation of texting ‘tweens are transforming TV.

The Gossip Girl article begins with a sound that is low but insistent, a hum that gradually develops into something recognizable.

OmigodOmigodOmigod. Dan DanDanDanDan.

Gotalktohimgotalktohimgotalktohim!

Samantha Ahern and a group of her girlfriends, in from Smithtown, Long Island, for Samantha’s 16th birthday, are scurrying down 51st Street all at once, their legs moving quickly and purposefully.

Their eyes are glassy, their camera phones outstretched. DanDanDanDanDan. It’s the Ultimate Sighting.

Gossip Girl cast, clockwise from left: Taylor Momsen, Penn Badgley, Blake Lively, Chace Crawford, Leighton Meester, Ed Westwick, Jessica Szhor.

Penn Badgley, who plays sensitive and wise Dan Humphrey, is standing outside the Palace Hotel, where much of the Gossip Girl action takes place.

It is there that, later today, Penn’s character will hold his girlfriend Serena (Blake Lively) in his arms after she has missed the SAT for reasons unknown.

He will gaze deeply into her eyes as he says tenderly, “I’m not mad, Serena. I’m worried. Please help me understand what’s going on.”

He will do this with complete un-self-consciousness, despite the fact that his arch-nemesis Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), who also happens to be Serena’s newly acquired stepbrother, is standing there smirking.

Dan is not the sort of teenager who fears public affection. He is sensitive, smart, and loving, not to mention hot, and to teenage girls, for whom such creatures exist only in daydreams, he is perfect.

Continue reading in New York Magazine …

Only a few days left until Monday’s all-new episode of Gossip Girl, “The Blair Bitch Project” (awesome name, by the way). To get ready, check out some pics from the episode and our take on them:

Poor Blair:

We’re dying to know what Little J and her friends just said that brought Blair to near-tears. Blair doesn’t crumble easily, but she’s weak right now, and Jenny knows just how to take advantage of that vulnerability…

More pics after the jump!

Read the rest of this entry »

This is definitely OMFG material.

We’ve uncovered a photo of the amazing Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley) in an upcoming episode of Gossip Girl. He’s kissing another character … and it’s not Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively).

Consider yourself warned. Follow the jump for a scandalous Gossip Girl spoiler you never saw coming … or who knows, maybe you did. Read the rest of this entry »

The wait is nearly over. It’s been more than three months since we last made a visit to the Upper East Side to hang out with the Gossip Girl gang, but on Monday at 8pm the series finally returns with the first of five new episodes. When we last saw the Gossip crowd, Blair had been ousted from her Queen Bee position by sweet little Jenny Humphrey. Serena (Blake Lively) managed to talk her out of fleeing New York City, but can Blair possibly claw her way back to the top now that everyone knows she slept with Chuck?

We’ll find out when “The Blair Bitch Project” airs next week on the CW. To get fans ready for the return of the series, we have some exciting promo photos and two scandalous clips from the episode.

The CW’s official description of the brilliantly titled episode reads, “Having been recently dethroned as Queen Bee in the last episode by Gossip Girl, with an assist from scheming “little J” (Taylor Momsen), Blair hesitantly returns to school with the support of her BFF, Serena. Meanwhile, Serena struggles to adjust to her new living arrangements with her future step-brother, Chuck (Ed Westwick), while receiving disturbing packages from an unknown sender. Jenny’s drive to be popular hits an all-new time high when she does something illegal to fit in with her new Upper East Side friends.”

The first photo shows Blair (Leighton Meester) touching her hair while a crowd laughs behind her. My guess is that somebody just poured something on her head. It looks like going back to Constance Billiard won’t be as easy as B thought, though at least she has S by her side. Read the rest of this entry »

Head on over to People.com where they have interviews with the cast plus much more.