Gossip Girl is an American television teen drama based on the popular novel series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. Gossip Girl revolves around the lives of socialite young adults growing up on New York’s Upper East Side who attend elite academic institutions while dealing with sex, drugs, and other teenage issues. Featuring an ensemble cast, the series begins by introducing Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) and best friend Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), as well as Blair’s boyfriend Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford). Other characters in the show include Dan (Penn Badgley) and Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen), who become involved in the lives of the main characters despite being less inclined to merge with the upper-east-side crowd. The series is narrated by a seemingly omniscient character, “Gossip Girl” (voiced by Kristen Bell), who runs a blog about her fellow Upper East Siders — consequently stirring the plot and creating potential rivalries in this exclusive and vicious circle of friends

The show was created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, who also serve as executive producers alongside Bob Levy and Leslie Morgenstein. It is produced by Warner Bros. Television, College Hill Productions and Alloy Entertainment.

The series first aired on September 18, 2007 in Canada on CTV before premiering in the U.S. a day later on September 19, 2007 on The CW, following America’s Next Top Model. The premiere episode also became available on the iTunes Store as a free download on September 14, 2007, four days before the series’ debut.

The show received the first full season order of 22 episodes of the 2007/2008 television season of the five major broadcast networks when The CW picked it up in October 2007.

Conception: The project was originally intended to be adapted into a film by Warner Bros. with Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino set to write the screenplay and actress Lindsay Lohan attached to star; the film never went into production and was ultimately shelved. The novel series was then considered for adaptation for television by Alloy Entertainment.

Development of the show began in August 2006 when The CW gave it a put pilot commitment, with Josh Schwartz on board to create and executive produce. In January 2007, the network greenlit the pilot order and it was confirmed that Schwartz’s fellow scribe on The O.C., Stephanie Savage, had co-written it with him. Mark Piznarski (Veronica Mars) directed the first two hours of the series. The network gave the series an early pick-up and a thirteen-episode order on May 15, 2007.

Filming locations: Gossip Girl is filmed entirely in New York City with scenes being shot in and around the boroughs of Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan. Described by producer Amy Kaufman as “a character in the story”, the city is featured prominently even when most interior scenes are filmed at Silvercup Studios in Queens, including loft and apartment sets that were based on actual New York residences. For example, the buildings of Packer Collegiate Institute and the Russian Orthodox Synod of Bishops were combined to create a set resembling the exterior façade of the latter institute for the socialites’ fictitious schools — the Constance Billard and St. Jude’s School for Boys. The chapel of Packer (located in Brooklyn Heights) is being featured as a gathering place for the teens.

A set was also built to resemble The New York Palace Hotel on Madison Avenue where Serena and Chuck reside. Local haunts are also used as stand-ins for the characters’ meeting places such as Communitea in Long Island City, The Front Room art gallery in Williamsburg and to a more exclusive extent, the Henri Bendel boutique in Fifth Avenue. Some of the filming locations are also historical places such as the Metropolitan Museum.

Music: Alexandra Patsavas, the noted music supervisor on The O.C. and the critically-acclaimed Grey’s Anatomy which both spanned multiple commercially successful soundtracks, will also be credited for the selection of music used on Gossip Girl. In contrast to her consistent use of independent music and alternative artists on those two shows, Patsavas will be incorporating current Top 40 hits on the series explaining, “I’m relying on old favorites while exploring current pop music. And since the show revolves primarily around high school students in New York, we’ll definitely be using some New York-based bands. But these kids listen to the radio, too.”

Broadcasting history: Originally scheduled to air on September 26, 2007, the premiere was moved up a week earlier as announced during the 2007 Television Critics Association summer press tour. As a result of this, the previously planned two-hour ninth season premiere of America’s Next Top Model was edited to a one-hour affair. The pilot was provided as a free download at the iTunes Store on September 14, 2007.

The first season of Gossip Girl made its television debut on CTV in Canada on September 18, 2007 at 8:00 p.m. whilst The CW, the original broadcast network of the show, aired the pilot a day later on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 9:00 p.m. eastern/8:00 central. In Australia, Gossip girl premiered on December 4 on the cable channel FOX8 on Tuesday at 8:30, and on the timeshift channel at 10:30. It is set to premiere on the free to air channel the Nine Network in the second half of 2008.

International distribution: The show airs on CTV in Canada, the Warner Channel in Latin America, ETC Entertainment Central in Philippines, Zee Café in India, ITV2 in the United Kingdom, FOX8 in Australia, VT4 in Belgium, and AXN in Spain and Portugal. It will also air on Star World in Asia, TV Norge in Norway and TF1 in France, in 2008.

Casting: Featuring nine regular speaking roles, the majority of the ensemble cast were assembled from February to April 2007. Blake Lively and Leighton Meester were the first two actresses to be chosen in February for the lead roles of Serena van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf respectively. Chace Crawford, Taylor Momsen, Penn Badgley, Kelly Rutherford and Florencia Lozano also auditioned successfully and landed roles in the series in March.

Actors for the roles of Chuck Bass and Rufus Humphrey were found in April when Ed Westwick and Matthew Settle were cast. As rumors swirled about the impending cancellation of Veronica Mars, it was revealed at The CW’s 2007 Upfronts on May 17, 2007 that Kristen Bell had narrated the pilot, thus making her the title character of another show on the network. Further additions to the cast included Jessica Szohr who joined the show in September 2007 as Dan’s childhood best friend, Vanessa Abrams.

Principal characters: Narrated through the eyes of the omniscient yet unseen character called “Gossip Girl” (voiced by Kristen Bell), this inconspicuous person runs a popular gossip commentary blog which holds the attention of all major characters on the show as she brings up-to-the-minute talk about the Upper East Side social scene. Blake Lively portrays Serena van der Woodsen, the former It girl who, a year before the show’s beginning, had suddenly left Manhattan for a boarding school of her own accord for reasons unknown, thereby straining relations with her best friend, Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester).

Blair was hurt by her friend’s departure but feels liberated when she finds that she is suddenly the new Queen Bee in their circle of friends, a position that she relishes. However she struggles to keep the attention of her boyfriend, Nate Archibald, (Chace Crawford). Secretly smitten with Serena, Nate is conflicted about life and is seemingly floating through struggling with family issues including a father with a drug habit and mother in denial about the cracks forming in her perfect world. Fueling his inner demons is his childhood friend, Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick). Cynical and morally bankrupt, Chuck walks on the wild side of life and is at first seen as not above abusing others to serve his own needs. However, all this changes when he falls hard for Blair- his best friend’s girlfriend.

When Serena returns from her self-imposed exile (as first reported by “Gossip Girl”), she finds herself excluded from her old crowd after her former betrayals come to light but she soon finds an ally in Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), an outsider in her privileged world. Thrust into a society where their financial and social status do not match that of their contemporaries by their former rock star father turned art gallery owner, Rufus Humphrey (Matthew Settle), Dan and his younger sister Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen) struggle to find a niche in their new environment. Rufus is struggling to reconcile with his estranged wife and also has a secret history with Serena’s mother, socialite Lillian van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford) who was once a groupie.

Supporting characters: The show is also awash with secondary characters such as Isabel Coates (played by Nicole Fiscella) and Kati Farkas (Nan Zhang). The loyal deputies of Blair, Isabel and Kati are nonetheless in awe of Serena. Vanessa Abrams (Jessica Szohr) is Dan’s best friend, who just so happens to be in love with him. Other important recurring characters in the series are Eleanor Waldorf (played by Florencia Lozano in the pilot episode, then by Margaret Colin afterward), Blair’s fashion designer mother; Howie “The Captain” Archibald (Sam Robards), Nate’s strict and abusive father (who also has a cocaine addiction); Serena’s troubled younger brother, Eric van der Woodsen (Connor Paolo), whose problems finally incite her to come home; and Bart Bass (Robert John Burke), Chuck’s father.

The first season of Gossip Girl made its official debut on CTV in Canada on September 18, 2007 at 8:00 p.m. while The CW, the original broadcast network of the show, aired the pilot a day later on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 9:00 p.m. eastern/8:00 p.m. central.

The season has mostly revolved around Dan and Serena’s relationships and the problems that occur, considering that Dan is against the glitz and glamour of the Upper East Side and is smitten with a girl that runs that part of town. Another main focuspoint is the complicated love triangle of best friends Nate and Chuck both vying for the affection of Blair Waldorf. The Chuck/Blair relationship, while first being portrayed as an unrealistic happening, has turned out to be a favorite among viewers. Subplots include the romance between Serena’s mother Lily and Dan’s father Rufus, and Dan’s younger sister Jenny trying to make it among the popular kids, as well as Serena’s brother Erik’s stay in a treatment center on his mother’s orders.

The first episode of the show was watched by 3.65 million viewers, coming in last place in its 9:00 p.m. timeslot on Wednesday nights. Despite this, the show was noted to have held the best audience retention of America’s Next Top Model in spite of a decline of 30% in the advertiser-craved 18-49 demographic and in total viewers. The show wasn’t able to cling to its viewers in its second outing, however, losing more than half of ANTM’s audience and 22% of its own debut numbers in the face of strong competition from other shows such as ABC’s Private Practice and NBC’s Bionic Woman each of which made impressive debuts that night.