Review of Gossip Girl

There have been many popular books that have been turned into movies. For example we have the popular books of Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings. Most recently we have had the Chronicles of Narnia, The Golden Compass, and a very famous story that every high school student should have read or at least know about by the name of Beowulf, that have been turned into movies. Recently there have been books that have been turned into TV shows. We have the book The Starter Wife by Gigi Levangie Grazer which was turned into a miniseries, and which is rumored to be returning for a full season, and now we have the teen sensation Gossip Girl which was a book and has now finished it's successful first season. As we have seen before with these types of transitions the final outcome is unlike that of the original product. Surely no matter what the final outcome is there will be more books that will be turned into TV shows.

Gossip Girl by Cecily Von Ziegesar is the next best thing since Harry Potter first arrived on the scene. This new series has been a huge success with young adults. This book series has also led into another book series called The It Girl by the same author. Over the years this book has been a bestseller and has entertained many young adults with its witty, sassy, and entertaining characters. Through this story Cecily Von Ziegesar is able to show us how these elite teenagers live and party. The entertainment comes from the wide range of topics that are discussed in this book. What makes this book entertaining are all the different situations that these characters get into. Situations that are real and that most teenagers have to deal with. We have the topic of drugs, peer pressure, fashion, sex, gossip, friendship, backstabbing, alcohol, college, parents, and these are just a few of the many topics that these characters deal with in this book.

The most alluring part of this book is the identity of the one and only Gossip Girl. Who is Gossip Girl? No one knows whether Gossip Girl is a girl or a boy. Who is this person that knows what everyone is always doing? Who always get the juiciest bits first and lets the public know? It seems like she's everywhere at the same time but we know that she has little spies that tell her what's going on in the world of the most elite. Gossip Girl is then responsible for getting the word out to everyone. There have been some theories about who the real Gossip Girl is. I, myself have a theory about this, but don't want to say anything until I analyze the books a little bit more and make sure of my theory.

I first found out about this show less than a year ago when I was watching the movie John Tucker Must Die. I instantly fell in love with John's cute brother who was played by Penn Bagley. I decided to look him up on The Internet Movie Database (IMDB) and see what other movies he had done and find out more about him. So when I got the results I saw that he was working on Gossip Girl and my mouth literally dropped opened. I started screaming, laughing, and jumping up and down. I was skeptical at first and didn't think that this had anything to do with the book, but then I kept reading and knew that it was the same book that I had been reading for some time. I was really glad that they had decided to turn the book into a show. I was nervous and kept wondering who was going to be playing which characters, how the first episode would look, and how they would introduce each character, etc. I could not stop thinking about this show and how it would be received by people who haven't read the books before. Then the CW11 finally started advertising the show and I saw all the actors and actresses that were to be a part of this show.

Now I am not bashing or hating on these actors and the writers of this show, because I myself am an actress and writer, but the show was not like anything I expected it to be. But, the show was good enough for me to keep on watching and obsessing over. This show just has that certain appeal that holds onto its audience. The cliffhangers, the relationships and the interactions between the characters are just amazing. To be able to take a book as popular as this and then have the storylines changed somewhat, and still be able to come up with an amazing final product is to me outstanding.

The actors that were chosen for this show are really professional and so far have made these characters come alive. In the first episode I was studying the actors to see how they were bringing these characters to life and I saw that the actors were at ease during this whole episode. There have been shows where I have noticed that in the pilot the actors looked kind of nervous because they are still not used to a new character. This was not the case with these actors. In the first episode they seemed at ease with the characters that they were playing and as the season went on they were doing it flawlessly. So I was really satisfied with how the actors portrayed these characters. Although there were a lot of noticeable differences between the show and the book, this show left me wanting more and more, but unfortunately I have to wait for the new episodes.

Now I may forget to mention some of the differences that I saw throughout the show but bear with me while I talk about the ones that I did notice and still remember. The biggest difference that I first saw was how Jenny didn't have a big bosom. At first I didn't notice it but then I thought to myself "Wait a minute I feel like Jenny is different than what they describe her to be," then I remembered that her breasts were supposed to be big. I checked back in the books to make sure, and sure enough her breasts were supposed to be big. I also noticed that Vanessa had beautiful, luscious, curly brown hair which is weird because in the book she is supposed to be bald. I found that this small detail kind of sucked the fun out of this character because in the book I saw Vanessa as a rebel who didn't conform to the rules of society, and who is also one of my top favorite characters. While this small change did make it weird for me, in the episodes that followed I started to get used to this new Vanessa and her personality. Both Jenny and Vanessa had big changes from what they were described in the book, but the actors did such a good job that I forgot about these two differences.

Another difference that caught my attention was how Dan's father was a musician and not a writer. In the book his father was an eccentric writer who dressed weirdly and stayed out all night. In the show it's different because it shows his father as a musician and doesn't talk about his writings or anything like that. Dan and Jenny's mother went away on "vacation" and had not come back, but in the books their mother had left Dan and Jenny when they were young and ran off with another man. In the book they were raised by their crazy father. One other thing that I just thought of is that in the books Nate is best friends with Blair and Sabrina but in the show he is closer to Chuck Bass. So these are the only differences that I can remember now, the reason being that more than half the time I was watching the show I didn't pay much attention to the differences because the show is just really good.

So a bestselling book is turned into a TV show which brings even more fans to the world of Gossip Girl. I was extremely excited to see how good people were talking about the show. I was proud of the show as if it was my own creation (but it's not), but I have to really applaud the writers of the show who did an extraordinary job with the script. The actors are not far behind because they also did an excellent job. Even though there were some differences here and there I believe that this show is definitely here to stay. With all these wonderful actors, writers and the crew this show will be one of CW's best. I would recommend to anyone that has not watched this show yet to try and watch it, because it's just wonderful and if possible to check out the books too.