Gossip Girl

So tonight we finally got more Chuck scenes, more Serena/Blair scenes ... and more angsty Dan scenes. Sigh. The drama centered around the release party for Dan's new book. Ignoring the fact that "Gossip Girl" can't go an episode without a party, I was actually pretty excited to finally see Dan in the spotlight. That is, until everything spiraled into a big mess of whining, complaining and general selfishness. If it wasn't for Chuck and his show-stealing moments, I don't think I could've made it through.

The letters come, one after the other, from the Otero County Detention Center in New Mexico to a bungalow-style home in Dundalk that is encircled by a chain-link fence and festooned in a ribbon of Ravens purple. The letters are from Shelby Nichole Smith, who was an altar girl at Amazing Grace Lutheran Church and a top graduate of the old Southern High School before enlisting in the Army. Now she's known by her childhood nickname, BeBe, and authorities refer to her in official documents as "the gossip girl.

Anyone who is thoroughly confused by tonight's events, please raise your hand. The episode began with Nate asking Diana to go public about being a couple. Tell me if I'm wrong, but since when does winking across the room and hooking up on desks constitute as a real relationship? I always think Nate can't possibly get any dumber, but he always proves me wrong. Every time. Side note, guess where he wanted to make the big announcement? A party … of course.  Elsewhere, Dan continued to whine and complain.

“Butt-skiing backwards is on my leap list.” This week “The Bachelor” faced tough competition from “Gossip Girl” (Sarah's favorite) and the promising newJ.J. Abrams' show “Alcatraz.” But just as the awkward attempts at love on “The Bachelor” never fail to disappoint, neither shall our commentary on its dimwitted contestants. The group left Sonoma for San Francisco - Ben's current city of residence. Though, how many places does he live? I was pretty sure he “lives” in Sonoma … on the winery that he owns.

Preppy, sexy and petty - that's Gossip Girl. And the prime-time teen soap opera is off to a very fast start in its second season on CW. After generating a lot of buzz, but only about 2.4 million viewers an episode in its freshman year, the glam saga of upscale teens in the upper reaches of Manhattan life has increased its audience by one-third so far, bringing in about 3.4 million viewers a week. That's a nice gain, especially when it consists primarily of women 18 to 34 years of age, one of the demographic groups that advertisers most want to reach.

OMG ... TV is sooo retro. In a strategic reversal, the CW television network said it would no longer offer free Internet streams of new episodes of Gossip Girl when the show returns to the air today. Instead, CW wants young fans to watch the drama about privileged preppies the old school way -- on TV. The move is designed to boost ratings for the program, which has developed a loyal online following but has failed to attract a sizable TV audience. The show's average of 2.5 million viewers has not been enough to lift CW out of the ratings cellar or staunch its financial losses.

The two-year-old band the Pretty Reckless have played Warped Tour and the V Fest, the British branch of the Virgin Mobile FreeFest. Rolling Stone.com named the group among the top five breakout bands at this year's Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey. Yet to most people, lead singer Taylor Momsen is still Jenny Mumphrey, doe-eyed ingenue and fictional little sister to one of the "Gossip Girl" hunks. But the 17-year-old says fans shouldn't expect to see Jenny's school-girl outfits when she plays The Quarter on Sunday in support of the band's first album, "Light Me Up. " "There's no similarity between the two," she said.

Critic's Pick -- Nate (Chace Crawford) finds a stash of drugs belonging to his father, who's in serious denial in Gossip Girl (8 p.m., WNUV, Channel 54).

The letters come, one after the other, from the Otero County Detention Center in New Mexico to a bungalow-style home in Dundalk that is encircled by a chain-link fence and festooned in a ribbon of Ravens purple. The letters are from Shelby Nichole Smith, who was an altar girl at Amazing Grace Lutheran Church and a top graduate of the old Southern High School before enlisting in the Army. Now she's known by her childhood nickname, BeBe, and authorities refer to her in official documents as "the gossip girl.

Downloaded singles 1.Gimme More, Britney Spears 2.Crank That, Soulja Boy Tell 'Em 3.Stronger, Kanye West 4.Bubbly, Colbie Caillat 5.Apologize, Timbaland featuring OneRepublic[ITUNES (OCT. 8)] Downloaded albums 1.Magic, Bruce Springsteen 2.Still Feels Good, Rascal Flatts 3.Across the Universe soundtrack, Various artists 4.Graduation, Kanye West 5.Songs of Mass Destruction, Annie Lennox[ITUNES (OCT. 8)] Downloaded TV episodes 1.Movin' Out (Brian's Song), Family Guy 2.Love/Addiction, Grey's Anatomy 3.Poison Ivy, Gossip Girl 4.The Wild Brunch, Gossip Girl 5.A Change is Gonna Come, Grey's Anatomy[ITUNES (OCT.

Anyone who is thoroughly confused by tonight's events, please raise your hand. The episode began with Nate asking Diana to go public about being a couple. Tell me if I'm wrong, but since when does winking across the room and hooking up on desks constitute as a real relationship? I always think Nate can't possibly get any dumber, but he always proves me wrong. Every time. Side note, guess where he wanted to make the big announcement? A party … of course.  Elsewhere, Dan continued to whine and complain.

The room was silent for a full five minutes after tonight's "Gossip Girl" episode ended. Yeah, we got more Chuck. Yeah, we finally got a Serena/Blair scene. But we also got scheming royals, a certifiably insane blackmailer and a whole new level of snooping. On the Louis/Blair front, they finally told their families about the baby. But remember Beatrice? (Yes, Louis' sister. The one that made-out with a priest in the back of a limo). Well, somehow she managed to team up with Diana to turn her mother against Blair and Louis.

So tonight we finally got more Chuck scenes, more Serena/Blair scenes ... and more angsty Dan scenes. Sigh. The drama centered around the release party for Dan's new book. Ignoring the fact that "Gossip Girl" can't go an episode without a party, I was actually pretty excited to finally see Dan in the spotlight. That is, until everything spiraled into a big mess of whining, complaining and general selfishness. If it wasn't for Chuck and his show-stealing moments, I don't think I could've made it through.

So, the big question tonight: Who's the father? It seems as though Season-5 Blair spends her time moping, pouting and generally being intolerable. She spent the entire episode tonight avoiding the envelope that pretty much revealed whether her dreams would come true. Where's the Season-3 Blair who dumped Chuck the second she found out he slept with Jenny? Or the Season-4 Blair who just grabbed Dan and kissed him? The dragging and complaining is getting old. Fast. When Dan wasn't trying to persuade Blair to deal with her life, he was busy doing some avoiding of his own. He finally figured out who has the book - Noah Shapiro, his old boss.

I know, I know. Which character has a baby on the way? Well, we found out during tonight's outrageous season premiere. But first, a quick reminder of what everyone has been up to this summer: Vanessa (who thankfully will not be back) stole Dan's latest story on her way out of the city. Dan is in the Hamptons, trying to stay out of drama for a while. Serena has a job in L.A. working on the set of a movie. Nate and Chuck are off traveling the world. And Blair has finally let Chuck go and is marrying Prince Louis.

The two-year-old band the Pretty Reckless have played Warped Tour and the V Fest, the British branch of the Virgin Mobile FreeFest. Rolling Stone.com named the group among the top five breakout bands at this year's Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey. Yet to most people, lead singer Taylor Momsen is still Jenny Mumphrey, doe-eyed ingenue and fictional little sister to one of the "Gossip Girl" hunks. But the 17-year-old says fans shouldn't expect to see Jenny's school-girl outfits when she plays The Quarter on Sunday in support of the band's first album, "Light Me Up. " "There's no similarity between the two," she said.

With its impossibly good-looking cast, parade of candy-colored designer fashions and provocative ad campaigns, it's easy to dismiss the CW's Gossip Girl as just another sexed-up, youth-oriented product to step off the TV drama assembly line. There are certainly similarities between the show and its teen soap predecessors, particularly Beverly Hills, 90210. Gossip Girl is also set in an affluent ZIP Code, Manhattan's Upper East Side, and features an ensemble of archetypal characters, including the social outcast and the pretty-boy rebel with great hair.

Looking very much like the fashion plate celebrated in magazines, complete with stylishly unruly blond mane and plunging black leather-like jacket, Blake Lively sits on a couch in a suite at the Luxe Hotel. Piled on the table before her: posters of her new movie for signing. Piled on her lap: fruit and dark chocolate. "Want some?" she asks, true to her last name. "It tastes like Easter." Heretofore known for teen-ish roles, Lively covers 10 turbulent years of the title character's younger incarnation in "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee."