Gossip girl reboot didn’t know what it wanted to be. Did they want Julien to be good or bad? Did they wanna go all in with the feuds or hold back? Did they want the characters to be actually flawed or were they always gonna come up with an excuse for bad behaviors? They had no clue and that’s why it failed
and the beauty of the original gossip girl is all the characters were good and bad but the way that they were good and bad were so rooted in their characters, that it didn’t feel jarring.
Julien is delusional and I love it. Especially that modeling stunt with Luna? Sabotaging her friends and proceeding to laugh as if nothing happened lolll
The biggest problem in my opinion was how they prioritized aesthetics over everything. The picked actors and actresses based off of their look, aesthetic and vibe. Not on their acting ability, chemistry with the cast or original plot and ideas for characters. They just said “you look the part, read/do this”
And the aesthetics weren't even good. Bald Blair Waldorf? Sorry but no. It was like they turned everyone into Vanessa. And none of the guys were guys teen girls would lust after... a lot of the appeal of the original GG was Chuck Bass.
Dan being Gossip Girl in the original was bad enough, but having this iteration's anonymous gossip blogger be teachers who are posting illicit pictures and spreading gossip of their underage students on the internet just rubs me the wrong way. They're a bunch of grown adults who should know better, and the motive for this is especially weak.
The drama is what made gossip girl iconic, the reboot tried so hard to make excuses for bad decisions and tried to make the characters good for some reason while the original didn't care about making the characters look bad
It's almost like the series was afraid that if they allowed the characters to be bad, their young audience would find them unlikeable, not want to watch them and mentally "cancel" them. It just made them appear flip floppy. None of them could stand in their decisions and perspective. One minute Julien is acting like she's oh so bad and the next minute she's crying about it and apologizing before doing it all over again. It's like these people created a hit show in the past and had no idea what made it take off so they removed all of it in the reboot.
That’s what I hate with most new shows. It’s all too PC. Everyone becomes to cookie cutter. These new shows focus more on being inclusive and making sure no one is left out. Which wouldn’t be a problem, if they didn’t forget that they need to look at acting abilities, weather the actor can pull off what the character exudes. And not be afraid to make the characters get dirty lol
Exactly!!! Like not one of them was good people. They had some good traits, sometimes, maybe, but their main thing was that they were pretty fucked up individuals. They were likable tho, and extremely charismatic, so we loved them anyway. Trying to reboot gossip girl with clean cut politically correct rich teens just doesn’t work. I’m actually so confused as to why they thought this would be a good idea.
@@Sebisajiminstan I know right? We liked the OG characters in spite of how how terrible they were. They were overly dramatic, messy, vengeful, rich kids but they sold it well and we loved them anyways. I mean a Chuck character having a redemption is a tough pitch but they managed to make people like him over time. They just made these new characters so confused and boring. Monet and her family is the only kids and adults worthy of the series. Luna and Max too actually if they got more to work with.
One thing that bothered me was that they clearly tried to make all the characters good despite all their privilege and wealth. It’s like watching jersey shore expecting them to be classy. It doesn’t mix. Sometimes we just need some trashy tv
@@Sunny-kp8hm Yeah but the original GG already had that covered - Serena and Nate were the ‘nice’ kids but they were still rich and privileged and it showed
@@Sunny-kp8hm more specifically the comment is pointing out how in GG they are the 1% who often get their money through underpaying and screwing over others. When a person is born in this specific privilege and wealth it's hard to be a good person. I mean the characters literally get teachers fired for a bad grade (that they deserved). A real life example is the college admissions scandal. Rich kids not understanding why they shouldn't get into these ivy schools eventhough they didn't do the work and took a spot from a deserving person. When someone talks about this kind of privilege it's not simply being able to have food in the fridge but having 5 homes with fully stocked fridges.
@@Sunny-kp8hm privilege is bad, it’s inherent in the definition. It’s what you do with that privilege that matters of course, but baseline it’s a special advantage. In the context of New York’s elite/Gossip Girl world, no I don’t think any of them are good people..
In the original gossip girl the actors where all the same age and friends in real life, here some are 10 years older than their characters. The actress of julien is literally older than the actress of the teacher.
@@randomuser0483 maybe when they are drawing from their own experiences or consult teenagers but this show felt like it was written by someone who only knows about teenagers from Twitter and tumblr
Because: why do we need to reboot EVERYTHING??? When it didn’t even end 10 years ago??? Hollywood is so washed up and constantly recycling shit. It’s unnecessary for all these reboots and constant sequels. 🤷♀️
I didn't mind that the teachers restarted "gossip girl" as a nod to the now older generation, but it would have been an interesting if they lost access to the page relatively quickly and a unknown user would have taken over. It could have been a commentary on how gossip and scandals can't be controlled on the internet.
That actually could have worked. Like them gaining access to the old account to denounce the initial firing of the teacher and then they are kicked out by another user
@@MoonShadow333 But to blogs have credentials among the generation that the teens are from? I'm a younger millennial and I can't think of anyone I know who actually cares about blogs these days in the way you would need to for this to work. It's much less so for the youngest gen z teens out there. They're already saying that Instagram was a bad choice for Gossip Girl and more gen z's would have latched onto GG more on TikTok. A blog would be laughably outdated to them.
The show made such bizarre choices. It was so obvious Monet should've been the queen bee and lead character from the start but Safran almost seemed to resent that and how much the audience enjoyed her.
I dont get why people say this. Monet was incredibly insufferable. Julien was spoiled and a bad actor but even then she was more charismatic than Monet.
@witch, please I guess my opinion is unpopular but she was seriously the most insufferable character in the show for me. Such mean girl wanna be energy.
@@Nyxthebat04 monet was a MUCH more compelling character than julien. she was a better actor and had complex relationships with her parents that could have explored so much more. her likability doesn’t determine her potential as a plot device. she easily could’ve been one of the greatest villains you loved to hate. they really could have done so much with her character.
I honestly feel like the spanish teen drama "Elite" kind of encompasses everything the gossip girl reboot needed to be. The story has an interesting mystery that keeps the audience hooked, while simultaneously having a cast of characters with very distinct and strong personalities that move the story forward. It discusses the themes about how different people are treated based on their wealth and status, along with the soap opera-esque energy a lot of teen shows have. The earlier seasons heavily showcase how the ultra rich can get away with things, whilst the less privileged students can't. In my opinion Elite already catered to the audience that grew up with the og gossip girl. 🤷♀
That is a really good take that shows that there really was no need for the reboot when other shows already filled the space. And I would even say that the GG reboot could have worked, if it was its own product instead of a failed successor.
This is so true, but Elite’s most recent seasons have been absolutely ridiculous, so many plot holes and explicit s*x scenes it just seems like glorified p*rn.
Elite season 1 was fun but after that I don't think season 2 and 3 are as good as people say. It's entertaining if you're into cheating scandals and fights all the time but character development is trash
@@Jayjay_07 Yess you phrased it so much better than I did! I also wanted to add that Elite is one of Netflix's more popular shows, so there isn't even the excuse that not enough people would know about it/they wouldn't give it a chance because it isn't attached to an iconic media licence. And I also agree with the fact that the GG reboot would have survived longer if it wasn't attached to the og.
in reality i just dont think most rich kids care about being woke or socially aware. it wouldve been an interesting angle to see how they pretend to be one way in the public eye / social media but not so progressive in reality
exactly, especially considering this actually happens irl, when celebs post some "bare minimum" type of posts till someone reveals a recent video or audio recording where they say such vile shit, you'd think they're someone's grandpa from the 50s
That’s the problem tho. Why does it need to be socially aware? Or “woke”.. that’s what is ultimately ruining most shows. It’d be better if it left out any political aspects.
I found a lot of the acting on the show distractingly bad. The OG cast may not have won any Emmy’s for their roles, but I at least bought what they were selling and had a fun time watching. The reboot wasn’t fun and the acting was questionable at best. I swear they casted some people just based on vibes.
@@Missmagazinebura Lina lmao no she can’t Monet was just a basic character in any teen movie tbh nothing like the oh gg characters that had depth and skeletons in the closet no one cares about mommy issues we wanna see a teen show not a political show based on parents and so called teen parties which were are events for parents
I cannot like this comment more than once, but i would if i could. An actor going for it, bringing charisma to their character and making them likable through sheer force of will is basically what made Chuck Bass - well, Chuck Bass. You cannot tell me this character, especially in the beginning, would’ve became a fan favorite if it wasn’t played as well as he was. And a cast of actors standing by their characters can carry even some of the worst storytelling. The people cast in the reboot made me feel like they thought they were waaaaaay too good for the roles they were playing, like this was beneath them somehow. And it just took me out of the show completely. I just didn’t believe any of them.
The success of the original show also had a lot to do with good casting--specifically Leighton Meester as Blair. In the books Blair is pretty unlikable and annoying. But Leighton brings the character a wounded humanity so that her antics are all grounded in something deeper. She basically anchors the show to me.
For sure, 100% yes. Blaire was the single beat part of the show, and her romance with Dan is amazing, and her growth. Chuck's growth... Just massive, well formed character arcs.
One of my many problems with the reboot is that it was aimless. Hardly any characters had any motivations or goals they were working towards, which made it hard to root for anyone. In the season 1 finale, they built up Monet wanting to be the new queen bee, but that ended a few episodes into season two. Apparently Zoya wanted to be either an actress or a writer, but that was never explored. Aki was into film and got one episode at the film festival, but the show made it about his relationship. I don’t even know what Audrey or Max wanted because their characters were only defined by the throuple. I wasn’t surprised at all that the reboot was cancelled.
This is true. It just seemed like their lives revolved around romantic, family relationships and friendships. Nothing about school, nothing about the careers they wanted to pursue after high school.
The drama is what kept me watching the reboot. The finale reminded of how bad the writing is. Julien was obsessive and annoying and the whole “bring Gossip Girl down” thing was dumb. They kept throwing Max under the bus, Audrey was bossy and annoying af, Obie is boring, etc. There was barely any character development either. The only character development we got to see was Luna and Monet.
My biggest problem with the revival was the lack foundation and build up. Who are these characters, what are their dynamics and how do they develop. Nothing is brewing underneath the surface. I just started rewatching the original show and I love how they are taking the time to create conflicts. How Serena's "I can explain" really starts eating away her relationship with Dan and her friendship with Blair. How Blair and Nate are on and off and how Chuck affects it and how it affects Chuck. Also I love how they build up how CeCe affected Lily and how Lily is trying not to repeat her mother's mistakes. Also everyone is trying to better themselves and everyone relapses. And they relapse hard. The reboot is so quick to come up with a plotline, then run through and get it over with within an episode and then toss it aside, never to be discussed again. You can't explore the issues of these people, if they don't have any. Also I really liked how the original show had many different levels of issues the characters faced. There were the superficial rich people problems, but there were also really human problems like a lot of the rich kids were somehow neglegted by their parents or Jenny's struggles in finding her self, while trying to fit in. The relationships had to struggle with trust issues, timing, heartbreak etc. There were relatable elements but also absurd rich people problems.
I started thinking about Audrey's character. It would have been an interesting direction, if she was introduced as nonchalant, but the gossip girl blasts would start making her care more, she started to develop opinions and feelings amd struggling to get others to take them seriously, because they assume she's okay with stuff.
Man the episode where Lily leaves Serena in jail has me feeling goosebumps remembering it. Lily is an exceptional female role model and a testament to the strength of the women on top of the world. And the weaknesses too. It was so well done. This is why I never watched the reboot. I just knew it'd be bad.
I think teen dramas need long seasons. 8 or 10 episodes is not enough to establish and develop characters and relationships. The main appeal of these shows is the dynamic between the characters, not the plot. With so few episodes, the relationships feel surface level and unconvincing.
What I didn’t like about the reboot was it was trying way tooooooooo hard to be woke. As a black woman, I’m absolutely all for diversity, including the lgbt community in mainstream media, etc… but let it be done more authentically. They just threw way too much in. Two dads, one of them trans, pansexual character in a threesome relationship, etc… like they’re shoving all things progressive into a small box that is the show. I agree. It comes off forced and condescending.
I'm gonna speak from my queer side and i noticed that, too. What's ironic is that there is older content that handled political awareness more appropriately than other works. I'm guessing it's bc the new audience is less demanding and they use our identities like shields from criticism, even if the writing actually is much to be desired or just horrible. I remember older members of my generation being really harsh and calling ppl out on tokenism whenever it occurred. Like, I'm sorry, but if a writer is gonna go "look, she's gay" and not expand on the character as a person and their arc, the character sucks.
It's also not as appealing to the majority of the audience, simply because the majority of people are straight. A lot of the hook of the original Gossip Girl was alpha male Chuck Bass. And a lot of guys watched Gossip Girl for the "hot girls" who were very feminine. In the reboot the guys are feminine and most of the girls are masculine/alternative.
The thing I hated was how gossip girl was revealed to be the teachers, TEACHERS!! meaning they were STALKING the students, taking inappropriate pictures of there UNDERAGE students 😃 And what angered me the most is how Kate, (the one revived gossip girl) kept acting as if bullying and talking her students were fine, she even said that it could create the next AOC….yea.
The idea of Julien being new money via influencer brand is sooo good, there would have been actual stakes it could have been so interesting, and then Julien selling her friends could've made sense in a quid pro quo kind of way!!!!!
Gossip Girl fail because they changed GG herself Shes not supposed to have a face Shes a tabloid, a faceless massager who’s everywhere and knows everything. You don’t fight GG, you avoid her, you hide. They should have had the main plot being the group doing scandalous shit in secret while GG ends up finding it out. But instead of trying ‘change’ them, she would be simply reporting it and many characters even using as their advantages The characters are no bad people, just spoiled and larger than life who want to enjoy life at the extreme
Well it works with Lady Whistledown in Bridgerton. I don't think that's the problem. So agree with the narrator, they're trying to make the characters good it ends up condescending.
Finding out Gossip Girl was ALMOST a Lindsay Lohan movie Is wild. But finding out she was going to play Blair is even WILDER. I kinda wish this took off, though. I imagined it would have been like Mean Girls but in a prep school.
My thoughts: First of all, they told us who Gossip Girl was in te beginning. THE TEACHERS? No teacher would risk their job for that. They tried so bad to make people care about the conflicts in the show. Most ppl don't care that much about photos hoots and events - even with the people they follow. The only remotely good scenes I can think of were the part about Julien's dad SA'ing women and the part where Luna breaks with her mom (with Monet by her side). They also made Monet "the bad guy" when she literally could've stopped following after Julien any time she wanted and started her own channel instead of being intentionally combative. Audrey gets on my nerves. That stunt she pulled on Julien was low. And the relationship she, Dracula and Aki were in was a trash portrayal of polyamorous love.
I'm so tired of political correctness. I already know what's morally right or wrong, I don't need a show to educate me. I want evil, complicated and controversial characters and storylines!
When the reboot revealed GG in episode 1 it gave me an idea for how it could’ve made for a really interesting twist later on. They could’ve done Kates hero to villain arc through just season 1. She starts Gossip Girl back up in hopes of truly holding a mirror up to the students behaviour, having them see themselves for what they truly are. Maybe we even flesh out her character, learning of her own traumatic past with bullying that’s lead her to make this bad decision. Things don’t work as planned though, and Kate grow more power hungry and mean spirited as things progress. By the end of season 1 she has her “come to Jesus” moment, she sees that she’s become exactly what she set out to stop. Just as she’s about to delete the account it’s revealed that she’s locked out. Someone else has control of Gossip Girl. We end the season not knowing who GG is anymore, or if they know Kate’s identity.
@@madelinekouassi9884 it’s not so much that as the writing was so bad my brain started trying to figure out if they were setting up something batter down the line lol
The annoying thing with what you just said is that. When they announced season 2 was coming they initially used this idea on an Instagram post. They showed Kate being locked out of the Gossip Girl account. I was so excited caused I assumed that that is where season 2 would be going. Instead, Kate resumed her duties of Bullying and Stalking teenagers.
@@philasandeM6 it could’ve been good but no one actually had any idea where this show was going or who the characters were so they just did *stuff* every episode to no end. Any time there was an interesting idea they’d forget about it immediately, so much so that apparently they even did that on their socials?!
Agree with everything, except, when watching the og gossip girl, it was NEVER on my mind "who gossip girl is", cause all gossip girl did was...report stuff that the characters were already doing. The real drama of the show comes from the characters poor actions. I think the creator of the show actually says he didn't want people to actively think about gossip girl. She could have been a random character and I wouldn’t care.
same, og GG felt more like a narrator than a character, they gave insight into the world of the characters and it really didn't seem that important who it was to me. the audience speculation/conversation about it outside of the show is probably what got people interested in who it was rather than the show itself making it be an intriguing mystery
omg i literally said the same thing. like the show was filled with so much drama that it never really crossed my mind. i only thought about it a little during season 2 when they try to figure out who it is, but even after that it wasn’t that big of a deal to me. gg always felt like more of an entity than a character.
The issue is that doing a gossip girl reboot where all the kids are pretty well adjusted and cool with each other is like doing a vampire diaries reboot without the vampires. I didn’t tune into GG to be preached to, I tuned in to watch all of the characters be kinda shitty to each other and for the drama
I think the biggest issue was that they were trying to be "relatable" but at the same time keep the original show. I remember that when the first pictures came out, I thought that Monet was going to be the new Blair, but sadly I was disappointed. The thing is that in the original, we as the audience knew the role of each character in the group. Blair was queen B, Serena was it girl, etc, but with this new one we have no clues about what each character is supposed to be. Is Julien the mean girl that only shows her warm side to the people that she loves or is she the nice girl that everyone wants to be, but in secret has a dark side? The point of the OG version was that it showed "kids" living their lives like adults, it was absurd and iconic, and the only reason why they did not get in trouble was that they were rich and privileged. With the new version, it's just weird that a bunch of teachers, grown-ass adults, are taking out their frustration on children by cyberbullying them (I mean let's not forget that they are taking pictures of them in their underwear and such)
For me what was wrong about it was the fact that they tried to make everything soo diverse that it get's forced. I mean everyone is gay, bi, lesbian, trans, is bald have pink hair dress drag and that's not how it works in real life. We have more diversity than 2008, when the OG aired, but it's not as much as the show wanted to be. As much as kids nowdays know more about what is politically correct, the show pushed too much on that side. They were all the time trying to be the '' voice of moral'' and '' kill the rich'', but at the same time dressed 20K outfits and lived happy in their mansions. For me, it would be better if they owned it, as it happens in the real life, rather than pretend they don't like it when they do. I mean why are you making a show about rich kids if them don't like being rich - or they kind of like it but never admit it? Another thing is that everything is so rushed. Sisters wants to make emends? Just hug and everything wrong is gone! Someone cheated? Says i'm sorry and nothing happened. Someone lied? Buy some lunch and everything is fine. We never see the full completion of an history.
thing is they had a good template and some amazing characters in Max, Monet and Luna; and there biggest failing was underusing them and renegading them to background characters with little to do and few individual storylines. This season was supposed to focus more on Monet, and it gradually reverted to being about Obe, Julian And Zoya, bland characters. which is a shame, because Thomas Doherty, Savannah Lee and Ziòn Moreno being some of the most talented actors in the cast. especially considering how little they had the actors really fleshed out these characters with little storyline.
the first gossip girl was so iconic. they should have left it alone if they were not going to do it justice honestly. and lets be honest, the gen z teen shows/movies of today is just not cutting it.
The problem is the producers/writers are afraid to take risks because everything is offensive nowadays. A society full of crybabies and virtue signaling hives.
Obie was the most confusing character like the writers didn't know what to do with him. For julien I thought we would get a story line or atleast a line on how she was just a figure head for luna and monet to be queen just cause they were always manipulating her
I think so many of us are sick of the nostalgia industrial complex but we are nostalgic so there is this inability to understand that nostalgia won’t lead to viewership of an upcycled IP. Also so many of them feel so forced in their currentness/attempts at the socially-aware zeitgeist but it doesn’t feel integral. It’s why the reboots will, imo, at best feel soothing and at worst cringe
I feel like even if they weren't reboots, a lot of these shows fail to capture the true cultural zeitgeist. It's like they're pandering to a few loud Twitter voices and assuming that's what 99% of Americans want.
When you said that you were gonna make a video about the Gossip Girl revival after your video on the trends that the original started… I didn’t expect it to come out after the official cancellation.
I saw this from a mile away. The original gossip girl is a classic in my opinion and the cast was everything. It really had me hook when I was in high school❤️. One of my favorite shows.
my main problem with it is definetly the lack of connection in the friend group. introducing to a hot group of kids that hang out and are friends without showing us, it made no sense. most of these characters would never talk to each other. and it bothers me so much because i LOVE FRIEND GROUPS. but every time these people hung out it felt forced. like audrey is established as julien's best friend, and aki's girlfriend, and max's friend, she never even talks to anyone else unless she has to, and I'm like why are y'all hanging out. i get it, everyone is connected to at least one person in the group, but it still feels super shallow, i wish they were all more friends or something. and the characterization was a bit messy, they always called julien the queen bee, and how she would never stand for this or that, but also they say julien got her throne because she is nice, and people like her. i just wanted them to be clear on what they wanted. i love the idea of julien getting to the top by being nice, and having a powerstruggle with monet. everyone had 2 character traits and were stuck with them all show, not allowed to explore any emotion beyond that. aki will forever be the worst betrayal. i get that most of it is due to evan not being an actor and not even wanting to be in the show lmao, but everything about him was supposed to be my fave. he's a cool looking, bi, skater boy, chill, film nerd who wants the best for the people he loves, that is my MAN right there, but he got nothing to do besides be with audrey and max, and like 2 storylines of his own. i really thought that the episode where he was at the film festival and his partners not showing up was gonna be the moment he finally speaks up about his needs or something, but no, they used it all as an excuse to break up the triad in such a dumb way like simply frustrating.
Yes! They always said stuff like “we know each other since we were babies” but it never felt like that. I would have made sense if they were indeed close but suddenly they notice they don’t have anything in common anymore.
So true. The fact that we had 2 seasons and each of these characters had at least 3 or more people in the friend group that they never had an actual conversation with on screen is mind-blowing. In the second to last episode where the group ambushed julien with an intervention. They were literally just sitting in silence before she arrived, which is so funny cause it shows they have nothing to talk about when julien isn't around.
@@MoonShadow333 yes i would've loved if they realized they grew apart, in the finale julien said did you realize that this is the first time we used the group chat, as if all s2was supposed to be them falling out, but they were barely friends in s1????
It's not problematic at all. It seems like people have forgotten what an antihero is. Just because a character does bad things doesn't mean the show runners or the fans endorse those behaviors. Characters who do bad things but are still very charming have been captivating audiences for centuries.
@@M123Xoxo I understand your point and it is fair, I'm definitely not against antiheroes. I think the problem comes when the show does not frame them as such. Now I love Chuck Bass and I totally was onboard ship Chair, but the show never really truly dealt with the fact that he sexually assaulted two female characters early in season 1 and then turned into a main romantic lead by the end of the season. If they had framed him as a 'charming bad guy' that would have been okay, but it was more of a 'he's actually a good guy with a traumatic backstory' and they did this without him addressing his behaviour or showing remorse/growth. One apology to Jenny seasons later doesn't really count, IMO.
@@camillerijess It worked because there was bigger, badder guy than him - his uncle and dad. He ends up saving Lily from Jack and that is supposed to indicate his character changing. It’s implied he has become better. Nowadays everyone wants it to be spoonfed to the audience
@@DesiCat789the point of that episode is about Lily saving Chuck from becoming his uncle or dad. He saves Lily, but she was really saving him all along.
I think it's just bad timing - we didn't need another reboot. In the 00s social media was still a fairly new thing, so that made it more fresh, and also the whole preppy skinny era was fashionable which isn't the case now!
I always thought they should have made Zoya the instagram celebrity and that's how she was able to pay for that school, making her fame threatening to her sisters queen bee status. She wouldn't have friends at school but would have her followers and could weaponize them against her sister, plus showing her posting wonderfully things about the school and her day, while everything being owful, as time went on becaming more and more obsessed with her online live.
This could've been done as an Anthology, showcasing a different character in their life as a NYC elite, such as one whose recently came into money, another whose family is old money and struggling within a traditional family and so forth and so forth ultimately having them meet at the end of season one and creating a much more interesting season two. What they tried to do I admit was humanize them in a sense that teens are looking to relate i.e social issues etc however, it felt like pandering. Ultimately, fashion wise it was fantastic though it left little to be desired and it shouldve been called by something different instead of just Gossip Girl.
9:12 I knew when Josh Safran tweeted that like he wasn’t on the old show himself it was going to be a mess, because Gossip Girl wasn’t about people doing the right things in life. No matter how much Vanessa and Dan condemn the rich all the time they always got their way and lived their best glamorous life and worried over frivolous things. The idea of them saying one thing online making a political statement and doing something else would had been perfect storyline.
You make an excellent point - let's be real, most super super rich people didn't get their wealth by being relatable to the middle and working classes and dedicating all their time to help improve the world. They did it by screwing someone else over. Would be nice if shows represented that. There's too much of a disconnect between hoarding mounds of money and being seen as literally part of the problem of distribution of wealth globally
The looks on the last season are incredible! The only thing that some characters have more spotlight than others, it’s a shame that in the last two episodes they start to give us information about Luna's life and it gets cancelled 😔
The original Gossip Girl passed me by when it aired because I was a bit too young for it when it aired but it is available on BBC iPlayer currently (I am British) so I think I might give it a go. It was a moment when it happened and I wanna see if it's my thing.
i just watched it all on bb iplayer too for the first time last summer !!! it passed me by too when it originally aired and i have to say it is definitely of the time but it knows what it is ! it’s fun, it’s camp, it’s ridiculous but it’s also just so easy to watch, i recommend and then you should watch mikes mic’s unhinged recaps once you’ve finished :)
OG Gossip Girl is a stunning and wonderful show about terrible people who together, become less terrible over time. Do watch it. Then watch it again. Then watch it again and again and again and again because they'll never make a drama that good again.
OG GG is a show about tactics and strategy if you watch it enough, and there is an overarching analogy to chess built in. I really don't think people give it enough credit. It is a phenomenal drama. I don't even like drama. I just like GG.
OG Gossip Girl developed the friend group over every episode and built the drama from there. Reboot Gossip Girl didn't take that time and it made the character's conflicts feel awkward and hollow. The NatexBlairXSerena drama felt important within 10 minutes of the first episode. With ObiexJulienxZoya I struggled to care.
Everything was about the characters. It's not like the original was perfect. But with all its ridiculous plots and cheesy actings from some actors, we watched the origial Gossip Girl because its biggest asset was the characters. Blake Lively's Serena really had this 'it girl' factor. Her prettier but insecure friend Blair's character came alive with Leighton's acting. They sold the idea of super rich high school girls leading a fancy life and having outrageous problems. The new cast and characters never had those charms or hold over the audience.
it sucks so much cus in the second half of season one I thought they got their footing with finally letting monet step up and do some sabotage but they cut her down for some reason.
The reboot failed simply becasue the Showrunner was in over his head. Great analysis as you're describing very basic gaps - and they were BIG - in solid storytelling. I'm very far from the target demo, but as a screenwriter I was glued to the original GG because it ws solid storytelling as you mentioned. Great channel BTW!
Great video. You perfectly highlighted what worked for the original series and what didn't work here. It seems so obvious, but somehow writers in Hollywood really don't seem to know how to do reboots, or modernise teen shows. And it's their literal career to figure it out.
The writing was also very much a millennials take on gen z and it was kinda hard to watch even as an older gen z. Whenever writers throw in Internet trends they are automatically dating themselves because by the time the joke airs it’s been dead in the water for months.
I'm sorry I can't help myself but to correct - I'm pretty certain in the books neither Serena nor Blair ends up with Nate. In fact after 11 books of Nate going between the two girls, the girls take the matter into their own hands and choose each other over Nate, with both of them turning their backs on him. I thought it was a brilliant ending for the series.
Dan being Gossip Girl makes the most sense and is the best story. Dorota or Eric actually make zero sense and would have made me so made. Dorota being GG is just as gross as the teachers, would have been demeaning for her charater and would not make sense for her Motherly/Big sister role in Blairs and even Serena's life. Eric being gossip girl would have set his charater back and would honestly go against his wishes. He was the least dramatic charater and just wanted a normal life & peace, more so than Serena. Dan was obsessed with this idea of Serena and regularly tried to know her down. He also had this weird love hate relationship with his "friends" but did not really care about their feelings. They were a tool. He wanted to highlight these charaters and show the world how evil they were. He knew that they would take any chance to dog each other out plus he's a writer, an accomplished writer by the end of the series. I guess side note: They should have made one of the main kids Gossip Girl. It would make sense that they all heard about her growing up and wanted to recreate her because she was a huge deal. The teachers were not compelling, served no purpose to the series and were just icky.
@Thomas Hong it would have been dumb. Eric being GG would have ruined his character and the show itself. When they did the storyline when Eric was GG, it was stupid and made no sense. Dan being Gossip Girl makes the most sense and I will die on this hill. It would have ruined anyone else's Characters especially Eric and Dorota. The actor saved the show by leaving. It may have been cute season 1-2 but really it wouldn't have made sense long term. Eric was on the hospital for months. In 2007/08, it would have been very hard to carry on a blog from a rehab facility. But i digress. Dan was obsessed with his frenemies and if he wasn't he would have moved on the many opportunities he had. Dan was very clever, I think he was the only one malicious and smart enough to keep her going without getting caught. I find the coverage of Serena and Blair to be much too cruel for someone that loved them to post. Eric and Dorota were too kind and caring to be GG. I wouldn't have been sold. Rant over.
I had think Dan being Gossip Girl was terrible writing. Still is terrible writing, yet as a concept, its something that I believe many of us “normal” people would have rooted for. I mean simply an upper middle class basically putting the trust fund babies under his games while also having moral defense as a persona, and having this “writing myself into this world” could have been a good concept. More than that, Dan is peers with the others. He controls his peers. In the reboot is basically adults trying to control kids, and well, that doesn’t feel right.
I think it is genius writing and that he was a natural fit for the reveal. I also think on rewatching the show a bajillion times, that it's just perfect. It's not awkward at all. So many times you could interpret his "surprise" as feigned and you can see the Blaire romance forming as an act of manipulation, how Dan is becoming more like Blaire in time so it fits. Just so so good. Not remotely lazy at all.
I think the creators really wanted to do something different than the original in terms of the major plot points- however they screwed themselves. They made gossip girl the most annoying individual I’ve ever seen on screen - not her fault, the writers wrote her that way- but a teacher? Really? Come on. The main cast of characters aren’t nearly interesting enough to make up for the lost mystique. Plus it’s so unrealistic- a teacher dumb enough to start up an ig account to expose students would absolutely get caught and fired. Not only is she petty and immature, but she’s also not at all redeemable like the original gossip girl was. In the OG, sometimes gg’s posts felt like divine justice - depending on the circumstances. But in this version - we all know from the start that it’s just a bitter teacher with an inferiority complex.
They tried too hard to check boxes, which ended up being counterintuitive and annoying to watch. I had stopped watching after the 3rd episode of season 2.
realistically, the writing was terrible, the pacing made no sense (neither did some of the cameos), there were plot holes in every other episode, the acting was subpar from at least half the cast (even the returners), much of the plot felt circular and cyclical, they focused on the same characters continuously, and finally there was no character development. i really gave it a chance but i was just so frustrated that they didn’t listen to the audience about the writers’ mistakes and missteps after season 1.
the show took itself too seriously. 2007 is messy and almost satirical whilst the reboot attempted to be better by wanting to be the opposite and get still have the appeal, leaving them at a crossroad and in confusion, they never know wtf they wanted to be
I heard what they even did with the legacy characters and I was kind of grossed out by it. Georgina terrorizing Serena and Dan's CHILD? Disgusting. I'm so glad we never found out what happened with anyone else. Edit: as for that tweet from the creator, the OG Gossip Girl cast never really took each other out with "brawn" either.
basically, say what you want about euphoria but is is essentially THE gen z show that managed to break out and reach insane levels of iconic fame in a world of stale corporatised bland millenial show reboots
The problem is it didn’t need to be remade in the first place. Laziness is at an all time high in Hollywood. Leave shows that have already been done before alone. Come up with original scripts and new concepts. Also acting ability should come first not looks, and aesthetics. That’s the problem with these Gen Z shows too many social media people being casted and not legitimate actors and actresss getting a chance to break through.
They made a majority of the main cast unbearable. Zoya was dull and whinny, Julien tried too hard and the rest were dryyy. Max was the only semi-decent character. Plus nobody wants to see teachers invested in student SEX LIVES
Honestly, your idea about the show being better if it discussed slacktivism by means of the characters trying to live up to the bare minimum in public while being total bigots behind closed doors is a brilliant idea. This is an actual contemporary issue, especially with a lot of celebs trying to act normal while being caught saying the most discriminatory and audacious shit in personal videos Speaking of the show writers trying to act progressive while completely missing the mark, you're spot on with that, really. That's kinda the downside of when basic human decency or standing up for what's right is treated like a trend, not something one should essentially aspire to. Fingers crossed, show/movie creators will stop doing that and try to handle it appropriately or AT LEAST hire a ton of sensitivity readers who are actually well-versed on the subject matter as opposed to the writers who are most likely out of touch in most cases Unrelated, but I'm curious, was there actually a moment where the adult teachers were spying on their teen students just to be the anon gossip girl?
Right I definitely feel this way when it comes to celebrities who cosplaying into certain marginalized cultures and communities for aesthetics and branding but have said some pretty offensive things to these communities. I mean look at the Kardashians entire career it looks like it’s finally starting caught to them especially after Kim’s get you a$$ up and work comments but for a long time they were always getting away with being bigots while taking parts of the same black/Latin cultures and communities they were bigotry to. Or today am artist like Rosalia who is a white Spaniard girl that comes from a generational wealthy family cosplaying into working class Latin American, Caribbean and African American cultures as her brand and musical style she even called herself a Latina just bc she loves the Latin culture she cosplay in. It would’ve been perfect if they incorporated that more
@@Kevin-rg3yc well, to be fair, the kardashians are not famous because they're mother teresas or some stuff. they're one of those celebs where even negative publicity works in their favor because it's still publicity.
imagine it was monet or another rich kid being gossip girl trying to make constance a school just for rich kids and push out the scholarship kids like zoya???
The original GG had it all the elegance and indulgence of the gilded age at a time when the rest of the world was falling apart. This one didn't manage to do that, no one had Blairs or Serenas magnetism. I could take my eyes off of Julien, I never could with Blair od Serena. They make you look at them. These new girls and boys are gorgeous but they do not have the acting ability of the og GG actors. And Blake and Leighton have that thing.
Can we stop rebooting already established and iconic shows if you have nothing new to add to it and just wanna follow in the footsteps of the original?
This show reboot was so annoying that I couldn’t even stand to leave the show on in the background and barely pay attention, and when I would try to watch I would quickly get bored and turn it off.
I would love your take on the dif Ugly Betty’s (Betty La Fea) and how they differ. I loved the American take and didn’t even realize it was originally a Colombian show, and the fashion is so important for both iterations. Love your work!!❤❤
I loved the original, but the reboot bored me. It was so disappointing. The teachers being the “gossip girl” posting about their teen students online just immediately rubbed me the wrong way, as did the way that the wealthy students vs teachers & society were portrayed. Anyone familiar with wealth knows that the world is not as simple as the “haves” being bad & “have nots” being good. Poverty doesn’t equal virtue & wealth doesn’t equal vice, but a teen drama isn’t the place to address those themes. The reboot came across as cheesy. You can’t make a fun story about wealthy, attractive people while the writers clearly find those traits abhorrent & waste time apologizing for the characters or trying to show they’re “not like the other rich folks.” Plus, the acting was mediocre at best. The teens mainly acted unbothered, which is the last thing you want in a teen drama. Blair’s angry theatrics & the other original characters’ soapy melodrama are what made the original show addictive & fun. The reboot wasted time trying to make excuses for bad behavior. Like…. It’s just a teen drama. You don’t need to excuse everything that everybody does & make them all good. It’s not that deep. In general, I wish Hollywood writers would stop trying to make all characters morally gray. It takes away the tension & drama that makes a show interesting. In a simple show like Gossip Girl, you need somebody to root for. Shows like Sopranos & Game of Thrones are able to create deep characters bc they unfold over a long time & deal with complex adult subject matter, but that’s not true in a teen drama like Gossip Girl. In the reboot we really had nobody to root for. None of the couples had chemistry & everything seemed trite. When the writers try to make every character good & excuse every bad act a character does, the audience doesn’t really care about the outcome
The original Gossip Girl was satire. In a time when the post gladly created headlines about the elite of New York’s offspring leaving a club at 3am and a drunk socialite making front news page for yelling at a bouncer, the world was setting the tone for influencer culture. The Hiltons and Kardashians were becoming household names simply for being rich, pretty, and messy. At the time, it was an abnormality. News was just starting to blend with entertainment and the idea of being famous simply for being rich was controversial yet coveted. When Gossip Girp began it was the time for the exploration of it. It was not meant to be wish fulfillment in the book series but rather the reality of being so privileged you have no self awareness, yet that same privilege meant you had no privacy. Instead of cultivating values and personality, you cultivate an image that can be manicured or manipulated. These days we are at a similar impasse. We have nepotism babies, the varsity blues scandal, the business empire of the Kardashians, TikTok stars. We have so much material for a Gossip Girl remake but they decided to morally grandstand and virtue signal with pretty models instead of tell a story.
What I didn’t like (and I didn’t like this with the OG show but the reboot did it so much worse) was Gossip Girl and her identity being so focused on. She’s supposed to be a narrator or a tool that helps push the plot forwards. I just wished that she stayed anonymous like in the books. That way we don’t have all these useless and plot-hole filled storylines about the identity of GG and we can focus on the actual story which is supposed to be the scandalous lives of Manhattan’s Elite.
Perfect timing, i just finished mike mics gossip girl season 2 recap and it reminded me how chaotic yet somehow still entertaining the original was. Compared to the reboot it was a masterpiece🤣🤣🤣except for the dan being gossip girl part, cause that still makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER😡🤦♀️😲
Watched the first episode since I loved the og and rewatched it multiple times (it was absurd and self-aware in that it didn’t take itself too seriously) and knew this was gonna fail lol writing and acting was horrendous
