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Media: The Scandalous Lives of Manhattan's Elite


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‘Gossip Girl’ Co-Creator Josh Schwartz: Reimagined Version Will “Subvert The Paradigm” Of The Original
 

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He admitted that he and his producing partner Stephanie Savage had no interest in doing a version with the original cast grown up.

“Stephanie and I have been talking about it off for the last couple of years and obviously we’ve seen more shows get revisited and there are people on social media asking for it,” he said Friday during the TCA summer press tour. “We felt that a version with just our cast grown up, regardless of the challenges of getting those actors, didn’t feel like a group of adults controlled by ‘gossip girl’ made much sense. We felt there was something interesting that we are all ‘gossip girl’ in our own way and how that’s evolved, morphed and mutated and telling that story through a new generation of Upper East Side high school kids felt right.”

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Kristen Bell returning for 'Gossip Girl' update at HBO Max

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The Good Place and Frozen favorite, following a months-long dealmaking process, has officially closed a deal to return for HBO Max's update on Gossip Girl. Bell will reprise her role as the narrator for the new take on the former CW drama from creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage.

"Kristen Bell has always been and will always be the voice of Gossip Girl," the producers said in a statement Thursday. 

The HBO Max take, written by former showrunner Josh Safran, was picked up straight to series with a 10-episode order. The update of the former Blake Lively vehicle is described as an extension of the original series that takes place eight years after the original "website" went dark. It follows a new generation of New York private school teens who are introduced to the social surveillance of Gossip Girl. The series will address how much social media — and the landscape of New York — has changed in the intervening years. Safran will pen the script and exec produce alongside Schwartz and Savage.

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On 7/27/2019 at 6:50 AM, Joe Hellandback said:

Just as long as Georgina is in it. 

Unlikely, since that's directly contrary to the intentions of the producers. The voice of Gossip Girl, since she's not a real person, is the only thing they want recycled. 

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(edited)

I gotta say, my interest in this wasn't high, but the trailer did its job selling me.  I didn't realize how much I missed Kristen Bell cooing secrets and scandals, and her narration has an even more sinister ring to it this time.  In fact, the whole vibe is a little more sinister, and I dig it.

I will say, though, that I had trouble telling two of the boys - the seemingly bisexual one and the one seemingly in the triangle with the main girl and the new girl - apart.  And it was even more confusing because there was a clip of the seemingly bisexual one kissing a guy and a girl and that guy looked like the Nate-esque guy, but I don't think was lol.

Edited by TeeVee329
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On 6/23/2021 at 12:52 AM, Cranberry said:

Gossip Girl reboot showrunner says the rich kids will check their privilege this time around

"Showrunner Josh Safran seemingly forgot the whole point of Gossip Girl"

Yeah, this is stupid. Part of the thrill of Gossip Girl was being given a glimpse into the "lives of Manhattan's elite." And these kids are taking Ubers? Fuck that. Maybe if I trusted Safran (which I don't), I would expect him to come up with a theme about how these kids think they're woke by taking Ubers, but in reality they can do whatever the hell they want (drugs, drinking) without consequences and that's their real privilege whether they realize it or not.

But it's Josh Safran, so no, I don't trust him with that. 

Have any of the old-school cast said anything about the reboot? 

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5 hours ago, Minneapple said:

Have any of the old-school cast said anything about the reboot? 

I found this:

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“I would love for everyone to come back if they wanted to. The universe still exists. The characters talk about Serena, Blair, Chuck, Dan,” Safran told ET. However, while Gossip Girl’s original co-creator Josh Schwartz — who’s an EP on the reboot — told The Wrap that they reached out to everyone in the original cast about being involved, the actors themselves have been telling a different story.

I love how blunt Ed Westwick is. "Chuck Bass is played out. That’s not gonna happen."

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I don’t know where else to put this, but burning through the entirety of the back-half of the season in TWO WEEKS without announcing that that was their scheduling plan seems like HBO has completely lost faith in the series.  The promotion between the two halves of the season also dropped significantly, IMO.  I think they think it’s a dud and wanted to offload that dud as soon as possible.

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I'm not sure, tbh. They're doing the exact same thing with Mindy Kaling's brand new show The Sex Lives of College Girls (they're releasing its 10 episodes in bunches of 2, 3, 3, and 2), and it's relatively well-reviewed and seems popular. Maybe it's an experiment to see if a hybrid model works better than releasing one episode at a time or dropping all 10 at once.

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Season 2 trailer: 

Georgina (!) breaking into Kate's apartment, by all accounts, to tell Kate how much she sucks feels like it was for me specifically.

Also, given he's barely visible in the trailer and doesn't say a word, I feel like the show should just get rid of Obie, he would seriously lift right out.

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Statement from the showrunner:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cnmq4fKr0Nq/

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So here's the goss: it is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to announce GOSSIP GIRL will not be continuing on HBO Max. The EPs and I will forever be grateful to the network and studio for their faith and support; the writers for their devious brains and dexterous talent; the superstar cast for being the greatest of collaborators and friends; and the crew for their hard work, dedication and love for the project. This was honestly the greatest set I ever worked on, top to bottom.

We are currently looking for another home, but in this climate, that might prove an uphill bottle, and so if this is the end, at least we went out on the highest of highs. Thank you for watching, and I hope you'll tune into the finale next Thursday to see how it all comes together. xoxo

ps. A big thank you to all the GG fans around the world. You’re the reason we came back in the first place, and who knows, maybe the reason we will meet again. Much love.

 

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I am generally opposed to most HBO Max cancellations but I don’t think this ever caught the critical buzz enough nor the ratings enough to justify throwing money away on what had to be an extremely labor-intensive, cost-intensive show.

The Vulture announcement included the tidbit that the finale includes 

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a trip to Italy

That doesn’t come cheap.

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