It's Not Gossip, It's Commentary
Leighton Meester is getting a lot of attention for her new film with Gwenyth Paltrow, Country Strong, and I can’t help but wonder if the people at The CW are happy. Gossip Girl is Meester’s career launching role, and it gets a lot of media buzz, but no ratings. That’s always baffled me, especially considering that I religiously watch Gossip Girl, despite falling outside their target tweenie demographic. But Meester isn’t the only actress from The CW to become extremely successful. What about Blake Lively? She also began on Gossip Girl, and she’s now had three major movie roles (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Town, and The Green Hornet). And let’s not forget Kristen Bell. Bell’s career began on Veronica Mars, which also got press attention but failed in the ratings. Like Meester and Lively, Bell has now moved on to major movie roles. So what’s the problem? Is it a CW marketing problem? Perhaps. When ratings don’t correspond with the quality of your show, you have to question marketing and promotion. Plus, you’d think if your that good at picking talent, you’d be equally as good at running your network as a whole.
SOFIA VERGARA — People often ask me who my girl crushes are, and Sofia is at the top of my list. She’s beautiful with a twist of sass. She confessed that she had trouble getting roles when she moved to the United States from Columbia, and she blamed it on her blond hair. Once she went brown, she began to book jobs, and the rest is history.
LEIGHTON MEESTER — Just to contradict myself, I’ll admit that Leighton Meester actually looks better as a blond. She died her hair for Gossip Girl, presumably because the producers already had the blond Blake Lively to play Serena, and they saw Leighton’s character as a brunette. She actually died her hair before the audition. I’m posting two pictures of her below, so that you can see the difference and judge for yourself.
JULIA ROBERTS — For much of Julia Roberts’ career I’ve wondered if she was a natural red-head or brunette. It turns out she’s neither. Her natural hair color is actually dirty blond, but she prefers to keep it brown. Personally, I’d like her to keep her red Pretty Woman hair forever, but I don’t suppose she wants to be play the same part for the rest of her life.
AUDRINA PATRIDGE — When I watched Audrina on The Hills, I noticed something strange about her appearance. She didn’t quite look right, and when my friend told me she’s a natural blond, it clicked. Like Leighton, she looks better as a blond. It’s a shame too, because I so badly wanted this post to be about how brunettes rule the world. But you can’t have everything, I guess. To see her with blond hair, click here.
ASHLEE SIMPSON — When Ashlee first broke into the business, she tried very hard to separate herself from Jessica Simpson. That included dying her hair brown, and dressing like a grunge rocker. It didn’t quite work, and she has since changed her image about 500 times. She recently went back to blond, so I’ve posted her with both hair colors. See what you think.
I often take some time out of my very busy blogging life to attack Taylor Momsen. But this time around, Tim Gunn did my dirty work. Gunn filmed a cameo for The CW’s Gossip Girl, and finally exposed what many Gossip Girl fans have been speculating all along — Taylor Momsen sucks. According to Gunn, Momsen could not remember her minimal lines, which held the cast and crew “hostage.” He also revealed that the director confided in him how terrible it is to work with Momsen, saying with disdain, “this is day in, day out, of my life.” When The CW chucked Momsen last season, I assumed her option was not renewed, and she was gone for good. For some incomprehensible reason, the network has decided to resurrect her from the dead, so that she can return to television to mumble her lines in an excessively tweaked out fashion. I can’t wait.
Gossip Girl Executive Producer Stephanie Savage sat down with Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly to discuss the shocking season finale. When asked if it was Taylor Momsen’s tears or Jenny Humphrey’s, Savage confirmed that it was Momsen’s real tears. “That’s what it really looks like if a girl with raccoon eyes cries that much,” she said. “There was nothing we could do.” She also confirmed that Momsen would return to the show at some unspecified point. Ausiello didn’t ask the one plaguing question though: was it a creative or personal decision to write Jenny Humphrey off the show? I’m guessing that they kicked her out to give her some time to get her life together, as she looks extremely emaciated and out of it on the show lately. I could be wrong though. I’ve attached an older picture of Taylor Momsen so you can get a feel for the “before and after” I keep referencing.
Gossip Girl fans can either rejoice or get angry. Billy Baldwin will return to the show to stir up trouble. Because the show films in New York and he lives in Los Angeles, his appearances will be scattered.