Gossip Girl, which taped scenes on this campus for a spring episode, is a teeny bopper version of Sex in the City, which never taped scenes on this campus.

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When the Gilmore Girls season ended, fans may have thought that the new show Gossip Girl could be a fair replacement.

However, that anticipation could not be farther from the truth. Aside from the alliteration of the letter “G,” Gossip Girl is essentially about a handful of New York City’s wealthy teenagers sleeping around with each other and enjoying life despite seriously dysfunctional relationships and friendships. Picture right: Hunter student Yin Chang, a reoccurring character, to the left of principal characters.

Nevertheless, Michelle Castaneda, 21, who is a senior at Manhattan College, loves the show. She cannot watch it Monday nights because of prior commitments, but she records every episode and rejoices at the opportunity to watch them at her leisure. “It’s different from all other shows, from the characters to the story line. I just find it interesting, I mean they all cheat on each other,” she said, laughing.

Castaneda, who was wearing jeans and a colorful top, said, “I don’t really watch much television or stick to certain shows but Gossip Girl is one of the few shows that I watch the most. It’s just so interesting how they also surprise you and switch things up.” http://hunterword.com/images/buttons/save.png?1160447002

She likes Dan’s character the best because he is not as wealthy as the others and seems real. “He’s in a school with wealthy kids but he doesn’t try to be like them or seek their approval, unlike his sister,” she said.

Asked if she believed the show could be a bad influence on teenagers, Castaneda hesitated. “It’s just the whole youth in general, kids dating each other, cheating on each other, drug use, taking advantage of parents and friendships, betrayal. Well, I guess that kind of answers whether it’s good influence or not,” she said, laughing. She also said that the show was probably aimed at an older youth group, yet she also said there was no surefire way to keep younger kids from watching it as well. Wendy Rios, 19, from the Bronx, shared Castaneda’s enthusiasm. Rios always drowns her friends with Gossip Girl details the day after the show. “My friends don’t even watch the show, and yet they know pretty much everything about it,” she said proudly.

Rios, who recently graduated high school and is taking some time off, is a fashion and makeup guru. “Guess you can tell I would like the show! I love how they dress, it’s awesome,” she said.

She also added, “I like it because it has a lot of drama and because there is like always a new scandal.” The show is also concerned with the whole party and socialite scene in New York City. Said Rios, who was wearing a summer dress and flip flops, “It’s so entertaining. There is always some good party going on and something crazy usually happens.”

On the other hand, there are a young women who could care less about the show. The enthusiasm of Castaneda and Rios was clearly missing when Mireve Schaedle, 21, was asked to comment. “Sorry, I don’t watch that show, and I don’t know anyone who does,” she said hastily. Amanda Riccardi, 23, seemed to share Schaedle’s sentiment. “I just don’t have the time. I don’t watch it. But I do have a friend that loves it,” she said.

Riccardi’s friend, Juliette Nuccio, 23, attends Westchester Community College part time for business studies. She also works full time as an office manager for a construction company. She can talk about Gossip Girl all day though she is not someone who is glued to the TV. “I’ll watch it again during the week on the computer,” she said about her “religious” addiction.

Nuccio enjoys Gossip Girl because she can relate to it. “Everything that happens on the show has happened to me or someone that I know,” she said. She particularly enjoys how true to life it is since “it shows how much people lie, cheat, steal to be on top,” she said. She can relate to Vanessa’s character because “she is from Brooklyn, isn’t rich like the others, doesn’t try to fit in with them, and does her own thing,” she said.

Like Castaneda, Nuccio said that the show seemed to have been produced for high school students yet it did not succeed. “It should have been targeted to the 20-to-30-age range. There is a lot of sex, drinking, and some drugs in it,” she said.

Raquel Concepcion, 19, who attends Lehman College and studies sociology, summed up the gist of Gossip Girl (for this article) when she said, “I don’t watch Gossip Girl because I thought it was a bad show, like a rip-off of Sex and the City. Girls that sleep around with guys except that they are just in their early 20s.”


The WORD’s Jennifer De La Rosa can be reached at Jennifer.Delarosa4@gmail.com.