Blake Lively as SerenaEven though the producer of The O.C., Josh Schwartz, is behind this show too he may have lost some of the magic that his first wonderful show posessed. Basically, it is the formula. A bunch of rich, good looking people with too much money hanging out except they have all the stress of East Coast people. The parents were more obnoxious and way too young to have teenagers and yes the kids on The O.C. were sophisticated but they weren't getting martinis in a lounge at 6 p.m. Blake Lively, as Serena — the main girl to be gossiped about (and the blond one from The Traveling Sister Pants movie) is refreshing and sweet but she is pretty much the only one you don't want to slap. The bitchy Blair Waldorf played by Leighton Meester is no Cordelia (Buffy reference. Duh), hell she isn't even a Rachel Bilson. And the other characters are one dimensional and just not appealing but over time (maybe 4 episodes) they could grow. I do enjoy the narration of Kristen Bell aka Gossip Girl. Guess she does the voice-overs when she isn't being the newest superhero over on Heroes. Hell, I didn't like those Dawson's Creek kids until half way through the third season. I will definitely give the costumes on the show an A+. If anything the costumes rival that of Sex and the City. That is until the next two Sex and City take-offs start later in the season.
