REVIEW: “Gossip Girl” is back, and remember, you’re no one until you’re talked about

“Gossip Girl” is iconic.  Even 15 years after it was first released, the views have not slowed.  As a result, producers decided it was time to bring back this popular show, but this time in the modern world.  The “Gossip Girl” reboot on HBO Max effectively continues the classic teen drama and the impact of social media, modern technology and new world issues on the main culture of the show.

Taking place 10 years after the finale of the original series, producers take a new approach to the popular blog within the show by immediately letting the viewers in on the secret of who the mysterious Gossip Girl is.  The blog is being brought back, and fans are right there with it.  

The audience is reemerged in the lives of Manhattan’s elite, who again have too much power, too much money and too much cruelty.  There is the common group within the show.  There is the outsider being brought in, the popular girl with the single parent who is never there, the boy with too much freedom and money to throw away and the rest of the group who, in Gossip Girl fashion, rule the school.

Starting the show, the audience is instantly captivated by the influencers and brand deals that spread the teens’ power beyond just their school.  In addition to using Instagram to add to their influence, social media also heightens the role of the Gossip Girl blog in their everyday lives.  Once Gossip Girl becomes verified on Instagram, people can feel its growing popularity and control over their lives.  As they continue to send in more tips, Gossip Girl’s credibility grows and reestablishes the school’s control over the students, no longer the other way around.

With protests threatening to destroy public images, the LGBTQ+ community impacting relationships and the recent emergence of long lost family members through social media, life in the Upper East Side is not ready for these changes.

 Obviously the original show is difficult to beat: there is no matching a duo like S and B or their legendary drama. A decade later and the original actors are still getting benefits from their roles on the show because no matter how old, or how many times it’s been watched, “Gossip Girl” never gets old. There was originally doubt that the reboot would be disappointing, especially after the recent reboot fails with shows like “Pretty Little Liars” and “Charmed.”  However, it is safe to say that the 2021 “Gossip Girl” will not join this list of disappointing reboots.  While it is based on the original show, it is not an exact recreation.  Instead, the new one follows a new group of people years later.  References are made looking back on the results of the first one, and a lot of new characters learn from the actions and mistakes from past Gossip Girl posts and the people in them.  The producers know better than to try to do the exact same thing that people remember.

Fans have loved “Gossip Girl” since 2009.  The best way for those involved to use this for their own success is to build on what was loved from the original.  Instead of copying the characters, they are taking the general traits that are important and entertaining and using them to create new people who fit the public’s views on how they would act in modern times.

Spotted: A new group of Upper East Siders have emerged. Will they live up to the glitz and glamour of Manhattan’s elite, or will we witness their fall from power?  By strategically making fans wait two months in between the release of the first half of the season and the second half, the reboot has kept fans’ attention as they wait for the next episodes to drop while having time to guess what is coming. Viewers are ready for more of the characters and drama that they have already begun to love.  Sibling rivalry.  New personal discoveries.  Power changes.  Manhattan’s elite are back and more ruthless than ever.