SoulHonky

First Friday Night Lights decides to off a random person and now Gossip Girl has shot itself in the foot by throwing a ridiculous murder plot into an already over-the-top high school schedule. Friday Night Lights waited until the second season but apparently there's not enough to write about in the Upper East Side so Gossip Girl couldn't even make it a season without having one of their characters become a killer. I mean, I didn't expect much out of Josh Schwartz who couldn't maintain more than half a season of The O.C. but the murder angle is just kind of ridiculous. Now mind you, Beverly Hills 90210 went a little batty when Luke's dad came back and then got blown up by a car bomb but at least that happened in the third season and they quickly breezed through it and onto gems like hunting down Burt Reynolds. (No, really)

Is it really that hard to maintain a drama about relationships, especially in high school? And how about a little pacing here? They couldn't have found more stories for Jenny's boyfriend? She meets him one episode and he is gay in the next? They couldn't have maybe done some more with Eric dealing with his sexuality? Show him living a lie and struggling to fit in at school? There were no stories there? They had to go straight to the climax and then launch Serena on a self-destructive binge all the while Dan's character does nothing but judge the whole time? The show started with some interesting characters but they all devolved into one dimensional caricatures pretty quickly. Chuck Bass shows some depth and he's off on a bachelor party or in exile in his hotel room. It's almost like the writers don't know what to do when they are given someone with more than a basic personality.

It's too bad because Gossip Girl had the makings of an interesting show but now I doubt it even last much longer than season three, which is too bad because I'm sure Tiffany Amber-Thiessen could have swooped in as a MILF love interest for Rufus and/or Chuck. I hate to dismiss it completely; Gossip Girl could bounce back, but I doubt it.

No wonder they cast Michael from the Wire as the lead in the new version of 90210. The body count in the hoity-toity socialistas is about even with most of the corner boys.