Okay, so we didn't love it. We wanted to, but it didn't happen. As we sat there trying to care about the antics of the new class of West Beverly High, our first reaction was, "Are we too old for this?" But no, that can't be it, we love Gossip Girl! We felt like we were in trouble when, in the first hour, we found ourselves waiting impatiently for Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty to make appearances, and our most excited feelings were prompted by the familiarity of the theme song.
We're not giving up yet, though. Maybe, it's just going to take us longer to embrace this new round of characters when the old ones, of whom we are so fond, are still popping up everywhere inciting comparison. Speaking of comparison, did it seeem as though there were this many characters last time? Or is it just that this time the characters feel more interchangable?
Our user-friendly guide to the Cast:
Harry and Debbie Wilson -- Harry's the new principal of West Beverly High. He also happened to grow up in Beverly Hills and attended high school with the original cast before moving to Kansas to get away from it all. He returns to Beverly Hills with his wife and two teenage kids to take care of his mother who, among other things, has a heart condition. Debbie's a photographer who, despite living in Kansas all those years, somehow has enough contacts to do absurdly cutting edge, high fashion shoots.
Annie -- Annie's a little too sweet for us, to be honest. We feel like she lacks some of that edgier, anti-blond appeal that Brenda Walsh had. She quickly finds herself tossed and turned on the chaotic waves of the West Beverly social heirarchy. Lame plot points included jetting to San Fransisco for a date on a school night (gasp!), and then her defense when she gets busted: "Mom! That's what kids do here; they have planes!" They sure do Annie, welcome to the big bad city.
Dixon -- Dixon's the adopted son of Harry and Debbie. He plays lacrosse and generally tries to be accepted everywhere he goes. His largest drama involves stealing pigs from a porn film shoot and letting them loose in a rival school's cafeteria.
Naomi -- We feel like the writers said to themselves, "Let's write a character that could have appeared on MTV's 'My Sweet Sixteen.'" That about sums her up. In a bizarre twist, it turns out that Harry got Naomi's mom pregnant in high school. He thought she had an abortion and then fled to Europe for a year when actually, she had the baby and gave it up for adoption. The plot thickens.
Ethan -- Ethan's Naomi's boyfriend, and star of the WBHS lacrosse team. Annie spots him getting blown in the parking lot by someone other than Naomi and dramatic hallway confrontations ensue. Ethan, it turns out, also hooked up with Annie two summers ago, and may still carry a torch (and a five-limbed octopus) for her.
Navid -- Navid's the richest kid in school. His dad makes porn films, and provides the pigs for the lacrosse prank. Navid befriends Dixon when he joins the school paper, and uses the phrase "my bitch" a lot.
Silver -- Silver is totally our favorite so far, but we fear it's because she was also a character on the original show -- Kelly and David's sister is all grown up and making snarky internet videos to shame her classmates. We think she's also the best actress on the show which bodes well to lessen our boredom.
Ty -- Ty's the guy with the private jet, and the San Fransisco dinner plans. Conversation inspired by his first appearance on the screen: Us: "He's so pretty." Our friend: "He looks like Clark Kent." Us: "But, in a hot way."
George -- George hasn't done much yet, except try to kick Dixon's ass and make out with Naomi while wasted, but we think he might shortly be the biggest star on the show due to his role in the upcoming box office teen-powerhouse, Twilight, based on the best-selling book.
Mr. Matthews -- Mr. Matthews (first name, Ryan) is the hot English teacher that seems to have sexual tension with just about everybody on the show. The one he really wants is guidance counselor Kelly Taylor, which by this time, must be par for the course with her.
In general, we want this show to be enjoyable and we're going to give it some time to get there. The thing is, we're SO much more interested in what's going on with the original cast. Who's this mysterious son Kelly has? Is it Brandon's baby? Dylan's? Why is Brandon travelling the world? Can you bring back Dylan, or at least Noah? Sigh. We just want the old cast back. Is that so wrong?
Give us your thoughts. We need them.