While adults on TV seem to be romancing each other with nary a kiss, high schoolers on the other hand, are hopping into bed left and right on the CW’s new smash hit “Gossip Girl.” Oh, and doing burlesque night club strip teases. And having sex in limos. And having more in the back room on bar stools. All while wearing fabulous, couture designer clothing!
When these kids aren’t having sex? They’re drinking champagne and ordering designer cocktails at New York City’s fanciest bars and hotels. And their parents are snorting cocaine.
Chastity may be the new cool among adult television series, but it certainly isn’t among those series catering to teens. “Gossip Girl’s” message seems to be the following: the quicker and the more often you can take it all off for the boys, the more popular you’ll become! Who needs romance when you can simply have unfullfilling sex with dark-haired rich boys you hardly know? Who needs morals anyway? Morals are so passe! Why save yourself for something special when you’ve already got all that life has to offer: money, money, clothes, and more money!

So I admit: I’m a bit addicted to the trashy series (based on the similarly trashy novels first penned by Cecily von Ziegesar, now penned by anonymous writers-for-hire) but here is the thing: “Gossip Girl” (which airs on Wednesday nights at 9 on the CW) is probably one of the most adult-heavy content shows on television right now, yet it’s masquerading as a show for teens. It preaches the gospel of empty-calorie friendships, relationships, and family-life. And speaking of gospels, last episode had rich-girl Blaire Waldorf inside a confessional, dressed as if a widower, telling a priest about her night of strip teases and “lost virtue” with a similarly rich bad boy named Chuck–even though she isn’t Catholic. I suppose adults can find the humor and irony in all this smut–but can teens? Especially teen girls?
What do you think? Are you watching “Gossip Girl,” too? Are your kids? Does this show have anything of value to offer, or is it as trashy as I think it is?