Gossip Girl

The general consensus on Gossip Girl is that it’s terrible. The New York Post hailed it as “a nasty piece of work.” Funny, that’s just the way I feel about The New York Post, while I love GG. Millions of faithful viewers share the same opinion, and they tune in to the TV drama each week to find out what its starring clique of shallow, gorgeous Upper East Side high-school students are doing. (Usually, in point of fact, they’re doing one another.) Last week’s episode revolved around the Snowflake Ball in which mega bitch Blair (Leighton Meester) and sleazy Chuck (Ed Westwick) made a bet that they could find ideal dates for each other. Jenny (Taylor Momsen) and Vanessa (Jessica Szohr) basically totally screwed their friendship fighting over hottie Nate (Chace Crawford), whose sexual prowess is so great that he worked for some time as a gigolo. Good girl Serena (Blake Lively) dealt with mixed feelings after seeing her boyfriend Aaron’s (John Patrick Amedori) ex-girlfriend attempt to seduce her naïve ex-boyfriend Dan (Penn Badgley). …You follow me? It’s outlandish, melodramatic, and absolutely nothing like my life was during high school. And that’s why it’s so damn entertaining. I swear that after one episode, you will be hooked. Hint: You can download episodes you’ve missed off iTunes for $1.99 each. But even better, you can watch the Taiwanese version of the show, Hua Bian Jiao Zhu for free by visiting obscure sketchy websites—as long as you have a virus protection program on your computer. Just ignore the pesky Mandarin subtitles and you’ll be caught up in no time. The CW Network, channel 11. Free (depending on your cable or broadcast package). 8 p.m. ERIKA HOBART

Mon., Dec. 15, 8 p.m., 2008