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September 19, 2007 9:10 PM PDT

Spotted on 'Gossip Girl': 'There's this thing called MySpace'

by Caroline McCarthy
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The cast of 'Gossip Girl'

(Credit: The CW)

I'll admit it: I watched Wednesday night's series premiere of Gossip Girl, the new teen drama on the CW network that details the slightly-too-scandalous lives of privileged young New Yorkers--as chronicled by an anonymous blogger. One of the prominent characters in the first scene is a sleek LG Chocolate mobile phone. The show is packed with MacBooks, BlackBerrys, Sidekicks, and just about any other gadget that the average American high schooler could possibly want.

It is, indeed, tech-savvy. But let's face it--they aren't exactly dealing with the Gizmodo-guzzling demographic. I was betting that the word "blog" wouldn't even appear in the series premiere, despite the overall premise of the show.

Thankfully, I didn't bet any cash on it. "Blog" was said twice--albeit in the same conversation between socially awkward introvert Dan (played by Penn Badgley) and his father Rufus (played by Matthew Settle), a suspiciously good-looking ex-rock star. The two were stapling posters for Rufus' band's concert on lampposts around the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg, which is apparently Gossip Girl's equivalent of "the 'hood." (If you'd like a reality check, head over to Craiglist and do a search for Williamsburg apartments. Yeah, not cheap.)

The approximately 16-year-old Dan seemed to think it was all kind of tedious. "You know, Dad, there's this thing called MySpace where you post all this information online," he said. "Save some trees. Have a blog." See? He said blog.

His father scoffed: "If musicians got off their blogs and picked up their guitars, the music business would be in better shape." Hmm, so according to that logic we can blame blogging indie rockers for that "This Is Why I'm Hot" song? I'll take it.

Dan's response was predictable: "Spoken like a true relic." Funny, since the actor playing his dad doesn't look a day over 35.

So maybe I lost my personal Gossip Girl bet, but I'm still holding out for the episode in which the anonymous hellraiser of a narrator is revealed to be a Boston-based Forbes magazine editor.

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About The Social

CNET News' Caroline McCarthy is a downtown Manhattanite who believes that, despite popular opinion, the Web can actually help your social life. She's happily addicted to fun social-media tools from Twitter to Yelp to Facebook, sends an inordinate number of text messages, and has a tendency to waste time at the office reading restaurant blogs. Here, she explores all facets of the Web's gregarious side, as well as the unique tech culture in her home city of New York. (Don't call it Silicon Alley.)

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