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Gossip Girl is one of the latest reboots to hit the air, and while the first half of Gossip Girl (2021) Season 1 had its moments, the series has struggled to maintain decent quality.
With the show off the air until November, it’s time to look at the show to see how it could improve in the second half of the season.
Check out our list below.
Get Rid of the Teachers
The weakest aspect of the show is the teachers. They need to go.
Making Gossip Girl the teachers might have sounded interesting in the writer’s room, but every single time one of the teachers comes on-screen, I want to turn it off.
Kate is the worst. She’ll undoubtedly embrace a more villainous persona at some point when the account stops getting as much attention.
Her actions are horrible, and the fact she wants to turn the account into a brand is bizarre. She and the other teachers need found out before it’s too late.
Add in the fact that Rafa has been sleeping with a student and manipulating others makes all of the teachers come across as icky.
Kate aimed to get the students in line, but now she’s opened a can of worms with the account.
Unite the Sisters for Good
The original Gossip Girl had all of the characters being nasty to one another, but the reboot is considerably tamer in that respect.
Unfortunately, Julien and Zoya make some progress and find themselves yelling at each other again.
Through six episodes, it’s proven to be cumbersome. Yes, we know they both come from very different backgrounds, but fighting over boys and other stupid things is a bad look.
The show would be so much better if the sisters united and cut out the crap. Teenagers bicker, especially siblings, but not as much as these two do.
Increase the Presence of the Parents
The parents were pivotal on the original series, and it can’t be a coincidence that the best episodes of the reboot so far have leaned so heavily on the parents.
The focal characters are the kids of some of the most influential people in the world, so getting more time with the parents helps to show off how cutthroat the world is for these people.
All of the parents bring a different perspective to the events, and they only really became more prominent in the final episodes of the first half of the season.
There are some compelling hooks to increase the presence of the parents, including the mystery surrounding why Aki’s dad told him to stay away from Julien.
Show Viewers the Decadence of Being Rich in New York City
The original series paid attention to the finer details to really drive home that these people have a lot of money.
The parties and events have been relatively low-key on this reboot. It could be thanks to the pandemic, but even New York City doesn’t feel like a character in the show.
With the story’s trajectory so far, it could be set anywhere in the world because much of what is happening is unbelievable.
Stop Talking and Show Us the Action
One of the most frustrating things about the series is how the kids speak about events.
That’s pretty boring, and it detracts from the fun of the show.
This could be another pandemic-related thing, but many of these talky scenes could be omitted from the episodes without a second thought.
Experiment With a Shorter Episode Length
Out of the first six episodes, only one or two of the episodes have not had much filler.
This seems to be because they run close to the 60-minute range.
The move to streaming should allow the episodes to last as long as the showrunner wants them to.
Trim some of the fat to make these episodes leaner and more enjoyable affairs.
Embrace Cliffhangers
The series very often kicks off a bunch of storylines and resolves them that same episode.
For example, Gossip Girl (2021) could have worked as a series finale. Instead of leaving viewers with a hook to keep watching, it ended many of what should have been season-long arcs.
It was jarring and suggested there was a creative overhaul during the writing of the scripts.
In any case, we did get some cliffhangers on the midseason finale, but the show needs to embrace these to keep people talking on the days the show is not airing.
Gossip Girl is airing on HBO Max. The series is on a planned hiatus but is expected to return in November.
What are your thoughts on the show?
Do you think it needs to make some changes?
Hit the comments below.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.