The highly anticipated Gossip Girl reboot hit screens on Thursday to heightened expectations but seems to have fallen flat for fans of the OG series.
In what seems to be a calculated decision by the showrunners, the reboot gets the identity of the gossip girl out of the way in the first episode, a stark contrast to the original – throughout its six-season run, the original Gossip Girl’s identity remained a mystery and was only revealed in the last season.
Good morning, followers. Gossip Girl here. pic.twitter.com/i7h8h67hF9
— Gossip Girl (@gossipgirl) July 8, 2021
If that wasn’t anticlimactic enough for fans who tuned in to watch the reboot, the eponymous scandal-maker was revealed to be a group of high school teachers!
After being ridiculed by Constance Billiard’s Queen B Julien for bumping into her, teacher Kate Keller vents to fellow teachers about the students’ spoilt behaviour. After learning about the scandalous Gossip Girl blog from nine years back, Kate and other teachers are inspired to recreate the same notoriety.
Yeah… we’re just as taken aback at how creepy this sounds! The fact wasn’t lost on Twitterati, who turned to slam the pilot storyline.
“Not these grown adults taking to snapping photos of literal teenagers in their underwear in an attempt to torment them publicly online all because they let themselves get bullied by some teenagers,” wrote one user.
Not these grown ass adults taking to snapping photos of literal teenagers in their underwear in an attempt to torment them publicly online all because they let themselves get bullied by some teenagers #GossipGirl pic.twitter.com/MvAl67XAvR
— Paige (@_samepaige_) July 9, 2021
Another commented, “These teachers are too scared and involved in their students’ lives. This is weird.” One even took a jibe at the teachers’ expense, saying, “The teachers are such losers. Go make a lesson plan #GossipGirl.”
https://twitter.com/SampleSizePod/status/1413288905877729283
the teachers are such losers. go make a lesson plan #GossipGirl pic.twitter.com/UfbqqgmHH5
— olly ❦ 💌 (@santanassire) July 9, 2021
“Why are these 35+-year-old teachers allowing 16-year-olds to intimidate them like this?” questioned one user.
https://twitter.com/KAYAUG0/status/1413046372366962688
Another called for action. “These teachers are a menace. Looking forward to seeing each and every one of them get fired.”
These teachers are a menace. Looking forward to seeing each and everyone of them get fired. #GossipGirl pic.twitter.com/D460nHxaPE
— kava – obx spoilers (@apocalipstickzz) July 8, 2021
Joshua Safran, the creator of the original Gossip Girl and the force behind the reboot, in an interview with Variety, talked about the head-scratching twist.
“I can’t remember whether I first knew that there would be teachers and a teacher would be Gossip Girl, or whether I knew first that I would know who Gossip Girl was and it would be a teacher. The two were so neck-and-neck for me,” he said.
Safran further explained, “I was also very interested in looking at roads we hadn’t explored the first time around, and teachers — that was a whole area. Especially private school teachers who are younger than public school teachers, who make less money than public school teachers, who come out of college and are not so removed from the age of the students that they’re teaching. All of that combined just felt like really fertile territory.”
According to Safran, the reboot is even more of a cautionary tale. “It’s a be-careful-what-you-wish-for story… We will be tracking not just what Gossip Girl does to the kids, but what being Gossip Girl does to them. And it is incredibly messy and morally compromised, obviously.”
