Gossip Girl vs. Secret Life
I watched my first - and probably last - episode of Gossip Girl last week. I have lots of other stuff to watch this week, so I doubt I’ll make time for it.
Gossip Girl is, as I feared, not really my cup of tea. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of the teenage soap opera, even when they are badly written and/or acted, which is not even totally true about Gossip Girl. Look, I watched every episode of the first season of The Secret Life of the American Teenager on ABC Family. That show was pretty badly written and acted, and yet I loved it.
I think the difference lies in the fact that one is a true soap opera all about people behaving badly and where evil intentions often win out over pure motives and the other is a moral tale about how bad behaviors have consequences. Call me old fashioned, cause I’m sure I won’t be holding the popular opinion, but I like the second one better. I just like seeing people get what’s coming to them, which really makes me a sadist. I’m a stickler for the rules and I detest seeing rich, beautiful people lord it over the rest of the lowly mortals, getting everything they want and never having to deal with any bad consequence to their actions.
Beyond that, I don’t enjoy seeing a show where every character is basically out for themselves. Pretty much everything everyone did was done in a spirit of selfishness, pure and simple. At least on Secret Life, there are some characters who are good guys and who want to do things just for the pleasure of helping others.
Maybe I didn’t give Gossip Girl a fair shot. Maybe when I have more time, I’ll watch another episode or two. Maybe. But for right now, I won’t be watching.
