Gossip Girl Spin-off?!

I love Gossip Girl. But is there enough Upper-East side love for a spin-off? The folks at the CW hope so. The Hollywood Reporter is saying that Gossip Girl executive producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage are moving forward with plans for a spin-off that will follow a teenage Lily van der Woodsen through 1980s L.A. A backdoor pilot is set to air May 11.

Here is why I don't think this will work:

*Too much like Star Wars-

Going backwards in the life of a character as deep as Ms. van der Woodesen seems like trouble. We already know that she and Rufus had a thing, she got knocked up, and did some "artistic" modeling. Filling in the the rest of Lily's holes could get obnoxious. No matter where the series goes, it will have to end up in the present day or true Gossip Girl fans will be nothing but annoyed.

*A show about the past can't work alongside a show about the present.

Who wants to watch Lily van der Woodsen break the space-time-continum? On Monday nights she's in her 40s, on Tuesdays she'll be in her teens again. That's just too confusing.

*Casting-

You've already got one of the hottest casts on TV in Gossip Girl. Will the CW be able to bring the same magic to a spin-off? I doubt they'll be able to find another Chace Crawford out there. Plus the chemistry between Leighton Meester and Blake Lively is one of a kind. Try and find that in another set of teen stars and you're just asking for trouble.

*Character Sympathy-

Out of all the characters to do a spin-off with why Lily? Do we really have enough sympthy for the dysfunctional mother to want to watch her turmoil filled childhood? If the CW had wanted to give Chace Crawford his own show, I'd understand. I'd even have gotten onboard for a Bass based spin-off (they could have saved Bart's life and a potentailly awesome story-line).

Celebrity Endorsements

With the election only weeks away, a new round of celebrity endorsements have hit the airwaves. This time "Gossip Girl" stars Penn Badgley and Blake Lively have teamed up in a comedic pro-Obama ad.

  While I was a big fan of the celebrity advertisement featuring Leo and company that just encouraged voting, I am NOT a fan of celebrity candidate endorsement ads. People should be voting based on the issues and the candidates, not based on which celebrity thinks their great. 

   Howard Stern just went out in Harlem and asked people who they wanted to vote for. He lied and told people that McCain's platform was really Obama's. The result showed that Americans don't know the issues and instead are just voting for a name. And you wonder why our forefathers invented the Electoral college. 

  So while the following video may be entertaining...it's not INFORMATIVE. It doesn't give you the issues, and it SHOULDN'T persuade you to vote a certain way.