Valley Girls
"Valley Girls" | |
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Gossip Girl episode | |
Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 24 |
Directed by | Mark Piznarski |
Written by | Stephanie Savage Josh Schwartz |
Featured music | "Destination Unknown" "I Want a New Drug" "Mirror in the Bathroom" "I Melt with You" "Dancing with Myself" "Stand and Deliver" "52 Girls" "I Hate the Rich" "Blue Monday" "The Safety Dance" "Just Can't Get Enough" "Prom Theme" "Doot Doot" |
Original air date | May 11, 2009 |
Guest appearances | |
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"Valley Girls" is the twenty-fourth episode of the
"Valley Girls" provides insight on the mysterious past of character
Plot summary
To prove she is able to handle her own affairs, Serena refuses to leave jail with either Lily or CeCe (
At the Prom, Chuck foils a plot by Penelope (
Throughout the episode, dialogue and objects prompt Lily to recall the events of her own first arrest. During flashbacks, a seventeen-year-old Lily Rhodes (Brittany Snow), having deliberately gotten expelled from The Thacher School in Ojai, California travels to Malibu, California to meet with her father, Rick Rhodes (Andrew McCarthy), the wealthy owner of Rhodes Records. Sadly for Lily, Rick already phoned her mother CeCe, who drove to Malibu from Montecito to deal with Lily. When Rick rejects the idea of Lily living with him in Malibu, Lily decides to find her sister Carol (Krysten Ritter) rather than move in with CeCe, whom Lily detests. Carol, an aspiring actress, had rejected the Rhode's upscale life and moved a year earlier to the San Fernando Valley. While searching for Carol, Lily meets Owen Campos (Shiloh Fernandez), who takes her to a club where they find Shep, Owen's musician friend, and Carol. Carol and Shep are in the midst of a dispute with Keith van der Woodsen (Matt Barr), the rich, antagonistic director of Shep's music video in which Carol stars, and are headed to his party to confront him for raising his price and holding the video hostage. When Lily asks why Carol does not simply use their father's company, Carol insists she does not want anyone to know of their privileged background. When the antagonism escalates to a fight at the party, security arrests Owen and Lily although Carol and Shep manage to escape. From jail, Lily calls CeCe. CeCe calls her daughters irresponsible. Carol, who has come to pay Lily's bail, overhears Lily defend Carol's lifestyle. Carol takes the phone from Lily, informs CeCe that Lily will be moving in with her, and takes Lily back to the city.
Production
"Valley Girls" doubles as both a Gossip Girl episode and the pilot episode of Valley Girls, a possible Gossip Girl prequel. The spin-off television series would chronicle the life of Lily Rhodes while attending high school and living with Carol in 1980s Los Angeles.[1][2]
Discussion about a Gossip Girl spin-off began in 2008. Despite believing the project was "unlikely," Gossip Girl executives explored potential concepts including an adaptation of the
On January 14, 2009, CW
Casting
On February 5, 2009, Krysten Ritter became the first guest star to be officially cast for the Valley Girls pilot.[15] Brittany Snow was the producers' top choice for young Lily Rhodes and was offered the role in early February 2009 without auditioning.[16] Initially, the series' producers wanted to cast an undiscovered star in the role while Snow was interested in continuing her film career. However, after viewing a reel featuring Snow's work ranging from Hairspray to Nip/Tuck, Savage and Schwartz found her "perfect" and "pulled out all the stops" to convince her to come back to TV.[1][17] Ryan Hansen had previously starred as "Douche" on Schwartz's web series Rockville CA. Schwartz deemed Hansen's performance there "so unlikable in such a likable way, that we cast him on the Gossip Girl spin-off."[1] On March 6, 2009, Entertainment Weekly reported that Cynthia Watros and Andrew McCarthy were in final talks to join the show as Lily's parents, thereby filling Valley Girls' last starring roles.[18]
Fashion and music
When asked what was being done to make modern day audiences comfortable with 1980s American culture, Schwartz replied,
If you never lived through that era — like most of our "Gossip Girl" audience didn't — there is a fascination, like we were fascinated by the '70s. My sense ... is that their connection to that era is via
Madonna — those broader pop culture references. Fashion-driven, especially. So there's an appetite there, they want to go deeper into that era. ... In the same way New York is a character on "Gossip Girl," the '80s will be a character on Valley Girls".[19]
The producers worked to incorporate 1980s fashion into the show in a way that "felt fun, definitely, but also grounded in a reality where [they] could tell dramatic stories."
Songs featured within "Valley Girls" were taken from both the Los Angeles
Pick-up
Literally every pilot we shot this year could have made the schedule this year ... It was just a matter of where would it fit on our schedule ... Honestly, it's just what did we feel we had the best opportunity to kind of break out with.
—Dawn Ostroff, CW President of Entertainment[3]
Rumors that the spin-off would not be picked up as a series began well before the pilot premiered due to the limited number of spots available on CW's fall line-up. Seven CW series were renewed for another season, leaving three spots open for pick-ups. "Valley Girls" competed against pilots for several other promising shows. On May 7, 2009, Nikki Finke wrote on her blog, Deadline Hollywood, that despite enthusiasm of CW executives, "the show went from hot, to lukewarm, to 'fading but wouldn't count out', to now dead, according to my insiders."[26] CW eventually chose to pick up Melrose Place, The Beautiful Life, and The Vampire Diaries.[27][28]
However, on May 21, 2009, the day CW's fall schedule was formally announced, CW President of Entertainment
It was the toughest year we've ever had, figuring out what to pick up, because [our pilots] were all really, really good. We do have room for another midseason show. We have some reality, and we'll probably have another scripted drama. We're just going to take a beat and see where we are. In all honesty, I think the Gossip Girl spinoff is the show that we would love to be able to find a place for as the season goes on.[30]
During a television press tour on August 4, 2009, when Ostroff was asked if the series would ever be green-lit, she said, "Not right now." She explained that she believed using "Valley Girls" episode as a backdoor pilot "instead of doing a full pilot" put the potential series at a disadvantage because "it was hard for everybody to understand what the world would be like on its own."[3] However, she stated that if Schwartz and Savage were interested in creating a different Gossip Girl spin-off, CW would "of course ... be open to it."[3]
Reception
"Valley Girls" received generally positive comments from reviewers.
"Valley Girls" was viewed live by a relatively small audience of 2.31 million in the United States according to Nielsen Media Research.[14] However, Schwartz notes that "Gossip Girl became the first show that indicated that the way people watch television is changing. You can go on iTunes, every episode is No. 1, ahead of all these bigger shows. The streams are high, the DVR time-shifting number was something like 40%. There's a much bigger audience for the show than the (Nielsen) numbers might indicate."[39]
See also
References
- ^ a b c theCWsource. "Gossip Girl - Josh Schwartz - Lily Spinoff". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-11-17. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
- ^ a b c Michael Schneider (2009-01-24). "'Gossip Girl' spinoff to travel in time". Variety. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
- ^ a b c d Abrams, Natalie & Godwin, Jennifer (2009-08-04). "In the Year of Melrose Place, CW Boss Talks Spinoffs, Crossovers, Remakes and Dead Pilots". E!. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
- ^ a b Stack, Tim (2009-01-15). "'Gossip Girl' spin-off pilot is a go!". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
- ^ Schnieder, Michael (2009-12-04). "'Gossip Girl' spinoff in development". Variety. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
- ^ "The CW Orders Pilot For Gossip Girl Prequel Series". TheTVRemote.com. 2009-01-14. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
- The Los Angeles Times. 2009-01-14. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
- ^ The CW Television Network. 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-03.
- ^
"Gossip Girl on the CW". The CW Television Network. FutonCritic.com. 2007-09-21. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
- ^ a b Ditzian, Eric (2009-05-12). "Leighton Meester Missed No Doubt on 'Gossip Girl' Set". MTV. Retrieved 2009-06-03.
- ^ "Exclusive: Gossip Girl Spin-Off Details Revealed!". Star. 2008-12-11. Archived from the original on 2015-09-11. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
- ^ Stack, Tim (2009-05-11). "Gossip Girl recap: Lily of the Valley". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2009-05-21.
- ^ a b c d Keck, William (2009-03-13). "Brittany Snow Dishes on Gossip Girl Spinoff". TV Guide. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
- ^ a b Seidman, Robert (2009-05-12). "'Monday Ratings: House wins, Castle hangs on". TVbythenumbers.com. Archived from the original on 2012-04-26. Retrieved 2009-05-21.
- ^ "'Gossip Girl' contemplates a Los Angeles spin-off". Access Hollywood. 2009-02-05. Retrieved 2009-05-21.
- ^ theCWsource. "Gossip Girl - Brittany Snow "Lily Rhodes"". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-11-17. Retrieved 2009-05-21.
- ^ "Exclusive: Brittany Snow's the New Gossip Girl". Star. 2009-02-26. Archived from the original on 2014-01-02. Retrieved 2009-05-21.
- ^ "Gossip Girl Spinoff: Meet the Cast of the CW's Lily". E!. 2009-03-06. Retrieved 2009-10-14.
- ^ a b Belloin, Matthew (2009-05-05). "Q&A: Josh Schwartz". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 9, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
- ^ a b c d e Ghosh, Korbi (2009-05-11). "'Gossip Girl' spin off: Exec producer Stephanie Savage tells us what to expect". Zap2it. Retrieved 2009-05-21.
- ^ "Marchesa Spring 2008 RTW". New York. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
- ^ "Christian Dior Spring 2009 Ready-to-Wear Collection". Style.com. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
- ^ Goldsmith, Belinda (2009-12-01). "Cost of school formals soaring as teenagers glam-up". Reuters. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
- ^ "'Gossip Girl' contemplates a Los Angeles spin-off". Chicago Tribune. 2009-01-29. Archived from the original on 2009-05-05. Retrieved 2009-05-21.
- The CW Television Network. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- ^ Finke, Nikki (2009-05-07). "Primetime Pilot Panic: New CW Hot List; Yes To 'Melrose Place', No To 'Gossip Girl' Spinoff, Maybe To 'Vampire Diaries'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
- ^ ""Gossip Girl" Spin-Off Officially Dumped By The CW". Access Hollywood. May 21, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-21.
- The Los Angeles Times. 2009-05-21. Retrieved 2009-05-21.
- ^ Ghosh, Korbi (2009-05-21). "Dawn Ostroff says 'Gossip Girl' spin off could still get a spot on The CW schedule". Zap2it. Retrieved 2009-05-21.
- ^ Godwin, Jennifer (2009-05-21). "CW Upfront: Is Lily Dead or What?". E!. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
- ^ Sankowski, Jennifer (2009-05-12). "Gossip Girl Episode Recap: "Valley Girls"". TV Guide. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
- ^ Stack, Tim (2009-05-12). "'Gossip Girl' recap: Lily of the Valley". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
- ^ Gallagher, Kona (2009-05-12). "TV Recap: Gossip Girl - Valley Girls". Cinema Blend. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
- ^ Itzkoff, Dave (2009-05-12). "The Morning Feed". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
- ^ "'Gossip Girl' Recap: Episode 2.24, "Valley Girls"". BuddyTV. 2009-05-12. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
- ^ "Gossip Girl TV Show - Valley Girls". Television Without Pity. 2009-05-12. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
- The Frisky. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
- ^ Graham, Michelle (2009-05-17). "TV Review: Gossip Girl – Valley Girls". Film School Rejects. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
- ^ Belloni, Matthew (2009-05-05). "Q&A: Josh Schwartz". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2010-06-04. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
External links
- "Valley Girls" at IMDb