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Gossip Girl Returns... But Not on the Web
Blake Lively in Gossip Girl by Andrew Eccles/The CW
Talk about an OMG moment. The CW has announced that when Gossip Girl returns this Monday, it will be a broadcast-only event, meaning no online streaming of the upcoming new episodes. "For these next five weeks the epicenter of the Gossip Girl universe will be on the CW's broadcast television airwaves," network president Dawn Ostroff said in a statement.
In addition to its new Mondays-at-8 slot, GG will air encores Sundays at 6.
Lest the Web-savvy be left totally in the cold, CWTV.com will serve up post-episode interviews with Gossip Girl exec producer Josh Schwartz, plus behind-the-scenes video, two-minute recaps of every episode (posted after the Monday airings), and watch-and-win contests.
What's your take? A small inconvenience, or were you addicted to streaming? (PS. The new eppys will be downloadable via iTunes.) — MWM
Update:
• The Latest Gossip from CW Boss Dawn Ostroff
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Apr 18, 2008 9:23 AM
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I don't watch this show, but what is wrong with the CW? This is 2008. Networks pretty much have to put their shows online for free viewing, unless they seriously want them to fail. Get with the times, CW. Hulu will be the end of your network.
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Apr 18, 2008 10:07 AM
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This will probably backfire, leading to a slow ratings slide as people miss and episode or two, or driving people to illegal torrent sites. I still wonder how Dawn Ostroff maintains a job.
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Apr 18, 2008 10:13 AM
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Sounds like they are trying to UP their revenue and viewership by forcing fans to watch it on the tv. Alot of nets don't care about how many people watch on other media - ratings are based on tv viewing only - just ask the fans who lost Jericho because of it !
And that they are saving themselves having to pay the writers for online content per the new contracts. LOL
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Apr 18, 2008 12:40 PM
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I think the CW is doing this because they usually have such a large # of people who watch the show online and they want to get those people to watch while the show is "live" as a way of "hopefully" bumping up their ratings. I can see it working both ways. I can see this working really well, but I can also see it not working so well. Unfortunately I think with this combined with the DWTS factor opposite, GG's ratings may not be that good once they are released on Tuesday. Of course that said, it won't effect me. I'll tape DWTS and watch the show while its on and I very rarely watch tv shows via online streaming anyways. Call me old school ... I guess I just prefer the "old-fashioned" method of watching a tv show while it is actually on.
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Apr 18, 2008 1:21 PM
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I'm not sure if Dawn Ostroff realizes that GG's audience is actually younger than the 18-34 demo they want.
Most of the teens that watch this do so on the internet because either their parents are watching something else at 8pm or because, given the sexual content alone, a good deal of their parent's would let their kids watch it anyway.
I mean how odd would it be to sit down with your parents and watch rich teens having sex? Casa De Awkward. 
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Apr 18, 2008 1:42 PM
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The CW's website is horribly managed anyway. I tried to watch an episode of Beauty and the Geek on Friday, three days after the episode aired, and it still wasn't up.
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Apr 18, 2008 2:06 PM
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I'm not sure why some people think this is a bad idea. I think it's actually a very good idea. You have to remember online streaming is still in it's infancy. As such, I doubt they make much money from online streaming. Assuming that's true online streaming would have very little impact on whether the show is viewed as a success or failure by the network. At the same time some of those who were viewing online are likely to watch it on TV, probably enough to generate greater revenue. Maybe it won't increase TV viewership but it seems to me they stand to loose only a very small amount of revenue if it doesn't work, because as I said I doubt they make much money from online streaming.
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Apr 18, 2008 2:11 PM
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I'm sad to hear this. I enjoyed watching GG at 9:00, but the move to 8:00 meant that I could no longer watch it on TV since I have school-age children who are still awake at 8:00, but not old enough to watch GG. So, I was looking forward to watching the episodes online. Now I'll have to figure something else out if I want my GG fix.
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Apr 18, 2008 2:50 PM
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Watching TV online is like having free TIVO. While don't watch GG, I had to stop watching Smallville because I couldn't every thursday night. Any serial show needs to have a way for viewer to caught up.
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Apr 18, 2008 2:57 PM
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Actually WaywardDaughter, I'm a 17 year old boy and my 19 year old sister watch this show every week with my 48 year old mom. It isn't as awkward as you'd think.
And I have Greek on Mondays at 8pm so I'm going to tape it and watch it at another time during the week.
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Apr 18, 2008 2:59 PM
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I just started catching up on Gossip Girl but Mondays at 8 is Greek for me. Hard drive is full so no iTunes downloads for me.
Maybe I'll catch up over the summer but they've honestly lost the chance to make this appointment TV for me. I'm just one person but...
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Apr 18, 2008 3:16 PM
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This is horrible!!! I don't recieve GG on my satalite and I'm to far out to get cable so now I'm not able to see the show I have become addicted to. I'm so upset I don't know what I'm going to do. 
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Apr 18, 2008 3:46 PM
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I don't watch GG but I do watch a lot of shows online, some legally, some not so much. If the show is availible with the network (even with ads) I will watch that because I know I am suporting the show. But if the show is not avalible online, I'm gonna get caught up. Of course it's great because I live on the west coast and can download pretty much any show and start watching it ad-free before it airs on my TV, so having the content legally online is a big incentive to sticking with the networks.
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Apr 18, 2008 3:47 PM
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That's really stupid on their part, but there are so many other sites that post streaming shows, it should be easy to find.
I swear, Dawn Ostroff is an idiot.
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Apr 18, 2008 3:48 PM
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