“Gossip Girl” has a new hottie, and she’s out of high school.

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Madchen Amick has been cast as a “cougar” named Catherine Mason, who’ll be the older gal tempting Nate (Chase Crawford) into a May-December romance.

Image details: 5th Annual Primetime Emmy Nominees’ BAFTA Tea Party served by picapp.com

Now, I had several thoughts upon hearing this news.

One, if Amick’s birthday on IMDB.com is correct, I’m a wee bit disturbed by the fact that this show regards a 37-year-old as a cougar. I thought that term was restricted for gals who are at least 40. Amick needs at least a few more notches on her belt before she can take that title away from the likes of Demi Moore, people!

Two, Mad-CHIN Ami-whosits?!? She’s the kind of actress who I think I’ve seen before, but can’t quite place. (And sorry, EW, referring to her as a casino owner’s wife on the blink-and-you-missed-it “Viva Laughlin” doesn’t help.) Again, trusty IMDB to the rescue! I discovered that I know this chick from my much-missed “Gilmore Girls!” She was Sherry, the girlfriend of Rory’s dad, Christopher. You know, she got knocked up just as Lorelai and Christopher were about to get back together, but it didn’t matter because Lor was destined to be with Luke anyway and…whoops! Got carried away there.

Three, was Amick cast simply because for once in her life, she’ll fit in with the show’s other oddly-named actresses? Leighton Meester and Blake Lively, watch your backs.

Looks like little J. may be getting her own TV show.

The Hollywood Reporter claims that the makers of “Gossip Girl” are already looking at a spin-off, set in a girls’ boarding school, with Jenny Humphrey (played by cutie Taylor Momsen) as the possible star.

Makes total sense. The “GG” books spun Jenny off into her own series, “The It Girl.” In those novels, Jenny opts to leave her private NYC school after a string of embarrassing incidents plunges her popularity quotient into the toilet.

The books qualify “embarrassing” as appearing scantily-clad in a teen magazine. But I’m guessing that having your boyfriend publicly outed as gay, followed by having the cool crowd find out that you lied about losing your virginity, qualifies too.

Anyway, THR says that a Jenny-based show isn’t a sure thing. The producers could adapt the same Jenny storyline to another character that’s yet to be introduced.

So keep your eyes peeled when “GG” is back in the fall, boys and girls. There may be a new star in the making right in front of you…until then, XOXO!

UPDATE: “GG” creator Josh Schwartz tells E! Online that this rumor isn’t true. Then again, the same story quotes a CW source as saying the network would consider the idea if Season 2 does well. Considering that “GG” has super-duper buzz and gossip column mentions galore—but you know, so-so ratings, which are kind of important to TV execs—methinks someone has put the cart before the horse.

(Photo courtesy of the CW)

Three more cast members have been selected for the 24 telemovie Season 7 prequel, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

Showtime’s Premiere of "The L-Word" Arrivals served by picapp.com • Eric Lively, late of Showtime’s L Word (and brother to Gossip Girl queen B Blake Lively) will play the president’s son. Not clear if this means the current president’s son, or son of the incoming president, played by Cherry Jones.

"The Cherry Orchard" Opening Arrivals served by picapp.com • Gil Bellows, perhaps best known for his role as Ally McBeal’s former boyfriend, “will play a State Department officer ordered to serve Bauer with a subpoena to appear before the Senate.”

AFI FEST 2007 Presented By Audi: World Premiere Of "Public Enemy" Arrivals served by picapp.com • Tony Todd, who’s familiar to Chuck fans as CIA Director Graham, “will play cruel African dictator Gen. Juma.” He’ll also appear in Season 7.

They join previously cast Robert Carlyle (who plays Jack’s mentor).

After a frantic season of high school hookups and breakups, “Gossip Girl” ended its freshman year with a finale filled with—of course—hookups and breakups.

Which conveniently leaves all of our favorite Upper East Siders fantastically single for the summer.

(I’m envisioning a lot of Sex on the Beach—both the drink and the act—when the series kicks off Season 2 with the kids frolicking in the Hamptons. And Long Islanders, keep your eyes peeled: The show is actually shooting there this summer. Email me if you spot Blake Lively and Penn Badgley smooching…)

That said, I’ve gotta say last night’s season finale left me more than a bit underwhelmed: More storylines were crammed into that last hour than fashionistas at a Chanel sample sale.

Perhaps that was due to the writers strike, which may have derailed an original plan to reel out each of these couplings and uncouplings over an episode or two. But the show careened from Serena and Dan to Rufus and Lily to Nate and Vanessa to Chuck and Blair like an out-of-control car.

First, let’s dispense with Serena and Dan. To sum up, Dan the Self-Righteous couldn’t seem to forgive S. for lying to him for weeks about her big secret (ditching a kid who was o.d.’ing at a hotel). Meanwhile, she was willing to forgive him for sleeping with Georgina—even though he didn’t, except he “might as well have.” Wow, Mr. Sensitive, good thing you’re “the most understanding person in the world.” Ick.

So in the end, the two sad sacks split up. And quite frankly, after watching them kvech for the last few weeks, I’m glad they broke up—which I don’t think is the emotion the writers were hoping for. But no worries: Unless they’re booting Dan from the show—ha!—I’m guessing he’ll be mooning after S. again when school resumes. But maybe she’ll be with Nate?!? That’s certainly what was implied in Serena’s flirty Hamptons invite to her onetime lov-ah.

Because Nate’s single again, right? Oh please, I’m not even going to waste much space on Nate and Vanessa. If you blinked you missed them as a couple, so did anyone truly care that they were no longer dating? (I do wish I could blink and Vanessa would disappear from the show, however.)

Speaking of Nate, his former BFF, Chuck, was quite the stand-up guy last evening, keeping an eye on Nate’s ne’er-do-well father at the wedding. And sure enough, Papa once again disappointed his son.  Not by relapsing though, but by fleeing the country to avoid his upcoming trial. The two pals shook hands and made up, after Nate forgave Chuck for sleeping with Blair.

He also pointed out that this is the first time Chuck’s ever said he loved someone. So a drunk-on-love Chuck used his sweet toast to Lily and Bart to woo Blair, who quickly jumped back into his good graces. Total cop out.

Oh please. Like we really thought Serena knocked someone off because of a snit over a Chanel purse?

Nope, “Gossip Girl” fans were NOT shocked to discover last night that Serena’s big secret is that she and Georgina ditched some random kid named Pete in a hotel room as he was overdosing on coke.

This was after the infamous Shepard wedding, when Serena and Nate slept together. (Man, that was a really, really bad night…)

So as Pete went into a seizure, the completely heartless Georgie insisted on fleeing the scene. She convinced S. to do the same, but not before she called 911 on Pete’s cell phone.

Then she stalked the scene from across the street to make sure he was okay. See, she really is a good girl!

But alas, poor Pete was brought out in a body bag. And that’s the real reason Serena fled for boarding school, not because she stabbed Blair in the back by doing her boyfriend.

The fun of last night’s episode wasn’t in the big reveal: No one in their right mind would think the show would make its heroine a true-blue murderer.  It was in the protective way that Serena’s blue-blood friends—who are no longer friends with each other—circled around her.

Who would have seen the terrific trio of Nate, Blair—and of all people, CHUCK—banding together to help the damsel in distress? They even formed a human wall to block Dan, the ultimate outsider, from seeing her before she was ready.

Only on “Gossip Girl” would we learn in the midst of this crisis that Chuck was deflowered in the SIXTH grade (by “psycho” Georgina, naturally).

TV Guide recently interviewed the fabulous Michelle Trachtenberg, who was once best known as Buffy’s little sister, but is now out-bitching the best on “Gossip Girl” as the evil Georgina Sparks.

And Michelle hinted that Serena’s big secret may not have been completely revealed yet.

Like there’s something bigger than, “I killed someone?!?”

Yup.

Michelle says that tonight’s episode, which has Serena self-destructing, will deal with the “who, what, when, where and how” of the scandal.

Of course, Georgina’s got her Chanel-covered rear end in the middle of it all.

While Michelle claims she has no idea whether she’ll be back next season as Georgina, she does know all about next week’s season finale. (Can you believe “GG” has been on the air for only one season?)

Here’s what she had to say about next week’s cliffhanger:

There are a bunch of punched-in-the-face moments where you’ll be like, ‘Oh, god.’ Not everyone’s storylines will be tied up with a nice little colorful ribbon. They’ll absolutely make you want to tune in next season.

Tune in here tomorrow, boys and girls, for a recap of tonight’s installment! XOXO…

(Photos courtesy of the CW) 

The gay bomb dropped on “Gossip Girl” last night—and the collateral damage was massive.

Asher was outed, and Jenny was revealed as a social climbing, lying hypocrite. Eric was yanked out of the closet, too—thanks to Georgina’s not-so-accidental slip at the van der Woodsen family dinner—although he seemed kind of relieved.

The big surprise wasn’t the identity of a gay Upper East Sider: We all knew that WEEKS ago, darlings, right?

The huge shocker came in the episode’s last moments, when finally, Serena told Blair what Georgina’s got on her that could ruin her life.

“I killed someone.”

O.

M.

G.

Looks like Queen B. is ditching the East Coast girls for the West Coast boys.

Leighton Meester—the bright-tight and headband-wearing, super-bee-yotch Blair Waldorf—  is signed up to hang with Vinnie Chase and the gang on HBO’s “Entourage.”

E!’s Kristin Dos Santos confirmed that Meester will reprise her first season role as Justine Chapin, a Britney-esque pop singer with the hots for Vince, for at least one episode.

Now, I didn’t watch “Entourage” when it first kicked off, but I’m guessing that a little bit of Blair’s deviousness may rub off on Justine this time around. What fun!

And if you’re wondering when “Entourage” will be back—its original June launch date was affected by the writers’ strike—I hear that Season 5 is set to premiere on Sept. 28.

(Photos courtesy of the CW and HBO) 

As Gossip Girl herself noted, Serena’s “ghost of parties past” blew into town last night in the couture-clad form of Georgina Sparks.

Just as last week’s episode marked the Clash of Blair & Jenny, this week’s marked the one brewing between S. and G.

And it looks like it’s going to get ugly.

Basically, Georgina brings out the worst in Serena, coaxing the “bad girl” to come out after a few too many Cosmos.

It seems that G. is hell-bent on ruining Serena’s new life, perhaps jealous that S. has been able to reform her dastardly ways. First, she got Serena to substitute an SAT study session at Dan’s for drinks at a club—prompting S. to ask her soon-to-be stepbrother, Chuck, to provide a lame food poisoning alibi.

Then Serena skipped the SATs themselves, though that wasn’t entirely her fault. Georgina spiked her diet Coke with a knock-out drug, enabling G. to concoct a lie that had Serena tossing back Patron instead of getting a good night’s sleep.

Chuck got her out of that jam by hiring a red-haired ringer to take the test for Serena. He hired someone else to take it for him, too, of course. (And just as a side note, Chuck is showing his softer side these days; he seems to be serious about his protective role as brother to Serena and Eric.)

Anyway, Dan knows something’s up, having seen through Serena’s excuses and spotting her SAT stand-in.

But she’s not able to tell him what’s wrong. Even Chuck notes that whatever Georgina’s got on Serena must be really, REALLY bad, if she can’t even tell him.

Well, not quite, but FHM has its annual list of the 100 sexiest women of 2008, and at least 14 15 of them are familiar to our blog’s faithful readers:

90. Summer Glau (Cameron, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles)
83. Jenna Fischer (Pam, The Office)
73. Carrie Underwood (American Idol)
63. Grace Park (The Eights/Sharons, Battlestar Galactica)
49. Katherine Heigl (Dr. Isobel ‘Izzie’ Stevens, Grey’s Anatomy)
41. Kristin Kreuk (Lana Lang, Smallville)
38. Katherine McPhee (American Idol)
37. Evangeline Lilly (Kate, Lost)
24. Kristen Bell (Elle, Heroes)
19. Ali Larter (Niki Sanders & Co., Heroes)
15. Erica Durance (Lois Lane, Smallville)
11. Hayden Panettiere (Claire Bennett, Heroes)
9. Blake Lively (Serena van der Woodsen, Gossip Girl)
8. Tricia Helfer (The Sixes, Battlestar Galactica)
4. Elisha Cuthbert (Kim Bauer, 24)

That’s more than 10 percent of the list accounted for. Hey! Where’s the 100 sexiest men of 2008?? (And isn’t April/May kind of early in the year for this sort of listing?)

“Gossip Girl” fans have known for awhile now that the show had plans to reveal that one of the show’s young hotties is gay.

The Upper East Sider will officially come out in the show’s May 5 episode, but Kristin Dos Santos at E! says she’s got the exclusive on the teen’s identity.

And who he’s hooking up with.

So who of the following four do you think it is?

Then click through to see if you’re right …

Oh, little J., little J. Who would have thought you were such a worthy adversary?

You had your gloriously accessorized moment in the sun, via a well-aimed dollop of yogurt (fat-free, I’m sure).

But one stolen Valentino and a humiliating birthday party later, we were sure you were down for the count. Then out the window you go, ready for another smackdown with the disgraced Queen B.

And you won.

O. M. F. G.

Looks like it won’t be quite so easy for Blair to regain her status as NYC’s No. 1 teen bee-yotch.

Spring Break is over, Upper East Siders, and isn’t life grand?

“Gossip Girl” came back with a vengeance last night, complete with revenge plots, multiple felonies, fuzzy handcuffs and a box full o’ porn.

The hour started out with an anxiety dream of Blair’s: She’s starring in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” again, in the rain searching for Cat. Except Nate/Fred shows up and calls her Jenny. Everyone get the irony?

Back in the real world, Serena has to drag Blair to the first day back at school, telling her everyone will have forgotten about her sex scandal.

Of course, they haven’t—which leads to the Jenny-led yogurt-flinging incident.

Seems that power’s gone to little J.’s head, only she doesn’t have the bucks to keep up with the rich girls. She’s sold her precious sewing machine, among other things, so she can afford fancy dinners and Dolce dresses.

So you know it’s only a matter of time before her plan to fit in with her newfound “friends” goes very, very wrong.

Spotted: The young cast of “Gossip Girl” on the cover of New York magazine.

In their underwear.

With all the S-E-X on the show—which returns with all-new episodes tonight (8 p.m., the CW)—I’m guessing the actors are used to posing in their skivvies by now.

But beyond that, New York poses a pretty provocative theory in its main story: That “Gossip Girl” is the greatest teen drama of all time.

Better than “90210?”

Greater than “The O.C.?”

More fabulous than “Dawson’s Creek?”

You decide.

And tune in here tomorrow for a recap of tonight’s installment: “The Blair Bitch Project.”

(Photo courtesy of the CW)

The Hollywood Reporter has had sit-downs with network entertainment presidents this week, and I was able to glean a few interesting tidbits from them.

• The CW (Dawn Ostroff): Reaper and Aliens in America have not been canceled. They have not been picked up, either, but they haven’t been canceled. The network seeks to cater toward young women, so Gossip Girl and the new 90210 spinoff are perfect for that demographic. Seems as if the network’s willing to give shows a chance to catch on (of course, it’s easier to do that when you’re the bottom-ranked network —  nowhere to go but up).

• Fox (Kevin Reilly): Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has already started staffing for a fall season. The network’s looking for the next That ’70s Show or Malcolm in the Middle to “bring young comedy loyalists back to the network.”

• CBS (Nina Tassler): Shark is still on the bubble. Cane is a longshot to return. Moonlight has a decent shot, as it wins its time period. The New Adventures of Old Christine and How I Met Your Mother aren’t a lock to return, but they’re looking good. Comedy is good. She mostly sidestepped any mention of Jericho.

OMG!

The new print ads touting the upcoming episodes of “Gossip Girl” are pretty racy, but they’re nothing compared to the show’s new crop of TV commercials.

Check out the antics of S., B., N. and C. here and here and decide for yourself if the onscreen promos are way too much, considering that the characters are teen-agers.

Then again, if you think that, then you’re probably not watching the show anyway.

But for those who do, don’t forget that “GG” moves to a new day and time when it returns next week (April 21) —  Mondays at 8 p.m.

When the CW drama resumes, Michelle Trachtenberg joins the cast as evil Georgina Sparks, who comes back to NYC to cause trouble for reformed bad girl, Serena.

She doesn’t make her “GG” debut until April 28, but click through for a preview of what to expect…

“Gossip Girl” has caused some controversy for its all-too-real depiction of teen sex, drugs and drinking, but has the CW gone too far with its new ad campaign for the show?

Posters promoting the drama’s April 21 return (and a new Monday 8 p.m. timeslot) have been leaked online, and they’re definitely the cause of some raised eyebrows.

Click here to view the saucy shot, but let me paint a word picture for the faint of heart:

A blurry Serena and Nate photographed during an—um—passionate act. With the letters “OMFG” printed across the picture. (And if you can’t figure out what that acronym stands for, go ask any 12-year-old text-addicted girl…)

Now, as any “GG” fan worth her salt knows, that photo isn’t from an upcoming show. God, the S. and N. hookup is SOOO old news.

That scene is from a flashback in an early episode that explains why Serena left town (for “GG” newcomers, Nate was the boyfriend of Serena’s best friend, Blair, when they slept together).

So why use it at all? Like, DUH, because sex sells, people! And what better promotion for a returning freshman show than a carefully concocted controversy?

Anyhow, I hear there’s an equally racy promo featuring Chuck and Blair, too, but I haven’t been able to locate it yet. (Give me time, give me time … or send me links, send me links!)

Meanwhile, click through to check out a few stills and the plot synopsis from that April 21 episode, cheekily titled, “The Blair Bitch Project.”

“Gossip Girl” fans started buzzing over the weekend after TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello reported that one of the show’s male characters will be revealed as gay when the show returns with new episodes on April 21.

So let’s join the guessing game!

Will it be Serena’s lovebug, Dan? (After all, as Ausiello and devotees of the “GG” novels note, Dan played both sides in the books….)

Or perhaps Blair’s main man, Nate?

Or evil Chuck Bass, who’s known for his womanizing?

And don’t forget, there’s always….

Nothing like replacing Marissa Cooper with Buffy’s little sis.

Looks like Michelle Trachtenberg—formerly seen on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”—has snagged the buzzy role of Georgina Sparks, one of Serena’s ex-friends who’s back in town to stir up some trouble for the reformed bad girl.

“O.C.” starlet Mischa Barton had supposedly been up for the part.

The Hollywood Reporter says that Trachtenberg will come on board during the show’s May sweeps.

But you won’t have to wait that long for new “GG” eps.

The show returns on April 21, in its new Monday at 8 p.m. timeslot, followed by “One Tree Hill.”

Oh, the drama!

(Photo by the Associated Press) 

Sadly, the likely answer to that exclamation-point laden question is a resounding, “Uh, like, noooo?!?”

Despite the rumor that Gawker.com started last week, it doesn’t look like former “O.C.” star Mischa Barton’s headed to the Upper East Side anytime soon.

But in true “Gossip Girl” style, it looks like Miss Mischa’s still causing some drama.

E! Online’s Kristin Dos Santos dishes that M was offered a recurring role as one of Serena’s old friends, but the nasally-voiced actress’s reps say that reports of her joining the show are “not true.”

Of course, TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello says there’s more to THAT story. According to him, Mischa seriously dissed her old “O.C.” boss, Josh Schwartz, now the head honcho on “GG.”

Ausiello’s sources say that Mischa leaked the news of the offer, then her people leaked the news that she’d turned the offer down. That way, it seemed like she’s still in demand in Hollywood, despite her recent DWI and drug possession arrest.

But here’s the tacky part: Mischa’s reps supposedly told the press before they even told Schwartz and Co.