How ‘Gossip Girl’ Paved The Way For Peak Teen TV

“Peak TV” is a term thrown around far too loosely these days, but it’s fair to say that we’re seeing some of the best young adult content that’s hit the small screen in years. Sure, there are bygone classics like The O.C., 90210, and One Tree Hill to reminisce about, but we’re livin’ in the age of Riverdale, Pretty Little Liars, and 13 Reasons Why, baby! Being a youth has never been chicer! Teens are tackling tough subjects, wearing fashionable clothes, and sticking it to the man on a weekly basis. Who can we thank for this rejuvenation of juvenile content?! Easy. Gossip Girl. The CW’s teen drama, which debuted ten years ago this fall, completely changed the game when it came to showing teens on screen – and paved the way for the top-notch YA content we’re accustomed to nowadays.

As soon as Blake Lively‘s Serena van der Woodsen was spotted back in New York at Grand Central Station and Kristen Bell‘s voiceover announced the return of our It Girl, teen TV was changed forever. Who could forget that stylish brown leather jacket, patterned ascot, and striped shirt ensemble? This might sound like an overstatement, but hear me out; even in the Beverly Hills, teens this obnoxiously privileged, attractive, and well-dressed had never been shown on screen. Yes, it feels vapid on the surface, but beneath it all, there are some surprisingly poignant messages – even in the pilot. In just the first episode of Gossip Girl, we meet children of an impending divorce, a teenage girl who thinks sex will make her boyfriend stick around, a younger teenage boy recovering from a suicide attempt, multiple attempted sexual assaults from a total sleazeball, and a wild display of straight-up bullying from monstrous rich kids.

These affluent adolescents took no prisoners in their quest to climb the ranks of social hierarchy, and while there was never any shortage of juicy drama, Gossip Girl always made sure to dig a little deeper with its storytelling, soundtracks, and style choices. There’s the tumultuous nature of female friendship, the deconstruction of patriarchal constructs, and a rejection of slut-shaming. The perfect employment of soap opera conventions ensure that every preposterous moment is sold with a million dollar smile (or sob-sesh), and it’s no wonder that The CW kept viewers coming back every week (and conservative parents totally furious). This is a show that inspired a generation of young women to dub themselves a Blair or Serena, move to New York City, and take entirely too many photos on the Met steps. I’m not trying to argue that Gossip Girl was profound; I’ll handily admit that the show often bordered on becoming gratuitous garbage – but in the best way possible (and in a way that’s forever changed the teen TV landscape).

Without ol’ GG, we might have shows like Riverdale, Revenge, and Pretty Little Liars, but they certainly wouldn’t feature such iconically chic ensembles from ladies like vengeance-seeking Emily Thorne, daring Veronica Lodge, preppy Betty Cooper, and high-fashionista Cheryl Blossom. Because of Gossip Girl‘s willingness to dive right into putting LGBTQ characters front and center, it’s become more of a norm (though we still have plenty of work to do in that department), and topics like mental health and sexual assault have become less taboo to see on network television. They act as the central storyline on 13 Reasons Why, play heavily into Pretty Little Liars, and are discussed frankly on shows targeted across multiple age groups. This isn’t all Gossip Girl‘s doing, but the show certainly played an important role in the trend of blending indulgent drama with self-aware commentary, impeccable style, and narratives involving typically taboo topics. The show evidently defined The CW in a way that the network has still been unable to shed – and that’s a good thing. Who does teen programming better than The CW?

Gossip Girl was not a perfect show; it left us with a handful of messy endings that remain a point of contention amongst fans, but it remains cemented in the teen television zeitgeist no matter how much time goes by. From its unabashedly cheesy sequences to surprisingly nuanced handling of subjects like mental health, sexual assault, identity, and experimentation, Gossip Girl showed the world that teen dramas could be both titillating and thought-provoking, soapy and smart, trashy and tearjerking – just like the rest of the great teen series currently on the air.

Whether or not anyone will ever dress as well as Serena and Blair? Well, that’s one thing that remains to be seen. Until then, XOXO… Gossip Girl.