Fall Premieres: ANTM, Gossip Girl, Kid Nation

Last night were the first fall premieres on my list: America's Next Top Model (Cycle 9), Gossip Girl, and Kid Nation

America's Next Top Model- While I was completely underwhelmed by last season's cast and ultimate winner, I still find myself drawn to this show. And not because I actually care about who wins, especially since the winner's only career is doing bad "My Life as a Cover Girl" spots during the ANTM commercial breaks. I think I am drawn to this show because I like watching the makeovers, the photo shoots, and the critiques. If they could cut the show down to 30 minutes, get rid of all of the house drama (this isn't the Real World), then I might like it even more. For now, I'll keep watching, if only to see what they'll do next.

Gossip Girl- I think I watched 2 episodes of the OC and One Tree Hill before I swore them off. I never got into these shows, about overprivileged teens with little supervision worrying only about their social lives and never about their homework. At least Dawson's Creek (which I didn't really watch either) spent some time inside the classroom. But despite these recipes for badly written and even worsely acted teen drama, I was compelled to check out Gossip Girl, starring Blake Lively, who has such a down-to-earth charm and such a natural look about her. Although her character, Serena, has quite a mature fashion sense for still being in high school. But her other actions--a one-on-one with Blair, skipping the party, and making a graceful exit when she inadvertently wound up there--are all a glimpse into the life of a girl who's had to grow up much too fast. In fact, everything in the show is a bit too mature for me to believe--the hotel serving them martinis (and the girls drinking them- wouldn't they prefer a wine cooler?), the sophomore-year "affair" between Seren a and Blair's boyfriend, even Chuck's desperate attempts to force himself on any blonde thing that moves. Maybe things really are different in the Upper East Side. But for now, I'll keep watching. There's a lot of things still left to unravel.

Kid Nation- I'll keep this one short. While the premise of kids running their own town is clever, they really aren't running anything. Their tasks are given to them, their leaders are chosen for them, and now they are only working to win a monetary prize. So the kids are camping out and doing chores- maybe this is really a parenting show in disguise. Aside from the "aww" moments and the laugh-out-loud moments that can only come from the innocence of childhood, this show seems pretty contrived and useless. Sorry Kid Nation, it's time to make room on the DVR for Pushing Daisies.