Teen Drama Links for November 16, 2021

Do I have special powers?!

Just one day after I wrote that I was losing patience with the wait to find out when the second half of the “Gossip Girl” spinoff’s first season would premiere, the date was officially announced. Not only that, but we got a trailer too!

This is all because of me, right? Okay, probably not. And be careful what you wish for because rather than exciting me, the trailer just reminded me of how “meh” I feel about the show thus far. Will that change with part 2? Consider me skeptical.

But in any case, the episodes should drop weekly November 25 through December 30, and I’ll be doing reaction posts for each one. We’ll see how it goes, for better or worse.

Teen Drama Links for November 16, 2021

• “18 TV Plot Twists So Bad, Even Superfans Gave Up On The Show” (BuzzFeed)

• “24 TV Characters That Are The Exact Definition Of ‘Same Person, Different Font’” (BuzzFeed)

• “29 Actors Who Effed Up Big Time And Shared Some Major Spoilers About Their Movies And TV Shows” (BuzzFeed)

• Darren Star (creator, Beverly Hills, 90210) was criticized by actress Ada Maris for an allegedly offensive Latina character in his new Netflix show “Uncoupled.” (Variety)

• Tori Spelling (Donna, Beverly Hills, 90210) opened up about raising her family as part of her partnership with Else Nutrition. (People)

• Shannen Doherty (Brenda, Beverly Hills, 90210) took part in a SAG-AFTRA panel promoting the Lifetime movie List of a Lifetime. (YouTube)

• Watch Doherty and Chad Michael Murray (Lucas, One Tree Hill) in the trailer for Fortress. (YouTube)

• Michael Stoyanov (Jimmy, Beverly Hills, 90210) will appear on the “Call Me Kat” season premiere in January, reuniting with Mayim Bialik and other “Blossom” co-stars. (People)

  • The first season of “Call Me Kat” featured Vanessa Lachey (Camille, BH90210) in a recurring role.

• Alan Toy (Professor Finley, Beverly Hills, 90210) is being recognized as “the first actor to have contracted polio in the role of the president who famously had the same disability” for his portrayal of FDR in NBC’s upcoming Annie Live!. (Deadline)

• Shawn Levy (Howard, Beverly Hills, 90210) briefly appears in Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well” short film. (The Hollywood Reporter)

• This is quite the comparison and really thought-provoking: “Dawson Leery Walked So ‘You’s Joe Goldberg Could Run.” (Jezebel)

  • Joe, of course, is played by Penn Badgley (Dan, Gossip Girl), and “You” is executive-produced by Greg Berlanti (executive producer, Dawson’s Creek).

  • The piece also works in references to Scream, which was written by Kevin Willamson (creator, Dawson’s Creek).

• Oliver Hudson (Eddie, Dawson’s Creek) is profiled in People’s “Sexiest Man Alive” issue. (People)

  • I haven’t gone through my copy yet, so not sure which other TD actors are featured. I’ll have a full list next Tuesday if there are more besides Hudson.

• Julie Bowen (Gwen, Dawson’s Creek) will star in and executive-produce a comedy pilot for NBC. (Deadline)

• TD worlds colliding in a not-great way: Busy Philipps (Audrey, Dawson’s Creek) is among the people who have taken issue with a recent Instagram post from Chris Pratt (Che, The O.C.). (Us Weekly)

• Taylor Handley (Patrick, Dawson’s Creek / Oliver, The O.C.) is doing press for his role in the new Paramount+ series “Mayor of Kingstown”…

  • “Taylor Handley finds rich role in ‘Mayor of Kingstown’” (KGET)

  • “Taylor Handley finds new life with ‘Mayor of Kingstown’” (Sioux City Journal)

• Shailene Woodley (Kaitlin, The O.C.) slammed a tabloid story about fiancé Aaron Rodgers. (Today)

• Peter Johnson, who helped develop “The O.C.” when he worked at Wonderland Sound & Vision, has joined Skydance Television. (Deadline)

• Doug Ellin, who appeared on the “Welcome to the OC, Bitches” podcast in August, argued in a new interview, “‘The O.C.’ was more sexualized than ‘Entourage’ ever was and that was about high school.” (Newsday)

• “Welcome to the OC, Bitches” and “Drama Queens” are highlighted in “Celebrity rewatch podcasts are here to guide you through your nostalgic TV binge.” (Vogue India)

  • This criticism for “OC, Bitches” surprises me: “Bilson and Clarke lean a little too heavily on their star power and not enough on research and structure, leading to episodes that sometimes feel poorly planned and slightly disjointed.” That more describes “9021OMG” and “Drama Queens” to me. Melinda Clarke (Julie, The O.C.), in particular, is stellar with research.

• Bethany Joy Lenz (Haley, One Tree Hill) stars in and executive-produces a new thriller called So Cold the River that was bought by Saban films for distribution. (Variety)

• Tyler Hynes said it was “great” working with Lenz on their new holiday movie. (Digital Journal)

  • Related: 2021 Holiday Movies with Teen Drama Stars (TDW)

• “Good Sam,” starring Sophia Bush (Brooke, One Tree Hill), will premiere on January 5. (TVLine)

• Here’s a detailed look at the weddings — yes, plural — between Shantel VanSanten (Quinn, One Tree Hill) and Victor Webster. (Brides)

• Jana Kramer (Alex, One Tree Hill) called fan speculation that she and Austin Nichols (Julian, One Tree Hill) are dating “funny.” (Us Weekly)

• “From ‘Gossip Girl’ to ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’: The 10 best Thanksgiving TV episodes” includes the original “Gossip Girl.” (The Independent)

• “‘The 100’ Prequel and 11 Other TV Spinoff Series Fans Never Got to See” includes the backdoor pilot for the “Gossip Girl” prequel. (TV Insider)

  • Also on the list of failed spinoffs is one starring Katie Cassidy (Juliet, Gossip Girl).

  • Related: The Teen Drama Spinoffs (TDW)

• First there was a Blake Lively / Serena doppelganger on TikTok and now: “This Blair Waldorf lookalike has ‘Gossip Girl’ fans on TikTok going absolutely wild (and TBF, its uncanny.)” (Glamour UK)

• Lively opened up about motherhood while promoting Betty Buzz. (People)

• Lively made her directorial debut with Swift’s new music video for “I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault).” (YouTube)

  • Lively also co-wrote the video’s treatment.

• Ed Westwick (Chuck, Gossip Girl) spoke highly of Leighton Meester (Blair, Gossip Girl) and Chace Crawford (Nate, Gossip Girl) at Comic Con Liverpool. (Us Weekly)

• Wallace Shawn (Cyrus, Gossip Girl) wrote a guest blog about why he’s “Still Willing to Work With Woody Allen.” (The Wrap)

• Here’s the first photo of Hilary Duff (Olivia, Gossip Girl) in character with the cast of “How I Met Your Father.” (TVLine)

• Kristen Bell (Gossip Girl, Gossip Girl) and Queenpins co-star Kirby Howell-Baptiste answered “the Web’s Most Searched Questions” about themselves. (YouTube)

• Bell and husband Dax Shepard’s Hello Bello company is “projected to hit $200 million in annual sales.” (CNBC)

• Bell and Shepard were on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on Monday. (YouTube)

• Here are “9 Shows Like ‘Gossip Girl’ to Watch While You Wait for Part 2 of the HBO Max Reboot.” (TV Guide)

• The “Gossip Girl” spinoff is mentioned in “From ‘Succession’ to the new ‘Sex and the City,’ you’ll be wearing what you saw on TV.” (The Sunday Times)

• Who agrees? “#UnpopularOpinion: ‘Gossip Girl’s Second Part Is Here… But Can’t We Just Cancel The Show?!” (Elle India)

• Eric Daman, the “Gossip Girl” costume designer for both the original and the spinoff, is collaborating with Depop on collections inspired by the new “Gossip Girl” characters. (Teen Vogue)

• Tavi Gevinson (Kate, Gossip Girl spinoff) thought she was originally being asked to “play a mumbly high schooler” on the new “Gossip Girl.” (Vogue)

• In another interview, Gevinson praises the original “Sex and the City,” which was created by Star. (Vogue)

• Jordan Alexander (Julien, Gossip Girl spinoff) will take part in the virtual “Next Gen Hollywood Roundtable” as part of the 2021 Power Women Summit next month. (The Wrap)

• Evan Mock (Aki, Gossip Girl spinoff), Savannah Lee Smith (Monet, Gossip Girl spinoff), and Zion Moreno (Luna, Gossip Girl spinoff) star in Glossier’s holiday campaign. (WWD)

• Smith is teasing the second half of the “Gossip Girl” spinoff’s first season. (Gay Times)

• Smith will star in a movie-musical called Something Here. (Deadline)

• Kristen Stewart revealed she had a wardrobe malfunction in front of Whitney Peak (Zoya, Gossip Girl spinoff). (People)