Sep 12, 2008  |  By: SCOTT SODE  | COMMENTS     

Catching up on the first batch of “Gossip Girl” episodes, I was struck by two thoughts: One, that this is unequivocally the best show on television (take that, “Lost”-ies), and two, that, in a heartbeat, I’d go straight for Blair Waldorf. Or Leighton Meester. Or both.

The former is a matter of taste, and I’ll be the first to admit — when it comes to television — mine ain’t that sophisticated. But I have a hard time believing anybody who watches the show and doesn’t walk away completely and totally addicted has given it a fair shake. Its escapist qualities alone are unrivaled by anything else on television, and let’s be honest — after Hurricane Sarah at the Republican Convention last week, we could all use a little escapism in our lives.

What makes “Gossip” a cut above, however, is that in its second season, the show is blissfully oblivious to the hype that surrounds it.

Unlike hit series that have succumbed to the pressure, gone for the jugular (Marissa Cooper a lesbian? Please), and as a result, descended into maddening sophomore slumps, “Gossip,” in its second year, just seems to be sticking to what it knows best.

I’m not saying it’s particularly creative. The season premiere, in a nutshell, could be any episode of “Gossip Girl,” in a nutshell: Blair (Leighton Meester) manipulates Chuck (Ed Westwick) and vice versa. Jenny (Taylor Momsen) whines or cries. Serena (Blake Lively) wonders if she should be in a relationship with Dan (Penn Badgley) and vice versa. T.G.G. (Token Gay Guy) Eric (Connor Paolo) shows up, but mostly as a prop for another character. One of the couples has sex. One half of the aforementioned couple regrets having sex. Everyone goes to a party. The end. XOXO.

Shows deserve credit when they do interesting, innovative (and sometimes different) things, but they also deserve the same amount of credit when they listen to what their audiences want, stick to what they know and find new ways to keep their familiar signatures fresh. “Gossip” does all this and succeeds with flying colors.

Even spoilers for the show sound altogether familiar yet promising: The producers plan to further explore the Chuck/Blair relationship this season (after all these bad girl/nice guy hookups on teen soaps over the years, I’m so ready for a bad girl/bad guy one again), and in episode seven, according to “Entertainment Weekly,” Eric will get himself a man.

As for Blair/Meester, maybe I’m just a sucker for complicated women. You can have your earnest Joey Potter-esque heroine and your wrong-side-of-the-tracks Ryan Atwood-ian leading man, but in my book, a teen soap is only as good as its slightly crazy, secretly damaged conniving bitch. You get rid of her, you soften her up and suddenly you’re as forgettable as the last three seasons of “Dawson’s Creek.” Not since Tiffani Thiessen bolted the old “90210” 10 years ago has there been an actress who can play the archetype to such devilish perfection. In Waldorf, Meester creates a pretty young thing who confidently wears her wealth like an entitlement; she’s bratty, spoiled and bitchy. But — perhaps by expertly expressing Blair’s underlying vulnerabilities — Meester never allows the character to sink into caricature; in lesser hands the character would have easily devolved into Marissa Cooper 2.0 by now. A Valerie Malone for the next generation, you can’t help but delight in Blair’s more reprehensible qualities, and you can’t help but be mesmerized by Meester’s presence.

Case-in-point: in one of the best scenes of the entire series so far, Blair walks in on her ex-boyfriend Nate (Chace Crawford) and his secret cougar girlfriend, Catherine (Madchen Amick) mid-tryst in a library. “Oh my effing God!” Blair screams, and the delivery is so spot-on, so appropriate for the character and so self-referential at the same time (the line is “Gossip’s” unofficial catchphrase, though before this episode I don’t think it had ever been used on-air), I’d be shocked if anyone wasn’t doubling over in laughter. Meester is the show’s M.V.P. by a long shot.

“Gossip Girl” airs Mondays on the CW at 8 p.m.