Mailbag with Tyler McCall

For our very first mailbag episode, Jessica brings on Gossip Girl historian Tyler McCall to go through all of your burning fan questions! They talk steamy moments from Season 1, Jessica’s favorite stories from set, and who they wish Gossip Girl had turned out to be.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hi. I'm Tyler McCall, editor in chief of Fashionista and
number one gossip Girl fan. Welcome back, listeners to your
one and only source and to all things gossip Girl.
You know you'll love it. XO XO. Hi everybody, I'm

(00:28):
Jessica Zoor and welcome to a very special episode of
XO XO. Today, we have a real treat for you, listeners.
I've been asking you to submit your burning gossip Girl
questions and we'll finally be getting to them today. I
had an absolute blast diving into so many gossip Girl
stories and I've been waiting to tell you guys on
the podcast, and I have one more surprise for you.

(00:49):
Joining us today is Gossip Girls superfan Tyler McCall, who
just happens to be the editor in chief of Fashionista,
And at this point, Tyler might as well be on
the show because she just knows so much about it,
and she'll be coming along for the ride and helping
guide me on our first mail bag episode. So I'm excited.
Let's get started. Welcome Tyler. Thank you so much. That's

(01:14):
maybe my favorite intro to anything I've ever gotten. How
are you good? How are you? I'm good? I'm so
excited to do this. Not as excited as me, I
assure you. I feel like you know a lot more
about the show than I do, even though I was
on it. But I'm so excited to like pick your
brain and answer all these questions and just like get

(01:36):
into like all the stuff. Yeah, me too. Before we
dive into the questions, did you become a super fan
from like when it first aired, when it was like
the pilot aired. Did you read the books, like just
just for everyone listening to know? Like when did this
whole obsession with Gossip Girl? So? Yeah, yeah, I mean

(01:56):
I read the books. They came out when I was
in high school, and I had read a few of
them and liked them. But I was really just from
day one of the show. This was still when people,
you know, it was appointment television. It was before your
streaming was really a thing. And I remember with my
college roommates sitting down every week to see whatever new
episode was going on, and it's been an obsession ever since.

(02:19):
That's awesome, A great Well, I'm happy you're here with
me to go on this journey of answering all the questions,
getting into like our thoughts and our opinions and ideas
of what the storylines were and what we thought and
what we were feeling at the time, because going back
and rewatching these sometimes as an actor watching some of

(02:41):
the scenes, I'm like, oh my gosh, I remember like
the prep for that, or I remember, you know, giving
this backstory here, or talking to one of the other
actors about their backstory, and then also trying to watch
it for entertainment now, where I'm just going back and
just kind of digging in because we are so far removed.
I know, I keep saying that, but it's true because
it's been so long, so to be able to kind

(03:01):
of watch just as a fan of the show or
as you know, for entertainment and just be totally locked
into these to these episodes has been really really fun
but also crazy because I'm like I never was, like
I always liked Blair and Chuck, but I am like
their biggest fan now, and it's so funny because I'm like, Okay,
this is crazy, crazy, But anyways, I'm very excited for

(03:22):
you to be here and do this with me, So yeah,
thank you for having me. I'm excited to it. And
all right, you got so many good questions. That's what
everyone on the team keeps saying, and I honestly did
go through some at first when it was going, and
then I know that we were you know, we couldn't
answer every single one, but what I saw I was like, woo, yeah,
very great. So thank you all for writing in, and

(03:45):
we're going to try to get to as many as
as we can. I selfishly, I just want to get
started with one from myself, which is that I've been
listening to the podcast. It's been incredible and as a fan,
it's been such a treat to get all of these
behinding scenes stories and get deep dive into what it
was like. And here everybody reminisce. But I'd really love
to know what it's been like for you to be

(04:06):
making the podcasts. Well, this is a whole new world
for me in the sense of like hosting one and
producing a podcast and doing a rewatch. There's like a
lot of different things going on for me. It's very exciting.
I'm very nervous a lot of the time because I
want to make sure that I'm delivering what all the

(04:26):
fans that were so good to us throughout all the years,
truly love you guys so much going on this journey
with me watching my work outside of Gossip Girl as well.
So there's like a it's a mix of emotion. I
get excited. I sometimes can't sleep because I'm like, Oh,
we should add this or do this, or we should
ask this person to come on or break down this storyline.
And then I also just love doing it because I

(04:48):
get to be home with my family. It's also taking
this walk down memory lane and bringing back, you know,
a job that changed my life and a job that
affected a lot of people across the world. That was
a big part of why I wanted to do this.
Is kind of give back to everyone that helped make
the show such a success and all of that. So
it's been a wild and fun ride, and I hope

(05:11):
that everyone's enjoying it as much as we are, because
we are putting our blood, sweat, and tears into this
to make sure that everyone's enjoying it. Yeah, and you
got a fan question along these lines from at Cupcake Bella,
who wanted to know what inspired you to start the podcast.
I got pregnant in the beginning of the pandemic, and
you know, Brad plays hockey and he got picked up

(05:33):
to go to Calgary, and I had just rapped season
three of The Orville, and I was like, I'm going
to take a beat on doing a show for a minute.
I just want to be a mom and be there
with Brad and be there with my family. And the
podcast was presented to me that you know, a lot
of different platforms wanted to do something with Gossip Girl.
They thought I would be a good host for it.

(05:53):
And I listened to the ideas and I'm like, yeah,
maybe I wasn't quite sure. And then I like kind
of slept on it and thought about it, and I
thought why not, Like we should take a walk down
memory lane, we should rewatch this show. We should talk
about all the things, what was hard, what was challenging,
what was fun? And so called the producers back a
couple of days later and said, listen, let's put our
ideas together. Let's get creative, have fun and do the

(06:15):
damn thing. So and here we are, which is so great. Yeah.
I love this note that you got from at Emily
Greenberg eleven. It says, hello Jessica, my name is Emily
Greenberg and I am a Gossip Girl super fan who
has watched the series in its entirety at least six times,
which is a lot of watching. Since you began, just goosebumps.
I know it's so nice you. Since you began your

(06:39):
GG podcast, I've been tuning in every week to listen
to you bring my favorite show to life. And it
is seriously a dream to listen to you discuss all
things Gossip Girl and here you're behind the scenes stories.
Thank you for making all of our days brighter with
your podcast, which I just thought that was such a nice. Note.
Is that Emily her name is Yeah, Hi Emily. That
was so sweet, so nice, and because of people and

(07:00):
fans like you, this is why we feel so good
to be doing this. I'm glad that you're enjoying it
and keep staying too. We have so much fun stuff
coming up for everybody. I'm very excited. Thanks Emily. Emily
had a couple of good questions when I wanted to ask, now,
is who your favorite guest star was to have on
the show. I think that she means guest star on

(07:20):
gig because you guys had truly an incredible amount of
guest stars. Yo. When I go back and look up
some of the stuff, because I'm We're on the rewatch
of season two, so I haven't you know, I'm not
going ahead. I'm trying to stay with the rewatches obviously
week tweek with everyone. But even when I was like
looking up doing some research on something, I was like,
we really had some amazing guest stars. So I think

(07:44):
we're all very blessed and honored that people came to
play with us and be a part of the show.
For me personally, I had a great time with Hillary Duff.
We kind of knew each other a little bit before
she came on, and I know her sister Haley, and
she's just a rad girl, so to come on, and
that storyline was I think just fun in the whole.
I remember reading the script and there was a threesome

(08:06):
with with Hilary's character and Dan and Vanessa, and I
remember thinking like, wow, this is wild. Vanessa like some
of the stuff that was like thrown at her or
that she she had to deal with was was very
interesting to me. But I remember I was nervous too
about that situation because I'm like, I don't know, how
do you do that on TV? And back then there

(08:28):
was it wasn't like how HBO and all these other
networks where you know, now you turn on any every
other show and it's naked and all the things. So
this was a very major like what what you know
what I mean like threesome kissing, you're all hooking up.
I'm like, this is what are we going to do?
So I remember in my mind I was very nervous

(08:48):
for it. I was also like, how am I going
to explain this to my family that I have to?
But then you know, you kind of check yourself and
it's acting and it's not real. And we ended up
having fun shooting it and doing it and they're so
professional and great. But yeah, I just remember that I
thought some of my family might be like, what are
you doing any any kind of like kissing or hooking
up scene? No matter who it's with or what it is,

(09:10):
it's always I was always nervous to be like, what
is my like Grandpa gonna thank or my grandma, But
they were all like, you're just acting. So anyways, Hilary
Duff was a very fun fun person to come on
and play with. Yeah, and she had such a fun
storyline too. Totally. You have a question from Kat Strafford
oh seven, which I really like because obviously now you

(09:31):
have some time and some perspective from the show. But
she would like to know if you ever felt overwhelmed
by the success of the series. Yes, I don't even
know how to like sugarcoat that or pretend like it wasn't.
You know, you audition and you know, I moved to
la And when you're auditioning and hoping that you book
a job, one that you obviously love and a character

(09:54):
that you want to bring to life, and also you know,
you want to pay your bills and be able to
you know, be able to do your acting classes, you know,
during the day instead of having you know, so there's
a lot of layers of wanting to book a job
that's going to hit. And when I say hit, you
want to book a job that last so that you
can keep growing and become better at your craft. And

(10:16):
you could never prepare for something to hit the way
Gossip Girl did, or I can speak for myself. It
was a very crazy thing. It was a show that
like we couldn't walk outside, we had to have security guards,
we had to hide our relationships, and that's a very
different world than you know before Gossip Girl that I

(10:37):
had to like learn and figure out and navigate and
and I'm also someone that really enjoys life and wants
to go to concerts and wants to go and travel
and see my family and go to new cities. I'm
not someone that wants to sit on my couch and
be private, so private that I can't live my life.
So there was a fine line of trying to figure
that out. And there wasn't social media then, but we

(10:59):
were followed all the time with paparazzi and a lot
of stories written and rumors and things like that, which
you learned quickly to not read everything and to just
you know, it was just trying to do the best
we could do at work for myself and be a
good person and live my life because you would, you
could drive yourself crazy otherwise. But yes, there's no other

(11:20):
way to answer that than it was. It was all.
It was shocking, it was scary. It was interesting. I'm like,
why these people don't know me as a person at all,
but walking down the street, they're like fascinated and want
to know everything. So there was a lot, again, just
so many different emotions and feelings. There was times I
cried because I'm like I just don't know how to
handle this, And there was times I'm like, it's so

(11:43):
touching and amazing that people love the show that much
and are very interested in our lives, both on the
show and off. So there was like a lot of
layers to that. Yeah, I'll tell you, because I obviously
now I live in New York, but when the show
first aired, I was living in my college town, so
I didn't have the perspect of what it would be
like to be in New York when Gossip Girl was airing.

(12:04):
And I'll tell you, I work in fashion. This past
fashion week I saw the cast of the new Gossip
Girl so often that I mean I joked that I
saw Thomas Dougherty more than I see my own fiance, Right,
That's how That's how it was like all over the
place they were, truly, and so to me, I just
think how overwhelming that would be to suddenly be invited

(12:25):
to every party and every event, and you know, now
they have dimois and these Instagram accounts that follow them,
and how crazy that must feel. Yeah, And when you
say that that is true, I wasn't even thinking that
there was literally a different event or a different thing
every night, whether you were hosting it, or you know,
it was a paid partnership, or it was you know,

(12:46):
a campaign you were doing. It was very, very busy
and all yeah all the time. So it was it
was a wild thing. There's times I could asked this
a lot, if you would, if you could go back,
would you change anything? And part of me is like, yeah,
I probably would, But then part of me is like,
you don't. You don't know. You're kind of in it
and learning as you go, and I don't really think

(13:07):
people can prepare you. I mean, I think people that
I knew that went through it that are like, listen,
just like you know, remember where you came from, Remember
to be nice to people, remember that these fans. You know,
There's a lot of things that go into it. And
then you know you're finally falling into a good paycheck,
and then you also are getting everything is free. I
remember being like I can finally afford stuff, and now

(13:27):
everyone wants to give me free stuff. It was crazy.
I'm like, I can totally remember all the like fashion
Week and all the things while the show was going on.
It's a different thing when you're not filming and in
the middle of everything. So I'm sure those kids are
really in the thick of it right now. Yeah, I
mean when I tell you, I see them everywhere. Do
you have any fan stories that you remember from that time.

(13:51):
The fans were just so wonderful and great. I mean
we had a really hard time getting through scenes on
the Upper East Side because sometimes the schools would let
out and these girls would be girls and guys and
you know, all different ages. But when that bell rang
and they came to see where we were filming, I
mean sometimes they would scream so loud that we couldn't
get through the scene. So there was times where like,

(14:11):
you guys were doing this for you, but you got
to do this for us and not scream for a second.
But yeah, the second you know, Chucker, Nate or Dan
walked out of their trailers, these girls, I mean it
was like so high pitched. Sometimes I'm like, I think
I can't hear properly now, but it was cute. I
most of the most of my fans stories is people
have just been like wonderful and sweet and very supportive.

(14:34):
So I'm very blessed in that. But there was like
weird situations like that key chain thing where I'm like
stopped in my tracks. I'm like, this is ridiculous. Yeah,
that is truly wild. Yeah, I'm going to switch gears
a little bit, put my inside the actor's studio hat on,
because obviously you are the expert on all things Vanessa

(14:54):
since you played her, and a lot of people had
really great questions about Vanessa and Vanessa's journey, and I
just want to start by asking you. You know, and
you've talked about this with a few of your guests.
Vanessa drops in after the show's been on for a
few episodes and the rest of the cast has been established,
so I'm curious from your perspective what it was like
to drop in the role like that. There was like

(15:16):
buzz around. I remember booking it around the show because
it was the creators from the OC. I was you know,
I was excited. I was also a friend of mine
was a manager of Chase at the is his manager,
and I remember him saying, oh my god, Chase has
just spoke so highly of everyone. Everyone's super nice and
professional and awesome. You're going to be just fine. So

(15:36):
I was excited, and you know, it's like the new
kid at school, so you know, I wanted to make
sure that I like showed up, knew my stuff, brought
my a game, and I was very excited to bring
Vanessa to life. But it's like in television, you don't
know the storylines and where it's going for all the seasons,
or if the show's going to keep going. Thankfully, Gossip
Girl kept going because it hit in such a way.
But sometimes you do a pilot and you get picked

(15:58):
up for thirteen episodes and you don't do the back nine,
you know what I mean, which we call it the
back nine because it makes it twenty two episodes, which
at the time was what our seasons were. I actually
remember when we got picked up for the back nine.
Laton texts me, we're rich, bitch, and I we were
dying because we've all it's obviously joking, but but not
in the sense of like we were just like all

(16:19):
hoping we were gonna get picked up for that back nine,
you know what I mean, because we were just all
having so much fun and enjoying what we were doing
there in New York City, or I was at least,
But yeah, Vanessa's I was excited, and some of the
stuff with her with her with Dan, I find very
interesting because she basically can't you know Vanessa's coming back.
And let's think about this, everybody, like when you're in

(16:42):
high school, if you have a time where you're going
to tell someone that you love them, that's like a
major thing. Like the inner dialogue that Vanessa had to
keep having with herself of how she's going to tell
Dan when she comes back, because she left for Vermont
with Dan saying that he loves her, So when she
comes back, obviously she's assuming, like, I'm just going to
tell him and hopefully, you know, we can just pick
up and start dating. I mean, obviously that's what Vanessa

(17:04):
was thinking, or you're not You're not going to go
tell someone knowing that they're dating someone else, you know.
And at that time, it's not like Vanessa could go
on social media and find out or see pictures of
him with Serena at the time, you know. So I think,
you know, Vanessa's built up her confidence to go back
and tell her best friend, which is a major thing,
that she loves him back. And she gets there to

(17:26):
find out not only that he loved he says Vanessa,
but that you know, and then Serena standing right there,
and Dan and Vanessa know each other so well. They
have a lot of things that they enjoy, you know,
a lot of similarities of the things in life that
they like. And now he's dating this beautiful, lawn tear,
blue eye, barbie looking girl from the Upper east Side.

(17:47):
That's so not Dan Humphrey, not the Dan that Vanessa knows.
So that's another big blow. Not only is he like,
oh no, my feelings have changed, but I'm also dating
someone else, which has got to be when you go
through that heartbreak you know, in high school, it's that's devastating,
that like literally makes your heart hurt. So when I
watched that back, I was like, oh my god, and

(18:08):
you that takes so much courage to literally go face
to face and tell someone that and come back to
the city and do that. So right off the bat
with that in that episode, for Vanessa, that was like,
oh my goodness, where is this going to go? And
I feel like they have such a history and so
much that you learn, you know, pretty quickly. But I
felt very bad for Vanessa there because she that takes

(18:31):
a lot to do. Yeah, it's so rough. Loved the
emphasis on oh my god. I'm like, okay, Dan, we
hear you. Yeah, And then Serena's there, I'm like, oh, oh, okay. Truly,

(18:54):
I think Vanessa and Dan had one of the more
complex relationships with each other on the show, and I'd
love to know kind of how you and Penn molded
that and navigated that as you were filming together. Right
off the bat we started filming the first scene we filmed.
It's actually funny, my three audition scenes are in my

(19:14):
first episode, and the first scene I was in New
York filming was when we're walking and holding the newspaper
and we're trying to figure out what movie we're going
to see. But right away from meeting Penn, it I
felt like I knew him for a really long time.
It didn't feel like it was the first time meeting him.
And I don't know why. He just had like a warm,
very sweet personality and was welcoming and cool and so

(19:36):
right when they said action, it just there was like
a chemistry friendship there between between those two, or at
least that's what I felt. And I feel like you
got that from the scene. Like when I watched it back,
I'm like, oh my god, that's crazy. We literally met
twenty minutes before this, and he's just a very easy
actor to play off of. He's just a very natural

(19:56):
Like sometimes we would be rehearsing lines and he would
say one of his lines and I'm like, what, Oh,
you're actually you're just acting, You're doing your job. But
he's just very natural at it. But navigating it. Like
I was saying before, with TV, you know, you kind
of just take the storylines as they come. And sometimes
for me, I sometimes would be like, oh man, it's
going this way, or oh man, it's going that way.

(20:17):
But that's part of our journey and our job and
part of the fun too that you don't know and
get to you know, day by day, like figure out
the next the next thing. So we just had we
had fun working together. He was he was an easy,
fun person. And when I say easy, I mean to
play off of and do that. And speaking of the Humphries. Actually,
Lamb Chop eighty nine thirty one asked what it was

(20:38):
like working with Taylor when you first met her. Well,
she was so young. I mean, obviously we were all young,
which she was like, you know, thirteen or fourteen years old,
so she was so much younger than all of us.
I was very impressed by her. I was like, Wow,
this girl is like a badass coming in here being
able to like when I say, hang, like acting with

(20:59):
people five and six years older than her, and that's
like a big gap. That's not like when you're twenty
six and thirty two, you know what I'm saying, or that,
you know, when you're like thirteen, a freshman, you know,
eighth grade, a freshman in high school, that's a very
different Your mind's in a different place all the like
life experience, even as actors on different sets and stuff.
So I was very impressed with her. She was a sweetheart,

(21:21):
She was very professional. I mean, I think she's phenomenal.
I think what she did with Jenny was I mean
some of the scenes, I'm like, she's like acting circles
around people. She was phenomenal. I was very impressed by her.
And I feel like Vanessa and Jenny two had such
a complicated relationship, yeah, because I think, you know, she
kind of looks to Vanessa as like an older sister

(21:43):
and they do kind of have that dynamic. But yet
Jenny really wanted to always fit in on the Upper
East Side on some level, and Vanessa wasn't really changing
that about Vanessa. So there was kind of I don't
want to say resentful, but a little bit like Jenny
probably wish that Vanessa would just kind of get along
with those girls and be up there and make it
a little bit easier for Jenny. Does that make sense

(22:04):
in a way because it was so Vanessa was so
cringing to the Upper east Side on things that I
think Jenny was just like, God, Vanessa just you know,
I kind of get it. They had an interesting relationship,
but I do think that they also go way back,
like Vanessa's relationship with the Humphries right off the bat,
like even with the Waffles, Like you can tell with

(22:25):
how she talks to Rufus, they really know each other
really really well and have like major history there. I
know from being in the fandom that Vanessa can sometimes
be a controversial character, And I want to know for
sure what you think people misunderstand about Vanessa. Well, I
think everyone also has to understand it is a TV show.

(22:47):
In this entertainment, there is things that we need for
like shocking moments. But Vanessa, I think she's so relatable
in the sense of she has to have a normal job.
She doesn't come from this world, you know, all this
like glitz and glam and money and all this stuff.
But I think she had a big heart. I do
feel like at times Vanessa didn't have enough in Brooklyn

(23:08):
for her, so they so the things that were coming
out and the things that were happening with her were
always intertwined in the Upper east Side, and she also
didn't like that, so it was almost contradicting Vanessa. Sometimes
I'm like, she can't stand the Upper east Side, but
yet she's hooked up with Nate, she hooked up she's
hooked up with Dan, She's you know. So sometimes I'm like, well,

(23:29):
then don't keep going up there. But again, it's a
TV show, and you also do need a character like that.
Like when I would watch and I Know two and No,
I remember Tiffany and Erthson's character coming on, and I
would cringe sometimes that some of the ship she did.
And then when I met her and actually worked with her,
I'm like, oh my god, I couldn't stand this storyline.
I couldn't stand when your character did this. And she

(23:49):
was like one of the rattis coolest people I'd ever
met outside of it. But she did her job, and
she did a good job. So I mean, there were
things that Vanessa needed to do for storyline, you know,
just for the storyline, carry it on and do things.
But I do think she had a big heart, and
I do sometimes wish that I felt bad about the
dance situation with her, because I do feel like, you know,

(24:11):
it's one of those things. I had a very good
family friend. Our families were close, Our siblings were all close,
and I think our parents all thought one day we
would end up together. And at one point in our
twenties we had a conversation about it, like do we
try this? Do we not? We're like, we can all
of a sudden just think our worlds are just gonna
like mesh and do it. So we didn't. But I
feel like that was like a thing in the back

(24:32):
of Vanessa's mind and dance for a while and then
it just you know, obviously, things change and you grow
up and you grow out of things. But that I
do think she wished things would have worked with Dan. Yeah,
what do you what do you think Vanessa's up to now?
I think she's just in Europe living her best life.
I love that for her. I hope that that's. Yeah,
Several people wanted to know if you could have picked

(24:53):
any other character to play, who would have been and why? Wow,
that's fine. I don't bass Maybe I don't know, just kidding.
I just love I mean, I love Blair's character, but
there's so many things about Serena Jenny I don't I
don't really know that. That's a tough one, but the
way Blair was written, with her little one liners and

(25:17):
her emotional journey that she brings you on. But that's
also testament to Layton. But there was a lot to
dig in there with Blair. Baldwin eighty eight wanted to know,
and this is this is one of my favorite things
to ask people who were involved with the show. When
you got the role of Vanessa, was there any point
that you thought Vanessa was gossip Girl? Yeah? I mean

(25:39):
I went through there. It was so funny. I can't
remember if it was. I think it might have been
with Ed at one point, like at a dinner, I'm like, well,
I think it's going to be this person. I think
it's going to be that. And I think by the
end of dinner this was like season three, so we'd
still had so much more that could have happened, And
did happen. But I remember thinking, like, at the end
of the dinner, I think he's like, you literally went

(25:59):
through everyone, just like, Okay, it's gonna be one of
those people. So I do think we Yeah, I went
through for sure. At one point where I thought it
was going to be her. For for a while, I
thought it was going to be Chuck. But then I'm like,
that's almost two on the nose. I was actually genuinely
shocked when it was Dan because I think I had
wrapped my head around so many different people at so

(26:20):
many different times that I think I was well over
it being him when when we found out. Yeah, but
then when I'm rewatching now there's things where I'm like, okay,
it kind of makes sense. But I would have never
known at the time, you know what I mean. I
thought it was Derota. That's a good one. It was
really good one, and I thought Rota deserved that. I
kind of like that, you know, we go back and
have them change. Can you revisit this and give Deroda

(26:43):
in this moment of time that yeah, yeah, I did.
There was a moment where I thought it was her
as well. But again, like I said, I pretty much through,
I'm like yeah, maybe this maybe that. So you talked
about Vanessa's love life. Is there somebody? Uh Nate Dan?
I chuck even that you thought that she went really
well with or that you prefer I thought Nate and

(27:06):
Vanessa's storyline was fun, but I also think Chase and
I just had fun working together. So it also brings
another like dynamic each day to work and stuff. But
I thought There's little storyline was cute, not chuck. When
when Vanessa looked up with chalk, I'm like, what is
going on? I remember reading that and asking like, and
I'm like, what page are you on? Because I'm on
this page and I'm like, not sure how I feel

(27:27):
about it. It just didn't feel right. But again, what
I love about this show is that, like you could
be on one page and then ten pages later, what
goes down, What's been dropped, who's hooking up? Who's mom is? Dad?
Is cousin's brother? Like all the thinkings that go on
on this show is what makes it so amazing as well. So,

(27:50):
but I do remember reading that, I'm like, what page
are you on? Because I'm not sure how I feel
about this. Vanessa is maybe making a mistake here. Vanessa
sucks get out of here. Yeah. Well, I mean, you know,
you have a show that goes on like that, you
do have to kind of try everything. Yeah, obviously, I
think wait, which, by the way, and I am probably

(28:12):
just not remembering because it's been so long and I'm
not on those seasons yet. But like, do Serena and
Chuck hook up? No, Serena and Chuck never hook up? Okay?
Because that there, I was gonna say, there has to
be something where it never crossed over. Yeah, And for
some reason, I was thinking it's got to be that.
But then when he just done this rewatch out, he
like wakes her up with a flower, and I'm like,
oh my gosh, and she likes so like so disgusted

(28:34):
by Chuck. It's their dynamic is quite funny too, which
I think gets overlooked. Yeah, no, so it is. Actually,
I think the only pairing that doesn't happen is Serena
and Chuck, and I think it's because the Blair and
Chuck couple above kind of anything else on the show
becomes like the unpretchable thing for them, and I think

(28:57):
that that chemistry is so apparent immediately it's kind of crazy. Yeah,
everyone keeps talking about it, and I love that. But
to off of what you just said, maybe that's why
Chuck and Serena never did because of Blair's relationship with Chuck.
But let's just be honest here, that didn't stop Serena
from sleeping with Nate, who was Blair's you know, like

(29:18):
lost their virginity. Like that's also can we talk about
that everybody? Like that happens in the pilot and then
everything keeps moving on, but like that would be devastating, Okay,
Like if any of my girlfriends from high school are
listening right now, like, oh mg, on the reel, like
you're telling me that all of a sudden you find
out your best friend, your best friend took Nate's virginity.

(29:43):
She took Nate's virginity Serena, Like, that's messed up. It's
really crazy because let's you know, losing your virginity is
a big deal, and to do that your best friend,
I mean, that's it's nuts. And I mean, what do
you think of all that? Well, I mean it's horrible
and I think that it's clear that Serena before the
show starts, is just this kind of thoughtless, careless person right.

(30:07):
Don't you know too how Blake gave the different colors
and layers to Serena. You do really care about her. Yeah,
And that's like a crazy thing to start a show
that way, because you could really not like that that character, right,
you know what I mean? So the way she played
it brought you on a journey where you're like, Okay,

(30:27):
I still like you even though that was messed up
what you did. Yeah, I mean it's a huge it's
a huge testament to Blake's acting ability. Absolutely. Yeah, the
show opens with this horrible thing, and you're still rooting
for her. And more than that, like, even though they
have such a complicated friendship, you really root for Blair
and Serena to stay friends. You do. And what also

(30:50):
happens which I'm watching and finding and you know, looking
into now even more as as that happens with Blair,
she still always is having Serena's back no matter who
comes in Dan's life. She's making sure with this Amanda
right now in season two, like you know, she's having
her back that no one's gonna like take away from Serena.
Which that's a really good friend because I know a

(31:12):
lot of girls that wouldn't probably never talk to Serena again.
So yeah, And there was something interesting that Josh and
Stephanie had said in the writing were sometimes freenemies it
can be when it's your best friend. So they did.
They talk about that in the first episode of this podcast,
that dynamic of like what you go through with your
best friends sometimes, like it's not just always like rainbows

(31:33):
and butterflies, like sometimes there is some deep stuff and
that's pretty deep. Yea, And I would love to know
why you think it is that Blair has that loyalty
so Serena, even while she's obviously also so jealous of
Serena and so envious of how Serena moved through life. Yes,
and by the way, that was a lot of people's

(31:54):
questions as well, like why does Blair? Why do you
think Blair's so jealous of Serena? And I feel like
she's always in her shadow or she feels that way.
I think Blair brings a lot to the table and
is cute and and all that stuff. But I think
what we were just talking about probably has like subconsciously
some sort of thing to it, like you went and

(32:14):
betrayed me, you slept with Nate. It was devastating to
find out. Then you come back and you know, she's
always shining her light everywhere, and she should be able to.
Serena should do that. As friends, you should always want
your friend to shine. But I do feel like there's
probably a part where Blair's still hurt by that, and
that probably triggers something. When it's all of a sudden

(32:36):
the fat you know, fashion Week and everyone wants to
see where Serena is and she's invited to everything, that
probably triggers back to that, because that's something very very
devastating and hard to get past. I think, right, yeah,
I mean, I don't know, And I think kind of
along those lines. Jackie Bridget Bowers wanted to know what
you think made Blair and Chuck have such amazing chemistry together. Well,

(32:57):
first off, I think they're both so incredibly talented. And
I really think the way that Chuck and Blair were written,
and I know that they pulled stuff from like the
chemistry and things that they saw and all that. I
think it's a mixture of things. I think they brought
them to life in such a dope, amazing, beautiful way.
I think they had really great chemistry, and I just

(33:19):
think that, you know, there's like humor. They were very
like their characters were very different from everyone else, meaning
like like they were just very like charactery. Do you
know what I'm saying, Like you almost some of the
stuff that Blair and Chuck did, You're like, that is
like not real, that's like not you know, Where's like
things that Vanessa did and Serena did. It's a lot
of things that like not not weren't shocking, But there's

(33:40):
just stuff that Blair does where I'm like, you couldn't
even get away with that in realize. I mean, well
you talked about Amanda than nere tiny that dominions, Chuck
would have went to jail. Yeah, So I'm saying I
feel like their storylines and some of the stuff that
their characters did were so like shocking and well written,

(34:01):
but just stuff that was not not like your day
to day or things that people can really relate to.
So it was like, as a viewer or as a fan,
you're watching and they're like, holy shit, that's wild, she
just did that. You know. Yeah, what were some of
your favorite scenes or plotlines from that first season? There
was just so much stuff that went on Tyler like

(34:22):
Chuck and Blair in the back of the limo where
she lost I was like, wait, that happened in episode seven.
I thought it was way like way later. I didn't
realize until now this time watching that Blair lost her
virginity to Chuck, which is also probably too why they
have such a connection in the as characters. Do you
know what I mean? Because I do think that's a
big thing to give to someone. Yeah, you know what

(34:45):
I'm saying. So I do think they're the way he
cares for her and her for him, and the way
that they'll be like scheming people and they can get
away with Chuck and Blair can get away with more
than any any other character on the show what they're doing. Yeah,
And it just keeps prou that when I'm watching, I'm like,
holy crap, what next? But then season one two, when

(35:06):
Georgina comes in and stirs the pod, when Vanessa comes
in in season one, when Carter basin when I mean,
there was just so many things. When when Serena goes
to Blair and is bawling her eyes out and basically
says I killed someone, I'm like, wait, did I hear that? Right,
I had to rewind it. I'm like, I do not
remember reading that years ago. So there was just so

(35:26):
much that was happening. Yeah, Danny ali four asked what
you think the craziest bond that dropped in season one was?
And I think about that. I say this, what was
the name? What was that name? Danny ali four? That's
my sister that so your sister wants, Yeah that I
joke about this that I wish that I could go

(35:48):
back and feel the way that I felt when Serena
says I killed someone at the end of that of Us,
because I my jaw was on the floor. I was like,
this show is going somewhere crazy, right, and you just
don't even know what's happening. But when someone says that,
you're like, any way that that could have went? She's
like admitting that, and that means like, wait, are we

(36:10):
going to have to go to court and you're going
to jail for the rest of your life? Like what
where's this going? You know? And at that point, you
care about Serena so much that you're like devastated that
something like that happened or that she did it, And
then you're also like, but wait, how did you like, wait,
what exactly? Yeah, and what do you mean, Serena? I
will tell you Also, one of my favorite season one

(36:30):
moments is the guitar Hero. Oh my god, that was
actually really fun to film. We were having like a
really good time doing that. Were you actual we had
to for some of the shots. Blake is like really
really good at it, Like she was phenomenal in real
life and obviously in the scene. So we were just
having so much fun. That was like a really fun

(36:51):
party scene. All of our party scenes because there was
a lot, like almost every episode there was something with
so many extras and so many you know, costume change
and so many things. But I always really enjoyed even
though those were long days. I always enjoyed when we
were all together because it was just fun in between
the scenes or going to lunch or you know, hanging
out in each other's trailers. It was a fun, fun time.

(37:14):
A few people had questions about your acting process, which
I think is really interesting. I want to talk about
one from at af Anderson, which is how far in
advance did you guys know about plotlines? Oh, well, here's
the thing. You get a script and then when things
are dropped like it'd be like the thing with Chuck
and Vanessa. We wouldn't know what was going to happen

(37:36):
in four episodes from there, so like we'd read that
and we'd be like, oh my gosh, are they gonna
date or they not gonna date? So you get excited
to get the next script. Now, with certain shows and
certain things, I'm sure you could call the show runner
or you can call your producer and say, hey, what
are you thinking? You know, but sometimes they don't know.
So that's also what's so fun about television now. Nowadays,
you know, episodes are ten and thirteen episodes. A lot

(37:59):
of times the full season is you know, totally written,
and sometimes back then sometimes what was working week to
week they would kind of cater to that. So it's
it's all situational and each shows different in each storyline,
you know what I mean. So I think that's really
what's really cool about TV, that it can be one
thing one week and totally change the next. Obviously, there's

(38:20):
when you pitch shows and go to networks and stuff
they liked an idea, but I don't think you have
to be married to any of that, which is which
is I think is cool yeah, and I mean, you
guys were all friends, and you guys were like you
did film some very funny scenes together. Emily Greenberg wanted
to know what was the funniest moment you can remember
that had to be taped several times over because you
were just choking down laughs. There was a lot of

(38:42):
laughs like that. There was a couple I remember one day,
our idea was like getting getting upset because you were
like taking too much time. But there was one scene
I cannot remember the episode, and it was Blake and
I and Chase, and I remember Chase his character Nate
was walking in and was just very confused, concerned, confused,
and he was killing it and he was doing such

(39:04):
a good job. But we couldn't take it seriously even
though it was like a very serious moment. I gotta
go find out what scene that is. He would walk
in and how Chases like was, you know, so concerned
on the look on his face. Blake and I would
just break and couldn't could not keep it together. And
sometimes that's super fun. But then when you you're like,
oh god, we got to get this down, then you
then it's almost harder to stop a lot of times

(39:26):
with pen if something funny was going on or we
were laughing, he'd be like, look look at me, like
lock eyes were done, we're not laughing again. And sometimes
I'm like, Pen, that's even worse, worse, You're gonna make
me laugh harder. Sometimes it really worked like a charm though,
like real good. But I also found it very funny
when when Ed would go from talking like Ed and
then to Chuck like I found that hilarious. So he

(39:49):
was probably very happy we didn't have a ton of
scenes together because sometimes I'm like, I can't even candle
how you're just switching like that, Yeah, and just too
like how brooding Chuck is it. It was just hilarious
to me. But there was a scene I think it's
like an eyes wide shut episode, and Layton was doing
something funny like and not in a sense to try
to mess me up by any means. She's very professional

(40:11):
and wonderful to work with and bounce off of. And
even when she came on the oarblte like she's the ship,
like love her. But she was doing something or made
a face next to the camera and then all of
a sudden snapped. It was just Blair and it was
just like, I'm like, I don't even know how you
just did that, but she was making some weird, funny
face and I could not I remember I had to

(40:32):
walk around the block and like gather myself. I'm my girl.
I can't get that face out of my head. Those
memories and thinking about all that is like what made
it fun. I remember when Hilary was coming and we

(40:54):
were getting ready to do that scene. I was like,
are you good? Should we like, do we need a
glass of wine? No? But she we were just like, well,
We're just gonna go have fun and do it and
it is what it is, and we did. But yeah,
those kind of things are what are the memories that
like make you remember why you loved it so much?

(41:15):
Not just the you know, not just acting and doing
a fun, cool job In New York City, it was
the in between the scenes, or the late night rehearsals
or the early morning calls. Like I'll never forget. Blake
and I lived in the same building at one point,
and walking out there would be four vans because a
couple of us were dating, so there would be like
a pickup for me and a pickup for Thread, And

(41:36):
I'm like, which is my van and then like we
should probably like only have two bands and not waste
the gas. But it is what it is, No, because
everyone's like call times would be different, but it was
funny because I'd walk out and be like, which one
am I getting in today? But all those kind of
like fun moments and in between things are like we
look back and laugh and that's what makes it like
fun and great. Yeah, so you did an episode with

(42:00):
Eric Damon, who has to be one of my favorite people.
He's just the nicest, sweetest human, such a gangster. I
love him the best, and like every time I see him,
I'm like, I if I tried to put these things together,
I would look crazy and you look incredible. Yeah, he
just is like so talented and has such a vision
and just like knows what he's doing and is so

(42:21):
good at it. But I also thinks he was like
born with a gift, Like he's just like it's beyond
exo exo posh up Girl, wanted to know what your
favorite Vanessa alfit was. Oh, there was a purple dress
she wore. Katie Cassidy was in the scene, was like
long and philly. It was just not very Vanessa moment.
To be honest, that snowflake ball dress is actually really

(42:45):
sick and it was very mean what they did to Vanessa.
But by the way, nowadays people would wear that. Oh yeah,
I mean I would still throw some some pants on.
But when I look back, I was like, damn, and
Vanessa's little body looked all cute in it. I was
I was like vibing for sure, but either that purple
frilly one also the I think it was never Ben Marcus.

(43:06):
She's walking on the Upper east Side with Nate at
saying like, how can you not be hot? She has
this little dress on that was like cute with a belt.
But I just always really liked what he put everyone in.
He like really slayed each look, character, vibe. It was awesome.
Do you feel like Vanessa's style was closest to your
style or was there another character who you were like, oh,

(43:26):
I'd like to steal her stuff. No, I don't think
Vanessa and I are very close in style. She's wears
a lot of patterns and colors and layers, and I
like that, and I think it was very cute for Vanessa.
I'm much I'm like bohemian chic, but a little like grunge.
I would almost say it's like a little bit Vanessa
when it's like toned down, when she's just like in
jeans and like a bomber jacket. And then like a

(43:47):
little bit of Serena who was kind of you know
that like Kate Moss kind of like rock or T
shirt and yeah, simple kind of Jessica stam vibe. But yeah,
and then I just liked Blairs, like classic uppy, you know,
head to toe, like it was just dialed in. It
was just on point. Yeah it Shelby. Marie wants to
know if you take anything with you from the set

(44:09):
after Gothic Rule ended. I feel like there was probably
some outfits or something like that. So I feel like
we I took some stuff from the dressing room, but
just a lot of memories, a lot of feelings and
a lot of memories. It's nice they last, and some friendships. Yeah,
and you got to shoot in such amazing locations. Do
you have a favorite place that you guys got to shoot?

(44:30):
Just honestly, this is going to sound like a ridiculous answer,
but just being able to film in New York City
is like just a gift in itself. But like, yes,
being able to on the met stairs is cool all
over Brooklyn. I mean even Silver Cup that's like such.
It's so many great people have come in and out
of that studio and great projects. So to even be

(44:51):
a part of like that history is really for me.
I think, so so awesome. But I mean some of
the Upper east Side places are just beautiful. Just Central Park,
I mean, it goes on and on. There was never
a time that I was like, oh, this sucks. It
was just everything was. It's New York City. It's a
vibe in itself and character. And I don't know if

(45:13):
I have my favorite. I don't know a favorite. Let
me ask you this. Then, in your rewatch so far,
has there been a scene of like a location or
event where you're like, oh, I wish Vanessa had been
a part of this scene. Yeah, when they go to Paris,
Yeah right. I remember getting those scripts too, and it
was three people were going, and three characters were going,

(45:34):
and three were staying because we didn't stop production in
New York, so we had to keep filming while they
were filming with a different production obviously in Paris. So
when we read it, it it was it was Serena, Chuck
and Blair went to Paris and Nate, Dan and Vanessa stayed,
which Vanessa really didn't have any business being in Paris,
But as as the actor and for Jessica, I'm like,

(45:57):
can we write it in does she just become best friends?
Was Serena that on that trip maybe she was on
a study abroad program? Yes, exactly, visiting for shame doing
study abroad. I like that many other ways. You've got
so many great questions. We're not gonna be able to
get them all obviously, but a few more before we
wrapped up. Yeah, Ivy Rose Beauty Talk wants to know

(46:19):
your favorite day on set that you'll always remember. Favorite
day on set. Wow, there was some of the nights
where it was like shooting into Friday night and then
being able to like go grab dinner with some of
the cast and crew after those are that happened so
many times, But those were just like, oh, this is
so fun. We've become front, you know, like living in

(46:39):
the city, working in the city. And I'm trying to
think some episodes that were When I first my first episode,
that mask Ball was insane just because of the way
all the costumes were and I was really meeting everyone
for the first time, and when you do a scene
like that, you're never just shooting it in that hour, right.
Usually those scenes take a couple of days, so you

(47:01):
really get to know everyone. So it was really fun
to work with Blake for the first time there. Getting
to know some of the casts there was really really fun,
and the costumes were cool, and I think it was
also like, my whole vibe and feelings were like, oh
my god, this is great to be a part of
a show in New York City with this amazing group
of people. So that was probably more just like a
personal Jessica thing than an actual like storyline or location.

(47:23):
I think it was just like how I was feeling
at the moment in life. Yeah, and I'm six. Alex
wanted to know, And I like this question because I mean,
Vanessa really gets put through the ringer. I think emotionally,
what was the hardest scene to film? Oh, some of
the times when she was like pulling one on people
and like doing you know, like later on when she's

(47:45):
like kind of being conniving, and that was hard because
I'm like, this isn't like Vanessa. So I felt I'm like,
this is crazy. I don't know, I always had a
lot of fun because of the dynamic with Blair and Vanessa,
because they can't stand each other so much, and there's
this tension in this like not hatred, but like almost
like she cannot saminism and as it can't stand her.
They come from two totally different walks of life. They

(48:08):
have a very different outlook on life, like, so that
was always really fun to do those scenes because Layton
and I always had so much fun outside of our
characters and have the same sense of humor and a
lot of things in life. So it was really fun
to go from like just talking with Layton and then
going into this like scene where there's tension and we
can't stand each other. That's like was fun to me,

(48:30):
because challenging too, because you go from one second laughing
to then being like, Okay, I have to look at
this girl and can't stand her, even though I like
love this girl so much and she's such a wonderful human.
So that was always kind of fun for sure. Yeah,
it's been so great, I mean for me personally. One
of the things I've enjoyed most about the podcast so
far is hearing the stories about how you all genuinely

(48:51):
loved hanging out with each other offset and how you
were all friends and everybody got along really well. It
was a fun time. It was a really fun time.
I mean, there was so many things in life that
we were going through, like working in New York City,
having a show that you know, the network was really
behind and loving, and you know people across the world
were watching, and you know, going into all of the

(49:13):
fashion world was for me, it was new. I didn't know. Okay,
So I just have I have one last question for you. Yeah,
and I really like this one because I think it's
great for all the aspiring actors who are listening out there.
It's from Alexandra Kukaris. What advice would you give an
actor who comes onto a show that has already established itself. Well,

(49:34):
the cool thing, I think what that is like when
I came on Shameless or Kingdom or the Orville. There's
like a tone to it, and and you can go
and look up the episodes and you know, talk to
the writers of you know what, what they love what's working.
So that's kind of cool in a way because you
have something to kind of go off of and and

(49:54):
dive into. Whereas when it's a new pilot or new show.
You you're there to help set the tone, and you're
it is fun and challenging and risky too because sometimes
you might be like, because art's all subjective, right, Like
what I think is dope and rad, someone else might
not connect to. So I think when a show's doing
its thing and you get to come on and add
like another color, flavor, fun little storyline, I always really

(50:15):
enjoyed doing that because you kind of know the tone
and you can kind of figure out, like where your
piece of the puzzle is going to come in and
shift it and add like a flavor or color to
it that hasn't been there. So I actually really enjoy that. Yeah,
I think they're both great to also be a part
of bringing it to life, but also getting joining in
the new the new blood. No, I think that that's

(50:36):
such a great advice. This has been so fun. I
mean you truly you've got so many great questions that
it was impossible to even choose which ones to go through.
You picked great ones. I know we had to like
narrow it down and then you'd but I loved I
loved everything. I want to say thank you to everyone
who's benefan of the show of Gossip Girl, of my

(50:57):
work or Tyler's work or anyone you know that that
helped bring Gossip Girl to life. We really appreciate you.
I see you, I love you, and thank you for
helping like make this journey fun, because honestly, without viewers
and fans and input and feedback and all of that,
what do we do it for? You know what I mean?

(51:17):
So I'm sending you guys all air hugs and thanking
you so much. And I had so much fun doing
this Tither. Maybe we do this like for season two once,
once we get through season two. I have said this
before and I will say it again. I will talk
about gossip Girl anytime, anywhere with I mean literally anyone.
So I'm I love You're amazing, You're xoxo. Is produced

(51:44):
by Propagate Content and me Jessica Zor. Our show is
executive produced by Lnley. Our producers are Diego Tepia, Kristin Vermilia,
Emily Carr, and Hannah Harris. Original music by Moxie and
Lune and the episode was mixed by Seth o Landski