t- e N 5' z {o f tnrV PR,EI/IE\T/ dcsigners and, well, they ruffle bedsheets with abandon "Despcrate Housewives"? No, "cossip cirl," the new young adult drama from the tolksatthcCW Basedona teen book series of the same name, thc show follows a group of attractive, out for lrouble prep-school teens from N4anhattan's Upper East Side.</p><p> Afd, yes, ihey wander Central Pa{ k srnoking pot and get served martinis in hot spots The show is backed by Josh Schwartz, the quy who made a group of qood'looking people from Oranqe County, Calif., all the rave on Fox's "The O C " "G0ss!il Gir l" centefs on beauty Serera (Blake Lively,j' \ii above front, with, from l: Penn I Bacjrjle), Ed Westwick, Clrace CrawfOrd, Taylor lv4omscn and Leighton l\lccstcr), wilo suddenly retLrrns t0 Nclv York aftcr disappearing a yeaf earlier But what links alJ the char acters is an unidentifed blogger (voiced by Kristcn Bell) who dishes dirt on who's sleeping with whom.</p><p> While the show may make parents squirm, it's sure to be a hit with teens for whom the Ioibles of Paris and Lindsay serve as modern-day parables ri Premiered sept.19W&fuKffiffiWMffi Eo = ! q u :l{ oo N N c ttTOW N'JII!S#3,H[''$ T]'::"1TJ::IITN'' love NewYork," says ac- tgr Chace Crawford, one of the leads of "Gossip Girl," the new CW drama that debuted Wedngsday.</p><p> And rvhy shouldn't he? the rest of the sexy cast in set in the exclusive world of Side children of priviJege.</p><p> Nate Archibald. a latch- with platinum credit cards drowns his sor-row in Cham- pot and limo rides to hot Crarvford jokes, "The re- r this show was rough." admits he hung tle bit but, mostly, he says, he showed a rough cut of the pilot to the kinds of kids it poftrays, and then asked them, "Is this even remotely real? And they said, 'Yes, it is."' Crar+{ord's character is at the cen' ter of the shdvr's main triangle, a tug- of-war between onetime BFF's Blair mysteriously disappbhred and just- refurned Serena van der Woodsen Blair since forever, but he slept with Serena right before she ran away and now, maybe, he just wants to be friends with both of them.</p><p> Mean- whilejhe's alltotally poroabout boysyoulookatand,whileyou're beconflictedforquiteawhile."o r''.i.::4 ...*+i'But despite the high drama of Waldorf (-eighton Meester) and the "Gossip Girl," don't wait for scan-college and the feeling that may- be it isn't so good to have everything handed to you on a silver platter.</p><p> It's like "Sex and the City" without the warmth, since all the kids in this Manhattan high school are essential- ly on their own in a cutthroat world. "Nate is definitely conflicted," says Crawford. "So now I'm working hard on finding a lot of different ways to ploy conflicted." He's certainly not conflict- ed about moving to New York City after a child- hood living in Plano; Tex.</p><p> His mom helped him move into an apartment in Chelsea he shares with fellow cast member Ed West- wick (who plays supercad Chuck Bass). and Crawford gets to explore the city he fell in love with via the movies. dalous stories about Crawford; he laughs off the leap to becoming a wanted to make some money," he says, laughing some more when he's told his character is described in the "Gossip Girl" book as "one of thoselooking at them, you know they're thinking, 'That girl can't take her eyes off me because I'm so hot."' After modeling, Crawford went to college, but soon found himself tom between his studies and his de- sire to act.</p><p> He felt he wasn't giving ei- ther path a real chance, so his dad counseled him to quit school and fo- cus full time on a career.</p><p> That led to 2006's "The Covenant" (called "A B-movie'Charmed' but with guys"), which opened at No.</p><p> I at the box offlce.</p><p> Nowhe's soaking up NewYork and, as an avid photographe4 documenting both the streets and his "Gos- sio Girl" co-stars as the show continues shooting locallv.</p><p> Fans of the source books expect Cravrford's charac- ter to move on from the love trianqle and fall for Jenny (Iaylor Momsen;. "That could be awkward," Craw- ford tips, "since the actress they cast in that role i:s really 14 years old!" He admits there may be sparks between those two characters, but says the show isn't wedded either to the time- line of the books or their plot twists.</p><p> As he says, "I think Nate's going to@Iake Lively).</p><p> Nate has been dating model during high school. "I just
