9021-Uh Oh! Bad news for television critics accustomed to reviewing fall TV shows early: according to Variety, the CW will not be sending out any advance screeners of its highly anticipated 90210 pilot. "We're not hiding anything," says the network in a statement, "simply keeping a lid on 90210 until 9.02 [ed. note: see what they did there?], riding the curiosity and anticipation into premiere night, and letting all our constituents see it at the same time." Is the CW covering something up, or are they just following an increasingly critic-hostile trend? We'll give them a pass today, if only because they've finally released a photo of Jessica Walter (holding a drink!) as Lucille Bluth...we mean, "Tabitha." [Variety]

It was business as usual on the Brooklyn set of the popular CW series Gossip Girl as stars Leighton Meester and Blake Lively engaged in yet another catfight to boost cast and crew morale after a long and tiresome day of production. Meester and Lively feel like the occasional bout of hair-pulling and pillow fighting sets a good example for the other cast members and are reportedly encouraging their co-stars Taylor Momsen and Michelle Trachtenberg to follow suit. Lively said, "The grips and gaffers seem to get a real kick out of it which helps. The makeup people, not so much, but it really helps you get into the scene. Like a shot of adrenaline into the heart."

Gossip Girl, the show that the media can't stop gushing over despite the fact that nobody actually watches it or anything, has of course been renewed for a second season. And in an apparent attempt to lure the large audience of celeb voyeurs that's currently interested in the cast members' bi-curious antics off-screen than on, the sultry young things-obsessed marketing crew at the CW has released some "inappropriate" images from the second season’s ad campaign. Thanks to Miley Cyrus and her “scandalous” series of endless flesh-baring spreads, any photos featuring tweenyboppers practically banging each other or doing their best O-face are fine by us. But releasing racy promos like these is a practice long used by GG’s predecessors, and the sleazy plan relying on that old promise that Sex Sells has a history of backfiring in many a series’ pretty little sweat-drenched faces:First, a closer look at the "sexy" ads in question, which include pull-quotes suggesting just how much closer potential viewers will get to the cool kids' table. Watching this show is so dangerous! Your parents will have nightmares just thinking about the (sort of) short skirts Blair wears! Do the nasty!

Look! Those Gossip Girl ads the whole world is talking about (or at least the part of the world that lives in New York and probably "curates" a "linklog" or something) made the front page of am New York, a free tabloid daily owned by Tribune Co. You know what's funny? Gossip Girl airs on the CW, the network most people still mistake for the one that failed after canceling Homeboys in Outer Space. Also the CW has something called a "ten-year affiliation agreement" with—wait for it!—Tribune Co! Which also owns the CW affiliate WPIX, right here in (am) New York. SYNERGY. [Maura] (Related: watch Mad Men! It's a show about men in suits who smoke or something.)

[Photo Credit: Bauer-Griffin]

Despite less-than-stellar ratings and only one season in the bank, the creators of the hormonally charged, red lipstick-laced Gossip Girl are already hard at work on putting together a spin-off. As THR reports, producers will use the original books’ It Girl series as a blueprint, in which the social-climbing, scandalous and date rape-prone Jenny Humphrey character (Taylor Momsen) is shipped off to boarding school to clean up her act — just as the show’s main character, Serena Van Woodsen, had been punished for bad girl behavior like sex with BFFs’ boyfriends and being an über-lush by spending a year in the supposedly rigid countryside enclaves north of Manhattan. As the producers spin their wheels hoping that GG network CW bites, we took a look back on the Boarding School For Bad Boys And Girls phenomenon on television to get a sense of how ridiculously and erroneously Hollywood writers have been depicting these New England pastures in the past:

While the rumors of the CW's demise haven't quite been greatly exaggerated, they're looking a little premature this morning as news of the network's upfront success trickles out. Amid panic over plunging ratings and the looming ouster of boss Dawn Ostroff, the House of Gossip Girl apparently wrapped up its advance sales with as much as $370 million — about half of last year's numbers but not half-bad under the circumstances. 90210 apparently speaks for itself, after all:

From the looks of this new teaser for CW’s upcoming Beverly Hills: 90210 remake, it looks as though any fans of the original hoping for a fresh take on their beloved West Beverly High alum will have to sheepishly return to watching classics from their prized VHS collection. Though they’ve obediently updated the infamous opening credits sequence in which each beautiful face candidly hops around a stark white set, we fear for the final result after hearing that a featured character is a “fun, energetic, not-your-typical grandma!” and that the adopted son will be black this time around. As if the cast’s promise that the reincarnation will be “a wild ride!” wasn’t enough to warn us, consider the update’s tagline: “If you wanna live in the Zip, you gotta live by the code.”

When we first heard the idea of a reimagined Beverly Hills: 90210, we believed it would be impossible to recreate the teary, teenybop magic of the original series. Who could possibly sneer like Luke Perry? Or turn the world on with his smile like Jason Priestley? But the Rob "Not Matchbox 20 Rob" Thomas-produced spinoff slated for CW's upcoming fall season is charging full-speed ahead, leaking news of potential cast members burdened with the challenge of filling our favorite Peach Pit regulars' Reeboks. Though recent casting announcements have been less than thrilling, two new additions have us busting out our dusty 90210 drinking game rule book once again. As E! News reports, "Producers for the CW's 90210 remake have reached out to Hilary [Duff] to offer her a starring role in the series." News on the other confirmed West Beverly students, plus which alum from the original has signed on to reprise their old role, after the jump.

As we've been told time and time again, life often imitates art. And while we'd refrain from calling Gossip Girl "art," Leighton Meester has allegedly been using her on-screen character's controlling and manipulative tendencies behind the scenes as well. Nan Zhang, who played suspected Gossip Girl scribe Jenny, has disappeared from the New York set. Though creator Josh Schwartz is blaming the sole minority character's displacement on Zhang's ridiculous decision to focus on school, those on set are pointing their fingers in Meester's direction:

Pop quiz: What is the best way to secure a second date with Julia Allison, assuming, for whatever reason, you wanted to do so? Answer: Bring a television camera to the first date! It worked for Chris Balish of TV network CW. In fact, attention-hungry dating columnist Allison had to be repeatedly told to at least pretend to have to think about a second date with Balish before saying "yes." But the relationship was not meant to be. The day after the first date segment aired, panicked network executives decided to replace Balish's show, at least for now, with something more substantive: "America's Next Top Model." The terrifying Julia Allison date video that could shake Balish's career to its foundations, after the jump.

What do you watch peripherally while getting ready in the mornings? 'Today'? 'Good Morning America'? Soothing, lovable Pat Kiernan? Probably not the CW's morning show. So you probably missed DANCE FRIDAYS with the hot weather girl. Thankfully, our video people caught it, and here it is. Alternate side parking rules are in effect, btw.