Here's a familiar situation: You're at a great party. You're thinking it's possibly the best party you've ever been to. All the components of an awesome night are there: You're connecting with lots of new people, the music is amazing and the booze is free. You're thinking nothing in the world can kill this chemistry ... until the party-killer"" arrives.
It's the guy or girl with the miraculous ability to destroy a party for everyone. Whether they're belting out Journey sickeningly off-key or drunkenly picking fights with people they don't know, the party-killer is able to suck all the good energy out of a room and immediately ruin everyone else's night.
Why am I bringing back these horrifying and possibly scarring memories of parties gone sour? Because if ""Gossip Girl"" is the party, it narrowly escaped a potentially fatal party-killer in the form of Mischa Barton. The former ""O.C."" star was recently offered a role on ""Gossip Girl,"" inciting mixed reactions from fans of the series. Most were skeptical, citing everything from Barton's personal life (remember that D.U.I. back in February?) to her professional life (one blog comment described her acting skills as ""wooden"" - ouch) as reasons to not bring her on the show.
Fortunately for ""Gossip Girl,"" Barton turned down the role, practically ensuring the drama will continue to thrive without her presence. It may sound harsh to think the addition of a single actress to the cast could ruin an already-solid show, but it's not that unbelievable when you thinks back to the ""party-killer"" metaphor: One person can bring the whole party crashing down.
For starters, ""Gossip Girl"" has already established itself as a standout among this past fall's new TV shows. I'll admit, I was wary of the show at first, expecting it to be all sugar and no substance. Then I watched one episode and was instantly hooked. That's not to say ""Gossip Girl"" is striving for anything profound. There are still various superficial reasons to be attracted to the show: the amazing clothes, the stunning New York City locations and the plot scandals are guilty pleasures in and of themselves.
However, ""Gossip Girl"" also features surprisingly solid acting and tackles some issues other series would shy away from, and that's pretty gutsy. The ""Gossip Girl"" formula is working perfectly right now, and it is only into its first season. Why upset that balance now with a starlet like Barton, who will only garner attention because she is well known?
Then there's the déjà vu factor: ""Gossip Girl"" executive producer Josh Schwartz was also the mastermind behind the show that gave Barton's career a jumpstart, ""The O.C."" Diehard fans will remember how fatal a combination that seemed to be: Barton spilled to the media her character was being killed off a day before the episode aired. It was downhill for ""The O.C."" from there.
One would be hard-pressed to believe it's all sunshine and daisies between the Schwartz and Barton camps after that scandal. With that incident in mind, it is surprising Barton was even offered the ""Gossip Girl"" role at all. Luckily, history won't get the chance to repeat itself this time around.
So it looks like ""Gossip Girl"" will be spared after all, having escaped the curse Miss Barton most certainly would have cast upon it. Here's hoping ""Gossip Girl"" will go on to further success. As for Barton, here's hoping she'll hold off on crashing any other good parties.
Want to morph into a TV character and crash your least favorite show? Tell Cassey which ones at mysliwy@wisc.com.
