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"Gossip Girl," Meet "Rich Girls"

WB comedy mascot Michigan J. Frog must be rolling in his amphibian grave.

While the comedy department at netlet The CW may have been shown the door this week (along with more than 25 CW staffers who lost their jobs), the drama department, under topper Thom Sherman, has been busy, snapping up another pilot this week as the mad crush into a truncated and chaotic pilot season continues.

The CW has ordered a pilot for drama How to Teach Dirty Rich Girls. Like its predecessor Gossip Girl, it too is based on a series of teen-centric novels from Alloy (and author Zoey Dean) and will be written by Rina Mimoun--who last performed writing duties on this season's Pushing Daisies--and executive produced by Alloy's Bob Levy and Leslie Morganstein.

Story revolves around a Yale-educated girl who loses her job as an assistant at a tabloid magazine and is hired as a sort of live-in tutor/life coach for two teen heiresses in Palm Beach. Can she get these two to see sense while she figures out her own life? We'll have to find out.

While Filthy Rich Girls seems like a shoo-in for the CW and a good companion for the netlet's current breakout series Gossip Girl, I can't help but wonder if they really need two soapy series about privileged teens on the air at the same time. Will Filthy Rich Girls really help Gossip Girl's ratings? Or just cannibalize them?

Gossip Girl, meanwhile, returns to the airwaves with new episodes on April 21st on Mondays at 8 pm.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Big Brother 9 (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); American Idol (FOX)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS);
Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); Pussycat Dolls Present Girlicious (CW); Supernanny (ABC); Moment of Truth (FOX)

10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Men in Trees (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: America's Next Top Model.

Cycle 1o officially begins tonight, following last week's casting episode, with a brand-new episode ("Top Model Makeovers"), it's makeover time already as the twelve remaing girls get new looks and participate in a lingerie-clad photo shoot with guest star Elle Macpherson, while tension between Fatima and Allison reaches a breaking point.

10 pm: Project Runway on Bravo.

On Part Two of the two-part season finale, the final three designers show off their brand new collections, encounter some well-edited and demanding pitfalls before the big shows, and face the judges--along with guest adjudicator Victoria Beckham--one last time before one is crowned the winner of Project Runway 4. Come on, Christian!

Comments

Unknown said…
Heh. Your first reference to the show called it How to Teach Dirty Rich Girls (not Filthy and I had a totally different image of the show. ;)
Anonymous said…
I'm a big fan of Gossip Girl but "Rich Girls" sounds a little too cutesy for me.
Anonymous said…
I'll be skipping this if it gets picked up to series. Really, CW? This is the best you can do?

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