the buzz log

Next week it's back to school for teen shows "Gossip Girl" and the all-new 90210 spinoff. Pay attention, you will be tested on your knowledge of the subject.

First up, Gossip Girl. The frothy teen soap is heading into its second season (is that like sophomore year?) and features a cast that mostly could have graduated from college by now. But no matter. The show bears little resemblance to actual high school (like going to class, ever). Instead, the melodrama centers on a group of private school coeds at an elite Upper East Side private school with the wardrobes and pedigrees of American royalty.

Gossip Girl wannabes are studying up on "gossip girl episodes," "gossip girl cast," "gossip girl fashion," and "gossip girl music," in anticipation of what New York Magazine calls "the most awesomely awesome show ever." Fans are also searching for cast members Blake Lively, Penn Badgley, and Leighton Meester.

 
East vs. West. If the whole elite preppie New York thing isn't for you, then perhaps you'd fit in more with the 90210 crowd. (Cue music.)

Serious viewers are holding study sessions on the 90210 hit show with searches on "new 90210 cast," "beverly hills 90210 spinoff," "beverly hills 90210 episode guide," and "new beverly hills 90210." While the new cast hasn't caught the buzz just yet, original cast members Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty remain red-hot. The two actresses will reprise their roles, this time as faculty at West Beverly Hills High.

The original show, which ran from 1990-2000, made an impact by highlighting controversial issues, and Ms. Garth promises that viewers should expect no less from the new show. As she told the Los Angeles Times, "It's going to reflect teenagers as they are. It's not going to sugarcoat it." Plus lots of in-fighting, back-stabbing and conniving, natch.

Filed under: TV

Turmoil in Africa... your turn. A military coup up-ended the first elected president of Mauritania, and led to an online scramble for rebellion details, the country's location, and a timeline of the nation's growth. The junta marched with supporters and promised free elections, while the the daughter of ousted leader Sidi Cheikh Ould Abdallahi called for U.N. intervention.

.... Meanwhile, a blood trail leads to Laurence Fishburne as a possible new "CSI" boss. The tough guy catapulted into the top 50 terms, shooting past "paris hilton for president" queries. Methinks there's a veep candidate here.

...No relation to Han, but the force and Buzz beats strong for soccer goalkeeper Hope Solo (+270%), comeback kid for the USA women's Olympic team.

...And now, let's end with a Buzz Log eye-candy moment with Boris Kodjoe (+62%), soon to be in a romantic comedy near you.

Filed under: TV, Actors, Politics, Soccer, Military, Africa, Olympics

Mrs. Peel, you're still needed... and wanted.

Diana Rigg, who played the coolly delicious, leather-clad Emma Peel in the playful '60s British spy series "The Avengers," turned 70 on Sunday. A birthday Search salute exploded: Lookups for the septugenarian surged a staggering 90,086%, landing her leather boots among the day's top 25 terms. That's more searches than Miley Cyrus with her new "Breakout" album, Britney Spears and her custody loss, or Angelina Jolie hoisting her new twins.

The fervor over a Dame turning 70 speaks to the cult power of the spy show, and calls for a TV history lesson: "The Avengers" (no relation to the Marvel comic) breathed campy aesthetics and thumbed its nose at all convention and storytelling while still looking timeless thanks to designer duds, spiffy vintage cars, and gender-role tweaking. The show also made small-screen history by casting a woman as a partner (to dapper spy John Steed, played by Patrick Macnee), rather than a sidekick or damsel in distress.

The postmodern Mrs. Emma Peel was built to appeal to men—"man appeal" or M-Appeal (get it)—which in the '60s meant putting a Shakespearean-trained lass in leather and stretch jersey. The lady also fenced, published scientific papers, ran an empire, dispensed bad guys with karate chops, and was fearless in the face of cackling villainy. The Man Appeal still holds up 40+ years later: Guys not only conducted more than 80% of Rigg's birthday searches, but also made up 8 out of 10 "emma peel" searches (which strode to the top 500 Sunday). 

Rigg left the show in 1968, starring next as the only Bond wife ever in the movies. Still, two seasons had been enough to establish her as an iconic, liberated character who even now still seems before her time. Rigg herself has said for years that image is "not relevant to me," although a recent interview shows she still hasn't lost her cool.

Filed under: TV