Gossip Girl is a program kept alive through aspiration; its very life-blood relies on the vicarious living out of wealth, social status, beauty, sex, adventure and ultimately, high school. The nature of this aspiration is do contingent on its “hip-ness,” its insatiable quest for cool, that it must be diligently monitored for up to the minute currency. Everything from pop-cultural references to fashion, from music to technology, evolves in a way that is meant to grow with the needs of its audience. The hyper-prevalence of cell phones and the internet as a means for instant communication speaks to a generation plagued by text gossip and drunk dialing fiascos, we can relate on many levels, to the world Blair Waldorf lives in, even if we can’t afford the Louboutins, the scene is similar.

Furthermore it invites its viewers to connect on multiple platforms and trans-media levels with the perpetuate of webisodes, the book series that preceded the television show, fashion blogs following the styles showcased on the program and more.

Yet something is inherently missing in my reception of Gossip Girl, and it’s not the cattiness, I went to an all girls private school on the east coast, chock full of over-privileged drama causing, boy stealing, silver spooned ladies – what alienated me the most was the lack of personal cultural-historical nostalgia; Gossip Girl seems to have very little respect for the past, its obsession with being current draws too much attention to its one-dimensional hip-ness. Call me old-fashioned, but Gossip Girl tries way too hard.

On the surface, FlashForward seemed to be reaching out to a more participatory audience, one with strong filmic intelligence and commitment to good content. However, it failed to solidify any feelings of independent audience participation in its over expository dialog and its over-structured story arcs: FlashForward actually limits audience participation by confining it to a designated and regulated path.

Furthermore, in an exploration of the other media surrounding the release of the television show, ABC failed miserably to utilize a creative online dialog in promoting the release and perpetuation of the show.

In all, FlashForward was far too obvious about the goals it had for itself. No one likes to be told how to interact with their content, their entertainment, or media – restrictions on creative participation create a feeling of contrived uniqueness that in many cases seems less innovative and edgy than condescending and formulaic. FlashForward should have worked harder to utilize the abundance of transmedia tools that the last decade has perfected.

I begin by thinking about what mosaic could have been. I think that the ideal use of the website (in the real world) could have been a give-and-take forum where fans could both get extra content about the show while also submitting their own. Instead of having only fan-made flashforwards the show runners could have posted flashforwards from fictional characters in the show so that fans could read them and get the extra content, as well as relate their own fan-made flashforwards to the story world. This would be an interesting approach in that it would provide a semi-read/write environment where fans could take content from the show and work in their own creativity to it, while giving the creators of the show some control over the way fans were participating with their programming.

In thinking about how this invitational programming affects the content of the show itself I think it is a tough balance. In trying to make a show that encourages fan participation, you are essentially gearing your show to a smaller demographic of audiences. By creating a show that encourages people to go online and participate it is very easy to alienate the more passive audience that do not wish to participate in the same manner. My guess is that this was one of the causes for the eventual cancelation of Flashforward. I also think back to a reading we did earlier in the semester about Lost writers and how while they appreciate the fan involvement and discussions about the show, that it is impossible to please everyone and that taking their insight too seriously inevitably ends badly. This might be a inherent flaw in invitational programming.

The point I am trying to make is not how to define these characters, but rather what they are depicting on the show. Audiences watch a body of youth who are deeply attached to their mobile devices so as to stay in touch with up-to-the-minute information. As a community they are learning important (at least to them) information together at the same time. While this is a representation of a society and an audience that we live in now where everyone can receive real-time info at any given moment, I still think this is not the most important takeaways from the show.

The first issue illustrated by our screening that I think is significant is the idea of power and the weight of what is posted on the world wide web. In one episode we are witness to gossip being posted online that results in student expulsion, parent uproar, and eventually faculty termination. In this way the episode really gives evidence to the power of the blogger in society. As simple as it is to post something on the internet (in this case it was done via text with no factual evidence given), the ramifications of that information being as public as it is are massive. This represents a time in our culture when there really is a struggle for power amongst many parties including, the press, the authorities, institutions, bloggers, and readers. We are in a transitional period where the rules are changing, and while the situation in Gossip Girl may be kind of insignificant and melodramatic the idea that is behind is much deeper and still unclear.

The second message I took away from the Gossip Girl episodes screened for class is much less subtle. In the season finale we watched, where students try to expose who the Gossip Girl actually is, the episodes ends with Gossip Girl saying something along the lines of “you are all the Gossip Girl because without you this would not exist” (a bad paraphrasing perhaps). This addresses another idea that we have been examining which is the necessity of audience participation and read/write culture. The only reason why wikipedia, or heavily followed blogs, or transmedia practices work is because the community exists to fuel it. Unlike TV programming in previous generations Gossip Girl is addressing this need for audience participation, both in a large sense for our culture and also specifically for itself.

However, a show’s invitational strategies cannot be too overt. A show like Blue’s Clues or Dora the Explorer can have the direct address, but a primetime drama cannot without alienating some viewers. The genius of Lost was that the alternate reality games and websites needed to be discovered, and were not mentioned within the canon. When Janis Hawk mentioned the website, it would not surprise me to hear groans from Lost fans, who saw the dialogue as an obvious hint that a website would be created.

Like the Internet, the blackout event of the show’s namesake was worldwide, interconnected, and indescribably significant to the future. While the show can only focus on so many people, the show’s invitational strategies broaden the scope to better fit the scope of the show’s universe. By creating a website, accessible the world over, Flashforward can mimic the show’s global scope online. Furthermore, the website was not revealed in an obvious manner. The URL for The Mosaic Collective was revealed through five-second flashes on Lost. If we can assume that not all Flashforward viewers watch Lost, then we can assume that many people discovered The Mosaic Collective through social media and interactivity outlets like the Flashforward wiki and fan forums.
Through advertisements on Lost and using many similar invitational strategies, Flashforward created distinct expectations in their audience. Viewers of Flashforward expected mythology, mystery, and resonant characters. Unfortunately, Flashforward could not live up to its big brother’s clout. One wonders if the show made more attempts to strike out on its own, whether it would still be on the air.

Fan engagement involves commitment. Even a small response to an invitational strategy, like creating your own flashforward on The Mosaic Project strengthens the relationship between viewer and creator. However, this relationship must be reciprocal, and a show cannot rely too heavily on online portals of interaction. The show itself must be complete, and any extra content found online must work to broaden the scope of the show in a satisfying yet extraneous fashion.