Quando eu penso na Rachel Bilson, lembro dela na cama com Seth Cohen tirando a blusa e a frase do moço seguinte:

"- Whatever you say Summer, yes, yes!"

Agora, quando eu penso em Rachel Bilson, eu penso em Wayfarers coloridos, lindos, bem despojados, supimpas. Cruzes! Eu amo a Rachel, a Summer, o Seth, o Adam, a Marissa e se eu vivesse em OC teria um guarda roupa de óculos vintage para enfeitar meu rosto. Que não é vintage. He-he.

Who can forget these near-immortal (immortality on television being like, 2 months) lines of the teenage drama of this season? Not me. However, lest you confuse yours truly with being a fan of the wildly popular CTV series Gossip Girl, I have to say, I am not. For a few good reasons too.

First up, this show is a clone of THE teenage drama of our generation - The O.C. (I'm only gonna give credit to the first season), and it didn't help that the creator Josh Schwartz's first claim to fame was creating The O.C. in the first place. Said show was brilliant and inimitable in its first season, but as time went by, the ratings dropped and it started to sink like a bomb. However, Gossip Girl's first season did not even have this stellar script, cast, camaraderie and chemistry that you'd expect because of the inevitable comparisons one would draw with its sister show, averaging only fair enough with predictable girl-on-girl backstabbing and such. The wardrobe wasn't even as memorable as that of Marissa and Summer's. Bad.

Then we have the cast that's supposed to have "inherited their parents' classic good looks", but all we have fairing okay are Leighton Meester's Blair and Chace Crawford's Nate. I don't even want to begin with Blake Lively's Serena van der Woodsen - seeing her gives me a headache. There's something funny about the creases around her 20-year-old (actual age) mouth. She's touted as the "IT girl" of Constance Billard but she'll probably fare better as the hooker from Brooklyn's slums. There's no way S came out looking like that. Inevitably, the comparison with Mischa Barton's Marissa comes to mind, and S really lost the fight before it even started. Sure, Mischa Barton in real life is pretty screwed up, but the reel version is definitely the kind of Marissa we would expect so kudos to the casting team. I think Serena's mom Lily looked way better than her, in a cruel twist of fate.

And what about Seth Cohen's counterpart in this show, Dan Humphrey? Firstly the name really stinks, what kind of clichéd name is "Dan Humphrey"? (And Jenny Humphrey for the matter? Worse still, Rufus sounds like the golden retriever living next door.) Way, way too clichéd, really. Name aside, I didn't know Dan was supposed to look half-drunk all the time. I mean, geekish is one thing but looking half-drunk to the point of being dim-witted - that's so not the sexy geek vibe that his kind supposedly exudes. Before I move on, even though B is okay - she actually looked prep-girl hot - she still has this Summer feel to her that she should shake off. Maybe it's the hair? The way she looks at people? They give out too much of the same vibe. The Queen B should be cut-glass English-y and not a second-rate Rachel Bilson.

Moreover, aren't anyone tired of the formulaic scripting? The hot mama and papa, the blonde and brunette BFF, the geek that lands a hot babe, the sex with the hot guy that the babe wished she hadn't had, and so on. Enough of the half-hearted caricatures and move on already. This show may be great as a trashy portrayal of the true Manhattan Upper East Side but it's hardly worth the time to sit down religiously to watch it. I don't sit in front of the googlebox to catch it every Monday night, even though I'm conveniently living in the bay area. The O.C. (Season 1) is still my teenage drama of choice. (Probably if I were born 10 years earlier, Beverly Hills 90210 would have been the "IT" show in this case.)

Pictures of Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Mischa Barton and Rachel Bilson siphoned off somewhere on the WWW for you to compare. You can click at these photos to see the higher resolution. I do not claim copyright for these pictures, naturally.

This is Lively attending a Chanel event (there goes again, the inevitable comparison between Barton and her - Barton's a well-known Chanel muse! Looks like Lively's becoming one), taken on April 28, 2008. She could do with some botox around the mouth area lest her caricature of a 15-year-old disintegrates even further. Below: Mischa Barton at the Sydney, Australia Fashion Week, taken on - gasp! - the same date. Oooh I love the inane drama I'm stirring.

Well, M does look more convincing as an "IT" girl somehow!

And here's the really cute Rachel Bilson who blossomed so well since her turn as Marissa's BFF Summer. (Taken April 18, 2008.)

She's just so adorable! Below: Leighton Meester sizzles in these pictures dated April 24, 2008, but somehow reminds us of R.

I love the last photo 'cos the dress looks so gorgeous filled out with her curves, and that come-hither pout certainly electrifies. I shall end off on this good note for the Upper East Siders, but you know you have lost to your counterparts at Orange County!