I'm part of a narrowing group who still rides the long, often tireless roads of Gossip Girl. Ever-winding, yet often tiresome and out right boring. Yet in the span of two episodes something shifted rather swiftly and surprisingly.



It appeared the Gossip Girl writers were fast-tracking to something more for our sparsely engaged enemies (or frienemies depending on your interpretation) Dan Humphrey and Blair Waldorf.

Friendship, pending sexual tryst, or budding epic romance; it's yet to be determined what's really in store for these two. All that I know is that since the airing of the first and last December 2010 episode "The Townie" the buzz is out and the reactions are palpating from the show's fans, shipper groups and, most interesting, the media.

One can't travel around pulse points of opinion like Zap2It.com, Fan Forum, Entertainment Weekly.com, or TV Guide.com without hearing grand mentions of the sleuthing, surprisingly like-minded, duo. Many are negative to the point of unwarranted intolerance; yet to even my surprise many are positive. So positive in fact, that certain media outlets are calling Dan and Blair the next Seth Cohen and Summer Roberts, a core, much-loved, relationship on Fox's former series, The OC. And the fandom worlds are aflutter with comparisons to that other famous pairing which was largely built on the same formula of mutual disdain, Dawson's Creek's Pacey Witter and Joey Potter.

Though I never personally shipped either relationship they both were vital components to each show's rich history and were loved by viewers all over the world. The media eluding to Dan and Blair as the next Seth and Summer is akin to labeling James Franco the next James Dean for example.

But is this fast-tracked media blitz nothing more than buzz overkill for a show floundering in the ratings. Or is it media outlets in need of generating controversy to gain internet hits?

Either way, the writers have put Dan and Blair on the express flight out of the mediocre and stale settings from which they came and into something fresh and exciting.

Was the car ride and road trip uncannily similar to Seth and Summer's trip to Tijuana? Sure was. But the dish washing scene (complete with discovering shocking common interest) and their aligning forces for the greater good of a mutual friend screamed The OC's Marissa Cooper and Seth Ala the season one episode "The Model Home".

But let's not disregard the wonderful things that make Dan and Blair distinctively great both in terms of story and characterization. They don't need to live in the shadows of past television greatness. They are epic and sustaining in their own right. And whether you believe they should be approaching romance or further sibling style-rivalry can we at least agree they are entertaining, brimming with a glorious potential that might just revive a show gasping for life?

That said, I'll leave others to willingly fly through fan board turbulence. And I'll be hesitant to board media's fast-moving hype trains. But I'm keeping on the path to where ever the writers take me with Dan and Blair. Besides, I'm comfortable riding in the vintage Morris Minor convertible anyway.