[New York, December 1. Image via Splash.]

A fully clothed Lezzie Lizze Maguire smooched The Boring Dude. Then she puckered up with The Chick Nobody Likes. Then The Boring Dude snogged The Chick Nobody Likes. A beat. A look. Cut to: An illuminated phallic symbol. That was it. In its entirety. I'm not saying I wanted more, but there was so much hype!

Oh, actually, there was more:
Three people SLEEPING in one bed? The SCANDAL.

These desperate ploys to draw viewers (Tyra's stint!) are wearing as thin as this season's storylines. What I liked about the books (and the show… at first) was the portrayal of incredibly wealthy, privileged NYC high school students with messy, complicated lives… the same, universal teen angst seen in classics like The Catcher In The Rye and Sixteen Candles. The characters proved that money can't buy you love, security, a good seat in the cafeteria (or the Met steps). But watered-down claptrap like the "threesome" — and the fact that most of the characters aren't in high school anymore cheapens the experience.

Also? Threesomes are so '90s.

Earlier: Is Gossip Girl The Best Show Ever? It Could Be, If They'd Let It

[New York, August 26. Image via Bauer-Griffin.]

[New York, August 3. Image via Bauer-Griffin.]

[New York, March 23. Image via INFDaily.]

[New York, September 9. Image via Splash.]

[Blake Lively & Penn Badgley on the set of "Gossip Girl," Central Park, New York, July 16. Image via Splash.]

[New York, July 7. Image via INFDaily.]

• More rumored changes for The Greatest Show On Earth, Project Runway: Season 6 of the show, the first to be broadcast on Lifetime, may feature "More Than A Pretty Face" magazine Marie Claire in lieu of Elle as the affiliated fashion magazine sponsor. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Whoah: Are New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn and Skeletor/stylist Rachel Zoe more similar than we could have ever imagined? Possibly, if it's true that Cathy Horyn was also mysteriously not invited to the dinner and dancing portion of tonight's Costume Institute festivities. [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• And what does legendary costume designer Bob Mackie not like about the fashion industry? "Doing a fashion show that's on for 20 minutes and then it's over and everybody runs to the next one. Nobody sings, nobody dances, nobody tells jokes. I found it quite unsatisfying." I second that emotion. [WWD, sub req'd]

• It's so hard to be Gossip Girl's Penn Badgley: "I wear a lot of Burberry at events and the brand's been really supportive of me since the beginning. On the show, we wear H&M suits." [Fashion Week Daily]
• Sex and the City costume designer/fun drunk lesbian Pat Field: Now designing Diet Coke bottles. [FabSugar]
• More pearls of wisdom from Tim Gunn: "Always keep your tux jacket closed in photos." [Page Six]
• Starring in the latest Gap ads are actors Ginnifer Goodwin, Liv Tyler, Hugh Dancy, Fabcon Clemence Poesy, Catalina Moreno, Edgar Ramirez, photographers Scott Schuman (The Sartorialist) and Ryan McGinley, and also Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman, model Chanel Iman, Visioniare's Cecilia Dean, and Princess Coldstare herself, Leigh Lezark. [FabSugar]
• Leona Lewis: The latest celeb to believe she can be a fashion designer. A vegan fashion designer, that is. Watch your back, Portman and McCartney. [Fashionista]
• Lord & Taylor is launching a new "reality" advertising campaign, with TV and radio spots featuring real customers "ambushed' in their stores by "celebrity stylist" Robert Verdi and quizzed on their shopping experiences. Oh Lord. [WWD, sub req'd]
• WWD asks: "Tax Rebate Checks: Will They Spend Or Will They Save?" [WWD, sub req'd]
• More stars coming to tonight's Vogue and Armani-sponsored Costume Institute gala: Kate Bosworth, Thandie Newton, Audrey Tatou, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jourdan Dunn, Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann, and Roberto Bolle will all be there. In other words: Lots of good photos for us to dish on tomorrow. [WWD, 1st item]
• Also: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Gisele Bündchen and Tom Brady, Scarlett Johansson, Iman and David Bowie, Sofia Coppola, Karen Elson and Helena Christensen. [Vogue UK]
• Mary Alice Stephenson (formerly the fashion director at Harper's Bazaar and the co-host of America's Most Smartest Model on Vh1) is shooting a special for E! on tonight's festivities, set to air May 8th for the viewing pleasure of us plebs. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Elle editors might have put Kelly Clarkson on the cover of the mag, but that doesn't mean they think she's very fashionable. [Page Six]
• Marc Jacobs: Now in Moscow. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Former model Josie Maran may have fake breasts tits. [Awful Plastic Surgery]
• The fashion on Gossip Girl? Kinda crazy. But that's why we love it so. [EW]
• The rock stars today? The just don't dress like they used to. [LATimes]

The Good:
Damn you, Blake Lively: How do you always look so good, even when you're just wearing jeans and a blazer?
Kelly Rutherford: I can haz yur dress and luks az I ages?
Dear Taylor Momsen: Why did I not have your polished looks and pretty flapper dress when I was a mere 15-years old?

The Bad:
Blair Waldorf would never have let Leighton Meester out of the house in a color that fails to flatter and in a cut that does not flatter.

The Ugly:
Dear Jessica Szohr: Why must you insult us by wearing American Apparel?!

[Images via Getty.]