Press - 2008
On the Scene: EW's Upfronts PartyNew York City's Bowery Hotel was the place to be last night, especially for
TV stars who needed a break after a rigorous few days spent promoting their new
and renewed series at their respective networks' upfront presentations. And who
better to host a TV soirée than Entertainment Weekly? I snagged the only
designer item in my closet and camped out for nearly two hours on the packed red
carpet, which featured a parade of stars both random (Jaslene and Saleisha from
Americas Next Top Model) and hotly anticipated (hello, casts of 30 Rock and
Gossip Girl!). After the jump, my rundown of the night's festivities...
While it's hard to exactly measure the amount of buzz for any given series, I
can report that the aforementioned cast of Gossip Girl (pictured, l to r,
Jessica Szohr, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley and Michelle Trachtenberg) was the
hands-down winner on the Photographers' Shout-o-Meter coming down the press
line. In fact, the noise alone heralded their arrival before I even laid eyes on
them. Unfortunately, Blake Lively (Serena) sped right down the red carpet
without doing any press -- not even a word for the humble reporter from the very
magazine responsible for the food and drink? (Sigh.) But on a brighter note, I
did get to have a brief chat with Penn Badgley, who broke my heart by expressing
his frustration with the fact that his GG character, Dan, is simply too nice
(let a girl dream, dude!). Meanwhile, Connor Paolo (Eric) told me about the
crazed fans who stalk GG's Manhattan shooting locations, while showering
affection on his girlfriend, Alice Kremelberg (seen most recently in Baby Mama).
Of course, GG isn't The CW's only addictive hit drama, and I'm not ashamed to
say I was just as excited to grill One Tree Hill star Hilarie Burton about
whether her character Peyton will ever get back together with Lucas (Chad
Michael Murray). Fans of the on-again, off-again couple rejoice: Burton says a
makeout session is in their immediate future.
It wasn't all CW stars, of course, but as much as I tried to score some scoop
from Grey's Anatomy star Sara Ramirez, she wouldn't reveal any future plotlines
for her possibly-lesbian character, Callie.
I geeked out talking to Heroes' Zachary Quinto, who joked that his impending
Star Trek film will probably skip a theatrical release and "go straight to DVD.”
And lastly, Lindsay Price admitted that the best thing about her character,
Victory Ford, on NBC's Lipstick Jungle, is her awesome sense of style. The
actress herself didn’t look too shabby, rocking quite possibly the biggest
rock-vintage ring I’ve ever seen in my life.
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