Gossip Girl

Promotional photos from next week's controversial episode of Gossip Girl aren't that controversial. There are no threesome shots (probably for the best considering the recent criticism the show has gotten for it), but they do raise some questions:

• What brings Nate and Jenny together on stage?
• What is S doing with Congressman-elect Tripp?
• Is this J's big moment as queen of the ball?
• Does V ever wash her hair?

As hinted in the sneak previews we posted earlier, the Cotillion ball is in effect and much more. Click to enlarge pictures from the episode below and comment away:

OM3, indeed.

Could next Monday's much-anticipated Gossip Girl threesome scene be pulled by federal regulators? If the Parents Television Council (PTC) has its way, it sure could.

The group has released an open letter to The CW objecting to the scene, which they are calling "reckless and irresponsible," and threatening to complain to the FCC.

"Gossip Girl routinely depicts teenagers engaging in promiscuous and consequence-free sexual behavior, which is bad enough," PTC president Tim Winter wrote the CW.

"But will you now be complicit in establishing a precedent and expectation that teenagers actually engage in behaviors heretofore associated primarily with adult films?"

In concluding its letter of protest, the PTC pleaded to the CW, "You must ask yourself, how does airing this program serve your obligation to serve the public interest?"

Rumored participants Dan (Penn Badgley) and Vanessa (Jessica Szohr). Likely joining them in this sexy scene that has everyone talking? Dan's girlfriend Olivia (Hilary Duff).

Should the PTC launch a formal complaint and government regulators agree with the PTC about the episode content, the CW could face a fine or have the episode pulled.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules stipulate that the government may pull programming "unsatisfactory or unsuitable or contrary to the public interest."

The episode, "They Shoot Humphreys, Don't They?" airs next week, and while the threesome scene has not been aired in full or in part, the promos are hyping it up.

The CW has not publicly responded to the complaints but has released two sneak previews from the episode, which contain no signs of the threesome scene, instead.

The PTC does concede that it is objecting based on the idea of the threesome scene, rather than having seen it, so it seems unlikely that the show would not air Monday.

Still, the group says it will continue to "monitor the situation closely."

1 Night. 2 Experience. 3 Some. OM3.

This is actually the tagline for next week's episode of Gossip Girl, "They Shoot Humphreys, Don't They?" As you might have heard, or guessed, there's a threesome happening!

Amazing, but true, and while we think we know who's involved in the menage-a-trois, the promos are ambiguous. Check out the spicy teaser for Monday's much-hyped episode ...

Follow the jump for two clips from the episode, which sadly don't provide further threesome details but do set the stage for some of the drama coming our way next week.

In the first clip, Chuck tells Blair to make up with Serena and be a mentor at Cotillion. A ball without Blair Waldorf is like a Tour de France without Lance Armstrong. Right?

In the second clip, Blair does go to the ball, but quickly reprises her cat fight with Serena and leaves poor Jenny mentorless and caught in between the feuding frenemies...

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Last night's Gossip Girl featured a political scandal and a battle royale between Blair and Serena that easily trumped Tripp's bid for Congress in intensity and bitterness.

Here's an episode guide to "The Grandfather: Part II" if you missed it. Now, here's a rundown of what worked, what didn't and why. Fortunately, most of it did work.

Blair and Serena are at each other's throats. Why? Who really even remembers with these two. All that matters is that their game of one-upmanship is on, b!tches!

B didn't want S at Tripp van der Bilt's election party (more on Tripp later), but she showed with fake boyfriend Patrick Roberts. Meanwhile, B had her own fake BFF.

Determined to make S jealous, B made a friend at NYU. A friend who it turned out was a call girl. S outed her to Chuck. B outed S fake-dating her movie star beau.

Things came to a head and ended with Blair's head in a cake. We loved Chuck's effort to mend fences, and the fact that it wasn't that easy. They remain on the outs.

Last night's primary story line was a good one. With the polls too close to call on Election Day, Nate's cousin thinks he needs a miracle to win a seat in U.S. Congress.

Then he gets it ... or does he?

Serena van der Woodsen lost a friend and her job last night.

As luck would have it, Tripp sees a guy drowning in the Hudson River and saves him. He's all over the news, just the boost this "hero" needs in the final hours of his election bid.

But Vanessa, who's making a documentary of Tripp's campaign, gets it on tape, and sees that the guy jumped in the river on purpose. Self-righteous V outs the plot to the news.

Tripp and Nate's grandfather denies involvement. Tripp is about to bow out of the race - he'd rather lose honorably than win dirty - when Nate steps in with our favorite scene.

Before Tripp can quit the race, Nate falls on his sword for him, admitting he set up the plot, but Tripp had nothing to do with it. In fact, Tripp really is that honorable hero on TV.

Tripp wins. He's going to Congress. And in a surprising twist, his wife, Maureen, orchestrated it. While slightly confusing, it was a compelling story line from start to finish.

Elsewhere, Dan and Olivia hit a hurdle as she told an embarrassing story about him on Late Night, then tried to prevent her boyfriend from seeing the clip online or anywhere.

We were a bit disappointed that the story wasn't really that embarrassing, but the resolution to this drawn-out story that seemed like filler turned out to be pretty cute.

Dan, being a romantic, was more concerned with the fact that she let slip it was their one-month anniversary than about anything she said about his bathroom habits.

He planned a surprise. They made up (even though there was no fight). Aww.

Below is are two sneak previews from next week's episode of Gossip Girl, "The Grandfather: Part II." It looks like the rivalry between Blair and Serena could stay dormant only so long.

The two are back in each other's faces and about ready to throw down.

The Gossip Girl sneak peek below is almost uncomfortably catty, with the frenemies at it again, looking to upstage one another in a way that can't possibly end well ...

Follow the jump for a second clip from the episode, featuring Dan and Olivia in bed. Everything is going so great with these lovebirds. Well, except for one thing.

We don't actually know what that thing is, but Olivia does. She made a comment on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon she'd rather Dan not watch. What could it be?

We'll find out, and likely before Dan, who's the last to know as usual ...

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Gossip Girl's latest installment was a quality one, if only because it featured some backstabbing and scheming - some we saw coming and some we did not - along with a little comic relief and some moments that were so straight-up b!tchy they caught us off guard.

In essence, vintage Gossip Girl at its near-best.

Monday night's episode was all about Chuck's big hotel opening, and its proprietor doing what the episode's title implies - trying to succeed in this business venture.

It wasn't easy. He was mad at Blair over last week's incident, and him being pissed just made Ms. Waldorf determined to make herself feel important and involved.

They ended up patching things up in a believable and enjoyable manner, although she and Serena are now so in a fight, which is also believable in Gossip Girl land.

Meanwhile, Dan and Olivia are still going strong, despite Nate making him watch her uber-sexy vampire trilogy on DVD, which led to the night's funniest moments.

There was also the convoluted nature of Olivia's fake relationship with Endless Nights co-star Patrick Roberts (a blatant Robert Pattinson knockoff). Also realistic.

Jenny Humphrey is officially a sellout. A cold-hearted b!tch of a sellout.

Finally, we have Jenny Humphrey. She is confused, a lost soul. One who can't decide what is more important, ruling the school or being a nice, human being.

Ultimately, she chooses the former, which involves having her minions attack both Eric and his boyfriend Jonathan over the course of an hour. Cold, J. Cold.

While this was upsetting to watch, that was precisely the point, and long-running feuds and inner strife are what makes the show good over the long-haul.

Remember Chuck and Blair's two-season courtship? Exactly. We knew J had that inner b!tch within, and it'll be interesting to see how long it consumes her.

For the complete rundown, here's a recap of "How to Succeed in Bassness" ...

Below are two sneak previews of "How to Succeed in Bassness," Monday's episode of Gossip Girl. With a title like that, and an episode focusing on Chuck, how can it go wrong?

As we saw in the episode stills, Chuck is getting ready to open his big hotel, and while he doesn't want Blair anywhere near it, he does need the help of someone else we know ...

Follow the jump for a second clip, which foreshadows a future, ongoing story: Jenny being forced to choose between her friendship with Eric and her role as queen of Constance ...

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Below is a photo gallery from next week's all-new episode of Gossip Girl, "How to Succeed in Bassness," in which the Bassnessman himself opens up his new hotel bar.

He doesn't want Blair anywhere near it, either, after the whole charade last week. What Chuck does want is for Serena to get the celebrity word out about the opening.

Meanwhile, J is forced to choose, at least to a certain extent, whether being friends with Eric and Jonathan is more important than being Queen. We think they'll lose.

Click to enlarge the images from the episode below and see what you think ...

Last night's Gossip Girl was full of backstabbing, lying, deceit and plot twists.

Classic Gossip Girl, right? Normally that's the show's bread and butter, but in this case, it was ever-so-slightly disappointing and actually felt quite a bit forced.

First off, Vanessa was a central component of the scheming, which involved herself and Blair jockeying for the honor of giving the coveted NYU freshman toast.

Caught in the middle was Olivia (Hilary Duff), getting played from both sides.

As good as we're making it sound here, 1. We just don't buy Vanessa as a backstabbing b!tch, and 2. Some of the twists were too far-fetched, even for GG.

Specifically, Blair pimped out boyfriend Chuck Bass, without his knowledge, to a gay NYU alumnus who held power over deciding who gave the big speech.

Blair looks so classically gorgeous. Which she is. But she's also mean!

This led to Chuck being kissed by a guy, and he did not like it. Well, at least we didn't, because it kind of felt like a cheap publicity stunt by the show's writers.

The lies didn't stop with that plot line. Serena and Nate pulled some interesting deceit of their own to get Carter Baizen off the hook with the Buckleys.

The problems with this subplot were that 1. Nate caring about Carter made very little sense, and 2. Even after we realized what he was up to, that made little sense, and 3. Carter inexplicably ditched Serena after they did their thing because he's too proud. Huh?

That said, it wasn't all bad, and there were plenty of great lines to go around.

For all the details, check out our comprehensive recap of  "Enough About Eve."

Three new sneak previews of tomorrow's Gossip Girl, "Enough About Eve," are out.

Suffice it to say, Serenate has its work cut out for them if they want to save Carter.

Below, the former lovers plot their strategy against Bree's family, who S' current beau is in big trouble with. Can Serena outsmart, outwit and outplay the Buckleys?

Elsewhere, Vanessa's mom is introduced, while Blair is out to take V down once again (as seen in the resumption of her game with Chuck in earlier episode clips).

Follow the jump for two more sneak previews of tomorrow's episode ...

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