'Gossip Girl' threesome doesn't amount to much, but the ratings soar anyway

Lots of people are talking about Gossip Girl today because a mousey character started to roar. Go Eric! Wait, there was a threesome? Judging from the blogs and message boards today, the much-hyped three-way sexcapade didn't impress fans nearly as much as the blackmailing, backstabbing and scheming of good-boy-gone-deliciously-bad Eric van der Woodsen. As for that sexual tripling—among Dan, his movie-star girlfriend Olivia and his long-suffering BFF Vanessa—is drawing comparisons to spin-the-bottle in the heat department. In other words, it was awfully PG. The run-up included tequila shots and a list of "15 things you must do before graduating college in New York," but viewers saw only a fairly chaste glimpse of the actual deed. I doubt I'm alone when I say I'm looking forward to the fallout and the flashbacks. The CW soap saw a 20 percent ratings bump over the previous week, with 2.3 million viewers tuning in. That number's likely to rise substantially when time-shifted viewing is counted. So, the network has a solid start to the November sweeps, and the Parents Television Council now has the back half of the season to go nuts about.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley