The CW has been promoting the second season of Gossip Girl, which begins on September 1, with irony-laden ads quoting outraged reviews of the show. (“‘Very bad for you’ —The San Diego Union-Tribune”; “‘Mind-blowingly inappropriate’ —Parents Television Council.”) But the show’s creator, Josh Schwartz, doesn’t like how the ads come across, “using other people’s displeasure as a compliment.” In fact, it makes him feel “weird.” “Those are actual quotes,” he said at a party marking the show’s second season, in Sag Harbor. “The network came up with that, and I just stand back. I don’t want anything to do with it.” After all, he knows the show is racy, but the ads reduce it to mere provocation. “It’s like, What am I doing? It’s bad. It feels bad. It’s wrong. When you drive by a poster for your show and it says, ‘Every parent’s nightmare,’ you have mixed feelings.”

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• Archive: “Intelligencer”
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