Bad news for Bluck (or Clair or Chair) fans: Chuck (Ed Westwick) and Blair (Leighton Meester) are breaking up.

Rumors have been swirling on message boards that the two would split before the end of the season but now E! News has confirmed it. And there’s no way to sugar coat it. Insiders are saying, “It’s a bad, bad breakup.”

After almost a full season of peace and love between Chuck Bass and Blair Waldorf, it will be Chuck who ends it.

Apparently, Chuck does “something horrible,” and everyone hates him for it. It will come as no surprise to fans that Jack Bass (Desmond Harrington) is also implicated in the break up drama.

No word yet on how long their off-again status will last, but it will unfold in either episode 17 (“Inglourious Bassterds”) or episode 18 (“The Unblairable Lightness of Being”), which air in mid-April.

The show is currently on hiatus until March 8. Its replacement, Life Unexpected, debuted Monday night to the highest ratings The CW has seen in a year. Hopefully, Life’s success won’t mean the end of Gossip Girl all together.

One of the long running mysteries on Gossip Girl has involved Serena’s long-lost father, but it won’t be long before that mystery is solved. The show has booked a very recognizable face to make an appearance on the show in the spring as Serena’s dad.

William Baldwin, who was last seen in Dirty Sexy Money, has signed on to play Serena’s deadbeat father who returns for his daughter. Starting in April, Baldwin will appear in several episodes of the series, which is on hiatus until March 8.

Serena (Blake Lively) has spent a significant portion of the current season looking for her father while her mother, Lily, has been hiding letters from him. Serena has also been busy playing homewrecker with a congressman, but that’s a story for another post.

Baldwin played Patrick Darling on ABC’s Dirty Sexy Money; his other recent credits include Forgetting Sarah Marshall and The Squid and the Whale.

The choice of Baldwin seems like a good one, not only does he resemble Blake Lively but he is no stranger to prime time soaps or real-life family drama.

Adam Lambert has been scheduled to appear on an upcoming episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, but the rumor he’ll be guest-starring on Glee is unfortunately not true. “Glee guest star rumor: just a rumor, sorry guys,” Lambert tweeted.

Although producers for The Oprah Winfrey Show aren’t confirming anything yet, Adam Lambert told fans via his Twitter feed that he would be sitting down with Oprah soon.

“Oprah: def true,” Lambert Tweeted. Oprah’s fans have reportedly put out a call for Adam Lambert fans on Facebook to give a reason why they love Adam so much. “I’m really excited. I want to meet her,” Lambert told Extra. “We have the same birthday! She’s incredible. What a great leader, communicator, philanthropist.” Lambert said he was “really curious what she is going to ask me. Maybe she will dig and make me cry.”

Though Glee fans will not be seeing Adam Lambert on an upcoming episode of that hit musical show, Lambert told fans on his Twitter that there are other shows he’d love to be a part of. “If I could pick any show to guest star on, I’d loooooooove to be on True Blood or Weeds,” Lambert writes. “Those shows are amazing.  Prob. need some major acting classes though first.  The casts of both those shows are first rate.”

“Oh yea,” he continued ” I’d love to be on Gossip Girl too!  Leighton is amazing.  I should be Blair’s shopping buddy, ha ha.”

In the past Adam Lambert has hinted at a desire to act on camera.  Though the glam rocker has had previous acting experience in various theatrical productions, he has expressed an interest in branching out.  During an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer he was quoted as saying, “Acting is something I’ve done a lot over the past eight or ten years.  If the opportunity came up and it was the right thing, I would love to be part of a film.”

Suggesting that ratings for The Jay Leno Show might be a whole lot stronger if its lead-in shows were as well, Tuesday night’s episode drew 8.40 million viewers after it followed the season finale of NBC’s The Biggest Loser. The hit reality show averaged 13.43 million viewers, peaking with 15.15 million in the half hour before Leno.

While this represented a 45 percent drop in viewers, it did give the Leno show its highest ratings since its first week in September. Among adults 18-49, regarded by advertisers as the key demographic group, it was No. 1 in its time period, and among viewers overall it placed second to a repeat of CBS’s The Good Wife. (On Wednesday night, only 4.53 million viewers tuned in as it again placed last among the major networks.)

All CBS shows, including NCIS and its spin-off, NCIS: Los Angeles, were in rerun mode Tuesday but produced solid ratings nevertheless. NCIS attracted 15.01 million viewers, beating the first hour of The Biggest Loser, which drew 12.18 million. NCIS: Los Angeles, which had to compete against the final hour of Loser, in which the winner was announced, came in second with 12.16 million viewers versus Loser’s average of 14.7 million in its second hour.

Over at Fox, Glee’s finale performed well on Wednesday night. Episode thirteen, titled ‘Sectionals’, pulled in 8.1 million during the 9pm hour, just falling shy of last week’s series peak.

Also at 9pm, NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit drew 7.97 million, 14.31 million watched Criminal Minds on CBS, and a rerun of Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show had 1.68 million for The CW.

ABC’s Modern Family and Cougar Town grabbed 9.62 million and 6.92 million at 9pm and 9:30pm respectively.

ABC won the 8pm with a rerun of the Christmas special Shrek The Halls, which had 8.53 million, and The Middle, which logged 7.67 million. CBS nabbed 7.71 million and 7.16 million with The New Adventures Of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried.

So You Think You Can Dance managed 6.66 million for Fox, NBC’s Mercy was seen by 7.14 million, and 910,000 watched a Gossip Girl repeat on The CW.

Fox will be throwing a coming-home party for last year’s American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert. Fox has stayed away from the fracas regarding Lambert’s controversial performance during the American Music Awards.

Adam Lambert is confirmed to make a live appearance on the result show of Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance finale on December 16th. He will perform his single Whataya Want From Me which is taken from his debut album For Your Entertainment.

It will mark the controversial performer’s first appearance on the network since he was announced as the No. 2 finalist in last season’s American Idol last May. The dance contest is produced jointly by 19 Entertainment, which also produces American Idol, and Dick Clark Productions, which, along with ABC, yanked Lambert from an appearance on Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve show scheduled to air on December 31st.

ABC received around 1,500 complaints about Lambert’s “sexually-charged performance” at this year’s American Music Awards. During the performance millions of viewers saw Lambert “simulate oral sex with a back-up dancer, plant a passionate kiss on the mouth of a male keyboard player and gesture to the audience with his middle finger during the closing act of the live music awards show.”
Adam will not be the only American Idol alum who rocks the reality dancing show. This week, Idol winner Kris Allen is also set to perform on the live results show, performing Live Like We’re Dying on December 9th.

Before singing on SYTYCD, Adam Lambert has to visit ABC’s The View first. Instead of having a live stage act like he did at the 2009 American Music Awards which cost him Good Morning America and Jimmy Kimmel Live! appearances, he is scheduled to tape his performance and interview with the hosts. The episode will be aired this coming Thursday, December 10th.

Two days after appearing on The View, he will take the stage of the Atlantic Bank Center in Miami, FL. for a hosting gig with Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester.

Things start off several hours into the future as Serena and Tripp are both wearing gender-appropriate stupid hats in Tripp’s philanderer-mobile as he declares his love for her.  Things turn all sorts of Chappaquiddick-flavored as Tripp swerves to avoid hitting a family of wolves who have escaped from Twilight and hits a guardrail, compacting the front end of his car and knocking Serena unconscious with a head wound. From there, the episode shifts back several hours into the time-space continuum to tell the story of how things got that way. By the end of the episode, things become further complicated for all of the Upper East Side crew, only resolved for a select few before Gossip Girl goes on winter break. 

At Casa de Van der Humphrey, Lily is reorganizing her closet obsessive compulsively, as most of the females on this show do in times of crisis.  Since Serena hasn’t been returning her phone calls, Lily is all verklempt, to the point of missing a condo association meeting, sending Rufus as her stand-in for him. Rufus obliges like a good little hubby and meets with Holland Campbell, a condo board meeting head who makes with the insta-TMI, divulging that “We all sacrifice ourselves for love,” particularly when your husband was nailing  your yoga teacher. 

Speaking of banging, Serena is shacking up and playing house with Tripp, going all goo-goo eyed over Tripp and his crazed Medusa stare.  Tripp, meanwhile, ponders when the poop will hit the fan and his political career will be affected and secretly calls Maureen.  He lies to Serena and says he’s calling Grandpa Van der Bilt for advice – a fact that Nate later refutes when he tells Serena that Grandpa is in Bermuda.  Serena starts to realize something is up when she’s alone in Tripp’s other home and Maureen pays her a visit, clutching the letter from Papa Van der Woodsen as blackmail.  The kicker is, she has realized that it’s in her best interest to allow Tripp to cheat and make Serena the Marilyn and her the Jackie O.  Maureen has deemed it’s okay for Tripp to have his fling, keep his career, and their marriage because it helps to allow them both to have a dream that neither is willing to let go of.  It’ll only be a matter of time before Tripp comes back to her and Serena is just another hump n’ dump.

The real twist is that Maureen says unless Serena does as she says, or she spills the beans to Rufus that Lily may have extended her stay with CeCe to hit the skins with Papa Van der Woodsen for one last romp.  Rufus would not be pleased if he knows this.  Serena calls Van der Mommy to tell her how wrong she was about Tripp and to give her a heads up on Maureen’s blackmail plans.  Lily vows to tell Rufus what really happened, but never gets a chance thanks to Serena’s accident and drama with Chuck.  Regardless, Maureen delivers the letter to Rufus who ends up hanging out in a bar with condo association divorcee, Holland Campbell. Wow.  That was a quick rebound, Rufus! Way to actually talk to your wife and see what really happened, chief! Maybe Holland will appreciate your stupid Bolognese!

Meanwhile, Serena is furious that Tripp lied to her about the divorce and his status with Maureen.  She demands to go home and Tripp offers to drive her.  The scenario with the wolves, bad hats, and the car crash from the beginning of the episode ensues.  Serena hits her head on dashboard and Tripp takes advantage of the situation.  Nate, who has been in constant contact with Serena and reeks of eau du desperate, arrives on the scene as Serena is being loaded into the ambulance.  She asks how Tripp is and Nate tells her he’s not there. Which is funny, considering that Tripp moved Serena to the driver’s side and then left her inside the car.  At the hospital, Tripp is waiting outside and is all sorts of concerned to Nate. Maureen then says that Grandpa is on her side and will corroborate her story that Tripp was with her all night, discrediting Serena’s story.  Given her track record with booze, drugs, and guys, Serena will look like a fool if she tells the truth.  Nate then punches out Tripp in a satisfying moment. 

In other stories this episode, Queen Jenny and Eric end up calling a truce after Eric’s plan involving Ugly Duckling-turned-(semi)-Swan Kira and another of Queen J’s coordinating beret and leather jacketed minions trying to out-fashionista Jenny with a new YSL bag.  Jenny trumps them all by providing the exclusive YSL bags for everyone in her crew, all but declaring “Am I not merciful!?” while looking fabulous.  Eric’s attempt to make Queen J look like a tyrant backfires and he decides to call it a day and allow her to be queen.  Either way, Queen J may be up for a  fall since Hot Belgian Drug Dealer is back in the picture and Jenny is earning money for those bags by helping him unload his wares. 

Dan has a cheesy story this time around and ends up with yet another bland, not really attractive redhead that the Gossip Girl casting directors have a thing for this season.  Dan makes out with Willa the Drama Major and then tells Vanessa that he really, really cares about her.  Vanessa is totally nonplussed by this revelation.

And in the other big storyline of the ep, Chuck Bass finds himself on the one year anniversary of his father, Bart’s death.  Not just that, but in true Ebenezer Scrooge fashion, Chuck is haunted by Bart’s ghost who alternately insults him and urges him to “do the right thing” as Chuck contemplates buying a building and displacing its homeless denizens into the street for profit. 

Blair notices Chuck’s lack of emotion and calls him out on his deliberate lack of mourning.  At a loss, she goes to Lily for help, telling her Chuck won’t visit Bart’s grave and that Bart never told him where his own mother was buried, deeming it too morbid for a kid to know.  Although she’s concerned about her former step-son’s well being, Lily was completely oblivious that it was the first anniversary of Bart’s death. 

Lily eventually shows up to talk to Chuck, bearing a bunch of wild flowers.  He responds that the best way to honor Bart is to work. When she leaves, he Chuck chucks the flowers in the trash, noting that they should be yellow roses, his mother’s favorite.

Things come to a head with Serena’s accident when most of the main players find themselves in the hospital to visit her, check on her well-being, and say “I told you so” about getting involved with Tripp… Except Nate who ends up sleeping in the hospital room to show his love for Serena.  Awww….

While visiting Serena at the hospital, a rather shaken Chuck gives pause to think about his father’s death that day and possibly could of having lost a friend/former step-sister this year.  Blair shows support for Serena and Chuck, coming to the hospital in her very classy pajamas.  (Seriously, though… Her pajamas were probably classier than some stuff most people wear in public!)

The hospital brings back uncomfortable memories for Chuck.  He tells Blair that his father thought he was weak and he believes his father was right.  He couldn’t be there as Bart died and was taken off life support, as we see in a flashback. Blair tells Chuck that it wasn’t a weakness to not be able to handle death, but rather it was because he couldn’t handle feelings.  Since that day one year ago, he’s changed and has made Blair a better person and has grown as a man so much.  She brings him past the room where Bart died and allows him to say goodbye in his own way.

Chuck takes a more active action in mourning his father that night and arrives alone at the grave site for his mother and Bart, bearing yellow roses.  He sees a sobbing woman at the grave who runs off after calling Chuck by name.  She leaves behind a locket with Bart’s picture in it. 

Looks like we’ll be meeting the infamous Chuck Bass’s supposedly-dead mother in 2010 when Gossip Girl returns!

The CW Network again led all networks in prime-time gains from all DVR play-back for the week ending with Smallville and Vampire Diaries making huge strides.

On Nov. 15, 2009, according to Nielsen Live+7 day vs. Live-Only viewing, the CW’s biggest increases came in its young target demos of women 18-34 (53%, 2.36rtg v. 1.54rtg) and adults 18-34 (53%, 1.68rtg v. 1.1rtg), followed by adults 18-49 (51%, 1.39rtg v. 0.92rtg) and women 18-49 (50%, 1.85rtg v. 1.23rtg).

Monday’s tandem of Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill continues to deliver big DVR gains, with GG up 57% in women 18-34 (3.84rtg v. 2.44rtg), 59% in adults 18-34 (2.38rtg v. 1.5rtg) and 53% in women 18-49 (2.57rtg v. 1.68rtg); while OTH grew 43% in women 18-34 (3.02rtg v. 2.11rtg), 45% in adults 18-34 (1.91rtg v. 1.32rtg) and 41% in women 18-49 (2.15rtg v. 1.53rtg).

On Tuesday, 90210’s ratings improved 64% in women 18-34 (3.14rtg v. 1.91rtg), 66% in adults 18-34 (2.02rtg v. 1.22rtg) and 74% in women 18-49 (2.16rtg v. 1.24rtg), and Melrose Place improved 80% in women 18-34 (1.69rtg v. 0.94rtg), 70% in adults 18-34 (1.19rtg v. 0.7rtg) and 70% in women 18-49 (1.19rtg v. 0.7rtg).

The penultimate episode of this cycle’s Top Model’s ratings improved by 63% in women 18-34 (3.39rtg v. 2.08rtg), 59% in adults 18-34 (2.05rtg v. 1.29rtg) and 56% in women 18-49 (2.9rtg v. 1.86rtg).

Freshman smash The Vampire Diaries only gets bigger once all DVR playback is included, gaining 57% in women 18-34 (3.82rtg v. 2.43rtg), 51% in adults 18-34 (2.68rtg v. 1.77rtg) and 57% in women 18-49 (3.09tg v. 1.97rtg).  Supernatural improved 40% in women 18-34 (1.85rtg v. 1.32rtg), 47% in adults 18-34 (1.78rtg v. 1.21rtg) and 41% in women 18-49 (1.71rtg v. 1.21rtg).

Friday’s Smallville remains in heavy DVR demand, as its Live+7 ratings rose above its live viewing by 82% in adults 18-34 (1.69rtg v. 0.93rtg) and 80% in adults 18-49 (1.62rtg v. 0.9rtg).

Several of the CW shows added about a million more viewers once all DVR playback was factored in, with Vampire Diaries adding nearly 1.6million more viewers (4.89mil v. 3.32mil), Smallville gained nearly 1.3 million additional viewers (3.47mil v. 2.2mil) and Top Model improved by an even 1 million viewers from DVR playback (3.66mil v. 2.66mil).

It’s Thanksgiving at the Van der Humphrey house and everyone’s attempting to patch together their holiday traditions.  What initially starts off as a small, intimate get-together turns into a multi-party Charlie Foxtrot – which can also apply to this episode. 

The crux of the episode hinges on Serena and Tripp’s attempt to play JFK and Marilyn.  The twist this time is that Tripp is planning on dumping his wife, Maureen.  He tells Serena that the real reason why he wants a divorce are trust issues stemming from Maureen’s involvement in orchestrating Hudson-gate… not because he wants to boink his new, young, blonde assistant.  Stupid Serena still wants to spend some quality time with the Tripp-ster.  Although she’s still in unconsummated territory with her boss and vows to stay that way, Serena tells Lily and the rest of the Van der Humphries a big ol’ lie that Tripp’s forcing her to work the soup kitchen with him on Thanksgiving day. Oh, and the two make out like someone slipped them both some Spanish Fly in the elevator in Chuck Bass’s building. Little do they know, Chuck’s surveillance cameras got their little tryst on film. 

Serena’s community service-themed lie comes back to bite her in the tookus when Lily runs into Maureen on the street. While she’s aware that they’re both wearing the same jacket, Lily is oblivious to the fact thatMaureen, just served with the news that she’s the soon-to-be “ex” Mrs. Congressman Van der Bilt, was bleary-eyed with tears. Lily makes mention that Serena is will be working the soup kitchen with Tripp and she’s bummed about it. Smelling that this is a crock of gravy, Maureen takes up Lily’s invitation for her and Tripp to show up at the Van Der Humphrey dinner and give Serena some “family time.” 

Things get further complicated when Serena pops by Nate’s to tell him what’s going on.  Tripp then cancels their Thanksgiving plans on Serena, telling her that Maureen was a wreck when he broke the news to her.  (Duh. Like any social-climbing, young politico wife who just staged a coup to get her hubby elected to office would be thrilled that she’s being ousted for a newer, even younger model?)

Speaking of twisted triangles, Dan is still patting himself on the back about his three-way (which is such old news already). He keeps blathering on about how Vanessa keeps saying he has developed a new facial expression (that isn’t an “o” face) that he keeps fixing her with that has never been before.  Speaking of Vanessa, she shows up at the Humphrey loft, looking for a place to crash since she didn’t have permission from her mother to stay at the dorms. And speaking of Vanessa’s holiday-hating, societal convention tirade-spouting mother, Gabriella Rufus invited her to Thanksgiving dinner, too.  (This marks the second time Gina Torres: Harbinger of Television Show Death has made an appearance on the show.  This does not bode well for Gossip Girl.)

Across town, Dorota the Maid is trying to calm the one-woman tornado known as Miss Blair while simultaneously dodging Vanya the Doorman’s phone calls.  Blair is all in a tither since her mother, Eleanor has just come back from Paris with Cyrus and has with her a large manila envelope from her lawyers regarding revisions to her will.  When Blair grills Dorota about what Eleanor may be keeping from her, she rips the bag out of Dorota’s hands she thinks is carrying the secret and it’s loaded with an empty pregnancy test.  Blair kicks into high gear attempting to pry the news that her Mom is preggers from Eleanor’s lips themselves and gets her to accompany her and Chuck to Thanksgiving dinner at the Van der Humphries.  They may as well since Dorota will be working the dinner and attending to those guests, too. (And yes, Dorota ends up being festively-clad with an orange leaf print collar, cuffs and apron on her standard black maid ensemble.)

Jenny and Eric are civil with each other at first, flip-flopping their roles as Good Step-Sibling and Bad Step-Sibling. Jenny asks Eric if he wants to invite Jonathan to dinner.  Eric informs her that he and Jonathan broke up.  Jenny sets about making reparations, texting Jonathan and calling for a Turkey Day truce so that her step-bro and his former beau can reconcile. Jonathan never contacts her back and doesn’t show up to Thanksgiving dinner.

That doesn’t stop everyone else from showing up, however. And everyone also includes Lily’s mother — that one-woman, WASP-y Axis of Evil – CeCe.  Dear, simple Rufus made the mistake of inviting her to dinner after wishing her a happy Thanksgiving during a video chat. She insists she’s well enough to travel, her illness having gone into remission back in August and is delighted to attend. Boy, will this be fun!

The fun really starts rolling when Rufus stands at the head of the table and tells this lame pilgrim/rockstar joke as obnoxiously loud, pop/techno soundtrack music blares over most of the dialogue at the table.  Amid the torrent of dramatic revelations and assorted snit fits that go down are:

•        Eleanor isn’t pregnant… Dorota is!  And she’s not returning Vanya’s calls!  Eleanor’s secret is that she’s going to live with Cyrus in Paris.  (Which is also where Blair’s other two fabulous daddies live!).  Instead, Eleanor wants to leave Blair to “conquer New York” and make it hers.  Are you kidding?! Blair is only 19!  She hasn’t even finished a midterm yet, much less is she ready to take Manhattan! (Way to write out two entertaining minor characters, Gossip Girl.)
•         Jenny hears from Blair that Eric was the one who sabotaged her at cotillion.  Eric retorts that Jenny’s sweet potatoes are bland.  (Really.  He did.)  Furthermore, he cops to his own dark side and tells Jenny Cakes that her time as Queen is coming to an end and he has a secret weapon to help bring her down.  (Way to play your hand, Easy-E!)
•          Vanessa freaks out on her mother, Gabriella for being a tree-hugging, self-righteous on a Humphrey-esque level disappointment and Gabriella maintains that Vanessa is an equally self-righteous disappointment of the social-climbing variety.
•         Vanessa and Dan quibble about the “facial expression.” (Curiously, with all the mud-slinging and revelations, no one spills the beans about Dan’s three-way.  Hell, I’m surprised he didn’t start bragging about it at the table!)
•          CeCe went into remission in August… Lily didn’t return home until October.

The best part of all, however, occurs when Tripp shows up to dinner with Maureen.  Ever-the-considerate boss/cheating husband, Tripp informs Serena that he’s on the way and the two will weather the storm together, even though when Tripp and Maureen show up, they’re completely lovey-dovey.  Even better,  Tripp also throws in some sappy crap that Serena eats up with a spoon that he’s grateful for the time he gets to spend with her, even if he has to share it with everyone else.

Tripp gets his chance to share Serena with everyone else – or at least what kind of a kisser she is — as Nate, at Chuck and Maureen’s behest, shares the footage of Tripp and Serena’s love in an elevator tribute to Aerosmith. Nate, Blair, and Chuck do this for Serena’s own good, of course while Maureen is merely bent on revenge.  Of course, Nate has another motive, particularly since he’s still in love with Serena.

Blair and Chuck voice their disapproval towards Serena’s stupid decision to dally with a married man, much less one in public office. Blair insists that no man ever leaves his wife for his mistress and in six months, she’ll be another Hump n’ Dump for Congressman Van der Bilt. Nate also makes a last-ditch plea, reminding Serena of his feelings and urging her to choose him over his creepy, crazy-eyed Congressman cousin.

Lily, on the other hand, is much harsher on Serena.  She tells her that she knows what it’s like to have been left for someone else. Serena counters saying that her case is different, because she (naively) believes she and Tripp will stay together.  Since common sense or morality doesn’t appeal to Serena, Lily tells Serena that until she stops fooling around with a married man, she’s no longer welcome in her house and boots her from Chez Bass/Van der Humphrey. 

Serena repents to her guests and Maureen (who could care less and still hates Serena) and publicly swears off Tripp.  However, when Serena and Blair chat in Bart Bass’s old room with the ginormous safe, she comes across the letter from Papa Van der Woodsen that Lily had intercepted and kept from her.  Throwing the letter in Lily’s face, Serena tells her mother she has no right to judge her since she kept news from the father she had been trying to contact all summer.  Just to spite everyone, Serena and Tripp are back on! FTW!

Maureen leaves the apartment separately, clutching in her hands some very potent information that made her smile.  (Gossip Girl seems to really like young, smug, upper crust redheads who manage to be somewhat bland while possessing an evil streak this season, doesn’t it?)

As Serena angrily storms out of Thanksgiving dinner following Tripp in the elevator, Lily and Rufus chat about why she was M.I.A. until October when CeCe had recovered in August.  Lily makes up some story that she wanted quality time with her mother and CeCe corroborates the story.  When mother and daughter are alone, CeCe makes like a Prada-wearing Emperor Palpatine, alluding to a secret she knows will blow up in Lily’s face.

In another corner of the Van der Humphrey house, Vanessa and Gabriella make up and Gabriella has a heart-to-heart with Dan.  She warns that while Dan and Vanessa’s friendship survived the first time he broke her heart and turned her down, a second round of this could permanently damage things between them. 

While this wasn’t a bad episode, it could have used a visit from the Continuity Fairy and the Common Sense Fairy.  With everyone else and their hamster at the Van der Humphrey table, you would think Rufus and Lily’s long-lost-and-found love child would put in an appearance. Furthermore, Tripp is going to throw away his young, yet wildly successful political career and marriage for a jobless blonde without so much as a semester of college under her belt… that hasn’t even put out yet?  Please!  Get your act together, Gossip Girl!  I expect better from you than this!

After last week’s lackluster episode with January Jones, SNL is stepping it up in December with a Werewolf, a Gossip Girl and a hospital heartthrob.

Gossip Girl’s Blake Lively will take over hosting duty on Dec. 5 with musical guest Rihanna. The actress is promoting her latest movie, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee in which she covers 10 turbulent years of the title character’s younger incarnation. The film is based on the novel by Rebecca Miller (who also directs) and navigates the turmoil beneath an apparently ideal suburban wife’s placid surface. The older Pippa is played by Robin Wright.

“Pippa’s mother is a drug addict,” the 22-year-old Lively recently told L.A. Times. “You see your mother as your mother; that’s all they are. But this realization that she’s a human being who makes mistakes, that is flawed, that is selfish, is really hard for her. And you’d think the last thing she would do would be to [make those same mistakes], but it’s really interesting to see how people repeat the cycle of abuse.”

Then, on Dec. 12, New Moon hottie Taylor Lautner hosts with musical guest Bon Jovi. The 17-year-old stars as Jacob in the Twilight Saga and, like Lively, is hosting SNL for the first time. New Moon remains the #1 movie in the country, making more than $258 million in its first three days.

Rounding out the month, James Franco is slated to guest on Dec. 19 with Muse as musical guest. Franco, who also has several movies in the pipeline, is  no stranger to TV either. He’s currently making a special appearance on the soap General Hospital and just taped an appearance on 30 Rock.

December brings with it not only the holiday season but also a mini-hiatus for most prime time shows. Here’s a list of when your favorites will return and when the mid-season replacements will debut.  The list including such highly anticipated shows as Chuck, Lost, American Idol, Big Love and 24.

DECEMBER

Tuesday, Dec. 1
Scrubs (ABC), 9 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec. 2
Launch My Line (Bravo), 11 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 6
Alice (Syfy), 9 p.m.

Monday, Dec. 7
The Closer returns (TNT), 9 p.m.
Men of a Certain Age (TNT), 10 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 8
Better Off Ted (ABC), 9:30 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 13
Keeping Up With the Kardashians, 10 p.m.

JANUARY

Monday, Jan. 4
The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love (ABC), 8 p.m.
Make It or Break It returns (ABC Family), 9 p.m.
The Secret Life of the American Teenager returns (ABC Family), 8 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 5
The Good Wife (CBS), 10 p.m.
NCIS (CBS), 8 p.m.
NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS), 9 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 8
Ghost Whisperer returns (CBS), 8 p.m.
Medium returns (CBS), 9 p.m.
Numb3rs returns (CBS), 10 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 9
Legend of the Seeker returns (syndication)

Sunday, Jan. 10
Big Love (HBO), 10 p.m.
Chuck (NBC), 9 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 11
Accidentally on Purpose returns (CBS), 8:30 p.m.
The Big Bang Theory returns (CBS), 9:30 p.m.
CSI: Miami returns (CBS), 10 p.m.
Heroes returns (NBC), 9 p.m.
How I Met Your Mother returns (CBS), 8 p.m.
Two and a Half Men returns (CBS), 9 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 12
American Idol (Fox), 8 p.m.
Southland (TNT), 10 p.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 13
Criminal Minds returns (CBS), 9 p.m.
CSI: NY returns (CBS), 10 p.m.
Gary Unmarried returns (CBS), 8:30 p.m.
Leverage returns (TNT), 10 p.m.
The New Adventures of Old Christine returns (CBS), 8 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 14
Archer (FX), 10 p.m.
Bones returns (Fox), 8 p.m.
CSI returns (CBS), 9 p.m.
Fringe returns (Fox), 9 p.m. (for four weeks, then off until April)
Grey’s Anatomy returns (ABC), 9 p.m.
The Mentalist returns (CBS), 10 p.m.
Parks and Recreation returns (NBC), 8:30 p.m.
Private Practice returns (ABC), 10 p.m.
Project Runway (Lifetime), 10 p.m.
Supernatural returns (CW), 9 p.m.
The Vampire Diaries returns (CW), 8 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 17
24 (Fox), 9 p.m.
Human Target (Fox), 8 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 18
Life UneXpected (CW), 9 p.m.
One Tree Hill returns (CW), 8 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 22
Caprica (Syfy), 9 p.m.
Smallville returns (CW), 8 p.m.
Spartacus (Starz), 10 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 25
Greek returns (ABC Family), 10 p.m.
La La Land (Showtime), 11 p.m.
Secret Diary of a Call Girl (Showtime), 10 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 28
Burn Notice returns (USA), 9 p.m.
White Collar returns (USA), 10 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 29
Psych returns (USA), 10 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 31
American Dad returns (Fox), 9:30 p.m.
The Cleveland Show returns (Fox), 8:30 p.m.
Family Guy returns (Fox), 9 p.m.
The Simpsons returns (Fox), 8 p.m.

FEBRUARY

Tuesday, Feb. 2
Lost (ABC), 9 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 4
The Office returns (NBC), 9 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 11
Past Life (Fox), 8 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 19
Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO), 9 p.m.

MARCH

Monday, March 8
Gossip Girl returns (CW), 9 p.m.

Sunday, March 14
Sons of Tucson (Fox), 8:30 p.m.

Monday, March 22
Nurse Jackie (Showtime), 10 p.m.
United States of Tara (Showtime), 10:30 p.m.

APRIL

Thursday, April 1
Fringe returns (Fox), 9 p.m.

Sunday, April 11
The Tudors (Showtime), 9 p.m.

Tuesday, April 13
Glee returns (Fox), 9 p.m.