GUESTS OF GUESTS DO NOT BRING GUESTS

NYC Prep. on Bravo was my favorite show of the summer. Sure, I also loved True Blood, Entourage, and Burn Notice this summer, but nothing came close to NYC Prep. NYC Prep. is a shameless "reality" show based on GOSSIP GIRL (which I also LOVE). In a nut shell, both shows are about wealthy teenagers who attend private high schools in Manhattan and their social lives outside of school. (I guess at 38 what I really want to be is a wealthy teenager in high school living in New York City...hmmm, I don't know wht to make of that).

First of all, parents in middle America would be shocked by this show, and I like that. It's never been harder to be a teenager than it is today. These kids drink, smoke, swear, have sex, hook up, go on dates, make up and breaking up, are constantly texting, IMing, using their IPods, shopping at the most expensive stores in New York City, planning charity functions, renting penthouse suites in luxury hotels, and trying to get into college or move forward from their high school years.

What I really like about the show is it reminds me of my own teenage years. These kids make the same mistakes that every other teenager makes. They all give each other advice, whether asked for or not. The advice is never heeded and always ends in disaster for all the characters (people? cast? I'm not sure what to call them....). But each cast member is endearing in their own way.

PC is the resident gay who hasn't yet come out and is developing a pretty serious drug & alcohol problem. Jessy is in such a hurry to be an adult, she has long since lost any aspect of the joy of being a kid. Camille is a know it all who really doesn't know anything. Kelli thinks she's going to be a star, but she's not. And Taylor is just trying to make it through "public school" with so much on her plate (studying & homework, gymastics, dance, and a boyfriend) that she's falling behind in her grades.

And my favorite cast member is Sebastian. Sebastian is a player in very sense of the word. Sebastian brings girls out to French restaurants so he can speak French in front of them and impress them into bed. He goes out with a lot of girls on dates, and while pretty successful, still makes a lot of rookie errors. But he's honing his craft and you can see by the time he's a senior in college he'll have the ladies eating out the palm of his hand.

The most interesting part of the show for me is when they are in "the confessional chair" telling their side of the conversation that just went on. It's priceless. But if you want to get insight into what the modern world is like for today's teenagers living in New York City, this is as close as you can get. The quote of the blog comes from Jessy, who was berating PC for bringing an uninvited entourage to the fashion show she was working on during Fashion Week. See what I mean by crazy?