CW to Launch "Gossip Girl" Early; "Top Model" Premiere Cut to One Hour

Get out your Prada shoes and Marc Jacobs handbags. Gossip Girl is launching a little earlier than expected.

Realizing that schools and colleges would already be back in session (duh!) during the series' original launch (September 24th), the CW has bumped the premiere date for Gossip Girl up a week, to September 19th at 9 pm, directly behind the season premiere of America's Next Top Model.

Which, well, should have dawned on the programming execs in the first place. Considering the scads of buzz and promotion that the netlet has been rolling out for Gossip Girl, one would think that they'd, you know, want to launch the series ahead of the pack.

Therefore, the planned two-hour launch for ANTM will be cut down to an hour and Gossip Girl's launch won't have to go directly up against the premieres of Bionic Woman on NBC or Private Practice on ABC.

Probably a smart move on the part of CW, which hasn't proven itself to be the most savvy programmer. For once, the CW might actually have a bona fide mainstream (rather than cult) hit on their hands.