I’m all for waxing philosophical about shows on The CW, but what were you smoking when you wrote Thursday’s pop culture column, Alexandra La Manna? (“‘Gossip Girl:’ another distortion of reality,” Thursday in PLAY). You lampoon Gossip Girl, a show about excess, for being too “excessive.” You criticize primetime drama, a genre that champions fiction, for being too “fictional.” You even suggest that – and this was LOL – worthy – after watching shows like The O.C. (may it rest in peace), “society will want to emulate them…and real life will become nothing more than a lurid fantasy.”

Believe it or not, some of us know that entertainment programming is just – wait for it – entertainment programming. We don’t watch Gossip Girl to find paragons. We don’t watch Las Vegas to preview careers. We tune in because, after a full day of living our own “real lives,” it’s fun to kick back, relax, and peep 16-year-old Serena van der Woodsen getting drunk at Bungalow 8.

You’re right: Gossip Girl is often far-fetched. But what, exactly, are you suggesting we watch? Shows about everyday college kids “shotgunning Natty Ice in their friend’s basement”? You should pitch that to The CW. Maybe they’ll run it after Smallville?

We’re not Facebook friends, Alexandra, so I don’t know what kind of TV you like. But before you trash fictional dramas for being “glamorous” and “far-removed,” try watching one that’s not. I’ll bet it’s just as compelling as your lackluster column.

– dan macsai

Medill senior

Former Play?editor