andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

The cast of Gossip Girl spent the summer on extravagant vacations (in both TV-land and reality), but it seems the rest of the world isn’t too interested in their homecoming.

Thursday’s premiere finished with a 36 per cent decrease in viewers, compared to the 2008 premiere. It’s a shocking drop for a show whose cast spent their time off in the spotlight, generating a real-time version of gossip.

Leighton Meester made the music press recording a single with Cobra Starship and launching her personal MySpace with plans for a debut solo album.

Chace Crawford was voted this summer’s hottest bachelor by People Magazine, beating out the smouldering Robert Pattinson and, unexpectedly, Dwayne Johnson (better known as The Rock).

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A record number of Canadians tuned in as “Corner Gas” turned out its lights for the last time on Monday night.

According to CTV, the homegrown sitcom attracted almost three million viewers – its largest audience ever – as it wrapped up after six successful seasons.

The finale, which aired on CTV and the A channel, also scored the biggest audience on record for a Canadian-made scripted television series.

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After 15 seasons, NBC’s groundbreaking medical drama “ER” checked out for the last time Thursday – and fans turned out in droves to say goodbye.

According to Nielsen estimates, the two-hour series finale was seen by 16.2 million viewers, the show’s largest audience in nearly three years.

It was also the most-watched drama series finale since CBS’ “Murder She Wrote” bowed out in 1996 with 16.5 million viewers.

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The season finale of “American Idol” was the number two rated non-sports program of the season, with a total 36 million viewers, Reuters reports.

“American Idol” was second to the Academy Awards, which saw an audience of only an additional two million people.

Overall though, CBS was named the number one watched network, followed by ABC, FOX and the NBC in fourth.

The Superbowl was the most watched program of the year with a total of 91 million viewers.