‘Gossip Girl’ Threesome vs. PTC Wholesome: Ménage a Quoi?

Are threesomes the final taboo of network television? The CW sure seems to think so. Yesterday, The Wrap obtained a strongly worded letter from the Parents Television Council, who got all riled up over an upcoming episode of Gossip Girl in which three of the show's characters engage in an OM3. The PTC writes, “Television is profoundly influential in the lives of children, especially when it comes to sexual decision making -- it has even been described by one researcher as a 'sexual super-peer' -- signifying television's power to amplify, many times over, the peer-pressure teens are already feeling to engage in high-risk sexual behaviors." Maybe they're on to something.

But even a cursory look at the network’s unholy trinity of soap—Gossip Girl, Melrose Place and The Vampire Diaries—gives the impression that the network doesn’t seem all that worried about the real-life Jenny Humphreys it might spawn. Take, for example, the billboards for each show: GG has “OM3,” Melrose has “Ménage a Tues,” and Diaries has three of the show’s characters lying against one another, the words “Love Sucks” written above their bodies. They’re all kind of similar to that racy Calvin Klein poster that enraged censors when it lorded orgies over Houston last June.

But the whole thing seems a little moot, to be honest. When the fashion industry does daily battle over issues like fur and body image, inviting a third into your bed seems inconsequential. The same goes for the CW’s delicious programming, in which young audiences are regularly subjected to the glamour of deceit, murder, adultery, thievery, classism, substance abuse, conspicuous consumption, extortion, social climbing, and, to quote Vanessa in GG’s most recent episode, a total lack of any sort of “moral compass.” Surely, when piled onto this ethical wasteland, a silly three-way doesn’t seem so bad.