'Gossip Girl,' 'NYC Prep': Privileged to meet you

0 Comments | USA TODAY, June, 2009 | by Andrea Mandell

For decades, producers have captured variations of the modern teenager and repackaged them into hit soap operas -- think Dawson's Creek, Beverly Hills, 90210 and, most recently, CW's Gossip Girl. Tonight, Bravo reverses tradition with NYC Prep (10 ET/PT) and shines a spotlight on real teens living overpriced lives in glittery Manhattan. USA TODAY's Andrea Mandell breaks down how NYC Prep stacks up to its scripted sister.

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Haves & have-nots

-- Gossip Girl: At a fictional prep school, trust-funders and young socialites go head-to-head in vicious games against poorer students hailing from Brooklyn.

-- NYC Prep: Real prep-school kids are pitted against public-schoolers in a social-climbing world stocked with chauffeured...