America’s TV viewers must love filthy rich, beautiful, conniving and mean young women.

That’s what Marco Island-born actress Leighton Meester has been portraying as Blair Waldorf on The CW’s “Gossip Girl.”

The second season started 8 p.m. Monday and continues throughout the fall.

A simple online search shows a deluge of Meester fan sites: iheartleighton.com, leighton-meester.org, leightonmeester.us, leightonfan.net and just-leighton.com.The show was an iTunes favorite last season. And with live plus seven-day DVR viewing factored in, the premiere episode saw a 21 percent increase in the ratings among women 18 to 34, a 20 percent increase among adults 18 to 34 and an 11 percent increase in female teens, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The show is the first ongoing prime-time network TV role for Meester, 22.

At 11, Meester left Marco Island with her family to become a star in New York City and later in California, but her family still lives on Marco Island, says her dad, Doug Meester.

“It’s definitely some level of fame for her, but she’s still the same person,” he says from his island home.

Meester first became interested in acting when she appeared in a local production of “The Wizard of Oz,” according to The CW.

After moving to New York City, she modeled for a Ralph Lauren campaign shot and worked with then-photographer Sophia Coppola.

Meester made her television debut on “Law and Order” when she was 13.

Meester’s publicist and dad weren’t able to arrange an interview with her as her schedule was filled to the brim – from the Teen Choice Awards in California and making a guest appearance in an upcoming season of HBO’s “Entourage” to filming episodes of her main CW show.

Critics have hailed and harangued CW’s promotional tactics for the sexy prep-school soap. Marketers used slogans like “OMFG” and scintillating photos with headlines such as “Mind-Blowingly Inappropriate.”

But those unapologetic over-the-top storylines are why people watch, Meester told ET in a video posted at ET Online Aug. 14.

“It gives us an extra edge and makes us a show people want to watch,” Meester says. “Of course, there’s cute boys and cute girls …”

Meester’s statement mirrors what some female Southwest Florida viewers think about her character Blair.

“I think she’s a little saucy. She’s got that edge to her,” says south Fort Myers fan Brigitta Schwingendorf, 32. “She’s the bad girl of the show.”

Source: News Press