CW's 'Gossip,' 'Veronica' closer to pickup

May 09, 2007 CW's hot drama pilot "Gossip Girl" is moving a step closer to a series pickup as it has been approved to begin staffing, while another female-centered CW Network drama, the three-year-old "Veronica Mars," is inching closer to a renewal after a trailer for the proposed revamped version of the series got a warm reception at the network, sources said. The nod to "Gossip Girl," about rich teens in New York, puts co-creator/executive producer Josh Schwartz in the enviable position of having two pilots -- along with "Chuck" at NBC -- given permission to begin staffing days before the networks make their series pickups. Meanwhile, CW entertainment president Dawn Ostroff is said to have been very impressed by the trailer "Mars" creator Rob Thomas filmed for an alternate fourth season of the show, which fast-forwards a couple of years and has the title character (Kristen Bell) studying at the FBI Academy.

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