Tom Stoppard told me they're dead.

Woo, minority lackeys reprezent! I find it amusing because I read in an interview somewhere that both actresses playing them used to be models and have college degrees in biochemistry or something.

I think that in the context of the show there could be much done with Kati Farkas and Isabel Coates, Blair's yes-girls. in the book they are so 2-dimensional that the show could do anything with them and eventually make them more then 3rd-tier characters. They could start fresh, without baggage from the books.

I'm confused. Kati and Isabel get a bigger part than Vanessa in the show????

The pilot.

I would very much like to see Kati and Isabel more developed on the show. It would be nice to have the minority "it" girls explored a bit more since all they are in the books is Blair's followers.

" Yeah, hopefully one of them have a crush/realtionship on Chuck or Serena's younger brother.

But that's just wishful thinking on my part.


Oh.

I'm irked that the only minority actors in this show play oligosyllabic dress-up dollies who look like they belong in a Gwen Stefani music video. Hopefully they become less 2-D in future episodes.

There wasn't a lot to their characters. For me though, the important thing is that they were there. They weren't just extras walking by. Or characters written in later on to add diversity to the show. They're in the show from the beginning, and that makes me happy.

They are, Nicole Fiscella is a model with a degree from Tufts in Anthropology, turned token black actress and Nan Zhang is a model with a degree in Neuroscience fom John Hopkins University turned token asian actress. How wierd.

See science is for Loserssss!

J/K of course. I do wonder why they choose the superficial hollywood route instead of getting jobs they could be proud to tell their kids about.

Either one: I've just developed a chemical compound that could ...

Either one: I played a token mindless follower on a CW show...ah memories.

So far these two seem fairly pointless yes-girls.
Are they really loyal to Blair or is it just because she's the one in power? Would they switch allegiances or ever attempt to overthrow her? I hope they start to hint more at their motivations. Not enough to make them into major characters but to explore the ranks and motivations of popularity more.

Nan Zhang no longer attends Johns Hopkins but she did not graduate

Anthropology, represent!



Everyone has to start somewhere. I don't think they would prefer their GG roles over other ones, but I think they are smart enough to know that minority roles are few and far inbetween. You have to get in where you fit in.

And other brainiacs have become actors: Natalie Portman, Brooke Shields, Matt Damon, etc.

Same here. :) She's in my year, so I've been staring at the screen trying to figure out if I recognize her from school. No such luck yet.

ETA: I hope this is still sufficiently on topic. If not, sorry!

It irks me that their only purpose on the show is to be Blair's bitches. I wish they'd give them something to do.

I just got my alloy today and for the first time, I realized that Kati (?) was all over it. Kinda funny, since Alloy is the only reason why I have ever heard of Gossip Girl.

http://catalogs.shoplocal.com/Alloy/

I think that that's their only purpose in the book too.

It really pains me whenever they say Kati's name on the show. I can't be the only one in the world who always pronounced it like regular old "Katie", can I?

These batty girls are about as useful as a hairdryer in the bathtub, though nowhere near as electrifying!

It is. It's pretty much a running joke that they're useless as another other than Blair's lackeys. They even realize this and try to suck up to Blair after she and Serena become BFF again because they don't want to be forgotten. There's a damned reason why their thread is combined, after all.

I can't quite make out how they pronounce it. Is it KAH-tee? I've got the worst hearing.

It is pronounced "KAH-ti".

"Kati" is, according to Google, a Finnish or Hungarian derivative of "Katie" (Kay-ti).

nevermind please delete.

I think I prefer Kati. Isabel looks a little.. dead.

I like Kati as well. Isabel is too much of a non-entity out of the non-entity twins, which means she anti-exist.

I tend to like Isabel's clothes more though.

I can't ever remember which one is which...

Kati is the gorgeous Asian chick who hosted Blair's Japanese-inspired 17th birthday party.

Isabel....is the other one.

(Shrugs).

In the interest of trying to make as if these characters actually have more substance to them... umm.. are they anorexic/bulimic? Gay? Actually smart but just pretending not to be?

who knows?

Or was she simply quoting from Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion?

(Although it has been years since I've seen that movie, but I vaguely remember one of the characters claiming to have invented the Post-it Note and reeling off the chemical process for making the special glue, much like Kati did.)

Please delete, not relevent.

Kati rocks, she's like London Tipton. Right down to being Asian.

Love how Kati plans on majoring in neuroscience considering how Nan Zhang was majoring in that before she dropped out to pursue acting.

I loved how Kati and Isabel had two brothers (Richard and Raymond North?) as their escorts.

I like the new term Minoriteens. I love their outrageously, hilariously tacky outfits. In the beginning of "Hi, Society!", when everyone was practicing dancing for the cotillion, they were both wearing these bright leg warmers and Flashdance-outfits. Very cool.

I think Nicole Fiscella and Leighton Meester are very close in real life, I read in an interview that Leighton feels closest with Nicole and they're always seen at fancy events together, I assume Leighton brings her along. This makes me feel sad for Nan Zhang, possibly sitting alone in her apartment crying, or something.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we finally found out where Kati got the weird "Kah-tee" pronunciation: Apparently it's a diminutive of Katia, at least as far as I could, er, hear in "Hi, Society."

I thought Kah-ty's dress was a little slutty for a debut. Cut out midriff?

Her name is Katja Farkas? Sounds Eastern European. Is Katy adopted?

The New Yorker's 'Intelligencer' had something to say about the Farkases -



- linked to this photo of the Faskases, which would support your supposition that Kati is adopted, Miss Scarlett.

It would certainly explain why an very Asian girl has a very Eastern bloc name (but then again, you can't judge a book....blah blah assumption cakes).

She might still be adopted, but didn't she have a brother that owned the very Asian inspired apartment in "Seventeen Candles?"

Maybe Kati's parents adopted two Asian children?

Or maybe Kati's father is European and her mom is Asian? I very much doubt we'll get this much history into the character so I'm not sure why I'm pondering it this much!

I think Kati and Isabel were both white in the books, but since the entire main cast of Gossip Girl is white TPTB felt they needed some more diversity so they brought in Kati and Isabel and made them Asian and African-American and left the names the same. I guess we can assume that the ‘Farkas’ comes from Kati’s father / grandfather / great-grandfather who is/was white.



I’ve read that Leighton, Chace and Nicole are all very close and hangout a lot. I think it’s interesting and kind of nice that the two leads of the show have befriended and hang out with an unknown actress (Gossip Girl is the first and only thing she’s done according to IMDb) who plays a minor recurring role in show. Nice to know they aren’t snobbish in anyway.

Is that common? For people to snub new actors?

The cast seems very nice in general, though, so...

becbec you're freaking me out with that photo. Is that real? LOL. I have no idea what's going on, but I can't help but laugh.

From the encounters I've read, the Gossip Girl cast and crew are extremely nice and generous. I love hearing things like that and I hope they won't change in that aspect when they get big.

I know a couple of Korean girls who were born and raised in Russia and so were their parents before they came to New York. It's a plausible cover story.

Is it me or has Kati & Isabel become slightly more fleshed out as characters on this last episode? As in you finally get to distinguish the minions, even if its a very minor distinction. For some reason, Kati is reluctant to ditch Blair and probably genuinely liked her as a friend and Isabel is out to ride on the coattails of the most popular and richest people.
I still wish that they had a back story or at least more lines. I read somewhere that they were actually going to be the funniest part of the show and have bizarre three line conversations after each scene.
However, the plan fell through

I was just about to come and point that out. Kati seems to really enjoy her relationship with Blair, maybe thats why she was the one that talked more and helped her out on her birthday.

Excerpt from link:


I think they are a sight gag, but not because they are ethnic. It's more how they dress like they are UES Bobbsy Twins. And they say some pretty funny lines. I actually think the characterization stayed the same, but they brought in ethnic girls. Good choice as far as I'm concerned.

Looks like Isabel will need a new BFF. I wonder if they will recast or just forget about Kati entirely...

Well, I guess you can't blame a girl for wanting to get an education at Brown. Well, they're saying that Isabel is leading the pack of minions alone so that makes it sound like they won't be recasting, but I kind of hope they will. I really like using the term Minoriteens.

But if they don't, I wonder if they'll mention it? "Kati got into a boating accident..."

As much as I hate to do it, I've got to quote Chuck Bass here and say "I hate to break up a matched set." I think as visual gag the girls worked well (again, not because they're minorities). The initials on their uniforms always slayed me.