Josh Schwartz just might have me hooked again on a show I have no business watching. I avoided Gossip Girl all last season – after all, how could I really justify to myself watching a show where the target audience is 18 to 34-year-old women?

But when my new wife sat down to watch the season premier of the second season this week, she didn’t have to twist my arm to get me to join her. See, I have a soft spot in my heart trashy evening dramas, especially if they feature teens behaving badly. I wondered if Gossip Girl could match the quality of Schwartz’s previous creation, The O.C.

I was also afraid of getting too attached, however. The O.C. began as a great show, and it was one I watched religiously. But it too quickly became a caricature of itself, as main characters began to behave more and more ridiculously.

My wife’s (then girlfriend’s) family introduced me to the scandalous world of The O.C., Schwartz’s show about teenagers and their parents in high-society Orange County, one winter break during college. The show was in the middle of its second season, and I ripped through the first on DVD so I could catch up with the salacious stories of Marissa, Ryan, Seth and Summer.

The O.C. wasn’t written for me, but I was instantly attracted to the characters on the show – they had heart, and the ones that didn’t were just as fun to hate. How can you not like a father who goes surfing every morning and works as a public defender? Or a kid who is constantly quipping one-liners and loves comics?

A show like The O.C. or Gossip Girl is all about the characters, because the plots require a willing suspension of disbelief. Real life in Orange County probably isn’t like life on The O.C., just like the ritzy New York life for the high schoolers in Gossip Girl is a sensationalized version of reality for the average Upper East Sider. If TV viewers sit down knowing what they’re about to watch isn’t real – an obvious notion – then what makes a show real to its fans is how its characters behave.

The questions I always ask include: Are characters believable, within the framework the show has built around them? Are they behaving in a manner consistent with their past actions? If not, is there an explanation for this change?

I fell hard for The O.C., and then the show’s writing staff began to disappoint me as it forced its characters into nonsensical situations just to move plots along. By the third season, the show’s bright high-school students were only applying to one college each, as a way to increase drama when the acceptance (or rejection) letters came.

Will Josh Schwartz break my heart again? Gossip Girl is even more outlandish than its predecessor, with more sex, more drinking and stylized language that’s both hilarious and captivating. The show has so much promise. And yet, it could quickly descend into a she-slept-with-him-who-slept-with-her-who-slept-with-him merry-go-round.

There’s no question I’m going to start watching season one of Gossip Girl this weekend; Josh Schwartz shows are my kryptonite. And yet, I feel like someone who’s been hurt badly in his past relationship. Will I ever care for Serena, Blair, Dan, Nate, Jenny and Chuck as much as I did for Ryan, Seth, Marissa and Summer? Hopefully the cast of Gossip Girl can earn my trust, and I can learn to love again.

Tags: dudes who like chick shows, gossip girl, josh schwartz, the o.c., TV