Gossip Girl: Guilty Pleasure?

Honestly, I don't feel all that guilty about watching this show. It's so fun! More than watching it, I feel guilty about having read the books and watching the premiere of the show the night it premiered. In my defense, I worked at a library at the time, and I saw the books going in and out like crazy, so I tried one of them out on a break and I was hooked. It was during a winter break from college - what else did I have to do?
So when I learned that the creators of The OC were working on turning the series into a television show, I eagerly awaited its premiere. At first I was a tiny bit disappointed by changes made to characters (Dan and Rufus Humphrey) or storylines, as one always is when a book is translated into a show or movie, but then I let it slide, and figured the show would do its own thing. It's not like the book is super high-quality. (Sorry.) And at least foundations are still in tact.
What exactly is enjoyable about the show? I suppose it's the intrigue of seeing how the rich and glamorous live... however unrealistic it seems to me. The stories are full of great high school drama and romance, even without the sense that these kids are actually in school. Do they really have sufficient time to roam around Brooklyn and Manhattan every day after school, preparing for charity events and other parties, or cutting up hundreds of paper snowflakes? I rarely see them pretend to do homework - the only references to school are their uniforms and any kind of disciplinary action that may come as a consequence from bad behavior. But personally, I find that it's just as enjoyable to imagine the lives of these beautiful, spoiled Upper East Side brats as it was to imagine living in a mansion in the OC.