It's a busy day in the MTV Newsroom today. At the moment, Tim Kash is sitting down for a chat with Alicia Keys (she says her new album The Element of Freedom will be a big, synthesizer-heavy departure from her past work). But there's another interview happening just around the corner: "Gossip Girl" and "Mercy" star Michelle Trachtenberg is here to talk about straddling two hit TV shows.

Trachtenberg is probably best known for playing Dawn on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," a show created and produced by Joss Whedon. In the past few months, it seems as though we've had a regular rotation of alums from Whedon shows stop by to hang out and chat about their new projects. They are all members of a tightly-wound, closely-followed community known as the "Whedonverse," which represents the various projects that Whedon has worked on in his two-decade career.

For example, just a few weeks ago we were visited by Eliza Dushku, who is the star of Whedon's current show "Dollhouse." She also got her biggest break in Hollywood when she picked up a recurring role in the third season of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." She talked a lot about "Dollhouse" but also about "WET," the video game she recently lent her voice to.

Before that, we were visited by David Boreanaz, who stopped by to talk about his hit show "Bones" but is best known as the heroic vampire with a soul from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel." Boreanaz talked about the joys of working with Cyndi Lauper and the current vampire trend that he was way head of the curve on.

Earlier in the summer, "Castle" star Nathan Fillion sat down with Multiplayer editor Russ Frushtick to play a little "Halo 3: ODST" (he provided voices for both that game and for "Halo 3"). But what was Fillion's original claim to fame? He was Captain Malcolm Reynolds on the short-lived but much-loved Whedon sci-fi western "Firefly" (as well as the film "Serenity").

So to any members of the Whedonverse who want to sit down for a talk with MTV News — including Alyson Hannigan (Willow from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), Neil Patrick Harris (the titular character from "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog"), Anthony Stewart Head (Giles from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), Amy Acker (Fred from "Angel"), Adam Baldwin (Jayne from "Firefly") or Alexis Denisof (Wesley from "Buffy" and "Angel") — just drop us a line and we'll carve out some time for you at the center of the Whedonverse.

So you've gotten intern Rya's writeup of last night's episode, and now we bring you this startling piece of pseudo-revealing interview footage. It seems that our friend Penn Badgley -- best known as Dan, the adorable, improbably gooey-sweet Williamsburg boy who's won Serena's heart -- has a secret that he's just blown to MTV News.

Check out this moment from our sitdown with Penn and series newcomer Michelle Trachtenberg (ultra-bitch Georgina Sparks). We're pretty sure they were joking. But kids these days -- anything's possible!

And for those of you who never read the "Gossip Girl" books, find out how Georgina made Chuck Bass the man he is, after the jump. Read more...

From MTV News' Jennifer Vineyard:

Michelle Trachtenberg was "the key" on "Buffy" -- but will she now unlock secrets on "Gossip Girl"? MTV News caught up with the saucy actress on the day it was announced that she'd been cast on the hit CW show for a few episodes in May - sweeps week, yo - which also happened to be during the "Buffy" reunion. Trachtenberg will play Georgina Sparks, who comes fresh off a stint in rehab to torture Serena and Blair. How she put it:

What sort of stuff? Well, try for starters the real reason Serena left town in the first place. And Georgina, as you might recall from the books, knows Chuck from taking his virginity (in the sixth grade), knows the Dutch snowboarding team from hottubbing with them naked, and knows her former fling Nate from rehab. Could that be where she really met Serena as well? This could be great! And remember, this juicy role is something Mischa Barton was rumored to have originally turned down.Trachtenberg starts work on the show this week in New York, and will appear in four of the show's five episodes for the second season, with her first appearance airing on April 28.