Kristen Chenoweth’s GCB Tries to Nab a Sunday Night Flock

Here is my review of GCB, which is available in the current issue of the UBCO Phoenix newspaper. ABC's newest television show adds a little variety to the Sunday night line-up.

By Laura Sciarpelletti.

Kristen Chenoweth’s new ABC television show GCB, or Good Christian Bitches, initially premiered very well on Sunday nights, but unfortunately has recently started to slip in the ratings. The program centers on Amanda Vaughn, played by Iron Man’s Lesley Bibb, a Texan mother of two who is forced to return to her hometown of Dallas after her husband dies in a car accident. Amanda is left penniless since her husband had stolen millions of dollars and was running away with her best friend at the time of the accident. With no choice but to return to her mother Gigi, played by Pretty in Pink and Ghostbusters actress Annie Potts, Amanda decides to start over and reclaim her life. Unfortunately that is easier said than done, as Amanda was not necessarily a nice person in high school. Even though she has changed since graduating, her old and hyper-religious friends Cricket, Carlene, and Sharon have not.

GCB has a lot going for it, especially with Broadway icon Chenoweth playing the conniving yet adorable Carlene. Chenoweth’s success has been huge since her old television show Pushing Daisies ended, with stints on Glee and a new album. The tiny actress with a big voice brings enough humor to the show that bad acting on the parts of some of the supporting actors can be overlooked. Bibb is a good and sensible lead, and has chemistry with Chenoweth and Potts. As the title suggests, the general theme of GCB is Christian housewives. The show will certainly offend some, as it plays off of nearly every religious stereotype. The script emphasizes the leading role of men in the household, but it is the women who run the show. And these women are gossips, sexualized, conniving, ambitious, filthy rich, and bursting at the seams with drama. This Texas is not the Texas of barn dances and ranch hands, but rather it is the overly wealthy Texas with oil tycoons, ballroom hoedowns, and plastic surgery.

GCB will especially appeal to country fans with its fantastic soundtrack that features the likes of Miranda Lambert, Dierks Bentley, and The Jane Dear Girls. The show is based on the book Good Christian Bitches by Kim Gatlin, and the television series itself was created and written by Robert Harling. Interestingly, Harling went to school with Potts and based the character of Gigi on her own mother. Potts is one of the best parts of GCB, always decked out in wild outfits, spoiling her grandchildren, and trying to make her daughter Amanda feel at home in Dallas again. Country music star Sheryl Crowe is set to guest star in an upcoming episode, and she will no doubt fit right in.

If GCB’s audience grows, the show will no doubt be renewed for a second season. So stay tuned for more Bible verse battles, Boobylicious waitresses, and loads of fried food.