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.

Save Pan Am

Pan Am is my new television obsession. Yes, this is definitely due to the fact that I have always been obsessed with 60s history, but there is also a glamorous charm about the show that goes beyond that. What is most endearing about the show is the fact that the creators and writers have decided to include every aspect of 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s history that they possibly could get away with it. For example, some of the show's past story lines include JFK, communist spying (Cold War), Life Magazine, Nazi Occupied France, black American history (racism and beatings), and sexual freedom. The main characters of the show, Pan Am stewardesses, are young, beautiful, elegant, and educated women who travel the world, further proving themselves to be strong and successful in a mainly male-orientated society. Pan Am, while still showcasing men in the dominant positions, is about the female's rise to success in society. These women have literally no borders and get to do everything that they were not permitted to do growing up. There was talk that the show may be cancelled, and that is still a distinct possibility. The Playboy Club, of the same period, suffered that fate recently, and many people believe that Pan Am will follow fairly soon. In all fairness, when compared to monster shows like Dexter and Two and a Half Men, Pan Am does not seem to be doing well. However, according to tvline.com, Pan Am had 5.6 mil/1.9 viewers last Sunday, a 6 percent gain from the previous weekend. So for now, Pan Am is flying steady despite the threat of turbulence.

While I am not the biggest fan of Christina Ricci (the supposed face of the show) in Pan Am, Margot Robbie, Scrubs' Michael Mosley, Karine Vanasse, Grind's Mike Vogel, and Dreamland's Kelli Garner are fantastic and charming in their roles. Garner is especially impressive as the CIA courier Kate Cameron. I have seen her in quite a few dumb blonde roles, so this sincere and deep character is much appreciated. Robbie is slowly growing on me as Kate's sister Laura. Interestingly, in real life she is only 21. At first, Mosley's role on the show seemed to be comedic orientated. However, he has quickly become a character with extreme depth, as he experiences feelings of loss over his military pilot career. Vanasse is a lovely ray of sunshine as the smiley french stewardess Colette. Her character is a former Nazi victim, and we can look forward to a lot more from her character in the future.

So be sure to watch the show on Sunday and see what I'm ranting and raving about. Pan Am needs all the help it can get.

For a preview of next week's episode:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-HbKJEpVS4

Picture courtesy of www.film.com.