2012 American mid-season replacement TV series
GCB (also known as Good Christian Bitches and Good Christian Belles) is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Robert Harling, produced by Darren Star, and starring Kristin Chenoweth, Leslie Bibb, Jennifer Aspen, Miriam Shor, Marisol Nichols, and Annie Potts. Airing on ABC, the series was based on the semi-autobiographical 2008 novel "Good Christian Bitches" by Kim Gatlin. The series centers on a recently widowed and financially ruined woman who moves her family back to the upscale Dallas-area town where she grew up.
The series debuted on March 4, 2012, as a mid-season replacement for "Pan Am". The tenth and final episode aired on May 6, 2012, and the series was cancelled on five days later.
A reboot of the failed, short-lived series was considered by The CW in November 2018, and again in October 2019 as a high-school focused series, but neither concept moved beyond the exploratory stage.
Synopsis.
The series follows Amanda Vaughn, former high-school "Queen Bitch" and recently widowed mother of two, who returns to her hometown of Highland Park, Texas, an enclave of Dallas. Formerly rich, Amanda lost everything when her husband was exposed as stealing billions of dollars from investors and died in a car crash with his mistress. She meets the former schoolmates she used to mock: Carlene Cockburn, the new "Queen Bitch"; Sharon Peacham, who was beautiful in high school and is now heavy and insecure and does the bulk of Carlene's bidding; glamorous business mogul Cricket Caruth-Reilly, whose husband, Blake, is gay; and Heather Cruz, a powerful Dallas real-estate agent. Amanda and her teenage children move in with her wealthy 60-something mother Gigi Stopper, who tries to influence Amanda's parenting and style choices, and gives her advice about strategic maneuvering among these women. While Amanda has grown considerably since high school and wants to move on with her life, Carlene and the others still resent Amanda. They don't believe she's changed and are out to drive her away.
Development and production.
Jennifer Aspen became the first actress cast in the pilot in February 2011. Aspen plays the role of Sharon Peacham. On March 1, 2011, it was announced that Leslie Bibb had landed the role of Amanda Vaughn in the pilot. Annie Potts also joined the show as Amanda's overbearing mother. Potts fielded 3 pilot offers before settling on "GCB". Creator Robert Harling went to high school with Potts and based the character of Gigi on Potts' own mother.
On March 4, 2011, "Deadline" announced that Miriam Shor had joined the cast. On March 10, 2011, it was announced that Marisol Nichols had also joined the ensemble cast. On March 14, 2011, it was announced that Kristin Chenoweth had landed the lead role of Carlene Cockburn, the GCBs' queen bee. On March 16, 2011, David James Elliott was cast in the role of Ripp Cockburn, Carlene's husband.
On May 13, 2011, ABC picked up the pilot for the 2011–2012 television season. In July 2011, ABC put in a short order for just 10 episodes, to be available as a mid-season replacement for any troubled series on the network.
On December 1, 2011, it was announced that Sheryl Crow and Sandra Bernhard would be guest stars in the series.
The series debuted on March 4, 2012, as a mid-season replacement for "Pan Am". The tenth episode aired on May 6, 2012, and the series was cancelled on May 11, 2012.
Naming.
ABC was contacted by a number of Christians and Christian organizations who objected to the original title of the series, "Good Christian Bitches", as they believed the name was demeaning toward Christianity, while some advocates for women found it problematic to use the word "bitches" to refer to women. Word of the name change came along with ABC's announcement that it had ordered the series. The series was renamed "Good Christian Belles" which appeared in several promos before the final renaming to the initialism "GCB". Several ABC affiliates in Texas and other states in the Bible Belt had threatened to not air the show if the name wasn't changed. It was known as "GCB" in Australia.
The American Family Association filed a petition against the show, arguing that "With a title like "Good Christian B-tches", you can imagine what kind of show it will be. Even if they change the title, the content will still mock people of faith." Its sister group One Million Moms also called for a boycott of "GCB" as "blasphemy at its worst!" New York City councilor Peter Vallone, Jr. called for a boycott of "GCB" claiming the series is "yet another outrageous attack on the Christian faith." Series star Chenoweth, a self-proclaimed evangelical Christian, said "I certainly wouldn't do anything that would make fun of my own faith. This is just chocolate cake, and it's actually a love letter to Dallas."
Despite being retitled in the U.S., the series aired under its original title "Good Christian Bitches" in Denmark on Kanal 4, in Sweden on Kanal 5, in Norway on TV Norge and in the Netherlands on NET5. In Brazil and Latin America, it will air under its second working title "Good Christian Belles" on Canal Sony.
Reboot discussions.
In November 2018, it was announced that a reboot of the short-lived series was in the works at The CW from original producer ABC Studios as well as CBS Television Studios. In October 2019, it was confirmed that the reboot of the original series had been dropped, though The CW briefly considered a new concept with the same title, targeting a younger audience by focusing on a high school girl.
Music.
Most of the music heard on the show is available for purchase at the iTunes Store and went on sale every week consecutively, on the same day episodes aired. Music releases include "This Little Light of Mine" performed by Miriam Shor and Kristin Chenoweth and "Prayer of St. Francis" also by Chenoweth, originally recorded for her Some Lessons Learned album. There are also many unreleased songs, like "Jesus Is Just Alright with Me" by Shor, Chenoweth, Mark Deklin and Cast, Deklin's "It's a Miracle", both from the episode "Pride Comes Before a Fall", Sheryl Crow's "The Gospel According to Me" and Shor's rendition of "Amazing Grace", both from episode "Forbidden Fruit".
Background.
An official album release featuring songs from the soundtrack titled "GCB: Music from Season One" was planned for a May 8, 2012, release, although after news of cancellation the release was apparently postponed or cancelled as well. Series star Kristin Chenoweth contributed two tracks to the album; Other contributing artists include country duo The JaneDear Girls and singer-actress Emily West. It consists mainly of original country, Christian songs, and only a few songs (Jason McCoy, Rick Trevino and Elizabeth Cook's) that have been previously released. The entire soundtrack is available as individual singles on iTunes and Amazon, except "Can't Behave" by Brett Eldredge; none of Jeff Beal's original score from the show is included.
Reception.
The show received mixed reviews from critics. Metacritic gave it an aggregate score of 56 out of 100 or "mixed or average reviews" based on reviews from 21 critics.
"The A.V. Club" awarded the pilot episode with a disappointing grade of C−, remarking that the show failed to make an impression. Both critics, however, noted Chenoweth's performance as a highlight.
The show won the "TV You Betta Watch" category at Logo's 2012 NewNowNext Awards.
Eric Winter, who played Luke Lourd, said, "This is an extremely creative and smart show that just needs more of a chance to take off and run."
References.
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