GCB Disappoints and Offends

Full of big hair, big jewelry and big personalities, GCB is stirring up trouble in the Christian community.

Based on the novel Good Christian Bitches, ABC retreated to the ambiguous GCB. The storyline follows Amanda Vaugn (Leslie Bibb), the former high school mean girl until she got pregnant and moved away with her sweatheart. Many years later, after her scheming, rich husband dies in a car crash, she is forced to move back to her home town of Dallas and live with her mother, Gigi (Annie Potts), who she doesn't exactly get along with.

Her former high school classmates welcome her home with anything but southern hospitality and make it well known that they have not forgiven her for the high school torment.

Commentators at the conservative website Big Hollywood have dubbed GCB an attack on evangelical Christians. The show's portrayal of Christian women plotting against one another and looking to the Bible to justify their actions only aids this argument.

However, a review in Time argues that its real theme--beyond the usual backstabbing, sex and scandal--is not beating up on Christians but beating up on hypocrites.

Kristen Chenoweth, who plays Charlene Cockburn, told The Hollywood Reporter, I think people should give it a chance. You just can't judge a book by its cover. 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.

The majority of reviews seem to agree that the show is wasting the skills of a talented cast and is too stereotypical to maintain a large audience.