GCB: The Complete First Season

Although it was executive produced by wunderkind Darren Star (creator of Beverly Hills, 90210 and Sex and the City), this spunky dramedy series only lasted for 10 episodes during the 2012 first season. An acronym inspired by Kim Gatlin's 2008 source book Good Christian Bitches (modified to Good Christian Belles), GCB kicks off the pilot with a Ponzi schemer husband who's killed in a fellatio-related auto accident with a mistress. Under investigation (while the repo men literally take the chair from under her), the adulterer's wife—California mother-of-two Amanda Vaughn (Leslie Bibb)—packs up her teens and heads home to Dallas, much to the delight of her estranged affluent mama (Annie Potts). The rest of the townsfolk aren't as happy to see the now-reformed Amanda, who once exhibited a venomous brand of “mean girl” terror against former peers, including obliging real estate agent Heather (Marisol Nichols), erstwhile beauty queen and yo-yo snacker Sharon (Jennifer Aspen), bitter businesswoman Cricket (Miriam Shor), and the viperous pint-sized zealot Carlene (Tony Award-winning Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth, who shows off her pipes during Sunday sermon performances here). Storylines include situations involving various men who come on to Amanda, her job at a Hooters-like establishment, a husband who has a secret penchant for male ranch-hands, and various church- and school-related parties, all peppered with regional touches including country music, cowboy hats, and quotes such as “this is my gunfight at the Not-O.K. Corral.” Serving up biblical references and bawdiness, this silly short-lived series is an optional purchase. (J. Williams-Wood)