GCB

ABC, Sundays 10/9 Central

Mar 04, 2012 By Lily Moayeri Web Exclusive

Losing everything and having to move back home is the premise for the nighttime soap GCB. Leslie Bibb is Amanda Vaughn, whose philandering husband is killed in a car crash after his Ponzi scheme is uncovered. Amanda returns to Dallas with her son and daughter after 18 years, and therefore returns to her wealthy, overbearing mother, played in delicious over-the-top socialite style by a helmet-haired Annie Potts.

It turns out that Amanda—who looks like a teenager and towers over the female cast by half a foot—was the ultimate mean girl in high school. Her friends are still nursing wounds from the pain she inflicted during her teen years. Heading up this group of vengeful Southern belles is Kristin Chenoweth as her neighbor Carlene, who has been plotting revenge since high school. Carlene is out to destroy Amanda, barking orders masked in Bible quotes on her mobile phone (with "Amazing Grace" as its ringtone) to the injured ladies, who are, in essence, still high school girls.

Part Dallas, part Desperate Housewives, GCB is sudsy fun. Balancing the mini-scandals uncovered in each episode is a tidy satisfactory conclusion that appeases the need for a happy ending but leaves a cat door open for the next round of scandals. (http://www.abc.go.com/shows/gcb)

Author rating: 6/10