The book that inspired ABC's 'GCB': Clever or Offensive?

ew.com ^ | March 4, 2012 | Breia Brissey

[ilovesarah2012]

GCB, ABC’s new dramedy starring Kristin Chenoweth, Leslie Bibb, and Annie Potts, premieres tonight at 10 p.m. Earlier this year, GCB‘s executive producer Robert Harling told reporters that the show would remain respectful. ”The goal is to watch these people try to be good. What we emphasize is that we will never ever look at this in any other way than the most respectful as possible. We will never ever be disrespectful.” But it seems highly unlikely that the show won’t offend at least some people. So before the, um, Bitches make their TV debut, we decided to take a look at the novel that inspired it all. Good Christian Bitches, by Kim Gatlin, tells the tale of the recently divorced Amanda Vaughn. Amanda flees her Southern California home—and cheating husband—to restart her life in Hillside Park, the uppity Dallas neighborhood where she grew up.

[ilovesarah2012]

I am outraged! When do Christians stand up and say "enough is enough!?

[Retired Greyhound]

Can’t wait for the premiere of Good Muslim Bitches.

Oh, wait...

[Responsibility2nd]

Waiting for ABC to televize GMB.

(Good MUSLIM Bitches)

[blueunicorn6]

ABC - Always Baloney and Crap

[AD from SpringBay]

Sure sounds like a mad-cap and cutting-edge show! Haw haw... How bold of ABC! Glad they’re better than that evil Rush Limbaugh.

[al_c]

I am outraged! When do Christians stand up and say "enough is enough!?

We do that constantly ... it gets ignored. That, or we get called "intollerant bigots" or "haters" or something like that.

[Retired Greyhound]

I suppose if Rush Limbaugh had merely called Sandra Fluke a “bitch”, rather than a “slut”, all would be well.

[IronJack]

ABC (Already Been Chewed) will pump millions into producing and promoting this clunker, which will titillate a few trailer-bound morons for an episode or two before vanishing into Nielsen oblivion.

Advertisers dropped Rush Limbaugh for using the word "slut." But we're supposed to support advertisers that endorse the use of "Bitches" on network TV?

Not likely.

[Steamburg]

I’m looking forward to GMB (Good Muslim Bitches). The great story lines like Hijab or not. What to wear to a beheading. Beatings aren’t just for fun anymore. And a real favorite, how many women must go together if you leave the house and who drove? Yeper, just grab your prayer rug and belly laugh.

Offensive? Poor taste? Ridicule of religion? Have you seen GCB?

[discostu]

The ratings were mediocre, if it has the normal post premier slide it’ll get canceled. There’s your “enough is enough”.

[longtermmemmory]

just from the commercials this is a 100% skippable show.

There is ZERO reason to watch it or to support advertisers who pay for ad time.

ABC is trying to find a way to make money without viewers.

[napscoordinator]

Not to worry. Christians did stand up and said, “enough is enough” when they didn’t watch the show. They had very poor ratings on Sunday night. It won’t be on for long. I would rather people vote with their tv’s than complaining all the time. It is much more effective.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Won't be watching. Thunderstorms in the area tonight. Don't wanna get struck down in the Lazy Boy...

[al_c]

ABC - Always Baloney and Crap

Yep. For instance, here are some of the shows found on ABC Family ...

What I Like About You
That 70s Show
Mean Girls
Pretty Little Liars
The Lying Game
Secret Life of the American Teenager
The Bachelor

Hardly anything I'd allow my kids to watch.

[Leep]

Who are the advertisers. They don’t get to say, “oops we made a ,mistake either.” The title alone should be enough.

[Leep]

Who are the advertisers. They don’t get to say, “oops we made a mistake” either.
The title alone should have been enough.

[pabianice]

Christianity Today Finds Title Good Christian Bitches in "Bad Taste," But Not Offensive By Robert Wilonsky Mon., May 9 2011 at 5:54 PM ​I swear to Go ... well, OK, I promise there won't be an item about Sex and the City creator Darren Star's adaptation of Kim Gatlin's book every day. But perhaps you recall: Back in early March Donald and Tim Wildmon's American Family Association gave the series a pre-pilot publicity push by demanding an advertiser boycott and insisting that even if (which is to say when) ABC changes the name, "the content will still mock people of faith." The next day, the Parents Television Council came out and said, "The 'B-word' is toxic and is used to degrade, abuse, harass, bully and humiliate women. And the 'Christian' element only adds insult to injury." Which is why, since it's looking more and more likely that ABC will pick up the Park Cities-set series, major media outlets are beginning to take note of the series and Gatlin's book (since most people aren't even aware the show's based on one). Hence today's Christianity Today editorial, which says, look, even though "the groups' indignation is understandable," maybe the title's not so bad after all. The show is based on a book of the same name by Kim Gatlin, a professing Christian from Dallas, whose circle of Southern Baptist friends engages in a lot of gossip, some of it quite mean-spirited. "All Southern girls are taught to love Jesus, but just because we're Christians doesn't mean we're perfect," she told Newsweek. Gatlin says her book's title "is not mocking God. It's mocking those of us who love God and don't always make the best choices to honor him." On her website, Gatlin says she intends to "put a voice to the downside of gossip ... but with a message that she hopes will resonate with women everywhere." Her book's title is in bad taste, but her subject demands our attention. The book's title is arresting precisely because it should be an oxymoron. Unfortunately, even "good" Christians do and say nasty things, which look ugly to fellow believers and puzzle a watching world that rightly believes Christians should be above gossip, slander, and general meanness.

[longtermmemmory]

These shows come out of California with the suits running the show running out of NYC.

You can’t get more divorced from reality unless you are in a NYC newsroom. (CNN FNC CBS MSNBC CNBC FBC NYT)

Madison avenue has moved from sex sells into deviant sex sells.

[madison10]

Couldn’t find what “GCB” stood for until now.

[longtermmemmory]

how many of rush’s ex sponsors are sponsors of ABC tv’s “bitch” show?