7 Things: Finales #5 – GCB

As soon as it started changing names, it was pretty clear that GCB wasn’t going to have a long run at ABC. Not because the good Christians who were against the notion that there are, in fact, bitches amongst them had a valid point, but because networks are notorious for bowing to any type of pressure. They literally do want everyone to like them. Which is why they changed “bitches” to “belles” before realizing that was just stupid, and then switched to an inoffensive acronym that pretty much ensured that any person who didn’t already know about the show – or why it lacked a real name – would have no clue what it was about.

You would think that all of the silly controversy, especially the fact that Newt Gingrich used the show as proof that there is a “war against Christianity” in this country, would have sent it rocketing up the ratings. But while ratings were decent, they weren’t phenomenal, and it was going to take phenomenal ratings for a show with this many women on it to get renewed. That’s not “whiny feminist” talk, by the way. ABC has been trying to attract male viewers for the past few years, and since their most popular shows have largely female audiences, they are looking for female-led shows just-on-the-borderline enough to cancel.

There’s a reason that, when it came time for ABC to renew, they had three shows they were deciding between and they were all female-led. GCB just happened to get kicked instead of Body of Proof or Scandal, despite the fact that GCB performed better than both in that all-important 18-49 demographic that they have used as an excuse to cancel many a good show. I’m not sure why the rules flip-flop from season to season, but so is the way of things.

But for ten episodes, GCB did its thing, being unexpected and funny and exposing Christian hypocrisy in every episode.

Oh yeah, they did that.

Was the show anti-Christian? Not so much. Did it make the running point that the way in which Christians behave on Sunday morning isn’t indicative of their behavior the rest of the week? Yes, it certainly did accomplish that.

GCB was not created to be a deep, thought-provoking drama. It was meant to be funny. It was meant to entertain. And it did. Right up until the finale. Which had Sandra Bernhard. A casting decision of which I approve.