By Dan Greer
Senior Pastor Community Baptist Church, The Woodlands, TX
A new television comedy-drama series written by Robert Harling and produced by Darren Star premiered Palm Sunday, April 2, 2012, on the American Broadcasting Company network (ABC) here in the U. S. and on Fox Life in Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia. Harling, born in Nacogdoches, LA, in 1951 is a writer and film director who is best known for his play, “Steel Magnolias.” Darren Star produced Melrose Place, Beverly Hills, 90210, and Sex in the City. The series is based on the novel, Good Christian B!+@%>$, written by Kim Gatlin which received the following reader reviews that posted on Amazon.com: “The cover is the best part.” “Sorry I read this.” “Save your money.” “No, it’s not the most intellectual read you’ll ever get but it is a good trashy novel.” Metacritic, a website that uses a scoring system based upon an aggregate of reviews from critics, gives the television series a disappointing 56 points out of 100, while the A. V. Club, an entertainment newspaper, graded it with a “C.”
When ABC picked up the series back in 2011, it changed the name from Good Christian B!+@%>$ to Good Christian Belles, using the latter in some of its promotional material. However, the network again renamed the series using the acronym, GCB. ABC will be airing ten episodes, even though the network was contacted by many Christians and Christian organizations who considered it demeaning toward Christians and disrespectful toward women.
The program depicts Christian women as former high school socialite types who carry their competitive issues with them into the church, and it portrays Christian men as naïve. It goes on to characterize Dallas suburban Christian women as wealthy self-centered charlatans with control issues positioning themselves for power among their peers. The first episode also depicted church members with counterfeit sensitivity at funerals, sensuality among the older church members, and considerable moral misconduct among their youth.
I have pastored a church here in The Woodlands (near Houston, TX) for years, and I have to say that the producers and writers of ABC have got it all wrong. The good christian women I am associated with in our church and community are genuine people with a deep Christian faith, folks who contribute positive things to our society. They teach children, help the needy, support husbands, volunteer for service, care for the elderly, run households, raise families, run organizations, and participate in the workforce. Some of them are community leaders and missionaries. They are gracious, intelligent, productive, and respectful in stark contrast to their faux Hollywood counterparts depicted in GCB. The most outstanding Christian woman of our era came from my hometown of Midland, TX, and now resides in Dallas. We all know former first lady Laura Bush as a woman who radiates with honor and respect when she enters a room. She carries herself with dignity and poise and speaks volumes with her quiet and unassuming presence.
In response to criticism, according to one source, Kristin Chenoweth, a professing evangelical Christian who plays Charlene Cockburn in the series said, “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.”
I’m not sure how to interpret her response. Is she saying she doesn’t have a problem making fun of someone else’s faith but not her own … or what? At any rate, she would, and has made fun of her own professed faith. Even in New York City, far away from the Bible Belt, NYC councilman Peter Vallone, Jr. has proposed a boycott of the television series calling it, “…yet another outrageous attack on the Christian faith.”
I suppose the producers and sponsors of GCB thought it safe to poke fun at Christian women because most Christian women will go on about their lives and not react to this gross offense committed by ABC during the most holy week of Christianity. I shudder to think of the reaction and outcry from activists if the network giant were to have done a 10-week series like this about Muslim women, airing its first episode during Ramadan.
This kind of television series would be impossible if it weren’t for the support of their sponsors, and I was taken aback at some of its commercial underwriters. To me, purchasing products of GBC’s sponsors is actually supporting the underlying propaganda that it promotes, which is utterly disrespectful to the Christian women in my life, including my wife, sisters, daughters, and granddaughters. During GCB’s first airing the long list of sponsors and products included; T-Mobile, Pedigree, Macy’s, Turbo-Tax, Olive Garden, Sprint, Claritin from Walmart, Subway, Purastics from CVS, Snickers, Lincoln Continental, Reebok, Hallmark, Old Navy, Advil, Verizon, Toyota Camry, State Farm, Cody Pools, McDonald’s, Audi R8, WGC Texas, The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas, MD Anderson, Victoria’s Secret, and Red Lobster. I use some of these, and it irks me that the money I send to these companies is used to slam women whom I respect. I’m not calling for a boycott, but I will be sending letters to these sponsors expressing my displeasure at their association with ABC and GCB. I hope others will join me.