With Desperate Housewives leaving the airwaves in a few short months, ABC may be looking to see which show can fill the sexy, soapy high heels of the women of Wisteria Lane.
Enter GCB, the network's new drama, which follows a desperate (ex-)housewife — spurned former mean girl Amanda Vaughn (Leslie Bibb) — who returns to Dallas after her cheating husband leaves her high and dry. But her hometown isn't exactly welcoming. Rather, Amanda encounters a group of back-stabbing, manipulative women (including Kristin Chenoweth's Carlene Cockburn ) who want to bring Amanda down.
Despite the catty similarities, the GCB cast is quick to point out that Dallas isn't the new Fairview. "It's not as broad a comedy," David James Elliott tells TVGuide.com, calling the show a mix of Steel Magnolias and The First Wives Club. Elliott plays Ripp, Carlene's husband.
"Normally I think I would feel a little bit of pressure [about] how are we ever going to compare ourselves," says Marisol Nichols, who portrays Heather, Amanda's only true friend in the mean-girl clique. "We don't compare ourselves. We are a different show that possibly appeals to that same audience."
However, the cast is more than happy to ride Desperate Housewives' coattails in a more literal sense. GCB will air immediately following Housewives on Sunday nights on ABC. "It gives us the best chance that we could possibly hope for," Jennifer Aspen, who plays Carlene's BFF Sharon, says of the timeslot. "If we can't make it there, we can't make it anywhere."
