‘GCB’s’ Leslie Bibb on Playing a Reformed Mean Girl: ‘There’s Still a Little GCB Up in Her’ (Video)

ABC premieres its much buzzed about new series, GCB, on Sunday. Based on the novel, Good Christian Bitches by Kim Gatlin, and created by Robert Harling (Steel Magnolias, First Wives Club), the series’ take on Christians in Dallas society has caused some uproar even before its premiere.

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“I know people get really freaked out by the name,” series star Leslie Bibb, who plays Amanda Vaughn, tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I think it’s funny. And I think it’s funny to me that people think that we’re somehow poking fun at Christianity, which is the opposite of what we’re doing.”

Clearly, ABC has tried to distance itself from the original title – first changing it to Good Christian Belles and then finally just the acronym. But, Harling and the series’ stars have defended the series’ take on Christianity.

“I think what Bobby is so beautiful at doing is he’s saying that people say they’re really religious and yet they sort of don’t walk the walk and talk the talk,” Bibb says. “And he’s sort of just casting the light on that and the irony of the title and that whole situation. So, we’re not making fun of Christians. We’re just saying, ‘Hey, do unto others as you’d have done unto you.’ ”

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Bibb plays Amanda Vaughn who returns to Dallas with her children after her husband’s scandalous death and amid the fallout of his illegal ponzi scheme. Back home, she moves in with her overbearing mother (Annie Potts) and comes face-to-face with the girls she apparently bullied in high school.

“She does not want to be like these women,” the actress says. “But, I think the reason she doesn’t want to be like these women is that she was the queen of these women and she’s having to deal with the fact that same blood runs in her.”

“She’s a reformed GCB,” the actress goes on to say. “But I always say don’t push her, because you can go back. There’s still a little GCB up in her.”

Watch THR’s interview with Bibb above and a sneak peek from the show’s debut below.

GCB premieres Sunday at 10 p.m. on ABC. For more info, visit the show’s site.

Email: Jethro.Nededog@thr.com; Twitter: @TheRealJethro