GCB

Cast

Main characters

• Leslie Bibb as Amanda Vaughn (née Stopper), the protagonist of the series.  A newly single mother and widow from Santa Barbara, California who moves back to her childhood hometown of Dallas, Texas with her two teenage children after her businessman husband, Bill (Greg Vaughan), dies in a car accident with his mistress after stealing billions of dollars from investors. Amanda stole Bill from Cricket but Cricket ended up thanking her for stealing Bill by saying she would’ve lost everything had Amanda not stolen Bill from her. She is a recovering alcoholic.

• Kristin Chenoweth as Carlene Cockburn (née Lourd), the main antagonist of the series. She is a former “javelina” (ugly girl) who was a frequent target of Amanda’s bullying and teasing throughout high school due to her short height and ugly appearance, but after several plastic surgery procedures, she is now attractive and the new leader of the GCBs. While she claims to be a good Christian, she holds a personal grudge against Amanda and is judgmental of her, refusing to accept Amanda’s apology of past mistreatment and abuse, or that Amanda is a better person now. Crafty and manipulative, she works behind the scenes to ruin Amanda’s life in order to try to drive her out of town, or possibly worse. She is also a plastic surgery addict and, as Amanda reveals in church, the owner of Boobylicious, a local Hooters-like bar. In the original novel, her name was Darlene Cockburn. Discovering how Ripp lost money to Amanda’s husband, she’s convinced Amanda believes Bill to be alive and wants to find out the truth. Talking with Amanda convinces Carlene that Bill is really dead and thinks going after Amanda might have her face retribution from God. Carlene also blackmailed Amanda, using public disgrace against Gigi, after she went on a date with Carlene’s younger brother, Luke. After Gigi sorted out the blackmail, Amanda got back together with Luke to the disgust of Carlene. She starts a “Purity Club” but is criticized by Pastor John for going too far making sex look evil. When she and Amanda discover Amanda’s daughter, Lauren, kissing Carlene’s son, Landry, the two put thier differences aside to talk to the kids, Carlene confessing to Lauren how she was constantly sleeping around in high school and regrets it.

• Jennifer Aspen as Sharon Peacham (née Johnson),  former beauty queen, now centered on cooking meals for her husband, Zack, and children. She has gained weight and reluctantly allows herself to be pushed around by Carlene. Also a victim of Amanda’s bullying and abuse in high school, she assumes Amanda is going after Zack and tries to win her husband back. When she confronts him about kissing Amanda, he talks of how Amanda was a reminder of his glory days but insists he still loves Sharon. However, she responds that she had “glory days” too and thinks she can get even more.

• Marisol Nichols as Heather Cruz, single but successful realtor and another friend of Carlene.  She is the only one of the GCBs who accepts Amanda’s apologies and befriends her, eventually defying Carlene openly by refusing to stay away from Amanda.

• Miriam Shor as Cricket Caruth-Reilly, a strong-willed business woman and another one of Carlene’s friends. She is just as crafty and wicked as Carlene. Cricket also holds a personal grudge against Amanda for the high school years of teasing and bullying, and does her best to try and prevent Amanda from getting a job or feeling welcome in Dallas. She knows the truth about her husband Blake’s homosexuality, but stays with him because he is the only man in her life who loved her for who she is and not for her money. Cricket is well-known as a fitness fanatic, which is a cover for her extramarial sexual affairs. When Blake hires Amanda to design a line of jeans for her company, Cricket publicly praises Amanda’s skill as a designer, but secretly sabotages the product (and her own company) because she is jealous of Blake and Amanda’s friendship and refuses to forget when Amanda stole Bill away from her. And on episode 6, Blake (her husband) makes a special request for her. Because their first daughter is going away, Blake asked if they could have another child. While going hunting Heather convinced Cricket was talking about a baby and Cricket couldn’t shoot a deer. So on episode 7 Cricket said yes, and they will have a baby.

• David James Elliott as Ripp Cockburn, Carlene’s husband, the only one of the local men who seems hostile and indifferent to Amanda. He indicates that he and Amanda’s late husband, Bill, have a past. He appears to have lost money to Bill’s Ponzi scheme and is convinced Amanda knows where it is hidden so he can locate it. Reading notes Amanda wrote to get her feelings about Bill out, he and Carlene believe that Bill is still alive and hiding with their money.

• Mark Deklin as Blake Reilly, Cricket’s husband who is secretly gay although his wife,  Cricket, knows and helps keep his secret. He was in love with his ranch foreman, Booth Becker. Blake and Booth break up over Blake canceling their plans for their anniversary because he wanted to see his daughter at a pep rally. He now has a new ranch foreman named Rusty. Blake, like most of the men in Dallas, is friendly with Amanda, though in his case it is actual friendship and not attraction. Blake is the second-in-command of Caruth (Cricket’s company) and personally designs most of their clothing lines.

• Brad Beyer as Zack Peacham, Sharon’s lecherous, car-dealership husband who secretly loves Amanda. He kisses her against her wishes, Carlene spying it and believing Amanda encouraged it. He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys but injured his knee and tells Sharon he wanted to reclaim his “glory years” with Amanda but insists he always saw her as the one woman in his life.

• Annie Potts as Elizabeth “Gigi” Stopper, Amanda’s prudish, self-righteous, Christian mother and Dallas socialite. She made “Gigi” her nickname because of her dislike of being called “Grandma.” Despite Amanda’s claims of wanting to live a normal life, Gigi pushes her to be part of Dallas high society.  Gigi and Amanda still have issues over Amanda’s belief that Gigi can’t accept her wanting her own life and how Gigi is embarrassed by her. Gigi always thought Bill was no good for Amanda and enjoys saying “I told you so” about Amanda’s mistakes in life. When Carlene’s Uncle Burl and his wife Bitsy (Gigi’s high school rival) come to town, Gigi is happy as she and Burl get along well. Burl reveals he has a heart condition and Bitsy, believing Gigi wants her husband, intends to take him on a worldwide cruise, preferring he die with her than be with Gigi. However, Bitsy ends up dying in Gigi’s home when she chokes on a rib. Immediately after the funeral Burl tries to get together with Gigi, but Gigi claims it would be wrong so soon after his wife had died. Later Gigi and Burl secretely try and get together but due to Carlene thinking it was Amanda with her brother Luke, Neighbourhood watch caught them. At the fundraiser the next day, Gigi tells everyone by kissing Burl in front of everyone.

References:
More about GCB on Wikipedia
More about GCB on ABC