"Good Christian Bitches" to Include a Good Gay Guy

What’s a nighttime soap about a former high school mean girl who returns to Texas after her billionaire husband dies have in it for the gay guys? Aside from the obvious in co-star/villain and super awesome gay-rights activist Kristin Chenoweth? Turns out, plenty.

Beyond the behind-the-scenes talent involved — out director Alan Poul (The Back-up Plan, Six Feet Under) is helming the ABC pilot, and out producer Darren Star (Sex and the City) is also attached — it features a gay character.

Meet Blake Caruth, the handsome metrosexual (and homosexual) husband of Cricket (Miriam Shor of Shortbus and TV's Swingtown), a woman who has grown from a plain girl with unfortunate hair into a successful woman who owns half of Texas – and has a marriage made of convenience with Blake.

Why Cricket and Blake are married is not answered in the pilot script, but the nature of their union is common knowledge among the group of former high school friends and rivals known as the "Good Christian Bitches." However, the nature of their relationship is relatively hush-hush and not discussed publicly.

Cricket, meanwhile, is just one of the group of "friends" who greet Amanda (Leslie Bibb), when she returns home to Texas with her two kids after Bill, her billionaire husband, has died in a scandalous car crash. As if that wasn’t bad enough, after his death, the Feds seized everything he and Amanda owned once it was revealed Bill had been running a Ponzi scheme defrauding investors of millions of dollars.

Blake’s character — the role has yet to be cast — has, ever since high school, had a soft spot for Amanda, who also happens to be Cricket’s former high school nemesis. Now that she’s broke, Blake takes pity on her and hires her on as a marketing consultant for his Western-themed clothing line (this is set in Texas, after all) while Cricket goes out of her way to make sure her rival reaps what she sows.

In the pilot script, Amanda joins Blake and his ranch foreman Booth Becker for dinner and afterward, as she goes to grab her purse to leave, winds up spotting the men holding hands under the dinner table. It’s a refreshing twist to show that the very powerful — and bitter — Cricket doesn’t have the perfect life and that Blake is in a relationship.

Beyond Blake and Cricket’s very different roles in Amanda’s life, Blake also serves as a moral compass and keeps Cricket on her toes — he’s smart and has values and isn’t afraid to confront his wife after she gets Amanda fired from her first job after relocating home to Texas. The pair will continue to butt heads over Amanda, and if the pilot is any indication, Blake will be the one who rights Cricket's wrongs.

And because having a beard in Texas isn’t complete without one, the couple also has a daughter: Alexandra, who of course is in on Cricket’s plan to torment Amanda.

Chenoweth, meanwhile, will play Darlene, the ringleader of the GCBs who, despite being a good Christian, finds biblical loopholes as a way to excuse her bad behavior.

It should be most be interesting to see how Dallas crossed with Desperate Housewives and Mean Girls plays out for the gay couple.

Who would you like to see cast as the handsome and meterosexual Blake?