UPDATED: Online petition begs ABC to resurrect GCB

The show was canceled after the first-season finale.

Our prayers were not answered: ABC's GCB, the Sunday night satire based on the big-haired millionaires of Dallas' Highland Park, has been canceled, according to several cast members. The one-season run of the show saw plenty of camera shots of Dallas and even more stereotypes of big-city broads. The show reportedly drew not quite 6 million viewers in the season finale and was brought to its knees after the tenth episode.

"We never thought we would not get picked up," actress Marisol Nichols, who plays Heather Cruz, told Pegasus News. "[The cast] planned on keeping it going. I think everyone did ... the fans especially."

A website called savegcb.com and an accompanying petition shows that nearly 14,000 signatures have been collected to save the show. The petition has requested 15,000 signatures, and when met, the names will be sent to ABC Entertainment in California. Says text on the petition, "If the viewers are given enough time to engage in this continuing narrative we believe they will become loyal, long-term fans of the show."

[UPDATE: Monday morning, the cap was changed from 15,000 to 100,000 signatures. The petition received more than 70,000 votes by mid-June.]

ABC

Amanda Vaughn's high school frenemies, Heather Cruz (Marisol Nichols, left) and Sharon Peacham (Jennifer Aspen, right) judge Amanda while sitting in -- you guessed it -- church.

Will it be enough? "I have no idea if that will affect it or not," said Nichols. "I know that we were almost a sure thing [to get renewed], but I'm not sure what turned it ... it all happened so fast."

The news came Friday night, when ABC told cast members that their television contracts had ended. Several cast members tweeted the news, including actress Kristin Chenoweth, who wrote "Our entire ensemble of actors on GCB are saddened. :("

The LA Times reports that ABC is filling the slots with new shows The Neighbors, How To Live With Your Parents for the Rest of Your Life, Malibu Country, Last Resort, and 666 Park Ave. Existing shows that got a renewal include Don't Trust the B— in Apartment 23, Private Practice, and Body of Proof.

GCB drew plenty of controversy, as it was first named Good Christian Bitches, then downplayed to Good Christian Belles, and then abbreviated to GCB. Full of predictable storylines, the show satirized Southern women, sometimes to a fault. One Million Moms boycotted the first season, saying it offered a "bigoted portrayal of Christianity." But it also gathered a loyal group of regulars, many who have posted online that they reveled in the show's ridiculous plotlines. With Desperate Housewives ending, it seemed like a good Sunday night replacement.

Carlene Cockburn (Kristin Chenoweth) on GCB is the sweetest devil you'll ever meet.

News of GCB's cancellation has not been mentioned on the show's official Facebook, Twitter, or blog. We contacted representatives from ABC with no response yet.

Nichols says the women on the show had become good friends. She recalls a scene in eighth episode where Chenoweth (who plays Carlene Cockburn) and Miriam Shor (who plays Cricket Caruth-Reilly) rehearsed in their pajamas for the church musical, battling it out for center stage. "It was one of the best moments I've gotten to witness," Nichols said. "It was just so funny."

Nichols joined her buds Chenoweth and Jennifer Aspen (who plays Sharon Peacham) Saturday night in Los Angeles for Chenoweth's show at the The Greek Theater, saying they had a "nice little moment" onstage the day after the show was axed.

Nichols said she and her costars aren't betting on a GCB renewal after the petition, but they would like one. "I would be super pleasantly surprised if that happens, but you know, who knows? Stranger things have happened," Nichols said.

amandaraecook, anonymous:

It's not being capped at 15,000. Once it reaches 15,000 it will go on the the next milestone - they are reaching for 100,000 by the end of this week according to the website.