Robert Harling, Screenwriter, Returns With "GCB" on ABC Bill Matlock/ABC From left, Brad Beyer, Jennifer Aspen, Kristin Chenoweth, Miriam Shor and Leslie Bibb in "GCB," a series created by Robert Harling that begins Sunday night on ABC. LOS ANGELES - What happens when movie studios stop making the kind of movies you know how to make? If you're the comedic screenwriter Robert Harling, and you've ruled out making a living as a Norma Desmond "it's the pictures that got small" drag queen, as he said the other day, you take your bag of writing tricks and go to television. Why not give it a whirl? Mr. Harling said, and so he is. His first TV series, an ABC dramedy called "GCB" that is loosely based on Kim Gatlin's novel, "Good Christian Bitches," makes its debut on Sunday night. From the late 1980s to the mid "90s Mr. Harling delivered a string of hit movies starring actresses of a certain age and dealing with female-focused themes like fading beauty. Call them chick flicks if you must. "Steel Magnolias," centered on a group of eccentric Southern women, helped make Julia Roberts a star. "Soapdish," with a scenery-chewing Sally Field, took audiences backstage at a soap opera. Mr. Harling was also brought in to fix comedies like "Sister Act." His "First Wives Club," starring Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton, took in over $261 million at the global box office (adjusting for inflation) in 1996. Then Mr. Harling's run slowed. His first stab at directing flopped: "The Evening Star," a 1996 sequel to "Terms of Endearment," generated only about $18 million in today's dollars, according to Box Office Mojo. He took time off to travel, became a script doctor for films like "Sweet Home Alabama" and worked on some original ideas of his own. By the time he dived full bore into a new movie - a big-screen, bigger-shoulder-pads adaptation of "Dallas" never completed - Hollywood had changed around him. The movie factories wanted franchises that could play on a global level, R-rated comedies aimed at young moviegoers, and animation. But as for films tailored for older women? With few exceptions (Nancy Meyers), not interested. "I just kept being told what I wanted to do was too expensive, too expensive," Mr. Harling said of his torturous "Dallas" experience, which stretched over several years. ABC, on the other hand, snapped up "GCB," which stars Kristin Chenoweth as the rich ringleader of a nasty Texas clique. Her childhood frenemy moves home from California and claws start to pop. If the first episode is any guide, the series, produced by Darren Starr ("Sex and the City"), will be way, way (way) over the top. Think "Dallas" meets "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert." "Right from the beginning we thought this was a home-run idea for us," said Channing Dungey, senior vice president for drama development at ABC, a division of the Walt Disney Company. ABC hopes the series will strike a chord among women 25 to 54 years old, the core audience for that network's "Desperate Housewives," which will end in May. It's a risky endeavor. Although the chipper Ms. Chenoweth has recently kicked up dust on "Glee" and has a following from her work in Broadway musicals ("Wicked"), she has never anchored a successful series. The network, worried that the show's full title could turn off conservative audiences, truncated it to the difficult-to-market "GCB." Mr. Harling said he rejected an effort to rename the series "Good Christian Belles." Still, conservative groups have pounced. "The B-word is toxic and is used to degrade, abuse, harass, bully and humiliate women," the Parents Television Council said when the show was announced last year. "And the "Christian" element only adds insult to injury." Ms. Chenoweth, who is overtly religious, said the naysayers are rushing to judge. "Bobby Harling is a man who prays, and he doesn't make fun of his faith," she said. He has fun with it. As an example she rattled off one of her favorite lines from the series: "Cleavage makes your cross hang straight."