Jenna Bans and Bill Krebs wanted to bring the prime-time soap opera back to network TV. Krebs, who grew up in Grosse Pointe and graduated from Seaholm High School in Birmingham and the University of Michigan, thought an interesting venue to set their new series would be a garden club.

“What I found interesting about it is in this little insulated hamlet you had people from all walks of life that intersected with each other when they normally wouldn’t,” explained Krebs. “Someone who was working class would interact with someone very wealthy and then there was middle class; all of them seemed to find common ground when they were in a garden. We thought that would be a great crossroads for our cast of characters.”

The result was NBC’s “Grosse Pointe Garden Society,” a soapy murder mystery-dramedy. At the Garden Club, there’s Alice (AnnaSophia Robb, “The Carrie Diaries”), a Grosse Pointe North High School teacher; Brett (Ben Rappaport, “Younger”), a divorced dad of two who manages the garden center; Catherine (Aja Naomi King, “How to Get Away with Murder”), a Realtor who cheated on her husband Tucker (Jocko Sims, “New Amsterdam”) with co-worker Gary (Saamer Usmani, “Succession”); and Birdie (Melissa Fumero, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”), a divorced socialite working off her community service debt.

“I love all our scenes in the garden,” Robb said. “They’re such a blast! I love it when it’s the four of us together because we have so much fun on set as a group. It’s a great dynamic and makes all of our characters pop. There’s a great rhythm to the writing. You can feel it.”

Six months later, these four become involved in a murder and must work together to cover up the crime. They bury the body at the Garden Club, which they subsequently learned is to be dug up and replaced by a koi pond, so they have to relocate the body. Each episode begins in the present and jumps ahead six months in a nonlinear pattern, giving insights into their behavior, revealing other conflicts in their lives, and clues regarding the victim’s identity with cliffhangers at the end.

“It’s a popcorn murder,” Robb said. “I remember loving the script and wanting to read the next episode, which is always a telltale sign for me that I really like a project. I loved all of the characters’ storylines. It’s an ensemble show. I was not only interested in Alice, what her story arc was and where it was going, but with Birdie, with Brett, with Catherine, and figuring out the murder. … It’s really juicy; there’s so much to play there and it’s a lot of fun.”

The creators, who serve as executive producers on the show, promise the mystery will be solved in the May 16 season finale.

“We’re not gonna drag people down this road and mess with their heads just to have them be disappointed, realizing there’s more road to be dragged down,” Krebs said.

“We’ll definitely have some fun throw-forwards in the finale, but you’ll know who the victim is before the end,” said Bans.

Added Krebs: “We like to plant Easter eggs throughout the episodes that you don’t even realize you’re looking at them until much later. … What will hopefully be satisfying in the rearview mirror of everything is it will all add up to a clean resolution to what people have been guessing along the way.”

“GPGS” is filmed in Atlanta. Bans and Krebs said they’re disappointed they can’t film in Michigan or get exterior shots due to budget restrictions. Originally, “GPGS” aired at 10 p.m. on Sundays, but moved to 8 p.m. Fridays on April 4. The creators and Robb said they believe this is advantageous.

“We’re thrilled! It’s so exciting! Friday nights is a good time because they can promote it throughout the week and it also drops on Peacock the next day, so people can watch it over the weekend,” Robb said. “I think Fridays at 8 p.m. is a great time. It’s super reasonable. That’s time enough for promos and it drops over the weekend. We’re all really excited for the time change because it meant the network had a lot of faith in the show!”

“I have young kids and have to get them off to school the next morning, so I grudgingly stay up and watch, which I found hard — and it’s our show!” Krebs said. “We’re hoping an 8 p.m. time slot will make people more aware of the show and give it more of a fair shot at being able to watch it in real-time. If not, it drops on Peacock on Saturday, so they then have the weekend to get caught up. On Sunday night, it would be on Peacock on Mondays and many people, including my friends, would wait for the weekend to watch the episode. When you watch it on Peacock, you’ll finish one episode and not be able to resist going into the next one.”

Added Bans: “(It’s) very escapist. In a time when so many shows are dark and bleak — crime dramas and procedurals rule the world — we’re a breath of fresh air. You get to go into this very opulent, affluent world, where there’s a beautiful garden, beautiful clothes, and beautiful people doing crazy things.”

The creators praised the cast, who have been collaborative. Everyone has been on the same page from start to finish, something Krebs called “very rare.”

“We really feel a connection with the cast in a way that’s been different than other shows. I would say this cast is very active in the entirety of the show. They care about every aspect of it — production, publicity, marketing, wardrobe, story — it feels like we’re building something together as a team,” Krebs said. “The second we release the scripts, they devour them immediately. They’ll ask questions, which are extremely thoughtful and smart. They’ve all embodied their characters in such a way that at this point, they know them better than we do in some instances.”

Bans agreed.

“AnnaSophia is amazing, a total delight. Total pro, so smart. In fact, she often reaches out to us far in advance to (discuss her character),” Bans said. “She’ll have a take on Alice we haven’t thought of and we’ll go, ‘Yeah, that’s way better than what we’ve done.’ It’s a very collaborative give-and-take process with all of them.”

Robb returned the compliments, calling Bans and Krebs “collaborative and fun.”

“The energy of a show really starts at the top. Bill and Jenna are so communicative,” she said. “When I text them with a question, they’re so responsive. Bill’s always saying funny things and Jenna’s brilliant. I’m always in awe in how they share responsibility and collaborate together. They’re so passionate about the show and everyone on it; they’re so grateful to the crew and every single player, that it’s just a really happy set. It is such a joy to go to work every day.”

Robb continued: “Before we started filming, they reached out to all of us and asked: ‘Is there anything you want to do this season? Anything you want to do on a show and always wanted to do? Any ideas? We’re totally open, we’re totally game.’ I wrote pages and pages about Alice and her backstory, what I’d like to do, all based on what they’ve already written. They take it to heart and transmute it into their own vision. … They want that input, and they weave it in throughout the season. I’m very grateful to them. When you sign onto a project, you don’t know where the journey will take you. I feel this one has been extremely fulfilling and lovely.”

A ‘Grosse Pointe Garden Society’/’Good Girls’ crossover?

Before “Grosse Pointe Garden Society,” Jenna Bans and Bill Krebs collaborated on another show TV series in Michigan, specifically Oakland County — NBC’s “Good Girls.”

The 2018-21 series centered on three suburban moms — Beth Boland (Christina Hendricks, “Mad Men”), Ruby Hill (Retta, “Parks and Recreation”), and Annie Marks (Mae Whitman, “Parenthood”) — who run into money troubles and decide to rob a local grocery store. However, it turns out that the store was a money-laundering front for local mobster Rio (Manny Montana, “Graceland”), so the women must do jobs for him to work off their debt.

Although they are extremely inept at being criminals, they somehow manage to pull off these jobs through pure dumb luck — often with hilarious results. They are conflicted about continuing to be criminals or quitting once they’re square with Rio. The fourth season ended on a cliffhanger with a fifth season planned, but NBC canceled “Good Girls.”

“We ended with Beth and Rio taking over,” recalled Bans, the show’s creator.

“They were looking at the city in the distance and she would become his boss,” recalled Krebs, the co-showrunner/executive producer. “We talked about Beth running for city council.”

Added Bans: “We were gonna have fun exploring that role reversal. I definitely remember that.”

Bans explored options to move “Good Girls” to Netflix or another streaming service to conclude. However, she ran into too many contractual and financial issues in the end to make it work.

When it was suggested that “Good Girls” cross over with “GPGS” to resolve its storyline the same way “Millennium” did on “The X-Files” in 1999, both laughed and are open to such a possibility.

“We would love it!” Krebs said. “We never got to do the series finale!”

“Since both took place in Michigan, Bill and I joke about doing a crossover,” Bans said. “Wouldn’t it be funny if Retta’s character Ruby came to Grosse Pointe for a day? Never say never.”

Krebs: “We would love that as much — if not more — than the fans!”

Bans: “We’re as disappointed as the fans because we always wanted to give it a proper ending, but maybe doing it on (‘GPGS’) is a good idea.”

NBC execs have yet to announce whether “GPGS” will be renewed for a second season.