Today the WSJ’s Katie Rosman wrote that “Ronna & Beverly” “might be the most buzzed about television show … never actually to become a television show,” and who knows, that might be true — despite many a media and social media impression over the past week, Showtime thus far has declined to release ratings information indicating whether the buzz is translating to eyeballs. Tonight Ronna & Bev get one more kick at the can with a 12:05 a.m. airdate on both coasts — and if the ratings are persuasive enough, we could be looking at a test case for the impact of newfangled social media on that most old-fashioned of platforms: TV.

I’ve written about “Ronna & Beverly” a few times now, not only because I know creators Jessica Chaffin and Jamie Denbo (disclosure) and not only because I like it (disclosure?) but because I am watching this as a potential test case. Just over a week ago, Ronna & Beverly, both pilot and act, was known IRL in amongst the UCB and Funny or Die crew in New York and LA, and certainly to Showtime execs, but their web presence was not anything to kvell about. Cut to now, when they’ve buzzed their way into the Twitstreams of some high-octane tweeters like million-plus follwer club members Kaling, Feig, Stein, Sarah Silverman Show‘s Steve Agee and newly-minted member Riggle, plus the FOD and UCB community. It’s gotten them buzz in Variety, the WSJ, Jezebel and on this site — and so if the numbers reflect that, why wouldn’t Showtime pay attention? (Check out clips from the pilot here and here — they are clearly not budgeting for high-octane explosions, though the lox budget may creep up there.)

If it does, then that will be a first: A pilot getting picked up specifically because of a vocal, active online audience. Think of what Chuck had to do to hang on (though admittedly the budget there is a lot more extreme). “Ronna & Beverly” have hit this point just when Twitter is blowing up (and other social media, but Twitter’s the biggie here) — remember back in April when it was such a big deal that Ashton Kutcher hit a million followers? Less than a year later the million-member club has 203 members (you just made it, Cory Booker! Welcome!) and the network(s) is (are) growing ever day. On the flip side, TV is now nichified like never before, and what counts as a decent audience share for a show on Showtime is very different than on network (the season finale of Dexter smashed Showtime’s ratings records with 2.6 million viewers — meanwhile, 5.3 million makes Heroes seem like a flop — but Californication‘s series high was 1.1 million, and United States of Tara debuted with 881,000 viewers a year ago (headline: “Showtime scores high ratings with United States of Tara”). It remains to be seen, of course, if a 1.1 million audience on Twitter can translate to a 1.1 million audience on Showtime — but it seems to me like those numbers are getting awfully close to each other.

Lucky for Ronna & Bev, they’re meeting in the middle at a rather fortuitous time. Whatever happens with “Ronna & Beverly” — and I hope it gets picked up because I frankly need more dating advice like “Do you want to be honest or do you want to be married?” — it’s starting to see pretty clear that they are hitting the sweet spot of the intersection of TV and social media like never before. Between the support from the online comedy community (and, as I have said before, never mind the Jews — Ronna & Beverly may not yet be ready for a panel at Comic Con, but oy can’t you just see them at B’nai Brith or Hadassah?), the growing buzz and the fact that Showtime just upped its subscriber base to 17.5 million, it actually seems like a pretty safe bet. Throw in how cheap it is to make, its pedigreed team and the fact that it’s good, and I don’t know why Showtime wouldn’t jump.

If they do, though, you can bet that a whole lot of TV execs will suddenly start paying a lot more attention to Twitter. We’ll see what happens, nu?

Second Chance For A TV Pilot — And That’s Where The Internet Comes In [Mediaite]
“Ronna and Beverly”: How the Showtime Sitcom Went from Cancellation to Sensation [WSJ]
New, scripted series boost cable ratings [Variety]
Ronna & Beverly: First Look (NSFW) [Mediaite]

But all that aside — it’s damn funny. I’d seen the pilot but watched it again last night and cracked up anew, catching little things I’d missed the first time around. Denbo’s Beverly is the clueless, blurty Thelma to her partner’s Louise, and has more of the slapsticky moments, but Jessica Chaffin’s Ronna cracked me up multiple times with her interjections into Beverly’s often cringe-inducing ramblings, and her reactive facial expressions speak volumes. (Beverly gets some action in the pilot with her handyman, Ray Natoli, who is hired to instal a mini-fridge by her bed – that’s not all he installed! – but if this pilot gets picked up I will be very interested to see the more tightly-controlled Ronna get a love interest. I it will be interesting to watch this woman who operates within such a rigid structure of rules get shaken up. Also, I want to see a flashback to the scene at Ronna’s son’s Bar Mitzvah where Beverly showed up wearing the same dress as Ronna.)

Anyhow – the first online clip as far as I can tell is below, exclusively at Mediaite because a few people we follow on Twitter reminded us to set our DVR. What do you think?

As I mentioned in my piece yesterday, I know and am friends with Chaffin, Denbo and Kohan, but Feig I’ve just admired from afar. Bias declared, but also, as I said yesterday, I was a fan before I knew any of them

That’s what’s happening right now to Ronna & Beverly.

Ronna & Beverly are two Jewish divorcees of a certain age pushing their dating self-help book, You’ll Do a Little Better Next Time: A Guide To Marriage and Remarriage For Jewish Singles. They’re pushy, impolitic, materialistic, neurotic and completely without a filter. They are occasionally shocking, eerily familiar, and pretty damn hilarious.

Ronna & Bev are not real people — except insofar as you may be have grown up around them, or
God forbid, be related to them. They are the incarnation of your worst Jewish mother-in-law or Passover seder nightmare, created by LA-based comedians Jessica Chaffin and Jamie Denbo, longtime fixtures of the LA comedy club scene — and now, the subject of a new Showtime pilot that just might have a shot.

Called “a Jewish ‘Ab Fab’” by Variety, Chaffin and Denbo originated Ronna & Bev four years ago this Hanukkah (and have sported the same black leather pants and/or the same egregious lipliner ever since), but this is the first time they’ve ventured into scripted territory. Their stage show has bits, of course, but it’s in the vein of ‘outlandish character interviews real person’ à la Ali G or Zach Galifianakis, except with less angry newspeople or awkward silences. It’s largely improvised and usually features big names from the LA-NY comedy/entertainment scene: Will Arnett, Amy Poeler, Jon Hamm, Eli Roth, Ed Helms, Kate Walsh and New Kid on the Block Joey McIntyre, plus comedy-world faves like Paul F. Tompkins and Jim Gaffigan. They cover ground from gossip to current events to politics to please say hello to your mother, and audiences on both coasts were eating it up, so they got together with Weeds creator/executive producer Jenji Kohan — who had cast them both in Weeds based on loving the characters — and decided to take it to the next level.

(It is at this point that I disclose that I am friends with Chaffin, Denbo & Kohan, but go ahead and check out the audience response to the videos below, and you can be the judge. But also, I saw Ronna & Bev long before I knew them personally, and found them just as hilarious. I should also disclose that as a Jewess of a Certain Age I may be predisposed to find their schtick funny, but also, I’ve known a few Ronna Glickman and Beverly Ginsbergs in my time. Anyhow, Ronna and Beverly are not exactly the story.)

What is the story: What happened after. Chaffin, Denbo and Kohan co-wrote the script, and Kohan exec-produced it for Showtime and Lionsgate TV, directed by Freaks & Geeks creator Paul Feig, who has also directed episodes of The Office, Arrested Development, 30 Rock, Weeds and Parks & Recreation. Alas, despite strong feedback from Showtime, the network did not pick it up, or any pilots, for that matter.

Which brings us to now. A few weeks ago, Showtime told the pair that “Ronna & Beverly” would get an air date after all — for ‘amortization‘ by Showtime (i.e. to write off as a loss), but still, an air date is an air date. Furthermore that air date is actually a few air dates, and not during the graveyard shift, either: “Ronna & Beverly” airs tonight at 9:05 p.m. on the East Coast, and just after midnight (so technically tomorrow morning) at 12:05 a.m. on the West Coast — and airs again at the same times on Dec. 29th.

So now what? Promote the hell out of it. Per Variety:

The upcoming airings are strictly an amortization move by Showtime, but Chaffin and Denbo are marshalling the power of Facebook et al and their friends in the comedy community to spread the word about “Ronna and Beverly’s” TV bow.

Which means tweets from the following yesterday alone: Rob Corddry ( 1,269,115 followers), Time magazine’s Joel Stein (1,023,182 followers), The Sarah Silverman Show’s Steve Agee (1,083,962 followers), The Daily Show’s Rob Riggle (997,858 followers), Diablo Cody (115,202 followers), Reno 911‘s Thomas Lennon (29,037 followers), Wet Hot American Summer‘s David Wain (26,519 followers), Human Giant’s Paul Scheer (25,900 followers) — and already tons of retweets from all these people, plus from director Feig (1,095,766 followers).

Similar cross-pollination is going on at Facebook, but Twitter is really where results are being so quickly seen. Even if a lot of the same people follow the slice of the comedy world above, still — what an audience to put on alert in a flash — and what a signal to send to followers that, huh, all these people are tweeting about this, I should check it out. I’ve written before about the viewing power of the comedy community via Funny or Die, and the Upright Citizen’s Brigade community (with which there is plenty of overlap) also has a powerful, interconnected network of people which has begun mobilizing (Scheer and Riggle are prominent members, but so are people you may not know but are big in the UCB world like Jackie Clarke, Eliza Skinner, Nick Kroll, Seth Herzog and Justin Purnell, all of whom have tweeted about the show).

And all this before the Jews even get in on the action. Let alone the Jewish mothers. Oy.

Will it result in viewership? Who knows — reading a tweet does not necessarily correspond to IRL action (that’s “In Real Life” in cyber-speak for you newbies out there). But there’s no question that this is a new model for marketing a TV show, especially at the pilot stage, and if Showtime executives are smart they’ll watch not only how “Ronna & Beverly” performs tonight on each coast, but also how the word builds online and whether that moves the needle on Dec. 29th. Who knows if Showtime meant to give Ronna & Bev a fighting chance by choosing these windows — they could have scheduled it at 3 am and left it at that — but the positive buzz building for the show, as well as the years of relationships that Denbo and Chaffin have built in that community seem now to be coming home to roost. (I bet Feig wishes there had been an Internet back in the time of Freaks & Geeks.)

Either way, this is once again a fascinating story of not only how the Internet is changing things, but how social relationships on the Internet can matter so very much — especially when those relationships are with key influencers in niche communities. It’s early yet, but I’d say Ronna & Bev are well on their way to tapping into something interesting. We’ll see if it translates to ratings. Showtime, you really should be paying attention.

(p.s. This isn’t a review of the pilot, though I’ve seen it — I found it hysterical, though since Ronna & Bev are outlandish characters who say mortifying things, well, warning: you may be mortified. Right from the start. Contains some excellent pink outfits, some nudity, a sex scene that made my jaw drop, a surprisingly tender moment after and an exhortation not to wear a sweatsuit in public. Also contains trayf.)

It’s Showtime For Ronna & Beverly [On The Air - Variety]
Ronna & Beverly – Schedule [Showtime]
Showtime gives “Ronna & Beverly” a shot at midnight to spread the Jewish Ab-Fab word [The Comic's Comic]

Related:
‘Weeds’ creator to co-write ‘Ronna and Beverly’ [Variety]
Jenji Kohan Creates “Ronna and Beverly” for Showtime [My Urban Kvetch]

>>>NEXT: Ronna & Bev Interview Will Arnett, Rachel Dratch, Eli Roth and Have A Message For Baruch Obama

“Ronna & Beverly” airs on Showtime tonight (9:05 pm east coast and 12:05 am west coast, technically tomorrow.)

Right! Now back to your tweets. Here are the best of ‘em, with my commentary, because that will OBVIOUSLY make them even better. Twitter has taught me something. Onward!

@Digidave: Blog post: Good, Fast and Cheap: Startups Can Only Pick two http://bit.ly/3XlxdC
— I will leave it up to Bossman Dan to pick his favorite two. :)

@taraennis: yes, you’re being marginalized. RT @mediaite: Hillary Clinton On Whether Obama ‘Deserves’ His Nobel Win http://www.mediaite.com/rllcw
— Oh, snap! @WhiteHouse, are you listening? We’ll see if you tweet out something Hillary-related, then we’ll decide

RT @thejoelstein: Outside of NYC, no one cares about Columbus Day. I blame lack of Italians, parades and car/mattress sale tie-ins.
— In Canada they call it “Canadian Thanksgiving.” And a happy one to all, Italians and non-Italians alike!

@felixsalmon: Ah, fail whale. You’re back, in glorious technicolor! How I didn’t miss you.
— I see your Twitter Fail and raise you a Gmail Fail

@bloggingheads: Is Russia doing its part to mend its relationship with the US? video: http://bit.ly/14cLaJ
— Why do I think the answer is nyet?

@cheeky_geeky: The secret to having a great Twitter stream is aggregation + filtering + attitude. http://post.ly/8Dp9
— Um, and good content? You can have all of the above and without having useful stuff to share, you’re nuttin’.

@popcandy: NBC is being sued — for unauthorized font usage! http://bit.ly/agcH5
— Did they tell NBC to get the font out of here? Haaa. Or maybe to go to Hel-vetica? I’m here all week.

@romenesko: NYT metro desk cancels magazine, newspaper subscriptions. Says money better spent on freelancers. http://is.gd/4fOi3
— I’d point out the various ironies in here, but it’s just too depressing.

@Newsweek: “I found myself looking like an overly sexualized Smurf” — Confessions of a male hair model. http://bit.ly/3L24AE
— Your move, Time, your move.

@Newsweek: Leaf Us Alone: A New Englander who hates autumn leaves. http://bit.ly/2ZUJzf
— Haa, two-fer from Newsweek, but that pun is awesome.

@AriMelber: Who knew? “Common dream of N. Americans: being chased/attacked. Common among S. Americans: able to breathe underwater or fly.” (Hunch.com)
— Common dream of bloggers: Huge news breaking and computer/wifi goes down. And/or posting dreams. I have those. Anyone?

@lizzwinstead: Reading a personal essay about my teens at event honoring Judy Blume. Hope I can’t see her eyerolling. #thingslessworthythanobamanobelprize
— WE MUST, WE MUST, WE MUST INCREASE OUR BUST! Are you there, God? It’s me, 36-year old Judy Blume fan.

@lisahanockjasie: Did you ever wonder what the word “the” means?
— No, but I’m sure Bill Clinton could tell you.

@pbump: Bullets filmed with high-speed camera. For holiday-appropriate symbolism, imagine the bullets are European diseases. http://pbump.net/?7eg
— Er, happy holidays to you too?

@romeneskoblogs: (Obscure Store) Man misses birth of his child after groping nurse at hospital. http://is.gd/4fNlz
— Really, Man? Really?

@anamariecox: Is there an IkeaFail blog? Of badly put together Ikea items? Because I may need to start one.
— Brillz idea. Bra, mycket bra! (That’s Swedish.)

@diablocody: If my children ever have their own reality show, I plan to get topless in the first episode.
— Why wait? Oh, nevermind.

p.s If anyone is interested in what kind of plane I was on, it was a Bombardier Q400 Turbo-prop. Pic/stats below (enlarged version here) and dorky video of the propeller below that. Can anyone tell me why you can see the propeller blades moving in the video, but it’s a blur to my naked eye?

Who needs news when we have Megan? Her new movie, “Jennifer’s Body,” premiered this weekend, and everyone with a pen is itching to write about the film’s star.

After Rolling Stone posted a gallery of Megan Fox photos shot for the October 1 issue but withheld the text to draw paid subscriptions, everyone from the Daily News to Perez Hilton has begun reporting on the Rolling Stone feature. Defamer’s Richard Rushfield has a great round-up of the coverage of the coverage.

Meanwhile, the writer behind the movie, Diablo Cody, has her own idea of stimulus:

Related:
Our idea of stimulus: 800 pairs of Megan Fox’s Boobs

See the “Jennifer’s Body” Trailer here.

Cody on Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen this morning (below).