Andy Cohen, senior vice president of programming and production for Bravo, said: “Straight women across the country are not only obsessed with the show, they are obsessed with Jackie.”

Obsessed?

What in Sappho’s name is going on?

“I think it's very safe for women across the United States to watch this in their living room in St. Louis and think, ‘What if?’ or ‘Wow,’ ” he said.

“My girl crush isn’t so much as I want to date Jackie as much as I want to get closer to that look,” Ms. Meltzer said. “She’s got fierce abs, a sexy voice and the most amazing lip gloss I have ever seen.”

It’s possible, too, that some women mistake intense feelings of admiration for love. “There’s always the question of ‘Do you want to date this person’ or ‘Do you want to be them?’ ” said Malinda Lo, the managing editor of AfterEllen.com, an online magazine about the representation of lesbians and bisexual women in entertainment and news media. “It’s kind of easy to have the admiration cross into desire.”