| Creator: | Andrew Miller |
| Director: | Andrew Miller |
| Endtheme: | "Not Alone" by Ben Harrison |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Episodes: | 13 |
| Executive Producer: | Andrew Miller |
| Editor: | Tatiana S. Riegel |
| Runtime: | 5–7 minutes |
Imaginary Bitches is a web series created by Andrew Miller that premiered on May 2, 2008. It comprises thirteen short webisodes released on its website and YouTube.
The series tells the story of a single girl who deals with the lonely reality that all her friends are in serious relationships by creating imaginary friends to talk to. But, as Edie explains: "They're not really my friends; they're horrible bitches."[1]
The show stars Eden Riegel, Elizabeth Hendrickson, Brooke Nevin and Connie Fletcher-Staton. Guest stars include Michael Traynor, Jessalyn Gilsig, Aaron Staton, Greg Rikaart, James Kee, Chandra West, Brittany Ishibashi, Sam Page, Charlie Koznick, and Billy Aaron Brown.[2]
Imaginary Bitches episodes have been viewed over 4 million times.[3] In May 2008, Imaginary Bitches became a YouTube Partner, allowing the creators of the show to share revenue from advertising on YouTube video pages.[4]
The show is something of a family affair. Show creator Andrew Miller is married to lead actress Eden Riegel. Riegel's half-sister, Tatiana S. Riegel, edits the episodes, and her brother, Sam Riegel, co-wrote episode 6 and sound edited episodes one and two. Quyen Tran, the cinematographer, is Sam Riegel's wife.
Eden (Eden Riegel): The protagonist of the series. She is slightly self-conscious and extremely lonely due to all of her friends being in relationships. She also has difficulty finding and keeping a boyfriend. She creates the Bitches to have someone to talk to. Her enemies are Brittany, who stole her boyfriend, and Jessalyn, who backstabbed her. She unsuccessfully attempted therapy. One of her favorite shows appears to be Greys Anatomy, she plays a game with The Bitches where whenever someone says "Seriously" they have to eat a piece of chocolate.
Lizzie (Elizabeth Hendrickson): One of Eden's oldest friends, she appears to be perky and very friendly, as well as being open minded to Eden's single-ness. She has a forgetful boyfriend named Jake. In one episode, she breaks up with him after he reacts badly to her thoughts about weddings; however, she calls him in the end. In the same episode, she has an imaginary wedding in a way similar to the bitches but on a larger scale.[5]
Brooke (Brooke Nevin): Appears to be Eden's closest friend. She considers herself to be very supportive of Eden, and helps her when they run into an old nemesis and sets her up with her shrink. She was the first of Eden's friends to learn about the Bitches, as well as the first to intervene. Her boyfriend Michael is extremely well organized, which sometimes bothers her.
Connie (Connie Fletcher-Staton): Eden's most promiscuous friend. She sets Eden up with a man from her office. She prefers not using condoms (citing it as her favorite thing about no longer being single) and has had sex dressed as Catwoman.[6] Her priest is a former porn star.[7]
Initially created to be friends to talk to, they quickly developed mean personalities. Though Eden is the only one able to see them they have communicated with Brittany. Although they appear to be best friends they also constantly are at each other's throats.
Catherine: The first bitch, Catherine is the meaner of the two. She can be very greedy, shown when she demanded twice the salary of the cast of Desperate Housewives. She is described by Heather as being snobby. She dislikes Dr. Kee, refusing to even enter his office although he falls in lust with her. She compares Eden's friends to the Pod People when they attempt to set her up with the perfect guy.
Heather: The nicer, if more promiscuous bitch. She is described by Eden as being around 5'4", with dirty blonde hair, wide green eyes, and pouty lips. Catherine calls her an anorexic whore. Eden says everything about her is perky. She has an infatuation with bald men, and wants to have sex with Dr. Kee because of his baldness. She would like to have sex with the entire cast of The CW (both male and female), the Jonas Brothers, and Hannah Montana. She has a sexual fantasy involving baseball. Mark's avatar Brett almost hooks up with her.
Jennifer: The nicest bitch, she is actually a lesbian, and falls in love with Eden.
Jessalyn (Jessalyn Gilsig): Eden's nemesis. She appears to dislike non-single people, and invites Eden to a singles party. Although she at first appears to be friendly, she quickly becomes a bitch. According to Heather she has an imaginary friend who thinks she's "psycho." She winds up being a lesbian and ruins Eden's attempt at lesbian dating by hooking up with Eden's date.
Brittany (Brittany Ishibashi): A wannabe Guru and yoga instructor and failed actress. She had stolen Eden's boyfriend, but now wishes forgiveness. Catherine and Heather appear to her (the only time someone beside Eden has directly communicated with them) and trick her into confessing to be a fake.
Waiter Guy (Michael Traynor): A waiter who Eden sleeps with. The relationship seems to be going well, but when she has no one to talk to about the night before, Eden creates Catherine. They break up after Catherine insults Waiter Guy.
Bruce (Aaron Staton): A man at Jessalyn's singles party. Although Jessalyn promised him to Eden, she later uses her knowledge of the Bitches to take him. He calls Jessalyn "a sexy Mother Teresa."
Mark (Greg Rikaart): A Second Life fanatic who works with Connie. He was set up with Eden because of their mutual imaginary worlds. He attempts to hook his alter-ego Brett up with Heather. Eden breaks up with him after he tries to masturbate to a Heather avatar that Mark created after hearing a description of Heather and her fantasies.
Dr. James Kee (James Kee): Brooke's shrink and the author of #1 bestselling self-help book, "Your Psyche Has a Secret." Catherine hates him, refusing to enter his office. Heather flirts with him, due to her attraction to bald men. He soon proves to be crazy after becoming infatuated with Catherine and even trying to have sex with her.
Father Grant (Charlie Koznick): Connie's priest. He is an ex-porn star who attempts to rid Eden of the bitches by having sex with her, apparently the plot of one of his movies.
Ten vlogs were made chronicling Eden (the actress, as opposed to the character) in Europe with Catherine and Heather. The reason for the trip was a hiatus caused by re-negotiations of the bitches' contracts, which nearly resulted in them being replaced, going as far as Andrew sending Eden audition videos for replacements.
A video setting the vlogs up was also made, as a press conference. It is implied during these videos that Heather is bisexual and somewhat of an ephebophile; as part of the contract she requests sex with male and female actors on The CW, as well as teenagers The Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana.
Imaginary Bitches took part in the 2008 Portable Film Festival and was chosen winner in the "Look at Me" category for online webisodes and video blogging.[18]
On December 24, 2008, TV Guide Canada announced its Second Annual Soap Opera Spirit Award Nominations. Imaginary Bitches received 5 nominations: Outstanding Ensemble, Outstanding Performance in a Podcast/Webisode/Soap-related Series (Eden Riegel and Elizabeth Hendrickson), Outstanding Guest Star (Greg Rikaart), and for Outstanding Podcast/Webisode/Soap-related Non-daytime Series (creator Andrew Miller).[19] The winners were announced January 21, 2009 on TVGuide.ca. Imaginary Bitches took home awards for Outstanding Podcast/Webisode/Soap-related Non-daytime Series and for Eden Riegel for Outstanding Performance in a Podcast/Webisode/Soap-related Series.[20]
On April 14, 2009, the 13th annual Webby Award nominations were announced. Riegel was nominated for her work on Imaginary Bitches in the best individual performance category.[21] Miller received an official honoree selection for best writing.[22] Riegel was announced on May 5, 2009, as the winner of the best individual performance people's voice award.[23] Her acceptance speech, which was limited to five words, was: "I'm sleeping with the director."
In 2009, Imaginary Bitches was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in the New Approaches-Daytime Entertainment category.[24]