• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, December 19, 2006

The Showtime series "The L Word" has spawned a new social networking site based on one of the show's story lines.

The site, OurChart.com, is slated to launch Jan. 7--the same day as the premiere of the fourth season of the series, which focuses on a group of gay women in Los Angeles.

With the site, The L Word creator and executive producer Ilene Chaiken aims to create an online hub for gay women. "I'm hoping that it really does become a focal point for a community," said Chaiken, who will serve as CEO of OurChart.com.

Chaiken will have a profile page on the new site, as will three of the actresses on the program--Jennifer Beals, Katherine Moennig and Leisha Hailey. In addition, the site will offer behind-the-scenes extras, including a weekly podcast by Chaiken and an inside-the-writers'-room feature. Chaiken also plans to hold writing contests on the new site. Last year, the show solicited fan fiction contributions on the official "L Word" Web site at Sho.com.

The idea to migrate the chart to the Web grew out of a story line on the show, Chaiken said. One of the show's main characters has kept a running whiteboard showing the status of relationships between the characters. In the second season--which aired in early 2005, before social networking was a household word, or even on Chaiken's radar--the character posted the chart online.

Now, in the upcoming season, that character will realize that the chart has caught on. "She looks at it and says, 'Oh my God, we created a lesbian MySpace,'" Chaiken said. At the same time, the real-world chart also will go live.

A Showtime spokesman said the company eventually plans to monetize the site with ads. While no specifics are available, the spokesman said would probably follow the same model as MySpace--meaning it would have a mix of branded pages and other types of ads.

The OurChart initiative marks the first time a social networking site has grown out of a TV show--though not the first time programs' fictional components have led to independent businesses. For example, the long-running sitcom "Cheers" resulted in a chain of bars by the same name.