“We want to see smart, successful women”

Before 10 p.m. Thursday, I had never seen a minute of “Scandal.”

But that had not stopped me from being inundated by it. For two years, whenever the show aired, my social media networks would be hijacked by fans – mostly black women — anxiously commenting on every nuance, quote, twist, turn and outfit.

I swear, I have heard at least a dozen women say, sometimes to nobody in particular, “I am Olivia Pope” — the Washington fixer who, with each new episode, saves another political butt.

So, coming into Season 3, after it was revealed that "Scandal" is the top-rated prime-time show among African-Americans aged 18-49, I put out a call for watch parties. My friend Xina Eiland, a D.C.-based fixer, eh, publicist turned me on to Blogalicious, a national network of mostly black women bloggers. They just happened to be kicking off their national convention in Atlanta with a "Scandal" watch party.

For the screening, the hotel ballroom was adorned with red drapes, giving it a dark, sexy vibe. The only light came from candles, TV screens, computers and smartphones.

Food was abundant, as was the signature drink of the evening: a “Scandalous” martini (cranberry juice, citrus vodka, almond liqueur and Sprite).

In keeping with the theme of the evening, the bloggers – who moonlight as lawyers, doctors and college professors when they’re not blogging about fashion, health, natural hair, pop culture and politics – were encouraged to dress like Olivia.

Most, like Crystal Hammond, who blogs at sophisticatedspender.com, wore some combination of Olivia's trademark look: black and white.

“I like black women who are problem solvers,” said Hammond, who had just had her picture taken at an Instagram station. “Olivia is empowered and she trusts herself. We don’t trust ourselves as black women. We are afraid to speak our minds, because we are afraid of others’ opinions of us.”

I spotted my friend Jacque Reid, multi-platform journalist who reports on women and women's issues on her blog singleandlivingfab.com and on the nationally syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show.

“This show is important to black women at a time when you see black women so beat up,” she said, referring to images of black women on reality shows. “We want to see smart, successful women on television.”

It was getting close to 10, and Jacque had to leave. While everybody in the room would be blogging, tweeting and posting on Facebook, Jacque had to do it in the privacy of her room.

“When I am watching, I can’t be distracted,” she said. “My Tweetdeck is up on my computer to see what is coming in. My iPhone is out. My iPad is on. It is a process. A dialogue that I have to be focused on.”

According to metrics released Friday by Blogalicious, more than 800 people connected with the conference tweeted about the show using a unique hashtag. Of those, 225 were tweeting live from the event, sending out 1,600 tweets that reached 3.1 million people.

In Atlanta, while the show was on, it was Twitter’s top trending topic. Eight of the top 10 trending topics in Atlanta were related to “Scandal.”As Nationwide, half of the top 10, including the top three, were related to the show.

“That is what makes it so much fun. You get to experience it with a whole community while you sit at home watching it,” said Trina Small, who blogs at thebabyshopaholic.com.

As Olivia’s exploits unfurled on four big screens, you could hear a pin drop — at first. But before the first commercial break, the women were in full cry.

When Olivia walked down a corridor in a white Burberry Prorsum trench coat with an attached cape, they cheered. When a door opened to reveal the president, they jumped out of their seats. Luvvie Ajayi – better known as Awesomely Luvvie, with one of the country’s most widely-read “Scandal” recap sites — shouted like she was in church.

One thing about Olivia Pope struck me: She is sleeping with the president of the United States and was generally portrayed throughout the show as, shall we say, “easy.” How do fans reconcile that? Or am I holding her to a higher standard to even ask, given the flaws of much-loved male anti-heroes like Tony Soprano or Walter White?

“I find it odd that of all the vices continually displayed by all of the characters on the show, the one that is constantly up for scrutiny and a source of fan-bashing is Olivia sleeping with a married man,” said Kisha Solomon. “I honestly think it’s just veiled anger and discomfort at seeing images of a black woman sleeping with a white man on prime-time television. There, I said it.”

After the show, I spotted Terrance Gaines, who is the technical adviser for the conference, standing in the back of the room, looking as confused as I was. “This is the first time I have actually sat down and watched the show,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll be watching it, but I get it now.”

Now the question is this — will I be watching “Scandal” next Thursday?

No.

I’ll be too busy catching up on the first two seasons.