Andy Cohen is a busy man.
The host of Watch What Happens Live and executive producer of The Real Housewives franchise, Cohen is bobbing and weaving from one reality universe to the other in many different forms.
But ultimately, it’s all in service of Bravo, the network where he was previously an executive.
Kicking off Deadline’s Reality TV Summit on Friday, Cohen sat down to discuss his various ventures, dished on potential new Housewives series and talked up his love of game shows.
“The ecosystem of Bravo is an incredible thing that just kind of self generates and keeps going. Sometimes we’re in front of it, and sometimes we’re keeping up with it, but we’re always feeding it, and we’re always in the middle of it. I think it suits everything we do,” he said.
On one hand there’s a plethora of Real Housewives shows in the U.S., including the recently launched hit The Real Housewives of Rhode Island, and on the other there are many shows that Cohen dives into for reunions such as Summer House.
“Everything is in the Bravo sphere, and they’re all coming through the Bravo clubhouse. This ecosystem it just keeps generating. I’m a part of that, and I like stoking the fire in every direction. The success of Summer House or Vanderpump Rules, or any show on Bravo, including the Housewives, is only going to be a benefit for Watch What Happens Live and the reunions and anything else. My job, the way I see it is to help make Bravo as successful as it can be,” he added.
Cohen called the reunion specials the “Super Bowl for each series”. “They’re incredibly stimulating to produce and be in the middle of,” he said.
The Real Housewives of Rhode Island has become Bravo’s biggest multiplatform series premiere since 2024.
“No one saw Salt Lake City coming, and now it’s the home of a reality TV, it’s huge. No one saw Potomac coming either. We’re taking these communities that maybe you’ve never thought about in a certain way before and shining a light on them. Rhode Island, listen, here’s the thing about Roadies, you don’t f*ck with them,” he laughed.
There have been attempts to cast a Real Housewives in Chicago and Napa and Cohen was particularly excited about a version in Boca Raton, Florida. “We had a cast in Boca once, and it was going to be like a Golden Girls Housewives that I really wanted to do, that I got voted down on,” he said. “There was a variety of misha goss about that one, but the cast has to be right. The bar is so high that you can take it to the bank that if we are going to announce a new Housewives, it’s going to be great.”
Similarly, he is hopeful for a return to Miami.
During the panel, he paid tribute to his former boss Lauren Zalaznick as well as Amy Introcaso-Davis, who gave Scott Dunlop’s original tape to him and Shari Levine.
He added that the biggest change over the last 20 years has been the breaking of the fourth wall.
“I remember in season two of Orange County, where the women went to a convention center where Lauri [Peterson] or Jeana [Keough] or one of them was appearing there, and I was like, wait, but they’re appearing there because they’re on the show. These women are housewives in Orange County and we don’t portray them as being famous or on television. Well, that’s changed all of reality.”
Cohen himself has become a star, joking that the only time that he has felt like Elvis was at Bravocon. “Not strung out Elvis, black leather pant Elvis,” he joked.
He also used to host game shows including two seasons of Fox’s Love Connection. He said that he’s a big game show fan. “I love those shiny floor shows. It was like being inside a video game hosting Love Connection. That was kind of the bullseye show for me, because I got to interview these couples who went on these either horrible dates or great dates, and be like, did you sleep together? How far did you go? I mean, it was just the level of intrusive questions, which is my hallmark. This is the perfect game show, and they’re somehow winning money. That was great,” he added.
Would he like to host more game shows or at least develop some? Cohen said that he has a “fairly insular focus” on Bravo; he still runs his Most Talkative Productions banner, which has a first-look with the network, and has a “bunch” of shows in development.
But he did admit that there is a world where Cohen may produce a show for a different network or streamer. “I mean, who knows,” he said. “I have a first-look deal with Bravo, which would have to say we don’t want to make this show. So, if Bravo said we don’t want to make this show, and someone else did. Then, that’s how that works.”