Andy Cohen swears he doesn’t have favorites in the “Housewives” universe, but admits he has a soft spot for two.
“I will say New York and Atlanta have always been kind of close to my heart,” the Bravo honcho told Page Six in an exclusive interview earlier this week.
However, Cohen declined to say which “Housewives” he feels especially fond of.
“I have many favorites,” he shared. “The great thing about the show is that it really is an ensemble show and everyone plays their part, and someone can have a quiet season and then they come back and it’s all about them. So, you just never know what’s going to happen.
“Real life is fascinating.”
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first “Housewives” airing, the “WWHL” host is releasing a new book this month.
“Andy’s Bravo Scrapbook: Twenty Years Behind the Scenes of the Real Housewives and the Bravoverse” is a lushly illustrated behind-the-scenes look back at two decades of “Housewives” shenanigans, reunions and drama, along with photos from Cohen’s personal archive.
“The great thing about the book is I take you behind the scenes of pretty [much] every reunion show we’ve ever done,” he explained. “I share my insights about what I was thinking and what I went in thinking.
“There were reunions where we thought it was gonna be someone’s last season and then they totally blew us away at the reunion. And there are reunions where someone came in, and we were, you know, thinking, oh, this is great. And then they wind up isolating everyone in the group or isolating themselves. So they really can determine a lot in terms of the future of the show.”
Cohen also defended the show against critics who accuse it of rewarding conflict.
“I think that’s an over-generalization and that if the show was just only that, it wouldn’t still be on the air in all these iterations,” he shared. “You know, it’s funny, it can be about sisterhood…and so I think if you just skim the surface, it’s kind of an easy way to slam the show. I don’t think that it’s actually representative.”
The Emmy winner still “can’t believe” the franchise’s massive success -Michelle Obama and Julia Roberts are both fans – and said it has had no drawbacks.
“It’s a gift,” he gushed. “I mean, anyone would want to be a part of a franchise that has entertained so many people and means so much to people, especially in this day and age where, you know, people don’t connect to, you know, programming in this way anymore.”