Late Night Happenings

A certain late-night talk show has been buzzing since the New Year and audiences are taking notice. This time, though, it’s not the usual late-night roundup of Leno, Letterman, Fallon, and Ferguson… it’s Cohen. If you’re not familiar with Andy Cohen, turn to Bravo at 11:00 for Watch What Happens Live and prepare yourself for a talk show experience unlike any other.

Originally airing twice a week, Watch What Happens Live has now been bumped up to five nights a week – but much like the show’s format, its schedule is a bit off kilter; instead of Monday through Friday, the show airs Sunday through Thursday. It’s quite fitting for a show that consists of only 20 crew members working on a SoHo set that fits an audience of about 18.

Its homey feel is another element that sets it apart. Guests feel like they’ve been invited to a house party (complete with on-set bar) and viewers can tell the difference. In a smaller environment, celebrities don’t feel like they have to put on their game face and naturally find themselves opening up to their host. Don’t think that every episode becomes a big tear-fest, though! More often than not, guests find themselves playing “Would You Rather” games or answering viewer submitted questions.

Another essential element that continues to bring guests and ratings is the show’s charismatic host. Andy Cohen worked as a producer at CBS for nearly a decade until he began a blog that followed Bravo’s shows. That brought about new opportunities such as hosting reunion shows for Real Housewives and Top Chef casts as well as a web series. It was only a matter of time before he was asked to bring his series directly to the cable channel two times a week. Along the way of developing his distinctive hosting skills, Cohen also became Bravo’s executive vice president for programming and production.

This January marks yet another exciting step for Cohen as he will now be hosting with bigger celebrities and, no doubt, a bigger audience. This season alone has seen a 20% leap in ratings, something many people contribute to an unexpected, yet valuable demographic: women. The show has some of the strongest ratings for female viewership of a late-night cable program, and its producers (and advertisers) don’t plan to take that for granted.

With more episodes to shoot per week, Cohen traded in his control over the network’s programming for the “lighter” duties of executive vice president of program development and talent. Expanding to five nights a week and growing his 1.2 million viewers should keep him busy enough. Although he doesn’t have to worry about coming up with new jokes every day (another way the show is unique is it doesn’t have an opening monologue), he still has to keep up with the goings on of the reality show guests along with creating more games and activities for television, music, and movie stars. He already has a theme for his January 19 show – Pajama Party with Ralph Fiennes and Holly Hunter.

Before that one though, check out his line up for next week:

Sunday, January 15: Nene Leakes from The Real Housewives of Atlanta

Monday, January 16: Kyle Richards and Mauricio Urmansky from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

Tuesday, January 17: RuPaul and Tabatha Coffey

Wednesday, January 18: Jimmy Fallon

Watch What Happens Live doesn’t exactly have to go out of its way to tell you that something will be worth watching. With a name like that, it promises to please. All you have to do is tune into Bravo at 11:00, sit back, and watch what happens.

- Jordan Lints

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January 12th, 2012 | Dan | Comments Off |