Andy Cohen: The King (or Well You Know) of Tacky TV

I am always amazed that no matter what they claim to aspire to be when they start out, most cable channels soon disintegrate into whatever manifestation will garner ratings. Didn't Bravo once aspire to be a channel for quality programming? Or was that A & E? We see how far that got them in the ratings, Whatever it started out to be Bravo is now the home of countless Real Housewives series.

(Left to Right Kim, Lisa, Adrienne, Kyle, Taylor and Camille)

These women are all affluent but they always end up acting like trailer trash. (I don't say that to offend people who occupy trailers.)

No matter how bad I know these shows are I can't help being lured in occasionally. Such was the case with me and  The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills franchise. These girls have been nipped, tucked, botoxed and liposuctioned beyond recognition. You couldn't find that much plastic in a Tupperware warehouse.


I have been transfixed by the demise of Camille Grammer's marriage, sisters Kyle and Kim's estrangement and  the banishment of the hunky Cedric from fake little Lisa's mansion. You have to hand it to the British. They have a talent for stirring up trouble while remaining aloof, proving that you can say any vile thing you want but if you do it with a British accent no one will ever suspect you were the instigator. Only one of the Beverly Hills bunch seems to have any integrity at all, the beautiful Adrienne. She's going to have to develop some severe personality disorder if she wants to hang around for season two.


These shows are the worst of television. The only reason to watch any of the Housewives franchises would be if somehow you felt you had too many brain cells and wanted to get rid of a few.... so of course I am riveted.

The Real Housewives are the brainchild of Bravo's programming head, Andy Cohen. And may I just say that no matter how much tacky television Andy dishes up he is still the cutest thing to hit the small screen since that little dog on Petticoat Junction.

 It is so much fun to see him dishing with the girls in the Bravo Clubhouse which comes complete with lava lamps of course. This guy really gets the fact that these shows are pure kitsch. Still, I get the sense that Andy really does admire and respect these women desite the fact they have no socially redeeming qualities.

He really hit pay dirt with The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, filming Camille Grammer just as her marriage to Kelsey was breaking up. This woman is either delusional, manipulative or both but she is better TV than a train wreck.

I only have one beef with Andy. He gets  to play in the surf with James Bond (Daniel Craig) and I don't