As of this Sunday night, the Bravo talk show will be called “Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen: @ Home,” and will be shot by Cohen himself from his West Village apartment in New York City. Guests will be a mixture of Bravo-lebrities, as the coinage goes, as well as friends of Cohen’s. Because of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting production shutdowns, the last taping of “Watch What Happens Live” in its studio, known as “the clubhouse,” took place on March 12.
Cohen talked about the decision with Variety on Friday morning. “Our show is arguably the most lo-tech show in late night in its current form. So the idea of taking it down even further a few notches is just ironic and hilarious,” he said. “I mean, we’re the show that I still can’t believe gets a live signal out of a very small clubhouse in Soho. So we will now be from my own clubhouse in the West Village. My show has always been something of a little coffee klatch, party-line type show. And this seemed like a very natural extension of not only the show, but obviously the times that we’re in right now.”
Just after the interview, New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered New Yorkers to stay in place and self-quarantine as much as possible. On Thursday, California’s Governor Gavin Newsom had issued the same edict.
Cohen’s aim is to entertain audiences during this unprecedentedly stressful time, and the first show for Sunday night will feature Jerry O’Connell, Nene Leakes and Ramona Singer. “Guess what?” Cohen said. “That’s a party.” He envisions the video interviews being in boxes, “Brady Bunch”-style, he said, a format that lends itself to drinking games. “Take a sip of your drink if you’ve done X, Y, or Z while you’re in quarantine.”
Someone was about to drop off a camera for Cohen with his doorman, and then he would be talked through setting it up on Facetime. “From what I’m told, it’s basically maybe a few levels up from Skype,” Cohen said.
At least at first, the show will be recorded ahead of time in case there are glitches, like guests’ video streams freezing. “I want to make sure we get a good half-hour,” Cohen said. “But after we get a couple under our belt, we could wind up going live — my goal would be to go live.”
The show’s staff, who are all working remotely, have been pitching ideas unique to filming in the guests’ homes. “We’re going to be doing some at home show-and-tells,” he said. With his “Real Housewives” guests, Cohen has asked that they “each to bring an iconic outward outfit that they’ve worn during their time on the show to show us.” The “Watch What Happens Live” set is based on Cohen’s apartment, so “I will be broadcasting from my office which looks like my clubhouse,” he said.
As for whether viewers might see Cohen’s son, Benjamin — who turned 1 on Feb. 4 — he said he’s been under orders by his family in St. Louis to protect Benjamin’s privacy. On Instagram, Cohen has been showing Benjamin from the back only. “So the answer is probably not,” Cohen said. “Talk to me in week three of this when I’m looking for new ideas, and I’ll be like Kathie Lee Gifford and Cody, you know?”
Bravo’s schedule is well-stocked for the moment, with editors figuring out how to work remotely on shows that are not yet completed. Two “Real Housewives” had to shut filming down — “Orange County” and “New Jersey” — because of the coronavirus. But others, such as “New York City,” “Beverly Hills,” “Potomac” and the new “Salt Lake City,” had finished filming, though they need to establish how to edit them and finish filming confessional interviews with the cast.
The taping of the reunion for “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” couldn’t happen, however. But Cohen aims to do it as soon as possible. “It’s my hope that once this fog is lifted, I literally go do ‘Vanderpump,’ ‘Shahs’ and ‘Atlanta’ just one after the other,” he said.