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He's long been known as the face of Real Housewives and receives a lot of credit as well as backlash for hosting it. Andy Cohen didn't come up with the original concept, though at this point, fans can't imagine the series without him.
Clearly, a ton of work and creative effort goes into developing a series, plus casting it, setting the stage, and actually working with the recorded footage and the "talent." But when it comes to the actual original concept, if Andy didn't come up with it, who did?
Andy Cohen Did Not Create The Real Housewives Franchise
He may be the high-powered host these days, but Andy Cohen didn't have the original idea for RH. So where did the idea come from? Some suggest the concept stemmed from the TV series Desperate Housewives.
Multiple Real Housewives cast members have been quoted as saying that the series inspired their reality TV model, including Gretchen Rossi who noted, "I feel I owe a lot to Marc Cherry for creating a show that inspired a real life version of housewives."
However, all official sources list Scott Dunlop as the creator of The Real Housewives.
Dunlop had a few minor acting gigs in the 1980s and then seemed to burst into reality TV with RH. He also produced Addicted to Beauty, a TV series that aired in 2009. It wasn't all smooth sailing once he got involved with Bravo, though.
The Self-Proclaimed Creators Of Real Housewives Sued Bravo
In 2014, two of Dunlop's former colleagues (Patrick Moses and Kevin Kaufman) filed a lawsuit against Bravo and Dunlop claiming that he pushed them out of Real Housewives after they had helped their former friend create the series.
The lawsuit alleged fraud and totaled $5 million in requested damages. Though it seems clear the trio once worked together, even forming a production company at one point, the details of the case were never fully publicized.
However, some statements specified that Scott Dunlop acted in his own best interest and that of Bravo's by cutting out his former colleagues. Both Moses and Kaufman stated there were documents related to the trio's work together, but it seemed that no one would ever know the contents of their 'evidence.'
In 2017, a judge dismissed the suit because the statute of limitations had passed.
Still, Moses and Kaufman's lawyer said at the time that they weren't giving up the fight, noting, "We think the essence of the allegations deserve a rereading."
In the years since, Real Housewives has grown in popularity and earned way more than $5 million.
How Did Andy Cohen Become Famous?
He might be the patriarch of Real Housewives today, but Andy Cohen had a pretty average start in the TV industry. He interned for CBS back in the day, working with Julie Chen but calling himself the 'star intern.'
In the early 2000s, Cohen began appearing on TV, but in the periphery; he appeared in some ESPN documentaries, played a shoe salesman in an episode of Sex and the City, and hosted some less famous projects than his current reality TV lineups.
Behind the scenes, Andy's official title was executive vice president of Development and Talent (prior to 2013). He worked on a ton of different shows in that capacity and was a big name in the background at Bravo.
Real Housewives, though, propelled Cohen into the actual spotlight.
What Does Andy Do On Real Housewives?
He's long served as a moderator of sorts when it comes to reunion shows and sit-down talks with the housewives. Apart from that, though, Andy's role in the franchise is sort of invisible.
Fans know that it's ultimately up to him as to who is cast or fired in any of the franchise's cities. But Andy also gets blamed for a lot of things, as he admitted in a talk with Kandi Burruss.
In the video clip, Andy noted that he tries to be an advocate for all the personalities on the show. As an executive producer, however, he also gets to call the shots and tweak scenes.
Things did shift a bit in 2013 when he resigned as Bravo's "talent and executive producer."
Though he's still closely tied to Real Housewives (and gets an executive producer credit on every show), he stepped back to work on Watch What Happens Live.
Although publicly, Andy is very much involved in RH, including all the drama that arose when NeNe Leakes sued Bravo and Andy for maintaining a hostile work environment.
Of course, that doesn't seem to have hurt RH or Andy Cohen's popularity.
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