Andy Cohen Dishes on Five Years of Watch What Happens Live
It's the little late-night talk show that could. Next week, Watch What Happens Live — the kooky, wildly unpredictable chat-fest hosted by Andy Cohen — marks its fifth year on the air. That's no small feat, considering its very humble beginning as a shoestring web series anchored by a largely unknown Bravo network executive. Since then, plenty has changed. For starters, Cohen has become a celebrity in his own right, with one bestselling book down and a second due in the fall. And the ratings have grown. About 334,000 people tuned in for the first televised episode in 2009; this spring, WWHL hit an all-time high of 3.9 million viewers, and it's up 7 percent over Conan this season. The star power is also higher wattage. Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga, Meryl Streep, Lindsay Lohan and Oprah Winfrey are among the guests who have partaken in the mélange of parlor games, free-flowing cocktails and general pop-culture revelry that's made the pint-size "Bravo Clubhouse" ground zero for countless watercooler moments. We sat down with Cohen in his Manhattan studio to relive the wild ride...
