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Andy Cohen is expanding his reality TV empire.
The Bravo multi-hyphenate will host and executive produce a docuseries for E! that is set to air early 2021. The seven-part series is titled For Real: The Story of Reality TV and will see Cohen revisiting some of the most iconic moments from the genre and interviewing the stars behind those moments for the inside scoop.
Or, as Cohen says in a promo for the series, spilling the “reali-tea.”
“I’m thrilled to look back at the shows that formed my love for reality TV, and interview the icons of the genre,” says Cohen, who has an overall deal at the NBCUniversal cable network, in a statement on Sunday. “This series is like great candy!”
The Bravo executive producer and host of Emmy-nominated Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, which celebrated 10 years on the air in 2019, also helped launch the juggernaut Real Housewives franchise, which he exec produces, in the early 2000s. Cohen also hosts the reunion specials for Bravo’s unscripted series.
E!, along with Bravo and Oxygen, is part of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment’s Lifestyle Networks group, a division of NBCUniversal. And the Cohen-hosted limited event comes as E! will be saying goodbye to its most popular reality series: Keeping Up with the Kardashians is set to air its final season in 2021, after 20 seasons spanning nearly 14 years.
Looking back on the franchises and series that have shaped the genre today, For Real: The Story of Reality TV is set to explore how reality TV has evolved from its inception to how it has “radically affected society on a global scale,” reads the E! release, which name-checks Keeping Up and Real Housewives. as well as ABC’s The Bachelor, MTV’s The Real World and CBS’ Survivor. Each episode will see Cohen exploring a pivotal theme or moment and sitting down with “some of the biggest, most memorable names” in the unscripted world. The episodes will also include commentary from industry pioneers, producers and journalists.
“A reality connoisseur in his own right, Andy takes viewers on a deep and captivating journey into a genre that’s forever captivated audiences and impacted pop culture,” says Rachel Smith, evp of development at Bravo and E!, in a statement. “At a time where the world is constantly changing, For Real: The Story of Reality TV offers the perfect escape we all need; an opportunity to sit back, relax and submerge into a world that’s captured so many.”
For Real: The Story of Reality TV is produced by Bunim/Murray Productions and Most Talkative. Gil Goldschein, Julie Pizzi, David Sambuchi and Cohen exec produce. Lauren Lazin, also an exec producer, is showrunner.
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