Peacock shared programming plans at its TCA press tour event. Unscripted series Ex Rated has been picked up, with Andy Cohen hosting and executive producing. Real Housewives of Miami is in development. Peacock is on board with a Craig Robinson comedy project, and with Bust Down, a Lorne Michaels comedy starring Chris Redd, Sam Jay and Langston Kerman. 

Peacock also announced true-crime docuseries John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise and sports series Michael Phelps: Medals, Memories & More.  

“Peacock is committed to expanding the breadth and depth of our content and pushing the boundaries of compelling storytelling across genres,” said Susan Rovner, chairman, entertainment content, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “I am excited to unveil a dynamic slate of new programming that truly offers something for everyone, whether you’re a fan of comedy, reality, true crime or sports.”

Ex Rated explores single people who send “exit surveys” to their previous partners to see why the relationship did not work. Eric Pankowski will be showrunner and executive producer. BBC Studios is producing.  

The Real Housewives of Miami is produced by Purveyors of Pop with Matt Anderson, Nate Green and Cooper Green the executive producers. Andy Cohen will also executive produce.

Peacock has ordered 10 episodes of the Craig Robinson project, which it calls “a comedy about class, capitalism and one man’s quest to achieve the American dream,” and “hunting really big snakes.” Dan Goor and Luke Del Tredici will produce. 

Bust Down features four casino employees in a dead-end job in middle America, attempting to find self-worth in their bad ideas. Six episodes were ordered.

John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise “tells the chilling story of one of the world’s most notorious serial killers told through the words of Gacy himself, those who were forever changed by his unspeakable deeds and those who believe that the full truth about the case remains concealed to this day,” said Peacock.

It premieres March 25, when all six episodes drop. 

Michael Phelps: Medals, Memories and More is about the swimming great. Told in three parts, Phelps looks back on his career. NBC Sports produces.

Peacock also mentioned that Amber Ruffin, host of The Amber Ruffin Show, has been named to the 2021 Time100 Next list. 

Andy Cohen’s For Real: The Story of Reality TV will premiere on E! on March 25.

Cohen, the host of Watch What Happens Live on Bravo, like E! part of the NBCU cable network portfolio, is the host and executive producer of the new series, which examines the history, personalities and cultural impact of reality TV.

As a former programming executive, Cohen is in a good position to tell that story.

E! said the series will feature never before seen footage and untold stories as Cohen talks with many notables from the world of unscripted television.

He will be talking with the Kardashian family ahead of the final season of the long-running Keeping Up With The Kardashians, revealing secrets from The Bachelor and reuniting cast members from the first season of The Real World after 20 years.

For Real: The Story of Reality TV is produced by Bunim/Murray Productions & Most Talkative with Gil Goldschein, Julie Pizzi, David Sambuchi, Lauren Lazin and Andy Cohen serving as executive producers.

Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen co-host CNN’s New Year’s Eve from Times Square in New York. The telecast begins at 8 p.m. ET and the duo hands over to Brooke Baldwin and Don Lemon at 12:30 a.m. as the Central Time Zone prepares for the new year. 

The Times Square event will be closed to the public due to COVID.  

John Mayer, Snoop Dogg, Patti Labelle, Jimmy Buffett, Carole Baskin, Josh Groban, Leslie Jordan, Dulce Sloan, Desus & Mero, Kylie Minogue, Aloe Blacc, Goo Goo Dolls and Jon Bon Jovi will perform on the CNN stage.

Cooper is anchor of Anderson Cooper 360°. Cohen hosts Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on Bravo. The pair also hosted New Year's on CNN last year. 

From CNN, Ana Cabrera, Stephanie Elam, Randi Kaye, Richard Quest, Gary Tuchman and Bill Weir will report from locations around the world.

NBCUniversal's E! said it has greenlit a new limited series that looks at the history and impact of reality TV that will be hosted and executive produced by Andy Cohen, host of Watch What Happens Live on Bravo, another NBCU cable network.

In perhaps a nod to the cattiness of reality TV, E!’s announcement mentions neither Bravo nor Cohen’s other show, except to quote the executive who now oversees program development for both Bravo and E!.

Once upon a time, Cohen was a programming executive at an obscure cable network, before evolving into someone who interviews Real Housewives and celebrates New Year’s with Anderson Cooper on CNN.

E! said the new series, For Real: The Story of Reality TV, will revisit some of the most iconic reality television moments and share the inside scoop from the icons who lived it, or “spill some reali-tea,” as Cohen puts it in a promo for the show.

“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,” said Rachel Smith, executive VP, development for Bravo and E!. “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.” 

Viewers can expect to see scenes from Keeping Up with the Kardashians, The Bachelor, The Real World, Real Housewives and Survivor.

“I’m thrilled to look back at the shows that formed my love for reality TV, and interview the icons of the genre,” said Cohen. “This series is like great candy!”

For Real: The Story of Reality TV is produced by Bunim/Murray Productions & Most Talkative with Gil Goldschein, Julie Pizzi, David Sambuchi and Andy Cohen serving as Executive Producers. Lauren Lazin serves as Executive Producer and showrunner.

Bunim/Murray has had its hand in some great reality moments, having created The Real World and The Simple Life and producing Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Total Divas.

Bravo has signed up for a late-night talk show hosted by Jerry O’Connell and executive produced by Andy Cohen. It’s called Real Men Watch Bravo and it is set to premiere this fall.

O’Connell, an executive producer on the program as well, will discuss “the buzziest Bravo moments” and a range of pop culture topics with a panel of male celebrities and tastemakers.

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O’Connell, an actor, has been in the films Stand By Me, Jerry Maguire and The Death of Superman. His TV work includes Crossing Jordan and The Defenders. Bravo calls him “an avid Bravo viewer” and “a walking encyclopedia of Bravo history.”

A former Bravo executive, Cohen produces and hosts Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. He also hosts Love Connection on Fox.

Real Men Watch Bravo is produced by Embassy Row. Besides Cohen and O’Connell, Michael Davies will executive produce as well.

Bravo has signed talk show host/on-air personality and producer Andy Cohen to a three-year multi-tiered deal, the network announced Thursday (Nov. 9).

The agreement, which extends through 2020, calls for Cohen to continue to host the network’s live late-night talk show Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen as well as serve as executive producer of the successful Real Housewives franchise, said the network.

In addition, the deal also includes a first-look development deal with Cohen’s production company, Most Talkative.

“Andy is a creative multi-hyphenate dynamo, who through his cheeky charm, fascination and fandom, makes you want to hang out with him – either on the seat next to him or on the screen in front of you,” said Frances Berwick, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment president, Lifestyles Networks, in a statement. “He’s an integral part of the Bravo family and brand and we can’t wait to see where he takes Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen next.”

Andy Cohen was born for the screen.

He’s been working in TV for almost 30 years now, starting out behind the camera as a producer for CBS News shows CBS This Morning and 48 Hours for 10 years, before moving to cable network Trio in 2000 as head of original programming and development. That job evolved into one at Bravo, where Cohen spent 2004 to 2013 as an executive, producing shows such as the Real Housewives franchise (which he still executive produces), as well as Project Runway, Top Chef and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, winning Emmys along the way.

But his true talent showed through on the other side of the lens as host of Watch What Happens Live, which started as a Real Housewives aftershow in July 2009, and expanded to twice a week in 2012. In 2013, Cohen went full-time as a TV talent.

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This summer, Cohen is expanding to a competing network, Fox, where he’s hosting a summer revival of Love Connection, featuring real couples who go on real blind dates and then spill the beans to Cohen. The show premiered on Thursday, May 25, to 3.4 million viewers and a 1.1 in the key adult 18-49 demographic, leading Fox to a rare Thursday-night win. And Watch What Happens Live is getting a test run in syndication on Fox-owned stations, giving Cohen a chance to grow his brand a bit more.

Cohen took a minute out of his busy schedule to chat with B&C contributing editor Paige Albiniak.

MCN:WasLove Connectiona show you watched growing up?
Andy Cohen: I’ve always loved the format. I tried to get the format at Bravo, but it didn’t work out. And then [executive producers] Mike Darnell and Mike Fleiss just called and offered me the series.

MCN:SinceLove Connectionis airing on Fox, it’s outside the NBCUniversal family for you. Was that an issue at all?
AC: I went on bended knee [to his bosses at NBCUniversal] begging them to let me do this.

MCN:What drew you toLove Connection?
AC: It’s such a simple format. It’s a he said, she said, about first dates. It’s exactly in my wheelhouse. I love talking to people about their personal lives. I love hearing my friends’ first-date stories. It just really feels like an extension of what I do on Watch What Happens Live. It felt too perfect not to do.

We have Ramona Singer from Real Housewives of New York. We’ve got interracial, gay and lesbian couples. We had a guy this week who asked a woman on his first date how much she weighed, which was insane. There are so many funny stories to tell about these encounters.

And as funny as it all is, we made some real love connections, there are people we set up who are still dating.

MCN:You are the first gay host of a late-night talk show — do you think that has any relevance to how you host this show?
AC: I think being gay is part of who I am but it’s not all of who I am. But if there’s a guy who’s hot, I have no problem saying he’s really hot. I definitely say what I think.

MCN:Where do you think the show exists in the modern world of dating, where so much of it happens online or via text or chat and dating relationships seem so much more disposable?
AC: This show was popular in the ’80s. It’s a callback. I think it’s really refreshing. The daters love the old-fashioned feeling of being set up on a blind date and going and meeting someone and getting to know them for who they are. They aren’t swiping immediately. That’s why it seemed to work — people loved it.

MCN:Watch What Happens Liveis airing on select Fox-owned stations this summer. What do you think about that?
AC: I think any opportunity for the show to reach a bigger audience is great. I love that Fox is experimenting and putting the show on in various time slots. I hear from women across the country that they can’t stay up late and watch the show, so they DVR it. I think it will work wherever it plays.

Bravo will expand its popular The Real Housewives franchise by adding two more series to premiere next year.

The network will launch The Real Housewives of Potomac (Md., a Washington, D.C., suburb) on Jan. 17 and later in 2016 will premiere The Real Housewives of Dallas, according to network officials.

The Real Housewives of Potomac is produced by True Entertainment with Steven Weinstock, Glenda Hersh, Lauren Eskelin, Lorraine Haughton-Lawson, Bianca Barnes-Williams and Ashley McFarlin Buie serving as Executive Producers, while The Real Housewives of Dallas is produced by Goodbye Pictures with Rich Bye and Andrew Hoegl serving as Executive Producers. Andy Cohen also serves as an Executive Producer for both series, according to Bravo.

The new shows join Atlanta, New York, Orange County, New Jersey, Miami, Washington D.C. and Beverly Hills under The Real Housewives franchise umbrella.

The Real Housewives has become a global phenomenon that drives cultural conversation while consistently breaking ratings records,” said Shari Levine, Executive Vice President, Current Production, Bravo Media. “We're happy to extend the franchise with Potomac and Dallas giving Bravo fans more of what they desire: stories of dynamic women who make us laugh, cry, cheer and experience unforgettable moments we can’t stop talking about.”

NBCUniversal cable networks E! Entertainment and Bravo will pay tribute to the late Joan Rivers this weekend.

E!, which over the past 20 years was home to various shows and specials with Rivers --  who died at age 81 on Thursday following complications from throat surgery, -- will honor her legacy with a one-hour E! News special, Joan Rivers: Celebrating An Icon, on Friday, Sept. 5 at 9 p.m. (ET/PT).

The special will be hosted by E! News’ Jason Kennedy and Catt Sadler, who will be joined throughout the hour by George Kotsiopoulos, Ken Baker and other members of the E! on-air family who knew Rivers. The one-hour show will include highlights from Rivers' career, including a look back at her early days, and at the tremendous outpouring of love and support from fans known as “Joan’s Rangers."

Among the events that will be showcased: her breakout performance on The Tonight Show and her own foray into the late-night daypart on Fox, her Emmy Award-winning daytime talk show and E!’s venture into snark couture, Fashion Police.

For its part, Bravo will encore Rivers' last appearance on Watch What Happens Live on Sunday, Sept. 7 at 11:30 p.m. (ET).

Rivers, on the July 29 show hosted by Andy Cohen, touted Fashion Police, as well as her new book, Diary of a Mad Diva, when she was shown with Maksim Chmerkovskiy of Dancing with the Stars fame.

“Every single time Joan walked into the clubhouse, I got goosebumps,” said Cohen.