Fluffy, but Fun
Andy Cohen is in charge of Watch What Happens Live on Bravo

Andy Cohen, the host of Watch What Happens Live, is a big fish in the small pond of TV executives. If you narrow that field to gay TV execs, he’s a Great Northern Pike in a fishbowl.

Cohen is senior vice president of programming at Bravo Television, and unless you’ve been sharing a cave with Bin Laden for the last decade, you’ve seen his work. Cohen was the force behind Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Project Runway and Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, to name a few. He also hosts Watch What Happens Live, which is in its second season.

Watch What Happens is one of those hybrid menageries that is hard to define, a square peg in the round hole of nighttime talk show programming. It’s a cocktail: one part shallow and mind-numbing trivia and one part huge-hearted and topical news with a dash of camp, stirred lightly and not shaken. Cohen would never bruise the gin of his good work.

The format is old school. Cohen always seems casual, yet wonderfully well put-together as he lounges with a guest and a cocktail. With some imagination and a black and white television, one can glimpse the ghost of Dean Martin, putting his guests at ease and regaling his audience with pithy one-liners. He’s a pro and he’s also cute as the dickens.

His guests have included RuPaul, Ricki Lake, Kathy Griffith, Joan Rivers and, unfortunately, way too many reality television faux celebs. That goes to the shallow and mind-numbing facet of the program.

The major shortcoming to Watch What Happens is the regrettable, but business savvy, trend toward the cross-pollination of projects. The Real Housewives of New York, New Jersey, Orange County or whatever, are Cohen projects so, sadly, there’s way too much time devoted to uninteresting ditzy chicks from around the country.

But fortunately, for every foray into the abyss, there’s balance. A half hour with Joan Rivers is fair compensation. Sure, Joan Rivers is arguably just as vacuous as any of the “Real Housewives,” but at least she’s earned her celebrity, and she’s not nearly as mean spirited … usually.

Earlier this year, Cohen and Rivers critiqued, of all things, outfits from the Winter Olympics. Who is better equipped to comment on U.S. figure skater Johnny Weir and his choices in costuming than an impeccably dressed gay guy and the diva of fashion, Joan Rivers? I challenge any reality washout to come up with a line like, “Johnny Weir dressed like a bridesmaid at Elton John’s wedding.”

That was a little mean, but that’s entertainment.

When Cohen gets serious, his topics are thought-provoking full-hearted knockouts. In a segment called “Jack hole of the Day,” Cohen pulls no punches as he lets some well-deserving jackass have it, and usually the story is something under- or un-reported. Cohen manages a degree of originality that’s removed from the maddening echo chamber of a lot of the media.

One of the recipients of the ignominious award were the parents of a straight “A” high school student from Georgia. The young man petitioned and received permission from the school board to bring a male date to the prom. The resulting media attention freaked the kid’s parents, so being good Christians, they did the only thing available to them in their tiny pool of choices: they booted their kid out of the house.

Cohen applauded the boy for his bravery. He encouraged him to “hang in there,” and he assured him that things will get better. That’s the beauty of a big megaphone, with any luck those 15 minutes of fame will help moderate the hideous combination of ignorance and bad parenting that befell this young man.

Another “Jack hole” was Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), who apologized to British Petroleum for “the shakedown.” Barton thought an angry public was out of line for demanding BP be fiscally responsible for its oil spill mess.

I’m dreading the day Cohen goes after Arizona, because you know it’s coming. Meanwhile, I recommend watching Watch. It’s cotton candy for the mind, but its vitamin-fortified cotton candy. Indulge occasionally: it’s not all that bad for you.

Watch What Happens Live airs Mondays on Bravo.