Andy Cohen thinks there’s room for improvement on The Real Housewives of New York City.
“I think that there were some growth areas and I think that those will be dealt with next season,” Cohen, 55, exclusively told Us Weekly of the Bravo series’ 14th season on Tuesday, January 9.
The latest installment of RHONY, which premiered in July 2023, featured an all-new cast: Sai De Silva, Ubah Hassan, Erin Lichy, Jenna Lyons, Jessel Taank and Brynn Whitfield.
Cohen thinks that the cast shakeup — along with bringing back OG cast members for Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: RHONY Legacy in December 2023 — are “two of the riskiest things” Bravo has done during his time with the network.
“That was something that I lost sleep over and I was incredibly relieved by the reception and also the grace that people gave, because the original RHONY women were just chef’s kiss and they held such a special place in people’s hearts,” he told Us.
Cohen added that he “was really thrilled” with the outcome of RHONY Legacy, which starred Luann de Lesseps, Ramona Singer, Dorinda Medley, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Sonja Morgan and Kristen Taekman, too.
The new group, meanwhile, tried not to compare themselves to the Real Housewives that came before.
“I understand those women are iconic and always will be. But it was a different time,” Lyons, 55, said during a group interview with Vanity Fair in July 2023. “It was a different group of people. It was a different setting. So, my inclination is to not try to compare.”
Lichy, 36, chimed in that while she found the original show “hysterical” and has “the utmost respect for all those women,” she felt it was time for a change.
“I feel as though we got to a point where the evolution couldn’t continue because it just became kind of stagnant. [It was] the same thing over and over,” she argued.
Now that RHONY has been given a fresh start, Cohen is turning over a new leaf himself. The television personality talked to Us about his 2024 New Year’s resolutions and Walmart’s “Save Your Resolutions” campaign, which is designed to help consumers stick to their goals for the year ahead.
“The second week of January becomes the time when people ditch their resolutions. As a matter of fact, there’s a day called National Quitter’s Day in the second week of January, so I have partnered with Walmart Plus,” Cohen said. “We’re trying to get you to save your resolutions, and if you sign up with Walmart plus, it’s kind of the ultimate savings membership. It saves you time and money on things like free grocery delivery, free shipping, discounted fuel, all these ways to help kind of kickstart and save your resolutions. … If you sign up for Walmart plus before the end of January, they give you 50 bucks of Walmart cash, so who’s going to say no to that?”
As for Cohen’s own resolutions, he’s focused on “less phone time, more patience on family road trips, healthier sleep [and] limiting drinking.”
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
