After an extended pause and months of speculation about the franchise’s future, RHONJ is finally making its return. Now, Andy Cohen is opening up about why the timing felt right to bring back fan favorites Teresa Giudice and Melissa Gorga.
In an interview with Variety, Cohen revealed that he didn’t initially jump at the chance to film Giudice and Gorga because he feared their family reunion wouldn’t last. However, one encounter changed his mind to move forward, allowing RHONJ a chance to redeem itself after a heated Season 14 finale.
Andy Cohen Opens Up About RHONJ New Season
GettyCohen revealed that RHONJ has just started filming after an almost two-year hiatus. Melissa Gorga, Teresa Giudice, and Dolores Catania return for the new season, bringing several newcomers into the mix.
He told Variety, “We just started filming, but it’s going great.”
Cohen worried about the authenticity of the reunion of Gorga and Giudice’s families. Their estrangement lasted for several years. However, after talking to Gia Giudice (Teresa’s oldest daughter), Cohen had a change of heart.
“I do believe it,” Andy Cohen said of the family bond between its members that dominates RHONJ.
“You know, this happened months ago, and we decided not to film anything because, frankly, we’ve seen Melissa — and we’ve seen Joe and Teresa — make up before. We were like, ‘Great, if you’re going to do this, go do it!'”
He continued, “And they lived in it for many months. I remember talking to Gia at BravoCon, and she looked in my eye, and she was telling me things that they had been doing as a family, and she was emotional about having her uncle back and her cousins back.”
Cohen concluded, “And I was like, ‘OK, good. This is real.’ Listen, as we know, the kids on the ‘Housewives.’ they are the real truth-tellers.”
Does Bravo Encourage Villainous Behavior? Cohen Weighs In
Reality television thrives on drama, but where is the line between entertainment and bad behavior? Andy Cohen is weighing in on whether Bravo encourages villainous conduct from the stars of some of its most popular reality shows.
A viewer wondered if there was “a bit of a code among Bravo creators known as ‘respect the villains.” Variety asked Cohen is this is indeed true?
He replied, “Well, that’s a really good question. You just have to figure out. It’s that thing that I’ve talked about so much. Like, there are people who you love to hate. But do you love them, or do you just hate them?”
“Do you love to hate them? And I think what winds up happening sometimes with people who are considered villains is sometimes, they lean too much into it, and they wind up isolating themselves. They wind up getting lost in making a TV show, as opposed to the things we loved about them when they first joined the show.”
The cast is currently filming Season 15 of RHONJ. Bravo has not yet announced when the new episodes will premiere.
