The Bravo Universe, led by ringleader Andy Cohen over the past two decades, features an expansive crew of backbiting housewives, restaurant workers and yacht employees.
But the world also includes non-Bravo fans who analyze, nitpick and mock the people who get paid to generate reality show drama.
Among the earliest podcasters who joined this land of bitter rivals, divorces and betrayals are longtime friends Ronnie Karam and Ben Mandelker, who have leveraged their love of dubious reality TV into full-fledged careers.
Since 2012, they have taped more than 2,800 episodes of the daily “Watch What Crappens” podcast, parsing Bravo reality shows and related fare with purposely bad voice imitations and inside jokes larded with gleeful sarcasm. They also occasionally hit the road to tape episodes before a live studio audience.
They have come to Atlanta, home of “Real Housewives of Atlanta” and “Married to Medicine,” multiple times. Their latest visit is a live taping on Sunday, March 23 at the 1,000-seat Variety Playhouse in Little Five Points with tickets starting at $29 at axs.com.
“It’s such a different energy live,” said Ben Mandelker in a Zoom interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Everything is heightened. We can ham it up. People cheer and boo.” They also occasionally have Bravo guests and a surprise “housewife” could potentially show up Sunday.
Credit: BRAVO
Credit: BRAVO
Bravo as a basic cable network in the 2000s into the mid-2010s received strong viewership from dedicated fans for its vast array of “Housewives” shows as well as offspring like “Vanderpump Rules,” “Below Deck” and “Married to Medicine.” But streaming has splintered that world.
NBCUniversal doesn’t release viewership numbers on Peacock, the streaming service that airs Bravo shows on demand, so it’s now far more difficult to gauge which of its shows are doing well and which ones aren’t. Observers end up having to glean buzz from anecdotal social media postings.
“There is no more water cooler,” Mandelker said. “There are barely any offices anymore. People who come to our lives shows are seeking a community. They can talk to people who know ‘Summer House.’ In a weird way, streaming has almost driven people to us.”
He said at first, Bravo was a little suspicious of their podcast given its tone: “They may have seen us criticizing them. We are shady, but it comes from a place of being fans. All us podcasters, we’re part of this ecosystem that keeps the shows going.”
Indeed, Mandelker and Karam have appeared on Cohen’s Bravo talk show “Watch What Happens Live,” and Bravo happily gives them advance screeners of episodes.
Credit: Derek White/Bravo
Credit: Derek White/Bravo
Mandelker, of course, has been a big fan of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” since it debuted in 2008. “Atlanta” quickly became one of the network’s most popular shows in the “housewives’ franchise. But in recent years, it has lost its luster, necessitating the network to overhaul the cast. The show returned March 9 for its 16th season after a lengthy hiatus.
“There’s hope for ‘Atlanta’ as there are for all Bravo shows,” Mandelker said. “They are like sports teams. They have championship seasons and they have rebuilding seasons. There are peaks and valleys with all these casts.”
He feels “Real Housewives of Atlanta” has been “a slowly deflating balloon over the past few years.”
Seasons would often start strong, Mandelker said, with plenty of shady back and forth. But then it would peter out. Last season was especially problematic because “there was no cast chemistry. They didn’t want to spend time together.”
Mandelker hopes fresh blood mixed with some familiar faces will shake things up.
“Atlanta has been suffering a long time,” he said. “I’m really hoping that the adjustments bring it back.”
Based on the first episode, he has hope for the three true newcomers: Angela Oakley, the regal wife of former NBA star Charles Oakley; no-nonsense restaurateur Kelli Ferrell and insurance agent Brit Eady. (A fourth full-time housewife Shamea Morton had been a part-time “friend” on the show for many years.)
Mandelker grew up a New York Knicks fan, which connected him with Oakley, and he was bemused that Ferrell owns Nana’s Chicken-n-Waffles restaurant in McDonough.
“I love when someone presents themselves in pearls and diamonds and declare, ‘I’m the waffle queen!’” Mandelker said. “That’s perfect!’”
Based on the first episode, Mandelker didn’t recall much about Eady, except the fact she was “very funny, and I liked her. I want my housewives funny and delusional. They don’t have to be rich. They have to think they’re rich.”
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
Among the veteran housewives, he has high hopes for Porsha Williams, who was on the show for a solid decade before leaving in 2021. She took two seasons off and returned this year.
“She’s a big star,” Mandelker said. “She really connects with the camera.” It helps that she is going through a messy divorce with Simon Guobodia, a Nigerian entrepreneur who was recently detained by ICE. She also verbally insults fellow housewife Drew Sidora for creating music and trying to film with her daughter’s father, Dennis McKinley, who was known on the show as owner of The Original Hotdog Factory but now fashions himself as a music producer.
“I’m optimistic,” he said. “Will the audience come back to it? The problem in the streaming world is it’s hard to get people back once they go away.”
He said “Atlanta” had become too staid and suburban, but there are signs this year will be different, noting how the cameras luxuriated over Shamea Morton’s $9 million Buckhead home.
“What works on Bravo is camp, money and luxury and people who are a little deluded,” he noted.
IF YOU GO
“Watch What Crappens” podcast live
Sunday, 8 p.m., $29-$40, Variety Playhouse, 1099 Euclid Ave NE, Atlanta, www.axs.com
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