‘We were ready to kill the show’: How Bravo’s ‘Real Housewives’ made it to TV

nypost.com:

have made headlines for alleged crimes ranging from trespassing to money laundering. But the cultural juggernaut that has come to define Bravo — and in some ways, our current moment — almost never was. “The rough cuts sucked,” recalls Andy Cohen of the early days in the new book “Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of the Real Housewives From the People Who Live It” (Andy Cohen Books – Henry Holt and Company). “I wanted it to go away.

We were ready to kill the show.” The book’s author, Dave Quinn, interviewed some 185 people for the exhaustive oral history, and he says just the first chapter on the origin of the series was initially 500 pages. “[I’m] just giving everyone the space to say their piece,” he says.