Andy Cohen is confident Bravo fans will eat up “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island.”
“The cast is incredible,” the executive producer gushed to Page Six exclusively at a Cinema Society screening of “Lilly” on Wednesday night.
“They are very Italian,” he continued. “Rhode Island is such a small state, and they all kind of know each other and overlap, and it’s an incredible group of women who have really interesting connections. I think it’s going to really surprise people.”
When Page Six noted that “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” also has a primarily Italian American cast with family drama, Cohen, 56, explained why the two differ.
“Well, they’re in Rhode Island. It’s coastal,” he pointed out, calling the yet-to-be-announced stars even “more Italian” with “deep families.”
The “Watch What Happens Live” host did, however, concede that the upcoming series, which Bravo announced Wednesday, “does kind of remind you of early ‘Jersey’ in a weird way,” which led us to our next question: Did the network do a thorough background check this time?
“When we started ‘Jersey,’ nobody had [done] anything illegal,” he replied.
Indeed, it would be several years into “RHONJ” before original cast member Teresa Giudice and her then-husband, Joe Giudice, were sentenced to prison for fraud and tax evasion.
That said, Cohen did admit the screening process has changed.
“As the show has evolved,” he explained carefully, “the diligence has evolved.”
When “RHORI” hits the airwaves, it will become the 12th installment in the juggernaut franchise, which started with “The Real Housewives of Orange County” in 2006.
Cohen went to Wednesday’s NeueHouse screening to support his longtime pal John Benjamin Hickey, who stars in “Lilly” opposite Patricia Clarkson.
Other bold-faced names in attendance included Hillary Clinton, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, Gayle King, Jim Parsons, John Slattery, Victor Garber, Cherry Jones, Tony Shalhoub and Katie Couric.
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