Andy Cohen reflects on Real Housewives of Orange County's 15th anniversary, says he isn't ready for a reboot just yet

Variety

“I always thought it was a sociological time capsule of the nouveau riche,” Cohen tells Variety of launching the docusoap designed to be a reality TV version of Desperate Housewives in March 2006. But the show didn't really become compelling TV until the next year when the recession hit. Following the disappointment over the recent season of Real Housewives of O.C., there have been calls to reboot the series, with even Cohen hinting he may be interested in shaking things up. But Cohen tells Variety the show is "just taking a pause. We’re in no rush to get into production. One of the benefits of Salt Lake City coming out so strong out of the gate and becoming such a hit is you don’t need to be in such a rush then to get Orange County back, because you have more to play with. And we really wanted to get back in production in Salt Lake when it was still winter there. It’s a stark contrast to all the other shows to see them with the mountains and the snow. So we love that aesthetic. But Orange County, Calif., is still fairly locked down. So that was one issue. There were times in the past where we would say, 'You know what? Let’s let the women live their lives for awhile, and see where they’re at. And see where they’re at with each other.' There’s a clear hope from the fans that there’s some kind of shake-up. And I think we’re analyzing everything. I think we just wanted to be really deliberate too. I mean, this is obviously the show that started everything for this franchise. And it’s really important, and it’s important that we keep getting it right. And by the way, I thought the reunion was fantastic! I think, given everything that we faced this season production-wise, it was a pretty good season. I would not say that it was the best season of Housewives of Orange County. But given everything we were up against, there were some killer episodes."