New Bravo Deal Means More of Andy Cohen ngocc

Andy Cohen is the most identifiable talent on the Bravo cable channel, thanks to his successful weeknight talk show, “Watch What Happens Live.” But while talk-show host has been his public identity, he also has worked full time as one of the top corporate executives at Bravo.

That will all change on Wednesday, thanks to a new deal with Bravo that underscores Mr. Cohen’s rising importance to the network as an on-air star, the equally important place his show occupies at the channel, and the recognition that corporate suits are a bit easier to replace than a host who draws about 900,000 viewers to each show (counting delayed viewing).

Mr. Cohen has agreed to a two-year deal to extend his work on “Watch What Happens Live” (where he also serves as executive producer), while his new production company, Most Talkative, will develop prime-time shows for the network. He will give up his position as executive vice president for talent and development at Bravo, but will remain an executive producer on all the many “Real Housewives” iterations.

Mr. Cohen said in an interview that when his show expanded to five nights a week two years ago, it signaled an “inevitable transition” for him away from his executive work. But he said he had not given his programming position short shrift, having been instrumental in the development of numerous new shows on Bravo, including “Married to Medicine,” “Fashion Queens” and “Shahs of Sunset.”

Having a top executive spend his days in the corporate offices and his late nights live on television might have been unusual, said Frances Berwick, the Bravo president, “but it happened gradually over time.”

Mr. Cohen and his producing partner, Michael Davies, more or less began the trend of talk shows after hit cable shows with their post-“Housewives” specials. (Mr. Davies produces shows like “Talking Dead” after “The Walking Dead,” and “Talking Bad” after “Breaking Bad.”)

Mr. Cohen spun the success of the “Housewives” specials into a once-a-week edition of “WWHL,” as it is called, which grew into a week’s worth. He retained his day job all that time — until now.

“This is sort of freeing Andy from the corporate shackles,” Ms. Berwick said.

In recent months, the show has raised its profile so much that A-list guests are common, with Oprah Winfrey, Cher and Lady Gaga having dropped by Mr. Cohen’s tiny studio. How tiny? Mr. Cohen said it seated 22; Mr. Davies said that included the crew, so it was really more like 17 people.

But Mr. Cohen said guests liked the loose format where they drink cocktails on the air and sit in a replica of the den in Mr. Cohen’s apartment.

Even with the new deal and affirmation that he is, as Ms. Berwick put it, the “real face of the network,” Mr. Cohen said he had no plans to make “WWHL” a bigger show.

“That size is partially our strength,” he said. “We don’t have a shiny floor and a band and 200 people, and I think that helps make us authentic.”