59 Fun Facts About Bravo TV

Bravo's founder Rainbow Media later took which channel's name?

AMC lent its name in 2011, when Cablevision spun Rainbow Media off as AMC Networks; Bravo missed the rebrand, having been sold off nine years earlier.

Top Chef's 2010 Emmy win ended the seven-year winning streak of which reality competition?

The Amazing Race had won the reality-competition Emmy every year since the award began in 2003; Top Chef broke the run in 2010, and the Race took the trophy straight back in 2011.

What did Bravo originally focus on?

Fine arts and film were the whole pitch: Bravo billed itself as the first TV service devoted to film and the performing arts, and only swerved to reality after a makeover show became its surprise hit in 2003.

Which Real Housewives star played a child in the 1978 horror classic Halloween?

Kyle Richards played young Lindsey Wallace alongside Jamie Lee Curtis, then returned to the same role 43 years later in Halloween Kills.

Which Real Housewives of Atlanta star won a Grammy for co-writing TLC's hit No Scrubs?

Kandi Burruss won the 2000 Grammy for Best R&B Song with No Scrubs; years later its writers were added to the credits of Ed Sheeran's Shape of You because the two songs sounded so alike.

How much did Bravo sell for in 2002?

$1.25 billion in cash and stock bought Bravo from Cablevision, which sold to pay down its debt; the buyer covered part of the price by handing back the Cablevision shares it owned.

Which drama did Bravo begin re-running in 2003, with holiday marathons?

The West Wing reruns arrived in August 2003 behind a heavy promotional push; Bravo had bought the exclusive cable rights back in 2001, while the series was still airing new episodes on network television.

Which Vanderpump Rules star went on to Dancing with the Stars and Broadway's Chicago?

Ariana Madix learned of partner Tom Sandoval's affair in March 2023; within a year she had danced to third place on Dancing with the Stars and played Roxie Hart on Broadway.

What was the collective name for Queer Eye's team of experts?

The Fab Five nearly had a different line-up: culture expert Blair Boone filmed two early episodes before Jai Rodriguez replaced him alongside Carson Kressley, Ted Allen, Kyan Douglas and Thom Filicia.

Which streaming service revived Queer Eye in 2018?

Netflix revived the show in February 2018 with five new hosts and moved the makeovers out of the original's home city to Atlanta and neighbouring Georgia towns.

Which Million Dollar Listing broker went on to front his own streaming series, Owning Manhattan?

Ryan Serhant arrived in the city as an actor, with a soap role on As the World Turns, then switched to selling apartments and now runs the brokerage his streaming series follows.

Which SNL star played Inside the Actors Studio's James Lipton?

Will Ferrell lampooned Lipton's solemn, deliberate delivery, and the host took it well: he enjoyed the impression and turned up as himself in Ferrell's 2005 film Bewitched.

Who was the first guest broadcast on Inside the Actors Studio?

Paul Newman was a fitting opener for the 1994 debut: he had spent twelve years as president of the Actors Studio, whose drama students filled the seats.

James Lipton's closing questionnaire traces back to a parlour game answered by which French novelist?

Marcel Proust never wrote the questions: he answered them in a friend's confession album. French TV host Bernard Pivot revived the idea on his book show, and Lipton borrowed it from him.

Which film star was once a student in the Inside the Actors Studio audience?

Bradley Cooper watched from the seats as a master's student at the Actors Studio Drama School; in 2011 he came back to sit in the guest's chair himself.

Project Runway premiered on Bravo in December 2004 with which host?

Heidi Klum hosted and judged for 16 seasons, sending designers home with an air kiss and 'Auf Wiedersehen', then left with Tim Gunn in 2018 to make Amazon's Making the Cut.

Project Runway returned to Bravo in 2018 after which studio went bankrupt?

The Weinstein Company, the show's producer, filed for bankruptcy in March 2018, and Bravo reacquired Project Runway that May; its longtime host and Tim Gunn then left for Amazon's Making the Cut.

Who replaced Tim Gunn as Project Runway's mentor when it returned to Bravo?

Christian Siriano, who had won the show's fourth season, became Project Runway's mentor for its 2019 Bravo return, with Karlie Kloss taking over as host.

Tim Gunn chaired the fashion design department at which school before joining Project Runway?

Parsons made Tim Gunn its fashion design chair in 2000, and the school doubled as the set: the show's early seasons were filmed in its workrooms.

Which line does the Top Chef host use to send an eliminated contestant home?

Please pack your knives and go was one host's line for 19 seasons, said to hundreds of chefs; in 2024 it passed to her successor, a former winner of the show.

Who hosted the first season of Top Chef before Padma Lakshmi?

Katie Lee hosted Top Chef's first season in 2006; Padma Lakshmi took over for seasons 2 to 20, and season 10 winner Kristen Kish from season 21.

Which two judges have been on Top Chef since its first season in 2006?

Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons have judged since the 2006 debut, he as head judge on every season; Simmons also stepped up to host the pastry spin-off Top Chef: Just Desserts.

What is the name of Top Chef's short opening test each episode?

The Quickfire usually lasts an hour or less, and early in a season winning it buys immunity from that episode's elimination; once the field thins, the reward becomes an advantage or a prize instead.

The Top Chef season winner gets a feature in which magazine?

Food & Wine has been tied to the show from the start: one of its longest-serving judges was on the magazine's staff when she was cast, and the winner also cooks at its Classic in Aspen.

The Real Housewives franchise began with a series set in which location?

The Real Housewives of Orange County premiered on 21 March 2006, pitched as a real-life answer to scripted soaps like Desperate Housewives and Peyton Place.

Which city hosted the first Real Housewives series outside the US that Bravo made itself?

Dubai's 2022 series was the first overseas edition Bravo produced as its own; earlier foreign versions, beginning with Athens in 2011, were remakes made for local channels.

Which Bravo spin-off followed Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kim Zolciak and her family?

Don't Be Tardy echoes Kim Zolciak's 2009 dance single Tardy for the Party, which became its theme song; the show began in 2012 as Don't Be Tardy for the Wedding and ran eight seasons.

Vanderpump Rules is set at restaurants in which part of greater Los Angeles?

West Hollywood is home to SUR, where the cast waited tables, and to Tom Tom, the bar Lisa Vanderpump later opened with cast members Tom Sandoval and Tom Schwartz.

What does SUR, the Lisa Vanderpump venue at the heart of her spin-off show, stand for?

SUR stands for Sexy Unique Restaurant; Lisa Vanderpump and her husband Ken Todd became co-owners of the restaurant, whose servers and bartenders became the cast of her spin-off.

Which captain fronted Below Deck's first ten seasons?

Lee Rosbach was at the helm from the 2013 debut, when the chartered yacht Cuor di Leone was renamed Honor for the cameras, until Kerry Titheradge took over for season 11.

Captain Sandy Yawn made her name on which Below Deck spin-off?

Below Deck Mediterranean, the first spin-off, launched in 2016 under Captain Mark Howard; Yawn replaced him a year later and went on to captain the next ten seasons.

What was Andy Cohen's job at Bravo before he became a host?

VP of original programming was Andy Cohen's first title at Bravo in 2004; in ten years as an executive he oversaw Top Chef, Project Runway and The Real Housewives, the very shows he now grills on air.

Where was Andy Cohen born?

Andy Cohen was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1968; he studied broadcast journalism at Boston University and interned at CBS News alongside Julie Chen.

What is the name of the SiriusXM channel Andy Cohen curates?

Radio Andy launched on SiriusXM in September 2015 around Cohen's own call-in show, and a year later it added an unlikely voice: veteran CBS anchor Dan Rather, with a weekly hour of his own.

What is the title of Andy Cohen's 2012 memoir?

Most Talkative: Stories from the Front Lines of Pop Culture, Andy Cohen's 2012 memoir, recounted his years at CBS News and Bravo and became a bestseller.

The first BravoCon was held in November 2019 in which city?

New York hosted the first BravoCon across three Manhattan venues; after a second edition at the Javits Center in 2022, the convention packed up and moved to Las Vegas.

What award ceremony was introduced at BravoCon 2023?

The Bravos opened with host Andy Cohen in a song-and-dance number and handed out tongue-in-cheek honours such as the Who Said That Award for Colloquial Excellence.

Kathy Griffin's Bravo reality series was called My Life on the what?

The D-List was Griffin's self-mocking billing; Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List ran six seasons from 2005 and won two Emmys for Outstanding Reality Program.

Flipping Out followed which Los Angeles designer?

Jeff Lewis flipped houses on camera for 11 seasons with assistant Jenni Pulos at his side; by his own account, Bravo dropped the show in 2018 after the two fell out.

Shahs of Sunset followed a circle of Iranian American friends based in which California city?

Beverly Hills sits in the area nicknamed Tehrangeles: greater Los Angeles is home to the largest Iranian community outside Iran.

The original Southern Charm is set in which city?

Charleston, South Carolina, is home to the socialites of the original series; its success sent Bravo to two more Southern cities, with spin-offs set in Savannah and New Orleans.

Which 2014 drama was billed as Bravo's first original scripted series?

Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce took its title from Vicki Iovine's Girlfriends' Guides advice books; Lisa Edelstein played a self-help author facing her own divorce, and it ran five seasons.

Why did Comcast leave Bravo out of its Versant cable spin-off, announced in 2024?

It supplies Peacock with content, so Bravo stayed put while USA, E!, Syfy, CNBC and MSNBC were spun off; cut loose from its parent network, MSNBC had to rename itself MS NOW.

Which Bravo series followed Patti Stanger's Los Angeles dating service?

The Millionaire Matchmaker ran eight seasons until Patti Stanger left Bravo in 2015; she took the format with her, resurfacing on WE tv a year later as host of Million Dollar Matchmaker.

Bethenny Frankel, a breakout star of The Real Housewives, founded which lifestyle brand?

Skinnygirl began in 2009 as a single bottled margarita; two years later Frankel sold the cocktail line to Beam Global but kept the name, which went on to sell popcorn and salad dressing.

Summer House follows friends who leave the city each weekend for a shared house in which beach getaway?

The Hamptons share-house formula proved portable: in 2021 Bravo sent some of the cast to a Vermont ski town for a spin-off, Winter House.

Which Real Housewives star recorded the dance single Money Can't Buy You Class?

Luann de Lesseps, then a countess by marriage, wanted a song that carried the message of her etiquette book, Class with the Countess; the single followed the book by a year.

The adult pay channel that once shared Bravo's channel space was later renamed what?

Playboy TV is what became of Escapade, the adult service that filled the channel on Bravo's dark nights; stranger still, Escapade had itself been called Bravo until the new channel took over the name.

Which Real Housewives of Atlanta star went on to acting roles in Glee and The New Normal?

NeNe Leakes was cast by producer Ryan Murphy in both: as swim coach Roz Washington in Glee, then as a secretary in his sitcom The New Normal; Broadway followed, in Cinderella.

Which Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star was sentenced to prison in 2023 over a telemarketing fraud?

Jen Shah switched her plea to guilty a week before her trial was due to begin, admitting to a scheme that targeted the elderly; the judge gave her six and a half years.

Which documentary filmmaker's satirical series The Awful Truth ran on Bravo from 1999?

Michael Moore made The Awful Truth with money from Britain's Channel 4, so his send-up of American corporations and politicians was paid for across the Atlantic; it ran two seasons.

Andy Cohen joined which CNN anchor as co-host of New Year's Eve Live in 2017?

Anderson Cooper got his close friend as co-host after CNN dropped comedian Kathy Griffin, who had shared the broadcast with him for a decade.

Bravo's 2017 logo refresh rendered its speech-bubble wordmark in what style?

All lowercase letters arrived in February 2017 as the bright blue logo turned black and white; Bravo kept the speech bubble because its research showed how strongly viewers tied that shape to the network.

Which catchphrase is mentor Tim Gunn known for on Project Runway?

Make it work became so tied to Tim Gunn that he put it in a book title: Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons for Making It Work, published in 2010.

Teresa Giudice famously flipped a table in the first-season finale of which Real Housewives series?

New Jersey's first season ended with a dinner at which Danielle Staub confronted rumours from a book about her past; the row finished with Teresa Giudice flipping the table.

Canada's original Bravo was rebranded in 2019 under what name?

Bell Media rebranded the Canadian Bravo as CTV Drama Channel in September 2019; Rogers later picked up the Bravo brand and relaunched it in September 2024 in place of OLN.

Which Australian broadcaster launched a free-to-air Bravo channel in January 2023?

Seven Network struck a licensing deal with Bravo's American owner and launched 7Bravo on 15 January 2023, billing it as a 'destination for reality and true crime'.

During the 2016 Rio Olympics, Bravo was the US television home of which sport?

Tennis stayed on Bravo right through both singles finals in 2016; at London 2012 its tennis coverage had ended before the finals were played.

Which New Zealand channel closed in July 2016 to be replaced by Bravo?

Four, a MediaWorks channel, closed on 2 July 2016 and Bravo New Zealand took over its slot the next day, launched as a joint venture between MediaWorks and Bravo's American parent.