• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, October 7, 2014

The “mystique” of TV news just got tarnished as Bravo’s Andy Cohen got the interview everyone else wanted and conducted it as well as anyone.

The results were seen partially on Bravo Monday night in a 30-minute prime-time special featuring Cohen interviewing Bravo’s embattled reality stars -- Joe and Teresa Giudice of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” -- who received prison sentences last Thursday of 41 months and 15 months, respectively.

The sentences followed their convictions on numerous counts of fraud -- wire fraud, bank fraud, mail fraud, bankruptcy fraud -- basically a litany of charges that added up to a mountain of financial chicanery. Under the terms of the sentencing set by the judge in the case, Teresa is due to report to jail on Jan. 5, and Joe will report to serve his sentence after his wife’s release.

To their credit, the Giudices didn’t declare their innocence or accuse the government of prosecuting them over-zealously. Far from coming across as defiant, the two seemed understandably glum and resigned to their fates. 

Their interview with Cohen was conducted over several hours last Friday -- the day after their sentencing -- on the set of “Watch What Happens Live,” Cohen’s Bravo talk show, which is usually much more lighthearted.

The interview was edited down to comprise two half-hour segments -- one of which aired Monday night at 9 (Eastern time) and was then shown again at 9:30.  Part 2 is scheduled for Thursday night at 9, presumably with a 9:30 repeat.

So why does this “get” -- which obviously came about because the Giudices are Bravo personalities -- signify a “tarnishing” of TV news? Because of its “anybody can do it” quality. And that’s not a dig at Cohen. On the half-hour seen twice on Monday night, he was a very capable interviewer -- which means, basically, that you don’t really have to be Barbara Walters or Charlie Rose to do this.

Cohen’s questions were succinct and focused, and he never hemmed, hawed, meandered or otherwise backtracked in the delivery of them. That’s not a quality you can attribute to every TV interviewer (ahem, Charlie Rose and Chris Matthews). 

“Are you worried about losing your temper in prison?” he asked Teresa -- a logical question considering her reputation for combustibility on “Real Housewives.” Her answer: She’s “grown,” and doesn’t do that anymore.

“Are you worried about being deported after you serve time?” Cohen asked Joe. It was another question viewers wanted Cohen to ask because, as anyone knows who has followed the Giudices’ case, Joe is a native of Italy and not a United States citizen who could eventually face deportation. His answer: He deflected the question by saying he’s more worried about Teresa and how she will fare in prison.

As he attempted to do throughout their trial, Joe took the blame for the various financial misdeeds that also ensnared his wife because she put her signature on documents that later became exhibits in the government’s case. Apparently, the two believed that only Joe would end up doing time, and they seemed blindsided by Teresa’s 15-month sentence. 

For her part, Teresa told Cohen she never understood the documents she signed. Nor did she comprehend the ramifications of her guilty plea in the case, believing that by acknowledging her guilt, she would skate through without a prison sentence.

The point is this: Cohen’s questions covered all the bases. He asked how they felt, how they gave the bad news to their kids, what was their motivation for engaging in all this financial sleight-of-hand in the first place. And he got answers that would have been no different whether the questioner was Andy Cohen or Diane Sawyer.

Yes, the Bravo connection certainly gave Cohen a leg up in securing this interview, but it’s doubtful the Giudices were contractually obligated to give this interview to Bravo.

If Cohen played the “connection card” to get this interview, then he was only doing what all networks – including network news divisions -- do whenever such opportunities arise.

Apart from that connection, the Giudices probably felt comfortable with Cohen and trusted him to conduct a fair interview.  Comfort and trust are criteria any newsmaker or celebrity would apply to choosing any interviewer. And it’s a certainty that the Giudices probably were courted by every top news star you can name. But they went with Cohen.

Bravo is even packaging and airing the interview in the same way a network news division would -- over several days. That’s what the big networks do -- announce a big “get,” and then promote its eventual airing in prime-time by first showing shorter bits of it on the morning shows and evening newscasts.

What’s it all mean?  That network news has no monopoly on this kind of interview anymore. Bravo, Andy.