Slow down, Andy Cohen! You're giving me a complex!

Andy Cohen is taking over the world! TV Guide named him one of the "25 Most Powerful People in Television" a couple of years ago. He's Bravo's Executive Vice President of Development and Talent and probably best known as the power behind the reality show franchise "The Real Housewives of (the O.C., Atlanta, New Jersey, Beverly Hills...)" He's also the host of the late night celebrity talk show "Watch What Happens Live." He's got the gift of gab in spades and it's served him well.

If you're not familiar with Bravo, you may be aware of one of the network's most esteemed shows, James Lipton's "Inside the Actors Studio," an interview show that also serves as a craft seminar for students of the Actors Studio Drama School in New York. I've been a hardcore dedicated Bravo fan since the 2003 network "makeover" that introduced some of the network's biggest shows, including "Project Runway," "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," "Top Chef," and "Millionaire Matchmaker." Something I learned from this book and verified on nationaltvspots.com is that I am Bravo's perfect viewer, based on a variety of demographic categories. In my opinion, Bravo offers some of cable television's finest ways to while away the time. And Andy Cohen is smack dab in the middle of all of it.  Way to go, Andy!

Most Talkative is the story of Andy's road to success starting out as a young, chatty, Jewish boy from St. Louis and his move to a young, chatty intern at CBS's "Early Show," his promotion to a chatty producer at "48 Hours" and back to the "Early Show," etc. etc., and ultimately on to a super chatty producer at Bravo. Maybe half of the book is dedicated to his time at Bravo, which is great, but his early years as a driven and TV obsessed kid are what I found to be most entertaining. He even includes the postcards sent back and forth to his mother while he was at sleep away camp in northern Wisconsin. He kept tabs on what was happening on "All My Children" while away at camp! Funny! 

And, as always, I'm tough on celebrity authors that don't include lots of illuminating photographs from the embarrassing teen years. Andy is very generous with his embarrassing pre-teen, teen and college photos. For that, I say, "Well done, and thank you!"