Andy Cohen may be the Senior Vice President of Programming and Production for the Bravo television network, but he's also a big Diana Ross fan. Actually, make that a huge Diana Ross fan. Odds are strong that he's the only network executive whose first words upon your entering his office direct you to the Diana Ross doll (nestled between an Erica Kane doll and a Project Runway Barbie) perched on a toy-cluttered shelf above his desk.

But then again, nothing about Cohen, who is 38 and openly gay, says "typical television exec." Cohen seems to be as comfortable being Bravo's poster boy as he is managing its production slate. Last year Cohen launched Andy's Blog, a gossipy web journal wherein he dishes about Bravo's shows, what he did over the weekend and how much he hates Jessica Simpson (seriously — he really hates Jessica Simpson).

And just weeks ago Bravo launched Watch What Happens!, an interactive, online video chat that allows viewers (with the help of host Cohen) to lob questions at the recently ousted contestants from the network's current Wednesday night reality competition offering.

So is Cohen an executive with an eye for the spotlight who's chewed through his corporate restraints, or is Bravo making a concerted effort to court an audience with Cohen as mascot? Seated in his pop artifact-strewn corner office, Cohen said: "It's a mutual thing. I mean, it's something that I certainly couldn't do on my own without support and encouragement from my bosses — I don't have the power to say, 'OK, well, now I want a show at eight o'clock every night, so that's what I'm gonna do' — so it's been with encouragement and … it's kind of been a weird confluence of events, you know what I mean?"

Anyone who's read Andy's Blog has likely been taken by its casual tone and candid discussions of the network's shows. When asked if the network has ever censored his blog, Cohen answered: "No. I mean, believe it or not, I censor myself. You know, I come up with them not too far in advance and sometimes it shows — but tomorrow's is about the word fag because the word faggot is in an episode of Real Housewives of Orange County, and I'm gonna write about it — especially in light of the whole Isaiah Washington thing — and I'm gonna write about my feelings about whether to include this word in the show or not. And that's actually a perfect example of why this blog should exist. But in terms of getting censored, I really — believe it or not — censor myself."

If he were a producer on Grey's Anatomy, Cohen would take a pragmatic approach to handling the Isaiah Washington situation. "I would actually weirdly feel funny about firing him," he said. "I feel like firing him is really dangerous. I know a lot of gay people think that he should be fired. I think that he probably is being publicly being humiliated and he may never bounce back, and I think that he will never use the word again."

Cohen continued: "I think that the guy needs therapy. And I think that if he is causing a work situation in which none of the other cast members can now make a productive show, then he should be fired. I think that if his cast members can forgive him and work with him and teach him why this is wrong and he shouldn't do this, then I think that's OK. I think if it becomes an untenable situation and no one can forgive him, then he should be gone."

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