After last Tuesday’s announcement that TLC next year will premiere a reality TV show starring Long Island native Alec Baldwin and family, “Real Housewives” impresario Andy Cohen revealed he had spoken with the Emmy Award winner’s wife, Hilaria Baldwin, about possibly joining that franchise.
On SiriusXM’s “Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa” the day after the announcement, Cohen, 56, told the host, “We actually had a discussion with her a little while ago about” the possibility of having her in the cast of “The Real Housewives of New York City.”
“I would say it was an exploratory conversation and it didn't go much further, but it is certainly an interesting idea,” Cohen said, explaining he and Hilaria Baldwin had talked about it “a couple years ago.”
“Would you ever consider doing a separate show with just the Baldwins?” asked Ripa, 53, suggesting the interview may have been recorded prior to the announcement. “I mean, they seem like the modern-day Partridge family,” she continued, referring to the 1970-74 ABC sitcom about a family pop band comprising a mom (Shirley Jones) and her five kids. The Baldwins have seven children, aged 20 months to 10 years old.
“Not a bad idea,” responded Cohen. “I wonder how Alec would feel about surrendering control of his portrayal to someone else. … ‘Keeping Up with the Baldwins,’ ” he suggested as title, modeled on “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” Or, he went on, “ ‘Keeping Up with the Baldwinitos,’ ” using the Baldwin parents’ term of endearment for their brood.
He added jocularly, “Now, do I not have enough on my plate with the zillions of Housewives? Do I need the late-night calls from Alec and Hilaria about everything? I don't know.”
Musical chairs
With this fall’s season 26 coaching lineup for NBC’s singing competition “The Voice” already set with Michael Bublé, Reba McEntire, Snoop Dogg and Gwen Stefani, the network has announced another big overhaul for season 27 in spring 2025.
With only Bublé returning, the three remaining chairs are going to two past coaches — John Legend and Adam Levine — and one newcomer, Kelsea Ballerini. The multiplatinum four-time Grammy nominee, 30, previously served as a Battle Round adviser on “The Voice” season 16, and was a fill-in coach for Kelly Clarkson for a time during season 20.
Premieres
There’s a new villa in Fiji as “Love Island USA” season 6 begins streaming Tuesday on Peacock, with host Ariana Madix and narrator Iain Stirling both returning to the temptation-filled dating competition … On the opposite end of the spectrum, History on Thursday gets us “Alone” from 9 to 10:34 p.m., as season 11 drops 10 survivalists into the Arctic Circle for series’ northernmost location ever: Inuvik, Canada — the region, not the same-name picturesque town there … Friday night at 8, the new CW series “The Big Bakeover” stars bakery maven and author Nancy Birtwhistle, who along with carpenter Erik Curtis helps rescue struggling bake shops … and from 10 to 11:02 p.m. that night on WE, the new “Deb’s House” stars music executive Deb Antney and her team seeking a new female hip-hop artist to manage from a field of eight competitors.
Recaps
Glen Cove’s German Rizzo bit the dust on “Summer Baking Championship” … Manny Barella will not be “Top Chef” … and as series co-creator and an executive producer, Simon Cowell this past week got to make up a new rule for “America’s Got Talent”: After awarding not one but actually two Golden Buzzers to the live shows — to the drone-acrobatic troupe Sky Elements and to singer-songwriter Liv Warfield — he decided the other three judges also will get two each, at least for this 19th season.
