Mash together elements of "Project Runway" and "Top Chef" and you get Bravo's latest reality competition show "Platinum Hit (10 tonight)."
This time the contestants want to be songwriters, well, kinda. Like one of the guest judges, Jermaine Dupri, they already seem sick of toiling in the background and are ready for center stage.
That's why you get one guy who proclaiming himself 'a musical genius,' and another who says "I sing for the widow, I sing for the orphan." For real.
The eighth season of "Project Runway" (Lifetime, 9 tonight) starts out with with a fuzzy warm vibe and ends up being cold-blooded.
Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum introduce the 90-minute episode, giving little sketches of the contestants, and then we get an extended introduction to each one. They meet up in pairs and trios in locations around New York, so we see how they relate immediately, who's awkward, who's friendly, who's cocky.
By the time they meet up with Heidi and Tim, we are already getting to know them. They are a talented group, we're told by the hosts, so talented there are 17 of them instead of the usual 16.
I admit I only paid passing attention to last night's "Project Runway," which took on the noble cause of highlighting heart disease in women (today is National Go Red For Women Day).
The fashion tie-in involved Campbell's Soup, which was hosting a benefit gala for heart disease survivors. So it only makes sense that the "Runway" designers were charged with dressing women up like soup cans.
Wasn't it just last week that "Project Runway" ended?
On the other hand, the L.A. season is dead to us, so YEAH! PROJECT RUNWAY IS BACK!!
Last night, we got to see Heidi when baby Lou was just a peanut, and we got our much needed dose of Nina Garcia and Michael Kors. And of course, Tim Gunn.
And we met the new designers. I'll just run off my first impressions formed as they were introduced.
The second-to-last episode of a boring season has come and gone, and well, there were a lot of tears.
It'll be good to go back to New York City for the next season. L.A. never seemed like the right fit and most of the season's challenges were uninspired. This episode, however, did bring back some of our favorite things: an inspiration-in-a-museum challenge, sharp critiques from Nina and Tim, petty backbiting and, best of all, really awful clothes!
The assignment on last night's "Project Runway" sounded deceptively simple. Design an outfit -- any outfit -- for pregnant (with twins) super model and actress Rebecca Romijn.
Despite being a little star-struck and a lot freaked out over designing maternity wear, most of the designers did okay. A few of them designed big hits, a few designed big misses, and one laid a giant egg. And he did it on purpose.
It finally happened. "Project Runway" has finally returned to our televisions. It is on a different network and in a different city, but it still has Tim Gunn as mentor and Heidi Klum as host, and together they definitely make it work.
After an overly-long two-hour "All-Star Challenge" special at 8pm, the main event got underway at 10pm. Heidi and Tim welcomed the new designers to LA with a rooftop champagne toast, and we see that the group of 16 is made up of a refreshingly wide range in ages, ethnicities, styles, and backgrounds.
That long bitter battle over Bravo's, well now Lifetime's reality show, Project Runway is over.
Reports say that the Weinstein Company has agreed to pay NBC Universal a settlement fee, and acknowledge that it improperly sold the show to a competitive network (Lifetime) without giving NBC a right to match the offer.
Blah blah blah. Lifetime announced that the Weinstein Co. will pay NBC for the right to move it. Now Lifetime, when will you show it?
