Perhaps it's safe to say that Project Runway, with the flurry of lawsuits between The Weinstein Company, NBC Universal and Lifetime, and the resulting move to Lifetime, was one of the more embattled series of the last season. While production has wrapped up for the show's sixth season, it won't debut until August 20.
"After five seasons, the show needed a booster shot," mentor and fashion guru Tim Gunn says.
Other than the channel move,
Project Runway also moved coasts, from New York to Los Angeles, which according to Gunn fits the show well. In the subsequent seasons, the fashion-themed reality show will rotate between the two cities.
"Los Angeles is indisputably the home of the red carpet," he said. "It's the home of film and television costume, and it has a celebrity dimension that New York doesn't have. Watching the first elimination this season, I thought, 'Wow, we should be here.'"
Project Runway judge Michael Kors agrees, and adds that Los Angeles style - which ranges from the most laidback to the most glamorous - is bound to influence the show's contestants' design. "It's the land of bikinis and gowns."
Gunn notes that fans should expect the unexpected this new season, but that would mean they would already be expected.
For its part, Lifetime predicts that despite the nine-month delay,
Project Runway remains "fresh" and "addictive" as ever. The August premiere will also be set against a backdrop of intense marketing campaigns that was described as the biggest in the network's 25-year history.
''It's like we've been keeping a baby under wraps in the house and now we're ready to give it a party," says exec producer Jane Cha.
- Glenn Diaz, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source:
MSNBC,
Entertainment Weekly
(Image courtesy of Art Streiber)