Editor's Note: This is a weekly guest post from the TV staff at Film.com. Check back here on Wednesdays for more Film.com stories about your favorite shows: Big Brother, The Amazing Race, Dancing with the Stars, Survivor, American Idol and America's Next Top Model.

By Susan Young, Film.com

Dancing with the Stars is down to the final few sambas, the finish line is getting closer for The Amazing Race, the anointing of the next American Idol is just two weeks away and soon we'll see who outwitted, outlasted and outplayed all the other Survivors - and please save us all from a Coach win.  And a model's going to start her fabulous new reign as Tyra's choice for America's Next Top Model.






So with that whiff of summer just around the corner, our thoughts run to reality fav Project Runway, which has been tied up in legal action and had to sit out last season. The show finally got a flight time: August 20 on new home Lifetime. But we're a little concerned that the fashion might be stale after being parked on the shelf for a year. The three finalists showed their collections at Bryant Park in February, but none could show their faces. We're wondering how that's going to play in the season finale.

Yet we can't stop thinking about our guy Tim Gunn and the first lady of fashion TV, Heidi Klum. Nina Garcia? Michael Kors? Meh.

So how will Bravo fill the void now that Runway has been cleared for landing on a new network? That's the task facing The Fashion Show,'which airs at 10pm Thursday. There's nothing innovative about this series, and even the participants seem a little bargain basement.

Reco's been designing for strippers and his motivation for winning is so he can finally move out of his parents' house.  Merlin wears the most atrocious costumes guaranteed to scare small children and livestock, yet he conjures up some rather impressive outfits. Then there's the undergarment designer guy Andrew who calls himself the "panty Christ" and puns that he gets into everyone's pants. There's even a Kenley-esque drama queen, Daniella, who is already gunning for Merlin.

At least the casting promises some small hope for the show, although the garments offered up in the premiere were incredibly disappointing.

Head host Isaac Mizrahi can't even come close to filling Tim's Bruno Maglis. Try as he might, the tousled-haired designer just doesn't have that elegant air that surrounds Tim. While Tim commands respect and admiration,  Isaac just seems like another passenger on the fashion
bus. Every time he appeared on screen, it just made me yearn for some quality Tim time.

Trying to take the Heidi role is former Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland, who shoots for an edge that she doesn't quite possess.  Heidi comes dripping in honey, then can slice with an efficiency even Gordon Ramsey would admire. And while Kelly can probably out-warble Heidi six
ways from Sunday, she can't come close to the fashion icon's wicked sense of style.  Heidi made a fashion statement every time she steps in front of a camera.

But I kind of like the fact that instead of smug stylista Nina Garcia, The Fashion Show has opted for the kind of chunky Senior Vice President of IMG Fashion, Fern Mallis, as the third judge. The show also has a fourth guest judge to help them make the cuts.

The challenges have been less challenging than anything we've seen on Project Runway. While Tim has dispatched designers to create clothes from grocery store items, all that's asked of this week's designers is that they whip up a little black dress out of a T-shirt in an hour.

In the end, The Fashion Show is just that bridge boyfriend who gets you through the lonely time.  Nice for the short term, but nothing like the love of your life.

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(Image Courtesy of Bravo)