Lifetime: Television for Bored Viewers

Who else psyched themselves out about last week's Project Runway finale? As I was watching the collections walk down the runway, even having talked to some of the designers personally didn't make me any more enthused about the work they had done. Was it well-executed and well-designed? Surprisingly, yes; Carol Hannah Whitfield, Irina Shabayeva, and Althea Harper constructed solid collections. Not Jay McCarroll, Christian Siriano, or Leanne Marshall strong, but maybe Daniel Vosovic, Chloe Dao, or Korto Momulu strong.

I'm not going to completely dissect every collection. For that, you can look to Tom and Lorenzo over at Project Rungay. Here, I'm just going to summarize the season: what went right? what went wrong? what needs to go, go, go before the new season premieres on January 14, 2010?


The Contestants Were Talented...
No question in my mind, the contestants were much more talented this season than last. The final collections showed this best. However, there were too many "make a pretty dress" challenges that stifled their creativity. The best challenge by a mile? The newspaper challenge. That episode stands out in almost every regard as having been the best of the season. Points-of-view came through, the designs were interesting, and most of all, it wasn't a pretty fabric!

...But Damn They Were Boring
As Blayne Walsh from last season would say, this crop of designers is dullicious. I honestly don't think I'll remember them come the end of next season. Well... I'll remember Christopher, Gordana, and Carol Hannah. They all gave me interviews, so I like them. And Irina. She's too fabulous-but-evil to forget. But still: 4 out of 16 designers? My memory's incredibly good, so that number is dismal.

And...
...Not much else, actually. Sorry to disappoint. Being in LA really destroyed this season, but Lifetime's already corrected that for next season. The lawsuit is over, which was the major drain on this season. The judges are back every week, with no one missing a day, so no more whackadoodle judging. So...yeah. They've kinda self-repaired already. All it comes down to is casting and the challenges. Hopefully, Bunim/Murray's production has improved in that regard.

And that's it! The Project Runway aspect of this blog is closed for this season. Soon enough, I'll start up my Oscar blog again (and boy do I have some thoughts on that), and the Runway blog will start up again when the new season premieres. Yes, that means the two will coincide, so I'll be plenty busy come next winter!