The day we've all been waiting for has finally come — today,
Nov. 14, is the premier of "Project Runway Season 4." Some may wonder what all
the hype is about, regarding the program as just another season of a television
show. Yet, this season of "Project Runway," a now iconic series that has
garnered several Emmy nominations and proven that reality TV isn't necessarily
tantamount to garbage, had been pushed back for months, leaving "PR" fans
deathly deprived, with bated breath.
As true fans recall, "Project Runway" hasn't aired a new
episode in more than a year, effectively making it rarer and thus more
important than your birthday, Christmas and Halloween all at once. Bravo ran Season
3 from July to October, following it with "Top Chef Season 2," which was a
surprisingly satisfying substitute, owing much to endless bitch fights between cocky
Ilan and even cockier Marcel. Like all things in life, "Top Chef" came and
went. But then it came again. That's right — Bravo departed from its previous
cycling between its two biggest shows and ran "Top Chef 3," pushing "Project
Runway" back to "mid-2007," which later became "Quarter 4." Fans were further
devastated by rumors that Tim Gunn, arguably the show's wisdom spouting, unintentionally
comedic (Will we ever forget his incessant search for Andrae?) staple was
leaving due to a new position with Liz Claiborne. Fortunately, this nasty
little rumor was proven untrue. But here we are a year and a month later,
hungrily lusting for more runway drama and sick of all of Bravo's failing,
uninspired "PR" knockoffs.
Despite Bravo's depriving cruelty, they've at least
generously filled their site with bios and videos of the new contestants,
simultaneously allowing us to get a taste of Season 4 and tantalizing us even
more for the long overdue return of Heidi, Tim and the infamously bitchy
judges.
So how does this season fare? The 15 aspiring fashion
designers seem disappointingly similar to prior contestants and especially
similar to each other. Most obnoxiously notable bios include Chris, a
self-trained, gaudy costume designer who looks like Season 1 winner, Jay, in 20
years, minus the talent, while Christian's bio makes him appear frighteningly
androgynous, annoying and emo enough to make Fall Out Boy pout. In addition, more
than four members oh-so-originally list Alexander McQueen as their inspiration,
and we're also presented with a middle-aged woman who calls herself Sweet P. I
don't think further commentary is necessary on that subject. Once again Bravo has
also included several contestants without formal design training — a complete
waste of space, as they get auf'ed in the first few episodes of the season.
Will they dramatically clash a la Angela versus Jeffrey or
Santino versus everyone? We can only hope the wait has been well worth it.
Preliminary bets on who will make it to
fashion week? Carmen, Elisa,
Rami or Victorya.
So, are you in, or are you out?
Project Runway airs
Wednesdays at 9 p.m.
