Channel Surfing: Lost DVD Epilogue, Diane Keaton and Ellen Page Land Tilda, Julia Stiles in Talks to Join Dexter, Skins, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. (Is it just me or does it feel like this week will never end?)

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos is reporting that there's still more Lost to come, including an epilogue that depicts the time that Hurley (Jorge Garcia) and Ben (Michael Emerson) spent on the island after the events of the series finale. Emerson spilled the dirt on the sequence on G4's Attack of the Show, where told Kevin Pereira about the bonus footage on the complete series DVD. "For those people that want to pony up and buy the complete Lost series, there is a bonus feature," said Emerson. "Which is um, you could call it an epilogue. A lost scene. It's a lot; it's 12 or 14 minutes that opens a window onto that gap of unknown time between Hurley (Jorge Garcia) becoming number one and the end of the series... It's self-contained. Although, it's a rich period in the show's mythology that‘s never been explored, so who knows what will come of it." Dos Santos, for her part, wonders if it's that sequence that will also connect to the producers' promises that we'd see the story of Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) resolved as well. "Whatcha wanna bet that during Hurley and Ben's adventures on the island, they run into Walt a few years into the future, when he's oh, 18 and looking just as Malcolm David Kelley looks now?" ponders Dos Santos. [Editor: Hmmm....] (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

It's official: Diane Keaton is heading to HBO, where she will topline the pay cabler's half-hour comedy pilot Tilda, which revolves around Tilda, a powerful Hollywood blogger. (You know, the one who may or may not be based on Nikki Finke.) Keaton will be joined by Ellen Page (Juno), who will play Carolyn, described as "a morally conflicted creative assistant caught between following the corporate culture of the studio she works for and following Tilda, who has taken a keen interest in her." Project is executive produced by Cynthia Mort (Tell Me You Love Me) and Bill Condon (Dreamgirls). (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Julia Stiles (The Bourne Ultimatum) is in talks to join the cast of Showtime's Dexter for its fifth season. Details on who Stiles would play, should a deal be reached, are remaining firmly under wraps, though Ausiello reports that it's unlikely that she would be the season's Big Bad, citing comments made by executive producer Chip Johannessen several weeks ago. "We’re not going to have a single Big Bad this season," Johannessen said at the time. "We don’t want to try and top John Lithgow, so we’re going to change up the forces that Dexter’s going to be dealing with." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

UK's Channel 4 and Film4 are moving ahead with a feature film version of teen drama Skins, which will be directed by Charles Martin and will feature characters from both "generations" of the hit series. No word yet on who those characters will be--although this editor is hoping for Sid and Cassie to be in the mix!--though production is slated to begin in September, with a Summer 2011 release being eyed. (Deadline)

Say goodbye to SOAPnet, soap fans. The cable-based soap network will go dark as Disney/ABC Television Group will use the network to instead launch pre-school-oriented cable network Disney Junior in 2012. "The launch of Disney Junior in the U.S. is the next step in our global preschool strategy, which began 10 years ago with the premiere of our first dedicated preschool channel in the UK," said Anne Sweeney, co-chair, Disney Media Networks and president, Disney/ABC Television Group, in a statement. "The decision to ultimately transition SOAPnet to accomplish this was not arrived at lightly. SOAPnet was created in 2000 to give daytime viewers the ability to watch time-shifted soaps, before multiplatform viewing and DVRs were part of our vocabulary. But today, as technology and our businesses evolve, it makes more sense to align this distribution with a preschool channel that builds on the core strengths of our company." (via press release)

I can now officially announce what I've known for quite some time: Chuck writer/producer Phil Klemmer will be working on NBC's new espionage dramedy Undercovers, from executive producers J.J. Abrams and Josh Reims, next season.

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that CBS has offered drama pilot Chaos an eight-episode midseason order, but there is no guarantee that the series will ever make it air as talks continue between CBS and studio 20th Century Fox Television, the latter of which seems less than encouraged by the short-run and has not accepted the offer. Elsewhere, CBS is said to have passed on medical drama pilot Gimme Shelter (formerly known as Untitled Hannah Shakespeare Medical Drama), though they may revisit it, given the situation with Chaos. Creator Hannah Shakespeare, meanwhile, has signed on to ABC's drama series The Whole Truth, but it's said to be in second position to her CBS pilot. (Deadline)

BBC America has teamed up with ITV Studios American to produce ten episodes of a US version of hit British culinary competition series Come Dine with Me, which features New Yorkers "competing for the title of ultimate dinner party host, bringing together four amateur chefs who take turns cooking up their idea of the perfect evening." The series will debut in early 2011 on BBC America and around the world on various BBC lifestyle networks. Meanwhile, the digital cabler has also acquired the original UK format and will air 22 episodes of the series beginning in July on BBC America. (Hollywood Reporter)

USA has given a script order to half-hour comedy Driven, the first time in decades that the cabler has developed a half-hour comedy. Project, from Linda Bloodworth and Harry Thomason, will star Ron White as an unemployed Texan who starts a limousine business. (Variety)

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos has a video interview up with the stars of the CW's Vampire Diaries, Paul Wesley, Nina Dobrev, and Ian Somerhalder, in which the trio discuss Season Two, love triangles, and more. "The dynamic is going to change between the three of us," said Somerhalder of Season Two of Vampire Diaries. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

TBS has announced an airdate of Sunday, June 27th for its upcoming special, Team Coco presents Conan's Writers Live, which will feature Andy Richter, Reggie Watts, and several of Conan O'Brien's writers. (via press release)

Lifetime is developing two new unscripted series that are connected to acquired reality franchise Project Runway. The first is an untitled makeover show, from executive producer Rich Bye, featuring former Runway contestants Santino Rice and Austin Scarlett as they travel the country and transform women. The other is an untitled unscripted series (working title: Love's Divine) featuring Heidi Klum and her husband Seal as they travel the country offering guidance and counseling to couples. (Variety)

RDF Rights has hired former Shine executive J.C. Mills as VP of US acquisitions. He will be based in Los Angeles and report to Jane Millichip. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Talk Back: Much-Delayed Season Six Premiere of "Project Runway" on Lifetime

Two words: halter diaper.

It seems like it's been years since we last caught a glimpse of the catwalk on the sartorial competition series Project Runway.

After what seems like a delay of several years (no, it wasn't quite that long) and a protracted legal battle between studio The Weinstein Company, Bravo, and the series' new network Lifetime, Season Six of Project Runway kicked off last night amid a three and a half hour block of Runway-related programming.

Now that the season has begun, I'm wondering how many of you tuned in last night and what you thought of of the new Project Runway, which returned with our beloved Tim Gunn, Heidi Klum, Michael Kors, and Nina Garcia, but new executive producers and a new production company.

Did you feel the opener ("Welcome to Los Angeles!") had the same energy and sparkle of previous seasons? Did you dig the series' move from New York to Los Angeles? Did it feel fresh and new or tired and lackluster? Did the delay seem even more apparent when the contestants walked on the red carpet for last year's Emmy Awards? Did any of the contestants stand to you as possible contenders?

And, most importantly, will you tune in again next week?

Talk back here.

Channel Surfing: Miracle Laurie to Return for "Dollhouse" Season Two, Syfy Hunts for Next Big Space Opera, Terry Kinney Lured by "Mentalist," and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Dollhouse creator Joss Whedon will write and direct the second season opener of the FOX drama. Meanwhile, Miracle Laurie--who played November/Mellie in Season One of Dollhouse WILL be returning for the sophomore season... in some form, anyway. "All I know for sure is that I'm coming back next season," Laurie told the Baltimore Sun. "I don't actually know in what form I'll be back. The writers are kind of teasing me…everybody knows but me." (Baltimore Sun, Twitter)

io9 speaks to Syfy vice president of original programming Mark Stern about the channel's rebrand and its promise to find the next big space opera along the lines of Battlestar Galatica or Firefly. "The next thing that I really want to do is find the next great space opera; it's been a long time," said Stern. "And we have Stargate, but that's really not that show. And Caprica isn't really that show. So where's the next Star Trek or Farscape? Let's find one of those... We don't want to do something that is the same old. You don't want it to feel recycled. So that's the challenge of doing that. I'm a huge fan of Firefly, and shows that take that idea and take that part of the genre and reinvent it in a whole new way. I'd love to find our version of, not specifically Firefly, but similar to what Joss [Whedon] tried to do with that in terms of, "lets recast the Western in space." Love that idea, and I love that show. What's another way to approach that?" (io9)

The Unusuals' Terry Kinney has been cast in Season Two of CBS' The Mentalist, where he will recur as Sam Bosco, "a by-the-book California Bureau of Investigations agent who heads up the division overseeing the Red John case." According to Entertainment Weekly's Micheal Ausiello, Bosco is an ex-lover of Lisbon (Robin Tunney) as well as her mentor and "[t]he two share a deep, dark secret!" (Entertainment Weekly's Micheal Ausiello)

In other Dollhouse-related news, The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan reports that the missing thirteen episode of Dollhouse's first season, entitled "Epitaph One," will be available for download on iTunes beginning August 11th. The episode will NOT be available via Hulu. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

CSI creator Anthony Zuiker's Dare to Pass shingle has signed a new two-year first-look deal with CBS Television Studios, under which he will develop scripted and unscripted series. "Making a one-off TV show is not going to sustain a real business anymore," said Zuiker. "It starts with a great TV show, but then becomes a 24/7 experience. It's Web, mobile, gaming. From device to device to device." (Variety)

FOX has given a script commitment with a penalty to an untitled dramedy project, from Greg Malins (How I Met Your Mother) and mystery novelist Harlan Coben, about a psychotic former private investigator with a lack of inhibitions (the result of a bullet wound to his frontal lobe) who teaches a university criminology class in Los Angeles and solves crimes with his graduate students. Project hails from 20th Century Fox Television, where Malins has an overall deal. (Hollywood Reporter)

Bravo has announced an August 26th start date for Top Chef: Las Vegas and unveiled the seventeen contestants competing for the title next season as well as the guest judges, who include such notables as Natalie Portman, Wolfgang Puck, Daniel Boulud, Tyler Florence, Penn & Teller, and Nigella Lawson. (Televisionary)

Eric McCormack (Trust Me) will guest star in an upcoming episode of NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He'll appear in next season's second episode as a handsome sugar daddy. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

More off-net sales for NBC comedy 30 Rock following a deal between NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution and FOX and Tribune station groups on an all-barter basis, with the series launching in fall of 2011. 30 Rock will be "double-run six days a week in access and late-fringe time periods," with NBC Universal getting three minutes of ad time and local stations getting four minutes. (Broadcasting & Cable)

Lifetime has unveiled the identities of the contestants for Season Six of Project Runway, which makes its long-delayed debut on the cabler on August 20th following a protracted legal battle with rival cabler Bravo. (Hollywood Reporter)

Lifetime has acquired rerun rights to CBS' The New Adventures of Old Christine after it closed a deal with studio Warner Bros. Television for roughly $350,000 per episode for the series as well as a barter agreement that will see the cabler hand over 90 seconds of advertiser time. Series will debut on Lifetime in fall 2010. (Variety)

BBC America has announced the US premiere date for Season Three of teen drama Skins, which will kick off on Thursday, August 6th at 9 pm ET/PT. (via press release)

NBC opted to shift its newest reality series The Great American Road Trip to Mondays at 8 pm, less than 24 hours after it launched the series. Repeats of America's Got Talent will take over the Tuesdays at 8 pm timeslot. (Futon Critic)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: NBC Dethrones "Kings" Until June, Team Darlton Talks "Lost," ABC Circles "Old Christine," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

NBC has pulled freshman drama Kings from its schedule, effective immediately. The drama was originally set to air on Thursday evenings but the Peacock shifted it to Sundays, where it aired four low-rated episodes before being pushed to the graveyard on Saturday nights. NBC has once again managed to surprise, this time by pulling Kings from its lineup altogether, although the network has pledged to return Kings to the schedule on June 13th, when it will begin to burn off the remainder of the series' unaired installments on Saturday nights at 8 pm. In the meantime, NBC will air repeats of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Southland, and Law & Order on Saturdays. (Hollywood Reporter)

Variety's Season Pass has a brand-new Q&A with Lost executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse as they look back at the five seasons that have gone by and the final season yet to come. "I think our hope is that looking back on the entire run of the show, that people remember the EXPERIENCE of watching it — what it actually felt like to be mystified and frustrated and surprised — as opposed to just where it landed storywise," said Lindelof. "When all is said and done, we’ll have consumed six years of our fans’ lives and our greatest wish is that they look back on that time and feel that it was all worth it. As far as whether we’ll want to revisit Lost 20 years from now, the answer is probably no… though it would be pretty cool to see what someone else might come up with!" Team Darlton also talks about the death of Mr. Eko, an aborted Sawyer plotline with Joelen Blalock, and which works of literature have most directly influenced them. (Variety's Season Pass)

ABC is making eyes at Old Christine. The Alphabet has made it clear that they are looking to pickup comedy series Old Christine once again, should CBS opt not to renew the Warner Bros. Television-produced series starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus. According to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, who claims that unnamed sources close to production have told him that "WB execs are engaged in active discussions with ABC about picking up the four-year-old comedy, which once again finds itself on the dreaded bubble at CBS." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Meanwhile, ABC has pulled struggling comedies Samantha Who? and In the Motherhood from its schedule much sooner than anticipated. Both were slated to air one final episode this Thursday evening but ABC has opted instead to pull both series and instead and air a repeat of Grey's Anatomy in the 8 pm ET/PT hour. It's not expected that ABC will renew In the Motherhood, but Samantha Who? is said to have decent chances of returning next season. (Variety)

Lifetime will debut the long-delayed sixth season of reality competition series Project Runway on Thursday, August 20th at 10 pm ET/PT, followed by half-hour behind-the-scenes spin-off Models of the Runway at 11 pm. The network also announced launch dates for new scripted dramedy Drop Dead Diva on July 12th and the third season of Army Wives on June 7th. (Variety, Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

The Washington Post talks to former Wire star Idris Elba--currently appearing in a multiple-episode story arc on NBC's The Office--about his career as an actor and DJ/musical artist, The Wire's Stringer Bell, working on The Office, and being a sex symbol. Of the latter, Elba said, "It's weird because, you know, I've been just the ordinary chap for 30 odd years and suddenly, I'm going into this [situation]: "Oh my God, all the ladies love you!" And I'm like, "Huh? Me? It doesn't make any sense!" I didn't grow up like some sort of sex symbol. It does make a gentleman walk with a stride in his step, believe me." (Washington Post)

ABC's Ugly Betty has locked The View hosts Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Joy Behar for guest roles on the May 21st episode, in which Daniel Meade (Eric Mabius) appears on The View to "discuss his management of Mode magazine (because that always happens), but instead becomes the target of their daily 'Hot Topics' segment." (The episode will also, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, feature Rachel Dratch in a guest role as a Mode staffer.) (TVGuide.com)

Elsewhere, Embeth Davidtz (In Treatment) has been cast in a ten-episode story arc on Season Three of Showtime's Californication, where she will play the wife of Peter Gallagher's character, the dean at the college where David Duchovny works. And Alicia Witt (Law & Order: Criminal Intent) will also guest star on Californication as a gyneocologist whom Duchovny's Hank falls for, while Michael Weston (House) will guest star on an upcoming episode of USA's Burn Notice, where he will play a mentally unbalanced MIT grad who uncovers a scheme to sell the names of undercover spies. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Food Network has ordered three new primetime series, including Chefs vs. City, in which chefs Chris Cosentino and Aaron Sanchez face off against local foodies in various cities each week, which launches in July; Extreme Cuisine With Jeff Corwin, which launches in September, and Worst Cooks in America, which follows chefs Anne Burrell and Beau MacMillan as each train six woeful home cooks and attempt to transform them into top chefs in ten days' time. The latter is slated to launch in January 2010. Also on tap for next year: mini-series Foods That Changed the World, hosted by Alton Brown, which will debut in third quarter 2010. (Hollywood Reporter)

FTVS has signed a first look deal with Initial A's Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs) and Andrew Loo and Zinc Media's Zach Sherman in an effort to jointly develop new English-language programming for FTVS that could be produced in Southeast Asia and then sold back into the US and globally, much like the studio is doing with such drama series as Mental, Persons Unknown, and Defying Gravity. (Variety)

A federal judge has denied disgraced former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich's request to travel to Costa Rica in order to participate in NBC's upcoming reality series I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, refusing to loosen Blagojevich's travel restrictions. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: AMC Renews "Breaking Bad" for Third Season, Lifetime Struts on "Project Runway," CBS Shuts Off "Guiding Light," and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

AMC has renewed drama Breaking Bad for a third season, only four episodes into the series' sophomore season, which launched with 1.7 million viewers, a 21 percent increase over the series premiere episode. Series, which stars Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, RJ Mitte, Dean Norris, and Betsy Brandt, will join the ranks of AMC drama Mad Men, also renewed for a third year. (Hollywood Reporter)

The battle over Project Runway has finally ended and now that the dust has cleared, it's Lifetime who will air the sixth season of the reality series this summer. "I couldn’t be more excited that Lifetime will bring its viewers an amazing, all-new season of Project Runway this summer," said Lifetime president/CEO Andrea Wong in a statement. "As the highest-rated cable network for women, Lifetime is the perfect home for this outstanding program as well as its companion series Models of the Runway. All of us at Lifetime are thrilled to move forward with Heidi, Tim, Nina, Michael, The Weinstein Company and the entire Project Runway team. We are proud to add these shows to our growing slate of original programming, including the hit series Army Wives, the all-new upcoming series Drop Dead Diva and our top-rated original movies." (via press release)

It's official: CBS has cancelled long-running soap opera Guiding Light, the longest running drama on television (it launched as a radio series in 1937 before moving to CBS in 1952). The series, set in the fictional enclave of Springfield, will air its final episode on September 18th. (The New York Times)

Pilot casting alert: Justin Bartha (National Treasure) has landed the lead on FOX comedy pilot The Station, where he will play a covert CIA operative stationed in South America; Chris Elliott (Everyone Loves Raymond) has been cast in CBS comedy pilot The Fish Tank; and Melissa Rauch (Kath & Kim) has joined the cast ofLifetime's untitled Sherri Shepherd comedy pilot. (Hollywood Reporter)

Nikki Finke is reporting that NBC is considering cancelling comedy My Name is Earl, which is produced by 20th Century Fox Television, after the studio was said to be unhappy with a "drastically reduced" license fee offered by the Peacock. Finke says that FOX's Kevin Reilly, who originally developed the series when he was at NBC, could pick up the show. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

Diane Farr (Rescue Me) has been cast in a ten-episode story arc on Season Three of Showtime's Californication, where she will play a randy grad student who falls under the spell of David Duchovny's Hank. "I am so excited to play someone who is girlie," Farr told Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, "and wears a sundress without a gun or a fire hose in my hand." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

George Segal (Just Shoot Me) has been cast in a multiple-episode story arc on Season Six of HBO's Entourage, where he will play a veteran manager who takes Eric (Kevin Connolly) under his wing. Also attached to recur next season: Jami Gertz, Autumn Reeser, and Alexis Dziena. (Hollywood Reporter)

Season Two of Pushing Daisies will be released on DVD on July 21st. The box set will include all thirteen episodes of the series' second season, including three episodes that have yet to air on television, and will be priced at $39.98 for DVD and $49.99 for Blu-ray. (via press release)

SCI FI Wire talks to Eureka's Colin Ferguson about Season 3.5, which launches in July, about what to expect when the series returns. "Well, at the end of season three, or at the end of season 3.4, or 3.49, Nathan [Ed Quinn] dies, and Salli [Richardson-Whitfield's] character is pregnant," explains Ferguson. "So that picks up right after there, where Salli is pregnant through the whole season. One of Joe [Morton's] ... I keep using the actors' names ... One of Joe's long-lost loves comes back. My character has a love interest all the way through. And then Jordan [Hinson], my daughter, deals with 'Is she going to go to college and leave Eureka or is she going to stay?' So all that stuff gets resolved." (SCI FI Wire)

TLC has secured the life rights of US Airways pilot Chesley Sullenberger, which it will adapt into a documentary special about the life of the pilot, who successfully landed a passenger jet in the Hudson River in January, saving the lives of everyone aboard. The cabler is planning a late 2009 airdate for the doc, which will be produced by Daniel H. Birman Prods. (Variety)

Elsewhere, documentary filmmaker Nanette Burnstein (The Kid Stays in the Picture, American Teen) has signed a deal with RDF USA to develop and produce unscripted series. (Variety)

James Marsters is still open to reprising his role as vampire Spike, should Joss Whedon end up writing a Spike-centric project. "Oh, yeah, when Angel was coming down, [creator] Joss [Whedon] came to me and said, 'Do you want to do a Spike project?'" Marsters told SCI FI Wire. "And I said, 'Heck yes. In fact, whatever you want to do, whether it's Spike or not, wherever I am in the world, just call me. I'll come running. But you have seven years, Joss, because I don't want to do Spike aging. Let's keep him the same age, and I think that I can hold that look for about seven years before it starts to become too different.' Maybe there's a few more years, but at this point, really it would all have to do with a camera test. Can we light my face in such a way that it's still in the same ballpark as what the audience is used to? If that's possible, then I think that it would be a good thing to do." (SCI FI Wire)

BBC America will launch Apprentice UK, featuring 14 contestants competing for a job with tycoon Sir Alan Sugar, on Tuesday, May 8th at 8 pm ET/PT, with subsequent episodes airing at 9 pm ET/PT. The first four episodes previously aried on CNBC; those will be repeated with the channel having the US premiere of all other installments. (via press release)

Lifetime has ordered four-hour mini-series Everything She Ever Wanted, based on Ann Rule's book about a woman and her much younger husband who are determined, at any cost, to become members of Atlanta's elite. Project, written by Michael Vickerman and directed by Peter Svatek, will star Gina Gershon (Life on Mars), Ryan McPartlin (Chuck), and Victor Garber (Eli Stone). (Hollywood Reporter)

HBO, along with Paramount Pictures and executive producer Robert Evans, are developing a six-hour mini-series about the life of Sidney Korshak, a Chicago attorney who arrived in Hollywood and "leveraged relationships with politicians, labor leaders, showbiz and the underworld to become the ultimate behind-the-scenes showbiz fixer." Project, based on a Vanity Fair article by Nick Tosches, will be written by Art Monterastelli. (Variety)

Could drama be leaving UK's Channel 4? That seems to be under discussion as one board member is floating an idea in which the beleaguered channel would drop all of its drama series in an effort to save millions of pounds and refocus the channel on documentaries and reality series. However, many--including Liza Marshall, the head of drama, and Kevin Lygo, director of television and content, are strongly opposed to the idea. (The Stage)

CBS and Sony Pictures Television, along with executive producer Michael Davies, are said to be developing a daytime one-hour update of game show The $25,000 Pyramid as a possible replacement for Guiding Light. However, other options are being looked at, including in-house productions such as talk shows. (TV Week)

CMT has ordered eight episodes of reality competition series Runnin' Wild... From Ted Nugent, that will "feature the right-wing rock star and hunting advocate teaching contestants how to survive in the wild, then chasing after them along with his 18-year-old son, Rocco." Series is expected to launch in August. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Mischa Barton Gets "Beautiful" for CW, Joel Grestch Tackles Aliens in "V," NBC Summer Schedule, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Mischa Barton (The O.C.) has joined the cast of CW drama pilot A Beautiful Life, where she will play Sonja, a supermodel who is trying to stay on top of the modeling world but who is finding it not so easy as she thought. Barton was originally up for a role on the netlet's revival of Melrose Place but did not land a role on that pilot. (Hollywood Reporter)

Joel Gretsch (The 4400) will co-star in ABC sci-fi pilot V, from writer/executive producer Scott Peters, co-creator of The 4400, and Warner Bros. Television. Gretsch will play a Catholic priest who sees a sudden resurgence of faith among the human population following the arrival of The Vistors. Elsewhere, Donald Faison (Scrubs) will star opposite Cedric the Entertainer in ABC comedy pilot The Law, where they will play reserve LAPD officers; Ben Koldyke (Boldly Going Nowhere) has scored a lead role in CBS comedy pilot Big D; and Natalie Martinez (Saints & Sinners) has joined Tyler Labine in FOX comedy pilot Sons of Tucson, where she will play a second grade teacher and possible love interest for Labine's Ron. (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC has announced launch dates for three new scripted series it will launch this summer. The Listener, from Shaftesbury Films, CTV and Fox Intl. Channels, will launch June 4th in the Thursdays at 10 pm timeslot. Merlin, from BBC, Fremantle and Shine, will will launch on June 21st, airing Sundays at 8 pm. Universal Media Studios' and Carnival Films' much-delayed drama The Philanthropist, is set to launch June 24th; it will air Wednesdays at 10 pm. On the unscripted front, NBC will launch I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! will air four nights a week beginning June 1st, Great American Road Trip will launch July 1st, and America's Got Talent returns with a new season on June 23rd. (via press release)

Meanwhile, NBC will be delaying several of its season finales to June in an effort to give The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien a cushy premiere week. Medium is slated to air its season finale on June 1st, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit will wrap its season on June 2nd, and Law & Order will air its finale on June 3rd. "We’ll give Conan the best launch possible during his premiere week," said NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios co-chair Ben Silverman. (Variety)

Hollywood was shocked yesterday by the corporate restructuring at News Corp, which saw Peter Ligouri step down as chairman of entertainment at FOX. News Corp head Rupert Murdoch has restructured the company in the wake of the departure of president and COO Peter Chernin and has promoted Jim Gianopolous and Tom Rothman of Fox Filmed Entertainment will now retain oversight of the TV production division and Tony Vinciquerra, who oversee cable networks, will now also oversee all of FOX's TV networks. Former Chernin direct reports Dana Walden and Gary Newman, co-chairmen of 20th Century Fox Television, will now report to Gianpololous and Rothman, while FTVS head Emiliano Calemzuk will report to Walden and Newman. But the biggest surprise was who would be replacing Peter Ligouri: none other than Fox Searchlight head Peter Rice, who has no TV experience. Still unknown is the ultimate fate of FOX entertainment president Kevin Reilly, who was brought in by Ligouri, with whom he had worked closely at FX previously. He'll report to Rice, meanwhile. (Hollywood Reporter)

Elsewhere, it's a bit of executive musical chairs at FOX and NBC as NBC/Universal Media Studios drama VP Terence Carter is said to be in discussions to move to FOX, where he would assume the role of co-head of drama with Rachel Bendavid, replacing Laura Lancaster. Carter and Bendavid will report to Matt Cherniss. But Lancaster meanwhile will herself segue to NBC Universal to take the top drama job. She'll report to Angela Bromstad, with whom she worked closely when she was head of drama at NBC Universal TV Studio (NUTS) when Bromstad was president. (Variety)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan has some details about the much-buzzed-about sixth episode of FOX's Dollhouse, which will guest star Patton Oswalt. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Henry Thomas (Without a Trace) will guest star in an upcoming episode of CSI, which will focus on the early career days of Catherine (Marg Helgenberger). Thomas will play an accused killer named Jeremy Kent, whom Catherine locked up during her very first case in the early 1990s. After nearly twenty years in prison, Kent is an expert in forensics himself and questions whether Catherine's original findings were accurate. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Heidi Klum to Project Runway fans: picket Harvey Weinstein's house. The outspoken host of Project Runway, the subject of a lawsuit between distributor The Weinstein Company and NBC Universal, is said to be frustrated over the fact that the sixth season, which finished shooting, still does not have a launch date on either Lifetime or Bravo. "I think people should be demonstrating outside of Harvey Weinstein's house," said Klum. "If it were up to me, it'd be on by now." (New York Post)

BBC Two has announced that it will air all five seasons of HBO's The Wire, the first time that the series will be shown on terrestrial television in the UK. BBC Two, which has yet to announce a launch date, will strip the series across the week. (BBC)

Sci Fi Channel has promoted Craig Engler to SVP of digital, where he will oversee content development and business matters for the company's portfolio of digital channels, including Scifi.com, Dvice.com, Scifiwire.com, Figit.com, and Chillertv.com. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Kristin Bell to "Party Down" with Rob Thomas, Lindsay Duncan to Travel with the Doctor, "Project Runway" Wraps Season, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Just a few quick headlines to get through today on this rather quiet programming-news-related morning.

Looking for one more reason to turn into Starz's upcoming comedy series Party Down, from co-creator Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars)? Turns out that Veronica herself--Kristin Bell--will be appearing on the series, according to Kristin Dos Santos. "I'm about to guest star on Rob Thomas' new show, called Party Down," Bell told Dos Santos. "It's on Starz...a lot of old Veronica Mars people are on it and some really cool comedians like Adam Scott." Starz has confirmed the casting coup saying, "Kristen Bell will be appearing in our new original comedy series, Party Down, premiering on Friday, March 20." Bell's episode, the season finale, is slated to air May 22nd and it's thought that Bell will play Veronica Moon, a rival caterer. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Rome's Lindsay Duncan will guest star in this year's second Doctor Who special, where she will play a new companion for the Doctor (David Tennant) named Adelaide, described as one of the most strong-willed and intelligent companion the Doctor has had to date. The as-yet-untitled special will be filmed this spring and will later later this year on BBC One. (BBC News)

Project Runway will tape its season finale tomorrow at New York's Fashion Week... but it's still anybody's guess whether viewers will see the series' sixth season, currently the subject of a lawsuit between Bravo parent company NBC Universal and producer The Weinstein Company. NBC Universal successfully lobbied for an injunction which has prevented new network Lifetime from airing the series. "It's an absolutely fantastic season," said Tim Gunn. "There are opportunities located [in L.A.] that we don't have in New York. Here we have the Hudson River, there they have the Pacific Ocean... And nowhere has the red-carpet opportunities that L.A. has. I can't wait for you to see the show and see what we have." (Washington Post)

Former American Idol contestant Katherine McPhee will guest star in an April episode of CBS' CSI: NY, where she will play a singer. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

NBC's sci-fi pilot Day One, from Heroes writer/producer Jesse Alexander, is being rewritten as a two-hour pilot, according to Alexander, who is currently involved in casting sessions for the project. (via twitter)

Comedy Central has ordered seven half-hour episodes of sketch comedy series Michael and Michael Have Issues from creator/stars Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter, which will offer a mix of comic sketches starring the duo and a "behind-the-scenes cinema verite drama." Black and Showalter will executive produce with Jim Biederman and Lou Wallach. The cabler plans to launch the series in July. (Variety)

The Paley Center for Media has announced its lineup for PaleyFest09 and will host panels for such series as 90210, Battlestar Galactica and Caprica, The Big Bang Theory, Big Love, Desperate Housewives, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Fringe, The Hills, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Mentalist, Swingtown, and True Blood. (Televisionary)

Producers of NBC's reality competition series The Biggest Loser have decided to return to a single-contestant format this fall and will cast contestants from cities that top a recent "Fattest Cities in America" list. The new season will explore just why these cities' populations are battling obesity in such large numbers and will empower competitors to return home and improve their cities. (Hollywood Reporter)

SAG and the AMPTP met again yesterday in renewed talks that went late into the night. The two sides are scheduled to meet again today at 1 pm. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Lawsuits Aplenty with "Gilmore Girls" and "Two and a Half Men," Cassidy No Longer "Privileged," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. I'm still recovering from the, er, excesses of the past holiday week and still have a stack of screeners to get through before the New Year.

Paging GOB Bluth: Will Arnett is ready to reunite with his Arrested Development co-stars for the big screen debut of the Bluth clan as Ron Howard and Mitch Hurwitz rally the troops. "It’ll be fun to get back together with everybody and work on it,” says Arnett. “It’s been so long now, we almost have to do it. It’s like we have to finish the joke.” Arnett meanwhile offers his trademark comedic spin on the Arrested film in an amusing jab at the state of the economy. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Dexter's Lauren Velez will guest star in a multiple-episode story arc on ABC's Ugly Betty this season; she'll play Elena, a nurse who becomes entangled in the lives of the Suarez clan. POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING: Details are sketchy but there is word that she is involved in a plot twist that could involve the death of a major character. Say your goodbyes to Ignacio now. (Hollywood Reporter)

Due to budgetary and creative reasons, Michael Cassidy will leave the CW's freshman drama Privileged after the series' fifteenth episode, in which Cassidy's character, Charlie, will return to college. "Charlie will be leaving town," creator Rina Mimoun told Michael Ausiello, "but not until some hot and heavy kissing goes down." Ratings on the series are up by double-digit gains after the netlet scheduled Privileged after Gossip Girl, but there's no guarantee of a Season Two. "Right now, I'm more concerned about Privileged returning for a second season than just Charlie," said Mimoun. "If everyone wants both, then I think we have a shot!" (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

The CW's Gilmore Girls is back in the news again but, sadly, not because of anything good: former executive producer Gavin Polone's company Hofflund/Polone has filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Warner Bros. Television, claiming that Warners has "colluded to defraud the originator of hit Gilmore Girls television series with a scheme that rivals the greed and bravado of any story line defendants could script." The company claims that Warners has defrauded them by stating that Gilmore Girls ran at a deficit through all seven of its seasons; Hofflund/Polone was guaranteed a percentage of the "modified adjusted gross" in a 2000 agreement and a 2002 amendment. (Hollywood Reporter)

That lawsuit comes just a few days after Warner Bros. filed a lawsuit of their own: against CBS, the home of the Warners-produced comedy Two and a Half Men. The studio has filed a $49 million lawsuit against CBS, claiming that the network has refused to reimburse the studio for production costs ("deficit recoupment") for the first four seasons once the comedy became a ratings hit, under the guidelines of their license fee. (TV Guide)

And in other lawsuit news, a federal court has rejected Lifetime's bid for a change of venue to move its current legal battle over the future of Project Runway out of a New York state court. (Variety)

HBO's Flight of the Conchords sophomore season premiere racked up 250,000 streams in its first ten days on FunnyOrDie.com, in addition to thousands of streams on HBO.com. (Hollywood Reporter)

The Los Angeles Times has named Battlestar Galactica's Tahmoh Penikett, who stars in FOX's upcoming midseason drama Dollhouse, as a face to watch. Penikett refuses to get stressed about fans' fears about Joss Whedon's upcoming series. "I don't like panicking," said Penikett. "I'm also old enough now where I try not to stress over things too much." (The Los Angeles Times)

BBC Three has commissioned six episodes of supernatural drama Being Human, which aired its pilot earlier this year on BBC Three as part of its pilot season. The series, which stars Russell Tovey (Doctor Who), Lenora Crichlow (Sugar Rush), and Aidan Turner (The Clinic) as three flatmates--a werewolf, ghost, and vampire respectively--who live together, was created by Toby Whithouse (Torchwood) and will air in 2009. (BBC)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: "Runway" Suits, Dawson Talks "One Tree Hill," Michael Landes, Ben Silverman, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. I'm now way behind on last night's telly offerings as Wednesday appears to have become overfilled with series but I made a special point to not only watch Pushing Daisies but to watch it live... just in case the numbers actually do matter.

James Van Der Beek speaks about his return to his old Dawson's Creek stomping ground in Wilmington, North Carolina, where he's filming three episodes of the CW's One Tree Hill, where he will play a feature film director who is interested in adapting Lucas' novel into a film. "I thought it was a real fun character," said Van Der Beek about his Tree character. "I'm excited to work with my friends and to play a little bit." (Associated Press)

One reason to celebrate: Pushing Daisies beat out NBC's Knight Rider in the key adults 18-49 demo for the very first time last night. Huzzah! (Futon Critic)

Lifetime has filed a countersuit in a Manhattan federal court against Bravo, NBC Universal, and The Weinstein Co. as the legal battle over rights to Project Runway continue to intensify. The cabler claims that its rights to air Project Runway are in fact protected under federal copyright laws that should "upersede any decisions made in state court with regard to the suit filed by Bravo parent NBC U against the Weinstein Co." But by going that route, it puts the onus squarely on Lifetime as they will have to defend in court why they are suing the producer of their acquired series. Looks like Runway fans are going to have to wait quite some time before they get to see the next season, if the clothes are even still in fashion by the time it airs. (Variety)

Is Ben Silverman behind the anonymous Page Six comments made recently about Universal Media Studio topper Katherine Pope? The Daily Beast's Kim Masters seems to think so, in yet another article that details Silverman's excessive, partying ways. (Ahem, tigers in the bathtub.) (The Daily Beast)

Former Love Soup star Michael Landes has signed a one-year talent holding deal with 20th Century Fox TV, under which he will star in a series project developed for him by the studio or will be cast in an already existing pilot. Landes most recently starred in 20th's legal dramedy pilot Courtroom K and was a co-star on FOX's short-lived romantic dramedy The Wedding Bells last year. (Hollywood Reporter)

Eddie Izzard is trying to get a feature film version of his canceled FX series The Riches off the ground. "We've had the meeting and the writers are going to go off and slam out a story," said Izzard. "We're going to raise money like Barack Obama through the internet and we're going to shoot it guerilla-style." (BBC)

Flight of the Conchords returns to HBO on January 18th. (Televisionary)

Ethan Peck, Lindsey Shaw, Meaghan Jette Martin, Kyle Kaplan, and Nicholas Braun have been cast in ABC Family comedy pilot 10 Things I Hate About You, a series adaptation of the 1999 feature film that was itself inspired by William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew." (Hollywood Reporter)

A&E is launching original drama series The Beast, starring Patrick Swayze and Travis Fimmel, on January 15th at 10 pm ET/PT.

Discovery has handed out a series order to The Detonators, a 13-episode reality series that will look behind the scenes at demolition crews around the world. Hosted by explosives experts Braden Lusk and Paul Worsey, the RDF-produced series will feature the duo meeting "the blasters behind such structures as urban skyscrapers, massive steel bridges and giant stadiums and give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the demolitions." (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Petals, Paint, and Beads: The "Project Runway" Season Finale

Last night's season finale of Project Runway wasn't filled to the brim with surprises, per se, but it did offer a nice showcase of each of the final three designers' aesthetics as they each put on shows at New York Fashion Week.

And while I had a feeling that Leanne would ultimately take home the top spot, I actually began to hope during the runway collections that it would be Korto who went home the ultimate winner of this season. (Hell, just as long as it wasn't Kenley, I'd be happy.)

So what I did I think of each of the designers' individual collections? Let's talk.

Kenley showed her collection first and I have to say that she didn't set the bar very high. Yes, there was a very specific point-of-view evidenced in her work and you could tell that it was definitely Kenley's collection, what with the painted fabrics and the use of rope (which I still think was inappropriate and, yes, did break the organic feeling of the collection, as Tim pointed out). It was an okay collection, certainly not groundbreaking or visionary in any respect.

I thought that a lot of the pieces actually looked a little too 1980s and, while I am no fashion expert, you could definitely see influences of other designers in there, from Balenciaga (who did an entire collection of painted fabric, no less!) to Christian Lacroix. I still think that the bridesmaid and wedding dresses were the most effective and captivating of her pieces and better showed her range than some of her other efforts, which did look a tad too "homemade" for my liking. One piece that did stand out: the separate skirt and top (with an ornate OTT collar) which I thought was gorgeous. She probably should have selected that as her "signature look." I knew that she was done for.

Next up: Korto, who showed a gorgeous collection that injected African elegance into a vivid color palette and amazing silhouettes. I thought that she took the most risk as a designer with her collection (heck, she created two new pieces on the fly that were absolutely breathtaking!) and offered a unique perspective as a designer. That askew halter dress in emerald was exquisite and showcased her beadwork immaculately. The new pieces, including a floor length off-the-shoulder dress in cocoa and a shorter tunic dress with bubble sleeves, were stunning and elegant.

I thought her collection was absolutely cohesive and inspired. It looked like a collection and her models worked the clothes beautifully (unlike Kenley's models, who seemed dour and bored). Were some of the pieces a little overdesigned (such as the green dress modeled by Top Model's Bianca)? Sure, but Korto can learn to edit and pull back just a little bit. She wisely discarded two pieces that she felt were way too overwrought and created two new ones mere days before the runway show, but I feel that it was some of this excess that did her in in the end. Still, I have every confidence that Korto will make a name for herself in the fashion industry and I really hope that we haven't seen the last of her.

Finally, there was Leanne. If I had one complaint about Leanne's collection it was that it was a little TOO cohesive. Too many of the pieces shared that intriguing petal architecture, which after a while, seemed to blend the pieces together rather than make them stand out individually. However, that's a minor quibble about a collection that showed innovation (the aforementioned petals/wave structures), vision (sustainable fabrics), and technical skill (the execution was flawless on every single piece on the runway). The icy blue dress was sophisticated and soft; the wedding dress was a thing of beauty to behold; that belted white and blue petalled dress was gorgeous.

Out of all three of the designers showing their collections, Leanne was the only one to do something that hadn't been done before. I am extremely glad that she opted to include the pants in the collection and Nina sparked immediately to the fact that Leanne included pants, shorts, dresses, and skirts in the mix, a wise move that displayed her range and abilities to craft all sorts of garments for many different occasions. I did wish that there had been a little more of a "wow" factor involved but the technical elegance and creative scope of her collection had me in doubt that she would be crowned the winner of the final Bravo-based (for now anyway) season of Project Runway.

What did you think? Should Leanne have won? Or was it Korto's prize to lose? And who else jumped with glee when Kenley realized she should have changed her attitude as soon as she saw that Tim would be the guest judge? Discuss.

Sneak Peek: Season Finale of "Project Runway"

As we continue to count down to the season finale of Project Runway tomorrow night, with three women showcasing their work at New York Fashion Week, nerves are already frayed and the tension is mounting.

But rather than wait until tomorrow night to catch the finale, why not take a sneak peek at the opening minutes of the episode with Leanne, Korto, and Kenley preparing for the biggest challenge of their lives... and selecting their models for their fashion shows?



And if that weren't enough Runway goodness for you, here's a look at the designers fitting their models, cattily describing one another's collection ("Holly Hobbie," anyone?), and getting ready for the the big show:



Project Runway's fifth season finale airs tomorrow night at 9 pm ET/PT on Bravo.

Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride: The Final Challenge on "Project Runway"

And just when you thought this competition was over, one final glittering twist.

I'm talking of bridesmaids dresses, the contestant's one final challenge before making it to Bryant Park on last night's episode of Project Runway ("Finale, Part One"). The final four--Jerell, Korto, Leanne, and Kenley--return to Parsons with their collections in tow and the bridal dress they were tasked with creating... in addition to full-fledged collections.

I had a feeling that the choice to which three of these designers would make it to New York Fashion Week would hinge more on the wedding dress than on the collections themselves but I had no idea that the producers would then force these weary designers to create another piece to send down the runway, challenging them to create a bridesmaid dress that would function as part of their collection and be paired with the wedding dress.

While I'm not sure why the wedding dresses came down the runway first (shouldn't you leave the piece de resistence to the very end?), I thought that it was pretty crummy that one of these designers would get the boot based on a shoddy bridesmaid dress... and that, thanks to a bolt of inspiration, Kenley sadly wouldn't be the one to pack her things and go...

I actually thought that Kenley did a pretty damn good job with both her collection and her wedding dresses. While we only got a peek at the collection when Tim visited her cramped Brooklyn apartment, what we did see was inspired and showcased the talent that we originally saw in Kenley early on this season before she turned into a raving bitch and pouted in front of Tim, Heidi, and the judges. As for her wedding dress, it was an Alexander McQueen-inspired (whether intentional or not) feathered affair that was a show-stopper no matter whose collection it was coming from, showing both a great design aesthetic as well as a combination of whimsy and an elegance. This was a dress to remember. As for her bridesmaid dress, Kenley took a similar shape as her wedding dress but the similarities ended there; instead she crafted a sapphire bubble skirt with a sheer top that was girlish and sophisticated and very, very pretty. Sigh. And here I was hoping she'd be going home last night.

I was extremely worried about Korto, I will say. I thought her collection was fantastic and was keeping my fingers crossed that she'd get the opportunity to display it at Bryant Park but after seeing her overwrought and over-complicated wedding dress and the sheer simplicity of her bridesmaid dress, I was more than concerned that she wouldn't earn her spot at Fashion Week. Her greyish wedding dress had far too much going on: ruffles, beads, pleats and the effect was more lumpy than voluminous. The "bride" herself seemed lost in the dress and it didn't capture the joy and elegance of a wedding setting, instead functioning as just an overwrought evening dress. Would a veil have helped? Nope, as it would have just further complicated an already overburdened design. Korto's bridesmaid dress, however, seemed completely separated from the collection, far too stripped-down and oversimplified. There was nothing elegant or memorable about it and it just seemed to be another pretty dress that could be worn for any occasion. Eek.

From the second her wedding dress hit the runway, I knew that Leanne had snagged one of the Fashion Week slots. Her dress was absolutely breathtaking, a cream concoction of wave-like fabric pleats that was elegant and sophisticated without being over the top. It was a stunning display of technical genius, toned-down architectural design, and impeccable taste. And, unlike many of Leanne's previous designs, was absolutely rooted in joy and happiness. Her bridesmaid dress was equally stunning, capturing the same wave-like movement of both her wedding dress and her overall collection and keeping in the same color palette as her collection: cool blue, cream, white. It was gorgeous and the two dresses looked amazing separate and together. Well done, Leanne!

And then there was Jerell. As soon as I saw his collection back in Los Angeles, I had a feeling that he would be the one cut from the competition. There was just far too much going on everywhere, too many fabrics, too many embelishments, too many chains and bells and whistles, all competing for the viewer's attention. I get that that is his design aesthetic, but the judges have called him on being "messy" in the past (though always let it go due to time constraints) but he didn't have those same time constraints when creating his collection and everything still had a very messy, unfinished look to it.

I am not sure what to make of Jerell's wedding dress, which tried to approximate Christian Lacroix but missed the mark completely; I agree with Tim, who said that everything above the empire waist was messy and looked unintentionally sloppy but Jerell unwisely didn't heed his advice, instead sending a garment down the runway that looked thrown together and disjoined. Plus, his model did look like, in the immortal words of Michael Kors, she had a flower pot on her head. His bridesmaid dress looked equally sloppy, a shimmering turquoise sheath dress with some sort of flower embellishment. Sigh. After winning last week's challenge, Jerell should have had this in the bag but instead he didn't spend enough time on the details, throwing together too many things and not editing enough.

Sure enough, it was Jerell who was told that he wouldn't be competing at New York Fashion Week and it was easy to see just how gutted he was, especially when the judges said that he didn't put enough thought into his pieces. I feel bad for Jerell but I am happy that Korto made the cut because her collection looked absolutely stunning. And, in the fashion business, you are only as good as your last garment. Or as Heidi likes to remind us, one day you're in and the next day you're out.

Next week on the season finale of Project Runway ("Finale, Part Two"), Leanne, Kenley, and Korto prepare for their runway shows at New York Fashion Week but each encounters challenges along the way; the judges--including, for the first time, mentor Tim Gunn--choose an ultimate winner.

Little Shop of Horrors: Nature Calls on "Project Runway"

Grr. I was really hoping that Kenley would somehow manage to get herself ejected from the competition on Project Runway but this week managed to squeeze by, possibly ensuring a place for herself at Bryant Park's Fashion Week, despite an garishly ugly and scaly evening gown that looked like it was a cross between a fishmonger's scraps and Little Shop of Horrors's Audrey Jr. Ick.

This week's Project Runway ("Nature Calls") gave the designers a very interesting task: take inspiration from some floral life at the New York Botanical Garden and then translate that to an evening gown. We should have been wowed by what the designers produced--after all, they had two days and a budget of $250 at Mood--but I have to say that I wasn't really all that impressed by what any of them accomplished and all of them seemed to crumble under the pressure.

Kenley is now driving me to pull out my hair whenever she opens her mouth. (And not just because her nasally voice is now like nails on a chalkboard to me.) That she is completely lacking in self-awareness of any kind just makes it worse as she fails to understand why the other contestants can't stand her and don't want to be around her (and fail to name her as one of the two competitors they'd want to bring to Bryant Park). Her attitude towards Tim and the judges is also utterly vile, as she gets so defensive on the runway that she continually lashes out at the judges time and time again, cutting them off and cutting them down with sarcastic and arrogant remarks that don't win her any favors. It looked to me like Heidi wanted to strangle her last night when Kenley cut her off and said, "I wasn't going for elegant, Heidi" as though Heidi was some child who wandered in off the street and made a disrespectful comment about her hideous gown.

But I was pretty disappointed by the results of this challenge, which I thought could have really pushed the designers to create some outrageously decadent designs. After all, Christian probably could have pulled together an entire collection in two days or at the very least a showstopping evening gown that would have had the judges oohing and aahing. We didn't get any of that here and that I find worrisome so close to the finale.

I thought Jerell did a really good job with his dress but clearly could have used more time to get it right. It seemed rushed and I think a lot more attention could have been spent on the bustle and the bottom half of the dress. And I agree that the dress was either too low-cut or needed to be pulled up a few inches as his model Nicole was clearly slipping right out of it. I was worried about the maroon fabric Jerell chose but he definitely made it work here, though I don't think the maroon and the green were really needed and wished that he had just stuck to his purple jewel hues for this piece in order to make it look a little more cohesive.

I really liked Leanne's dress but, like Jerell, she definitely needed some more time to properly finish the garment and I don't really understand why she attached that bolt of blue fabric to the back like she did. The lavender was so pretty and lush on its own (and looked amazing on her model) that it detracted from the overall look and seemed really messy, as though she had run out of her original material. Still, the ruching and the bodice really made it stand out though it could have used an injection of fun.

Poor Korto went in the wrong direction, creating a tangerine garment that really didn't seem to embody her design ethos at all. Ultramodern in the very front and oddly dated on the sides and back, it was a mishmash of styles, textures, and fabrics and not her best work to date. I sort of got what she was going for but it really didn't come through here and I was extremely nervous that this would be the garment to send her home. Sigh.

And then there was Kenley. I really thought that this was the worst of the bunch and showed a distinct lack of taste and construction skills. Kenley took a shot of interlocking leaves and created a weird purple-scaly mermaid dress that was adorned at the bottom with actual purple fabric leaves. Or fins. Or flippers. I'm not sure what they were meant to be but it looked like a bruised reptilian design than had no real relationship other than color to the botanical theme or her inspiration photo. It was garish and looked costumey; the model could barely walk in the thing and there was nothing fashion-forward about it at all. It looked dated, cliche, and hideous. I was hoping that this monstrosity would get her the boot.

Instead, the judges decided not to eliminate anyone and sent all of them home to create collections, which would then be judged by Heidi, Michael, and Nina, with three of them moving on to Bryant Park. I do think that Jerell should have at least been guaranteed a slot after winning this challenge--which was meant to narrow the playing field to three competitors--but I suppose there is no immunity at this point and producers wanted to create as much drama as possible next week, with any one of them losing out at their shot at Bryant Park for failing to hit their mark.

As long as Kenley doesn't get there, I'll be very happy indeed.

Next week on Project Runway ("Finale, Part One"), Tim Gunn visits the designers at their homes and sees how far they've gotten on their individual collections; the quartet returns to Parsons for a final runway showdown and three move on to present at New York Fashion Week.

Channel Surfing: "Project Runway" Injunction, "Fringe" Science,

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. I'm still in telly overload mode, having watched the first three episodes of Season Two of Pushing Daisies, the first two episodes of the CW's Stylista, and the shocking new installments of Skins and Mad Men this weekend. Whew.

The big news over the weekend was that a New York judge has handed out a preliminary injunction on Friday, which has temporarily barred the Weinstein Company from moving Project Runway from Bravo to new home Lifetime. The move casts some shadow on the future of the series--which is meant to launch its sixth season in January on the women's cabler--though production will continue in Los Angeles. If the case goes to trial, it's likely that it would delay the launch of Season Six, which could put Weinstein in a sticky place with Lifetime; not unexpectedly, Weinstein Company is expected to appeal the injunction. (Variety)

Could the science in FOX's Fringe be fictional? Um, the series deals with fringe science, after all, and I don't think it was ever designed to offer up textbook descriptions of actual scientific theories. The point of the show is not to be a classroom film on the state of science and technology," said J.J. Abrams. "It's science fantasy. We're trying to entertain people with interesting characters placed into exciting situations, not bore them." (USA Today)

Jesse McCartney (Summerland) has booked a recurring role on ABC Family's drama Greek, where he'll play Andy, an old friend of Calvin and a freshman athlete who is torn between pledging the KT and OX frat houses. He'll first turn up in early 2009. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

HBO is developing Americatown, a futuristic drama which would follow ex-pat Americans as they live in cities around the world, "set 25-40 years into the future when the precipitous decline of the U.S. leads to a mass exodus of its citizens." Project is from writer/executive producer Bradford Winters (Kings) and executive producers Tom Fontana, Barry Levinson, Frank Marshall, and Kathleen Kennedy and had previously been developed as a series, movie, mini, and book. "By presenting Americans as immigrants in the near future, as both underdog and hero in the drama of global dislocation," said Winters, "we substitute a mirror for the rancor that informs much of the partisan debates on immigration." (Hollywood Reporter)

The New York Times has a fantastic interview with prolific writer/director/actor Paul Feig, of The Office, Freaks and Geeks, and Arrested Development. (And did you realize he directed an installment of Mad Men? I didn't!) (The New York Times)

NBC Universal will use its recently acquired UK production entity Carnival to produce its midseason series The Philanthropist, starring James Purefoy, as part of an effort to shift production away from the US as production costs continue to climb. Production on the series will begin in London in November, with most of the filming taking place in the UK and South America. Pilot installment was written by David Eick (who replaced Tom Fontana) and will be directed by Peter Horton. (Variety)

Wondering what former Melrose Place vixen Heather Locklear is up to these days? Looks like she got arrested over the weekend after driving her car repeatedly over some sunglasses and then stumbling into traffic. Eek. Alcohol has been ruled out as a factor in her behavior. (E! Online)

FOX has confirmed that it has cancelled freshman comedy Do Not Disturb. No decision has been made about the four episodes that were filmed that had yet to air. (Broadcasting & Cable)

Bravo has scored off-network rerun rights to CBS' summer series Swingtown, which it will begin airing this fall as part of a block of drama programming that includes The West Wing and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. No decision yet about the fate of Swingtown but a renewal by CBS is looking rather unlikely. (TV Week)

Don't hold your breath waiting for Michelle Ryan (Bionic Woman) to return to BBC's EastEnders, where she played Zoe Slater for five years. Ryan returns to the airwaves next in a four-episode stint on Merlin. (Digital Spy)

Stay tuned.

Sound of Music: Designers Rock the Runway on "Project Runway"

I feel like the judges really let Kenley off the hook far too easily.

On this week's episode of Project Runway ("Rock n' Runway"), the designer who has arguably become one of my least favorite people ever to appear on this series not only insulted mentor Tim Gunn with her childish and disrespectful attitude but also (A) blamed Leanne for not selling her ghastly garment on the runway and (B) argued with the judges--including LL Cool J--about what was "hip-hop" style and then denigrated the entire fashion influence by saying that she refused to put Leanne in baggy jeans and a backwards baseball cap.

Um, wow.

It always amazes me when reality series contestants talk back to the judges or go so far as to cross a line into outright insulting them. Once again, Kenley has proven that she cannot get any criticism of any kind, can't listen to constructive feedback (a la Tim), and cannot step outside of her narrowly rigid design aesthetic (1950s dresses).

Yes, I do believe that sometimes you do need to stand up and defend yourself and your work but you also need to realize that each of these people--from Tim to Nina, Heidi to Michael--are successful for a reason and are likely far more successful at what they do than you will likely ever be. And as "cruel" as you think the judges are being, the press is far more savage. Do you really think that Michael Kors has never gotten a bad review for a collection? That the writer didn't pile on the vitriol? Wake up and get a clue, Kenley.

The judges should have sent Kenley packing this week and I'm amazed that they didn't, just for her outburst on the runway. Each of the designers this week had a difficult challenge to conquer: creating a music-inspired outfit for a fellow designer whilst modeling another designer's creation on the runway. Not an easy task, to say the least, but once again it was Kenley calling foul when she was called out by the judges for her awful high-waisted jean and leatha jacket combo that wasn't remotely hip-hop influenced. Do I think that Korto could have rocked a hip-hop design had she landed the genre? Sure I do, but I also think that any one of the designers could have done a better job than Kenley did.

The pants she created were truly one of the worst ever seen on the series, maybe second this season to Stella's atrocious pants from a few weeks back. (I can see now why Kenley sticks to dresses.) The print she selected for the tank was far too floral and screamed Kenley more than it did hip-hop. The leather jacket was pretty basic but okay and the overall look seemed messy and confused more than it did expensive and opulent.

I thought Korto did an amazing job with this challenge, landing punk and Suede as a model. Menswear is hard and vastly a different beast than designing womenswear but I thought Korto rose to the occasion and knocked out a kick-ass pair of distressed jeans that fit Suede perfectly (no easy feat) and looked absolutely punk, thanks to the application of bleach and some sanding. The top, the use of silver chains (embedded into the shirt itself) all came together to brilliantly reflect punk. Good job, K.

Also inspired by the challenge? Jerell, for one, who transformed dour Kenley into a popstar goddess, with a peek-a-boo fishnet dress, purple faux-fur mini-vest, and knee-high boots. Kenley looked every inch a popstar and this outfit could have been worn by Britney in a heartbeat; plus, he gets extra points for not making the garment seem raunchy but just sexy enough to work.

I thought Leanne did a better job than the judges did but agree that she could have pushed the design a little more into the glamour category than she did. But to me it definitely screamed country, with the detailing on the hem of the skirt, the sleeveless shirt pockets and back, and the neckerchief.

And then there was Suede. I had a feeling that the third-person-prone designer would be the one to get auf'd this week and, sure enough, I was right. His rock-inspired design, worn by Jerell, didn't bring the energy, volume, or spirit of the musical genre and did make Jerell look... rather like Jerell. While I was hoping that Kenley would be sent home for her rotten attitude, sadly I was disappointed on that front... though it is pretty amazing that Suede made it all the way to the final five.

Next week on Project Runway ("Nature Calls"), the four remaining contestants head outdoors, to design an outfit inspired by nature; Korto breaks down on the runway after a harsh critique; Jerell fights back tears; and Kenley's defense of her ugly garment turns, well, ugly.

Transformations and Tantrums on "Project Runway"

Am I the only one who is suffering from Project Runway ennui?

Last night's episode of Project Runway ("Transformation") did little to cure me of my lingering symptoms: a decided lack of interest in most of the contestants, withdrawal from the drama and energy of last season's contestants, and a feeling that we've seen this all done before.

Sigh.

I can't be the only one who is looking for the sort of sweeping vision and innovation of Christian among a pack of contestants who seem mostly destined to be forgotten as soon as the end credits roll on the Bryant Park finale. And it definitely has seemed like a forgone conclusion for quite some time now that the final three designers would be Jerell, Leanne, and Korto. In fact, the only shred of excitement I had for the series came from the scenes for next week's installment, in which it seems like spoilt Kenley finally gets her comeuppance at judging. That, in my opinion, is worth tuning in to see.

Last night's episode brought the designers a specific task: creating a sophisticated and professional look for a recent college graduate; in order to succeed, they'd have to work with their clients--the college grad and her mother--to create an outfit that embodied their character and style but also oozed sophistication.

The results? Pretty much to be expected. I knew that either Suede or Joe would be the one to be auf'd this week and I was happy that at least one of them would be going home as both have managed to hold on during this competition for much longer than I would have initially imagined.

Jerell turned out a gorgeous pencil skirt and blouse combo with an androgynous cardigan; the overall look was sleek and sophisticated and turned a girl clearly in need of some fashion invention (not to mention some color correction) into a confident and powerful woman. I was glad that he took home the top spot last night because, of all of the designers, he turned in something absolutely wearable AND aspirational. It looked expensive and luxe and transformed (aha!) his client into a slightly older version of herself.... in a good way. (Unlike, say, Joe's design.)

Kenley's 1950s-inspired dress (quelle surprise) was absolutely adorable and I thought it was at least interesting the way that she added on the men's vest and belt, which gave the entire ensemble a little bit of a designery edge. (She lucked out and got a mini-Kenley as a client.) However, the vintage look is one that we've come to expect from Kenley and she doesn't appear to be in any way willing or ready to break away from her familiar tropes... and yet she laughs at Suede for being unwilling to bend as a designer or challenge himself to do something different. (Pot, meet kettle!) At least next week it does appear that she's called out for her fashion failings on the runway though she would be wise to listen to mentor Tim Gunn (whose advice she throws out the window along with her manners each week), especially as he's now one of the judges at the finale. Hmmm...

Korto did a fantastic job as always. Her jacket was absolutely amazing, bringing a rough-hewed edge to the entire outfit and looking original and sophisticated at the same time. Underneath, an awesome green and white print dress... which we barely got a look at. I do wish that her model/client had removed the jacket on the runway so we could take a peak at what was hiding beneath.

I thought Leanne did a better job than the judges did. Her ensemble was really professional and quite cute and I didn't think it was matronly at all. Again, the jacket prevented the whole look from being seen but I thought that she did a fantastic job with the dress in both its incarnations. Oh well, you can't win them all.

Suede... Wow, Suede's design looked like it came straight from the pages of Seventeen, circa 1992. I thought that the dress was probably one of the most successful things he's done to date on the series but the coat was horrendous with its unintentional asymmetry and those awful bell sleeves. Shudder.

And then there was Joe. I have to agree and say that he did present an old person's version of what was considered sophisticated office attire and he completely missed the boat on this one, refusing to accept that his client would be interviewing for graphic designer positions rather than, um, a job on the stock exchange floor. It completely aged her and was inappropriate for her background and career prospects. Badly done on all fronts, especially as it seemed so poorly made to boot. Ouch.

So it was no surprise that Joe would be the one cut from the competition this week though I do wish that (A) Suede had joined him and (B) the judges would have called Kenley out for cackling during the judging, especially as this is the second time she has done so. I understand that I want to laugh at a lot of these designs but show some respect for your fellow competitors, K.

At least there's next week to look forward to. Ha ha.

Next week on Project Runway ("Rock n' Runway"), the contestants are tasked with designing outfits using musical inspiration from guest judge LL Cool J; Jerell considers sabotaging Suede; Jerell AND Korto consider sabotaging Kenley, who breaks down during judging.

Guarded Rather Than Avant Garde on "Project Runway"

Sigh. I found last night's episode of Project Runway ("What's Your Sign?") more infuriating than enjoyable. After all, it hearkens back to my complaints from last season's avant garde challenge: why do most of these designers not seem to understand the term?

Before we get into any specifics, let's define avant garde so there's no confusion. The term avant garde (literally advance guard or vanguard) refers to works that are experimental or innovative and pushes the boundaries of what is typically accepted as the status quo. In fashion, it refers to works that are quite literally fashion-forward or representing ideas or styles that haven't been seen before.

Last season, during the avant garde challenge, duo Christian and Chris turned out what is to date one of the all-time best Runway designs, a floor-length ruffled dress with a train and an enormous oversized collar that screamed couture. It represented vision, drama, flair, and execution skills. It was definitely pushing the boundaries of the status quo... and the designers ALSO had to turn out a ready-to-wear version of the same outfit that embodied the same ideals but toned it down for everyday use. (Most of the designers completely missed the mark, however.)

Here, the designers again seem to have mostly missed the point of the avante garde challenge, turning out garments that were boring, predictable, or just ghastly (if Michael Kors describes your ensemble as a woman "pooping fabric," you know you're in trouble). I seriously sat there last night, scratching my head as I could not understand what went wrong during the concept portion of the challenge with most of these designs.

Their task was to work with one of the auf'd designers and create an avant garde look that was inspired by one of their zodiac signs. While it's certainly not the most intellectual challenge to date, it at least gave them some guidelines on which to base their inspiration for this mission, whether it was Aries, Leo, or Libra, and then use the characteristics of those signs to create something new and unusual.

What most of them created was either ugly (Kenley) or boring (Suede) or so run-of-the-mill originary that it seemed predictable and/or costumey (Joe). With two people up for elimination, I really thought that the designers would bring their A game to this challenge but I was really mostly disappointed with the results, save for the two fantastic garments created by Jerell (with help from Jennifer) and Leanne (aided by Emily).

Leanne, inspired by Scorpio, took the idea of the exoskeleton to a whole new level, devising black rigid curls of fabric that sheathed the model and formed an armor over and around her head. It was stunning, very avant garde, and showed that she and her partner not only worked well together but took the challenge seriously to boot. I thought it was definitely the most avant garde of the bunch but she could have taken the idea even further and bigger. I do wish that the dress had been beyond floor-length to give it that visual pop.

Challenge winner Jerell used Sagitarrius as his inspiration and offered up a lusciously detailed dress and coat combo that combined Empire waist, hobble skirt, and, well, fins (and flippers almost), as well as lush feathers and rich detailing on the sleeves. While I do think that it could have pushed the envelope just a little bit more to bring in more drama to the mix, I have to say that it was a stunning piece on and off the runway and I see why the judges sparked to it the way that they did... even though Tim originally hated the fabric choices.

As for the bottom, they were a motley bunch. I've grown so tired of the shrill, irritating, and increasingly defensive Kenley that I was hoping she'd get auf'd, even as I knew she would likely be spared the cut. I never understand why you'd look to irritate the judges and her defense that she doesn't "look at collections" was lame and pathetic; you're a designer: it's your job to know what else is out there so that you're not derivative or repetitive. Grr.

But I knew that time was most definitely up for Blayne, who really should have been sent home in the very beginning of this competition after creating so many sub-par garments yet somehow squeaking by each time. His design was truly awful this week and, yes, did look like his model was "pooping fabric," to quote the incomparable Michael Kors; there was nothing skillful or inventive about his design and the execution was amateurish at best.

I have to say that I have liked Terri throughout this competition, though she would definitely be difficult to work with during a challenge. I'm not surprised at the amount of friction encountered between her and Keith and I was not pleased that she didn't use him at all. Faced with standing around looking like a fool, he retired to the green room to sleep during the final hours of the challenge. (Did you see Tim's face when he discovered him in there?) I think that Terri's design was too literal from the start (the lion mane, really?) and she should have put aside her urban design aesthetic for this particular challenge to create something stunning and different rather than just another look.

I'm still not sure why the judges had to cull not one but TWO designers from the pack this week but I am happy that Blayne is now auf-licious. As for Terri, it is a shame but also a reminder that you are only as good as your last design and she really failed to deliver on this one.

As for the challenge as a whole, I kind of wish that, instead of having the designers work with ousted contestants from this season, they could have been paired with the awesome previous contestants the series' producers invited back to judge this week's challenge. How amazing would it have been to see Leanne work with Christian? Or Jerell with Daniel? Double sigh.

Next week on Project Runway ("Transformation"), the designers work with college-aged women who are about to enter the workforce and are tasked with creating sophisticated looks for their clients; Cynthia Rowley drops by as this week's guest judge, and Kenley creates yet-another 1950s-influenced dress.

Dietrich or Dracula: Designers Tackle Foreign Affairs on "Project Runway"

Last night's episode of Project Runway ("Double O Fashion") SHOULD have been an exciting, thrilling hour of television.

After all, the designers had within their grasp fashion legend Diane von Furstenberg, a truly amazing prize (the winner will get their design made and sold by von Furstenberg to American Express card members), and high-end fabrics the likes of which they rarely ever see (and after the "innovative" Saturn challenge from last week, you'd think they'd be champing at the bit)... so why was it such a lackluster performance from most of them?

I thought for sure that the designers would rise to the occasion and present some awe-inspiring designs on the runway, given that Diane von Furstenberg was a guest judge and was involved in the actual prize itself. If you're looking to establish yourself as a high-end designer, this is THE challenge to win, possibly just as important as getting that show at Bryant Park.

But, alas, most of the designers were either too star-struck by Ms. DvF or were shaken by the pressure of this challenge, turning in garments that were either utterly boring or just showed a real lack of inspiration. And when you're told to create something as part of a collection inspired by Foreign Affair and Marlene Dietrich's Erika Von Schluetow, a world traveler/spy in 1930s/40s Berlin, Shanghai, and New York... you better be bringing the drama. I can only imagine how much fun Christian would have had last season with this challenge and how inventive and original the results would have been.

I knew right off the bat that both Joe and Stella would end up in the bottom two. It's baffled me up to now how both of them have managed to stay in this competition; Stella's construction is sub-par unless she's working with "leatha" and I've yet to be impressed by anything Joe has done up until now, yet he walked through this challenge with an air of undeserved overconfidence.

There were really only two designs that wowed me at all. Leanne perfectly captured the look and feel of the 1940s with her gorgeous floor-length sapphire dress, overflowing with designer details (the ruffling on the back, the clasps at the shoulders, the plunging neckline), and a simple cropped jacket that screamed "period" but looked loose and modern at the same time. I knew that this would be the winning design and Leanne earned it, even with her immunity this week. She was really the only designer out of the pack to bring the "drama" and understand both Diane von Furstenberg's look book and the brief and deliver on her concept.

The shock of canary yellow really made Korto's design come to life. A black and white print halter dress and kimono-style wrap captured the essence of Shanghai but the yellow fabric underneath made the entire thing pop and added a modern, almost Miami Beach influence to the work that was very canny. Well done, Korto.

As for third place Kenley, I thought it was a well-made dress but wasn't wowed by it at all. It was a simple dress that showed some forethought but not enough. Had this maybe been a floor-length dress or one with a long train and haute couture collar (something with volume and drama), she could have walked away with the top spot but I knew that, as much as she wanted this (tears and all), she wasn't walking away the winner.

And then there was the bottom three. Suede's design was completely confusing to me and he didn't appear to get the memo that Stella got last week about making separate pieces that had no cohesion as an overall look. A ghastly green print dress that Suede claimed recalled camouflage ("I'm mad about camouflage," said the blue-haired designer in between air kisses) topped with a weird herringbone vest. Say what? A complete misfire.

I knew Stella would be there for her Berlin-by-way-of-Transylvania look with a poorly tailored pants-and-vest combo (even Michael Kors pointed out that "the crotch looks every woman's worst nightmare") and a bizarre cape that recalled not Dietrich but Dracula. I'm not sure what this was aiming for, but Ms. Stella completely missed the boat on this one.

And then there was Joe. For a guy so supremely overconfident in his abilities and design sense, you'd think he'd at least have the decency to construct something properly. But his awful Shanghai-influenced (but literal) design was poorly executed and planned: the skirt had an uneven hem, the belt was askew, the open back panel on the top looked messy and cheap. The whole thing looked kitschy costumey and not high end at all. Shameful, really.

Have the designers not learned after all of these seasons not to boast or brag about their designs... as nine out of ten times these very same designs end up in the bottom?

At the end of the day, however, as much as I was hoping it would be Joe who would be auf'd by Heidi, I knew that Stella's time on the series was up. And with a bizarre speech to Heidi and the judges about how her ego was "too big for the show," she thanked the judged and left.

Next week on Project Runway ("What's Your Sign?"), the designers are put into pairs and tasked with creating a garment inspired by their partner's astrological sign and some stargazing.

Car Trouble: Contestants Recycle Spare Parts on "Project Runway"

If there are two things that you can always depend on with Bravo's Project Runway, it's that there's bound to be drama (and tears) and that eventually there will be a challenge that is much more about product placement than actually tasking with designers with creating breathtaking work. Last season has it's Hershey's candy-inspired challenge; this season has the Saturn.

Yes, I know that product integration (or to quote the esteemed Jack Donaghy, "product intergortion") is here to stay and a vital part of bringing advertisers' messages to the audience in the age of fast-forward-capable TiVos and generic DVRs, but I hate when it's so blatantly obvious as it was during last night's episode of Project Runway ("Fashion That Drives You"). (For another example of OTT product integration, check out Vitamin Water's presence in the first three episodes of next season's Gossip Girl.)

In any event, there were a few designers who did rise to the challenge of creating a fashion-forward design out of materials to make a Saturn, while many of them missed the point entirely. It surely wasn't a surprise to anyone that both Stella and Keith would end up in the bottom two, likely joined by also-ran Blayne, whose continued presence in this competition is mind-boggling to me. Hell, I'd go so far as to use Suede's mot du jour and call it "wackadoodle."

I was super-impressed, however, with the amazing garment that Leanne pulled off. It was a unique silhouette, beautifully constructed, and flawlessly executed. I am glad that she filled her model Karalyn's knickers with muslin in order to give curves of the dress the volume necessary to pull off the look and fraying the bits of seatbelt to create a feminine border on the bodice was as unexpected as it was stunning. Leanne won this challenge hands down and it was about time that she stepped up and showed the judges what she is capable of. I don't like Rachel Zoe as far as I can throw her, but here she was right: Leanne's garment looked Paris catwalk-ready.

Once again, Korto offered up a stunning design, weaving the gold-colored seatbeats into a coat-dress that was elegant, fashionable, and did not for a split second look like it was made out of recycled seatbelts. Simply gorgeous, this was killer work.

And I thought that Jerell pulled off an extremely modern (almost futuristic) design with his bustier and skirt combo that showed some real vision, skill, and risk. The overall look was definitely enhanced by the makeup and hair styling of his model Nicole, which gave the entire design a glam dystopian feel. (Yes, I know that's a bit of an oxymoron, but live with it.)

Landing in the bottom was Blayne, of course, with his ill-fitting fringed Cinderella dress with glued-on pieces of glass. (Ick.) He was joined by Stella, whose vest and skirt combo seemed to confuse the judges, who said it looked disjointed. It did look disjoined, but it also looked poorly made to me, something that the judges didn't even bring up during critique, and showed a distinct lack of inspiration. For a challenge that had leatha on hand in the fistfuls, I am not sure why Stella didn't go her normal route and craft an edgy biker look.... even though the judges have said that they wanted innovation this time around. But Stella's garment wasn't at all innovative, so she might have been better off sticking to what she does best.

And then there was Keith, who seemed to transform into the consummate drama queen this week, shouting and picking fights with his model and cursing up a storm. Wow. I knew he'd be the one to the get the boot, especially once he told Michael Kors that his comment last week wasn't constructive and just spiteful. (Um, that's what critics do, Keith: they criticize.) Michael Kors was right; if you want to make it in the fashion industry, you have to be able to let those comments roll off your back. But Keith was stuck harping on the judges' dislike of his last design to focus on the task at hand and ended up turning in a garment that was falling apart (yes, the model DID sit down during hair and makeup) and looked so super-safe that it missed the entire point of the challenge, which was to be innovative and original. It was, instead, hopelessly boring and dull: a white tank top and a high-waisted belted skirt. Meh.

No surprise then that Keith would be the one to get auf'd in a storm of tears and recriminations.

Next week on Project Runway ("Double 0 Fashion"), the designers are given a challenge to create looks that are inspired by one of the fashion icons of the last decade... looks that are then to be judged by fashion visionary Diane von Furstenberg. And, yes, the contestants are shaking in their designer boots.

"Yes, We Have Feathers!": Drag Queens and Drama Queens on "Project Runway"

I have to say that I am getting more than a little disappointed in the designers on this season's Project Runway. As a group, they've yet to really wow me with their collective designs and this week's challenge should have pushed them to new and exciting heights... but instead most of their garments left me bored. And boring should not be a word used when there are drag queens on the runway...

On this week's episode of Project Runway ("Good Queen Fun"), we saw the return of the affable Chris March to the series to introduce this week's OTT challenge: to create a garment that embodied the persona of a drag queen. A tough challenge, to be sure, but one which virtually gave the designers carte blanche to be as wacky, subversive, and in-your-face as they wanted to be. What they couldn't do, however, was be boring, make a normal dress, or fail to make a statement of some kind. And yet that's what a lot of the designers ended up doing.

Terri should have won this challenge hands-down. Her vision, creativity, and execution were absolutely stunning and this week she outdid herself by creating a heavy metal-meets-Kabuki look for seven-foot-tall drag queen Acid Betty that was positively overflowing with unique elements and yet never once looked costumey. (A rare feat that.) The effect was jaw-dropping and Teri's design far surpassed anything else that any of the designers came up with for this challenge and not only fit Acid Betty's persona, but looked runway-ready to boot (no pun intended).

I'm not sure why the judges instead awarded the win (and immunity) to Joe instead. Sure, his pink sparkly sailor suit was, er, "cute" and "hid the candy," according to guest judge RuPaul, but there was nothing as spellbinding or breathtaking about it, not in the way that Terri's design was.... or even Korto's. Color me confused then why he walked away with the top spot. Sure, it was more sportswear than any of the other garments, but Joe does sportswear for a living, so that's hardly a surprising or novel approach. Grr. Joe just annoys the hell out of me, if you couldn't tell.

I really loved Korto's design, which incorporated a structural approach to the garment, using constructed multi-colored "flames" that emanated from her model's shoulder and a tearaway bubble skirt that was both dramatic and in keeping with the brief. Considering she had a hard time getting into this challenge initially, I was very impressed with how much fun she ended up having with the task as she pushed herself to come up with something different and unique. Well done, Korto.

As for the rest, it was a pretty grisly affair though I do have to say that I was somewhat taken with Kenley's Hollywood glamour/Marilyn Monroe-inspired vintage look (which however gorgeous was a little too understated) and I liked the angular approach that Leanne took with her futuristic garment, which offered a different point of view from the curves and candy and was totally fitting with Sharon Needles' look. Blayne's neon pterodactyl-licious look was nauseating and I am just baffled why he's still in this competition, especially after the kite wings he apparently glued on the back of his model sagged on the runway. Ick.

I was hardly surprised that both Daniel and Keith ended up in the bottom two. Keith has now done fringe to death and his whole fringe aesthetic is getting very old very fast, especially as he tries to explain his "sculpting" of the fabric. Dude, it's not sculpture: it's fashion roadkill this week as the garment he made looked like a raccoon that that had been run over repeatedly by Cruella de Vil. Tina Turner this was not. And yet he bristled and moaned when critiqued by the judges, talking about how rock and roll can be messy (really?) and trying to defend this fiasco of a design. Considering he won last week's challenge, it was shocking to see him decline quite so much but he's got to stop using the fringe if he expects to last any longer in this competition.

As for Daniel, I really just did not understand where he was coming from and he seems to keep finding himself among the bottom of the pack time and time again. His dress was absolutely boring this week, completely unsuitable for a drag queen, and he yet again just made a cocktail dress (yes, this time it was tie-dyed) instead of following the directions. There was nothing that remotely even said "Spanish aristocrat" about this design, which was how he described his model's persona and his own design aesthetic. After seeing this go down the runway, I really did understand why Kenley was laughing at Daniel last week when he tried to defend his style sense.

Ouch.

I knew from the very start that Daniel would be the one to get auf'd this week and I couldn't be happier; time and time again his designs have disappointed and baffled me and he's managed to squeak by one too many times.

Next week on Project Runway ("Fashion That Drives You"), the designers have to think unconventionally as they rev up for their materials and Season Three's Laura Bennett drops by as a guest judge for next week's challenge.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Big Brother 10 (CBS); Summer Olympics (NBC; 8-9:30 pm); Smallville (CW); Ugly Betty (ABC)

9 pm: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS); Supernatural (CW); Grey's Anatomy (ABC)

10 pm: Flashpoint (CBS); Private Practice (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching:

10 pm: Tabatha's Salon Takeover on Bravo.

Yes, I am sure I will hate this salon-themed take on Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, but there's absolutely nothing else on tonight to watch, so here goes. On the premiere ("Ten Salon: Long Beach, CA"), Tabatha Coffey tries to save her first struggling hair salon.