Go to any cocktail party or similar social gathering, and you’ll quickly learn that the world is divided into two kinds of people:  Those who are watching Season 4 of Project Runway, and those who aren’t.  You might also notice that, at least in certain circles, the first group is beginning to outnumber the second.

 In fact, it seems like the only people left in the non-watcher’s category almost always fall into one of three sub-groups:

1) The anti-"reality TV” purists
2) The DVR-challenged
3) Straight men

Okay, until we can figure out how to alter a person’s DNA (and, quite frankly, that’s near the bottom of our To Do list right now) we’re not likely to convert anyone in group #3 anytime soon, nor would we have any reason to, since somebody‘s got to be on the other side of the room discussing the football draft and mortgage rates, right?

But the rest of you have no excuse, especially the haters in group #1.

Sure, we understand how early exposure to some of network TV’s more imbecilic reality shows (Survivor, the Bachelor, Fear Factor, etc.) could easily create a lifelong aversion to the format, but it’s time you got off your highbrow horse long enough to realize that not all rtv is created equal.    (In fact, almost every cocktail-party conversation we’ve had about Project Runway lately has been prefaced with “I [pick one:] usually hate/ normally don’t watch/never got into/used to get nauseous just thinking about reality TV , BUT.... “ )
 
 The fact is, there’s a lot more to PR than the reality element.  Yes, it does follow the standard rtv competition/elimination formula of taking heavily edited “fly on the wall” footage of the competition and interspersing it with talking-head “private commentaries” to provide the narration.  And, yes, the contestants and situations are obviously chosen for their potential to create controversy and tension where it might not otherwise exist.  But the contestant’s task at hand--which is to design and sew the the best (or at the very least, not the worst) outfit within a ridiculously short period of time--leaves little room for the usual force-faked drama and manufactured story arcs that so many reality shows rely on for ratings.  

And the contestants are only part of the show’s appeal, since four of the fashion industry’s top professionals in different areas of the business serve as regulars.  Supermodel Heidi Klum is the producer and host of the show, commercially successful designer Michael Kors and Elle mag’s fashion editor Nina Garcia are the main elimination judges, and Parson’s design-school legend Tim Gunn serves as the contestant’s mentor and den mother extraordinaire. 

If that isn’t enough reason to drop your rtv bias, you’re reading the wrong blog, Darling.


We do have slightly more sympathy for the “Oh, yeah, I’ve been meaning to start watching that--wait, when is it on again?” people in group #2.    The PR schedule can be confusing, because Bravo tends to not only broadcast the same episodes over and over, but they also mix episodes from other seasons in there, so it’s crucial to know when the new episodes actually air, which is on Wednesdays at 10PM.  Of course, that doesn’t help now because there are only two episodes left in season 4, one of which is the finale on March 5, and they won’t be nearly as much fun to watch if you haven’t seen any of the 11 regular-season episodes that have already aired.  The good news is that Bravo, as is their custom, is re-running season four episodes ad infinitum for the next two weeks leading up to the finale.  The bad news is that, except for the in-sequence marathon on Tuesday, March 4, which is a mere day before the finale, the re-run episodes don’t seem to be in any kind of order.

Obviously, the simplest solution is to tape the marathon and power-watch if you want to see the finale in real time.  (And by real time, we of course mean tape-delaying veiwing by at least 20 minutes and Fast-Forwarding-ing through commercials and those long, suspense-building rtv pauses before the winners are announced). 

You can also get up to speed by visiting Bravotv.com and projectrunway.com, but be warned if you’re not completely caught up yet--both sites’ home pages are instant spoilers. 

If all that sounds like too much work, just think how nice it’ll be next time someone asks, “Have you been watching Project Runway?"   You won’t and have to hang your head in shame, or, worse, start bashing the whole reality TV genre like some out-of-touch curmudgeon. 

You’re welcome.