‘Project Runway’ 9.01 & 9.02 Recap: “I Wanna Pee All Over Those Wee-Wee Pads”

I wanted to write about this last week when the new season of ‘Project Runway’ premiered, but then the whirlwind of child birth caught me by surprise. Anyway, we don’t focus too much on Reality TV here in The Bonus View, so I’d like to change that.

Go ahead and laugh, but I’ll easily confess that ‘Project Runway’ is one of my guilty pleasures. I started watching it a few seasons ago with my wife because, well, she puts up with just about every movie I have to watch and review. I thought that it might be nice to watch soemthing she wanted for a change. I know, husband of the year right here.

When I heard that she really was into ‘Project Runway’, I thought, “This was a bad idea.” I can do Reality TV, but a Reality show about people who make clothes? Only girls could like that, right? Wrong.

I sheepishly admit that I’ve been sucked in over the past few seasons. ‘Project Runway’ is actually a really well-constructed Reality show where designers from around the country compete to win fame and fortune, all the while showcasing their design skills. I’m constantly surprised at the stuff they come up with.

The only drawback is that the show is notorious for editing episodes with a certain slant. The editors can make contestants look bad or good depending on what clips get shown. This is true for most “Reality” TV shows, but ‘Runway’ seems to ratchet that up even more.

Still, it’s fun to watch the different looks come down the runway. It’s fun to watch Heidi Klum. (What, did you think I was going to add more to that sentence?)

This marks the ninth season of the show. The first two episodes have aired, and I fear that this season is leaning far too much towards the “What crazy-ass thing can we get them to do next?” style. The premiere episode had the designers woken up from bed at five in the morning. They were allowed to bring the clothes they had on and a sheet from their beds. That’s what they had to make their outfits from. Kind of cool, right? Well, then last week’s episode sent the designers to a pet store to create a look out of only materials they found in the store. These kinds of challenges work well if they’re spread out throughout the season, but packing them together seems like a ploy. The preview for the next episode has them designing outfits for people on stilts. I wonder if this season is going off the rails. Is it possible for a Reality TV show to jump the shark?

I still like the show and will watch it with my wife. It’s one of “our” shows, and we enjoy having it in our viewing lineup.

Just as a recap, the premiere episode saw Rafael Cox get cut for a terrible skank-like outfit. In the next episode, Josh Christensen got cut because he used a puppy umbrella to make a blouse. As one person said, “He put puppies on the puppies?” Now we’re down to 12 designers already. Here’s hoping the show tones down the crazy challenges and just lets the contestants design.

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