August 5, 2006

After not watching any television for 10 days, I came home to a brimming TiVo...

What did I choose to watch? In two days, I've watched exactly two things: the two saved episodes of "Project Runway." Proving it's the best thing on TV, right?

In the older episode, they all get little dogs of the sort that according to the iconography of "Why Mommy Is a Democrat" would signify that the model to be accessorized with it is a Republican. They're supposed to make an outfit for the dog and the model and to somehow have it tell a story. The only person who puts any detail in to the story part is Angela, and then the judges act like it was wacky to have a whole story to go with the woman-and-dog get up. Meanwhile, the pissy, snooty Keith won't deign to make an outfit of any sort for his dog, and then he tries to lie his way out of this flouting of the assignment by claiming he put a lot of work into the collar. Heidi comes right over to the dog's neck and declares it's a readymade bracelet. But they still don't oust the nasty liar.

He lives on to be destroyed in the next episode.

About this newer episode, Jeff at Television Without Pity says:
Wow. This was probably the most tension-filled episode of Project Runway ever. And it was awesome.

The challenge was to create a three-piece outfit for Inc., which is a clothing brand sold at Macy's. One of the executives at Macy's chooses four team leaders -- Keith, Robert, Bonnie, and, uh, Angela. Yeah, weird.
Jeff haaaaaates Angela, but I was rooting for her. She was the underdog (in this dogfree episode). At one point she was making those poofy little circles again -- those things that have some mysterious, special meaning for her -- and her teammates Michael and Laura were miming their opinion that she's hopeless, and then Laura took four of the circles in her hands and placed them just so on the front of the jacket where they would look like buttons, and it was so perfect and beautiful that it made me cry!

I'm so damned sentimental about poofy buttonoids.

And then there was Keith.... The man had pattern books in his room. That's totally against the rules. I loved the scene where the other boys decided to rat him out. Rules matter! Justice!... and Keith is their biggest competition... and the judges all like him in a way that's really only about how oddly good he is at bullshitting.
[W]ith much fanfare, Tim Gunn arrives and tells Keith that he has to leave! It was amazing. The best part, though, is when he's leaving, he gives an apology to the other designers and it was uncomfortable and entertaining and I'm conflicted but I hate him… it was heaven.
Keith's ragged apology was truly wonderful. We'll see how cruelly he's raked over the coals for it when the reunion show comes around. His effort to make the other guys feel guilty with his you-ruined-my-life routine put him in a delightfully ugly light.

Then Keith's teammates, tattoo'd neck guy and the incredibly cute Allison have to finish the project -- Keith's design -- with only two-thirds of the manpower of the other teams. They nearly win. Actually winning is underdog Angela with Laura's brilliantly placed buttonoids. Yay!

2 comments:

Irene Done said...

Yay! PR commentary is back! Did you notice the looks of horror when Angela was chosen as a team leader? Hilarious, but then it was fun to see that her team actually gave us one of the show's best instances of collaboration. And as mean as Laura's criticism of Angela was, it was really entertaining.

As much as I miss Michael Kors, I've actually come to appreciate Vera Wang, who seems to focus in on things that I would never notice.

knox said...

After the dog competition and Keith's lying; his wheedling for the fabric discount; and his various attempts to excuse his possession of the books, I'm convinced that he couldn't stop bullshitting if his life depended on it.

I am not exactly fond of Angela, but I felt like she got a raw deal in the Miss Universe contest--Vincent was at least as guilty as she was, and I was happy she was able to thrive in another "teamwork" challenge. I do believe, however, Michael and Laura saved her ass! The final product would not have been as good without them, I've no doubt.

I miss Michael Kors, too, though not as much as I would miss Nina. I love Nina!

P.S. Ann you should be listening to Tim Gunn's podcasts if you're not, they're always really good and there's lots of inside scoops.