'Project Runway': What Went Wrong?

Fans of reality-competition shows tend to disagree a lot about which seasons are good and which are bad. This season of Project Runway is an exception: I don't know a single person who's enjoyed it, or who is particularly interested in tonight's finale.

Remember, this has been a show that was likable even for many people who hate other reality shows. It was so popular and so beloved on Bravo that there was a protracted court battle over its move to Lifetime. And at the moment, my sense is that nobody cares.

We talked a while ago about some of this, particularly the fact that judges Nina Garcia and Michael Kors were gone for much of the season. And that's certainly been part of the problem. Apart from the always hard-to-define matter of "chemistry," Kors and Garcia were also replaced by guest judges who weren't as good-humored, as balanced, or as authoritative as they were.

But nothing else has really worked, either. The show changed production companies, from Magical Elves (they also make Top Chef) to Bunim-Murray (they also make The Real World, not to mention even lower-rent fare like Keeping Up With The Kardashians and Love Cruise. While this hasn't meant the show is suddenly about drinking binges, there does seem to be more of designers whining about each other in a sort of detached, generic way and less of designers bonding, talking, or becoming friends (in ways other than hating the same person).

In short, the contestants have seemed like ... brats, far more than usual.

Brats, after the jump.

 

One of the great things about Runway in the past was that it allowed its contestants to be knowing and funny. Even those who were irritating could occasionally be allowed a moment of insight. This crowd just seems grouchy and unpleasant, and when they bicker, it's hard to take anyone's side.

There's the switch to L.A., and there's the poor selection of challenges as well. Some spins worked — the dresses made of newspaper were cool, and the pregnancy dress idea spawned great things and silly things, too. But others, like the vague "movie character" challenge, and the idea of designing for a "red carpet event," and the idea of making blue clothes for Macy's, fell flat. Unless the challenges are fairly specific, Runway dresses just wind up looking like what a talented person would do if he lacked time and resources — designers on the cheap. With great challenges, though, you get unexpected little bursts of creativity.

In the past, the show has reined in the contestants far more: create a Postal Service uniform; create an outfit for yourself for traveling; create an update of a specific film icon with a specific look. That allowed the differences between the designers to become far more noticeable, because when you control enough variables, the ones that vary stand out. But if you tell everyone (as they did a couple of weeks ago) "create something that's sort of vaguely related to something you made before," there's too much room, and there's nothing to compare.

I don't feel like I can tell you what the dresses or collections of any of the finalists will look like. I don't feel like I can tell you the strengths and weaknesses of the ones who went home, except "not that good." Compare that to past seasons, where everyone understood the aesthetics of Santino or Korto or Jeffrey Sebelia or Laura Bennett. All the finalists who are left make ... gowns? Basically? Pretty dresses; that's how I know them.

It's the first season I have had absolutely no opinion at all about who should win. It's the first time I know I would get an absolutely abysmal score on a quiz where I tried to guess whose collection is whose. It's disappointing, too, because for its first five seasons, it was a very reliable show.