Make it work, Lifetime

‘Project Runway’ is back — finally! But will a new network change the show?

 

‘Project Runway’ airs tonight at 10 on Lifetime

 

Project Runway returns tonight with three-and-a-half hours of television on Lifetime: A two-hour, $100,000 all-star competition followed by the sixth-season’s debut and a new half-hour series that follows the designers’ models backstage.

It’s a big return for a show that’s been off the air for 10 months, and with it comes a new network (Lifetime; Bravo lost the show in a legal battle), a new day (Thursdays), a new location (Los Angeles replaces New York), and new producers (Bunim/Murray replaces Magical Elves).

That has led to anxiety among viewers who wonder if the show that defined an entire sub-genre of reality TV will ever be the same.

No one has seen an episode of Project Runway 6 yet, but executive producer Sara Rea promises it’s “the same show that viewers loved for the previous five seasons. It’s a great show with a great format, and [Lifetime] didn’t buy it because it was broken.”

Executive producer Jane Cha, who has produced the show since its conception, says, “We don’t want to change what we’ve spent five seasons creating.”

The only real change, both producers say, is the L.A. location, so look for famous locations and people. But the show is mostly about the cast, and Cha promises a “really talented group of designers” who bring “a lot of drama on the runway.”