1) It is remarkable how closely the Bunim-Murray people now producing for Lifetime have kept the look and feel of the Magical Elves/Bravo version, even with the transition from New York to L.A. I notice that a couple of the line producers are the same, which probably accounts for some of that.
2) But the Bunim-Murray Real World touch is there in the casting: the hyperemotional ex-user, the "straight" guy who can't stop talking about being a straight guy, the pixie-ish free spirit, et al. Not that the Magical Elves folks weren't into stunting as well -- I give you Santino as Exhibit A -- but some of the choices seem to be there more for wacky TV purposes than designing.
3) The judges, though, seem like they're not going to put up with egregious stunting. Their prompt and deserved booting of Ari Fish, who apparently strolled in from that Taos hippie orgy in Easy Rider, suggested that they're willing to let Bunim-Murray go only so far.
4) Michael Kors, as orange as ever! Nina Garcia, as pained as ever (even with the move to Marie Claire)! And...Lindsay Lohan? One of the big deals about the L.A. move was the availability of Stars as Celebrity Judges. I guess Lindsay Lohan still counts as a Star, although I had no idea she was a designer, as Fraulein Klum introduced her. And she did utter what seemed like a coherent sentence or two, although it was late and I might have been dozing. But her face looked awful, and I think you could actually watch her pupils dilate and constrict in sequential shots. (All the continuity in the world...) Lumpy and Roo just watched The Parent Trap a couple of weeks ago: That girl is this woman? Object lesson #1.
5) As for the designers: Props to the Minnesota men! Winner and runnerup, deservedly! (Which may well be the last time those words will be uttered by Vikings fans watching the show in the next six months.) And they seemed both reasonably talented and decent. Johnny (the ex-user) pulled himself together, but his dress didn't deserve to be in the final three. I liked Althea's work, though I suspect her role is to be The Cute Blonde who does pretty well but screws up fatally in episode 6 or 7. Mitchell is a twirp, and as bad as Ari's "dress" was -- and it was awful -- his was worse.
6) In the pantheon of Unlikely TV Stars -- Fred Rogers, Oprah, Julia Child, John Madden -- Tim Gunn's spot continues to grow. Smart, kind, attractive, personable, a real mensch: Why would anyone want to have a law keeping a man like that from marrying whomever he wished?
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