A Very Belated Praise-Be! for "Project Runway"

This is a post and admission that's long overdue: I can't get enough of "Project Runway." Every time we hit the end of the TiVo bar and the machine reverts to live TV, I ache for the next episode. I love Santino's mad (i.e. insane) skills. I love that Daniel Vosovic is full of kindness and compassion and that his talents dazzle, that he was a competitive gymnast for 12 years (!), and that he still manages to seem cool even though he totally derailed by putting Chloe in a 40 year-old hostess-bar-costume. (I also love that Daniel V. looks exactly like Andy Samberg.) And Heidi Klum sparkles with every "You're Out!" while simultaneously embodying the definition of preggers-sexy.

I am a relatively new convert to PR. I didn't watch the first season and Emmett was one episode shy of being kicked off when I began to watch this one. But what totally hooked me was Tim Gunn, that invisible glue that holds the show together. One obvious reason why Tim Gunn has become a favorite with me and my friends is that all of our friends can do dead-on impressions of his voice. (I think we have a couple of impersonators who could take Santino to task...) He's also, first and foremost, the mother hen who pecks to make sure his kiddies are on top of their hems, he assigns their tasks with a fairness and level-headedness you could only wish for in your school-marm, and he has shown stellar moments of counsel (like when Zulema pulled a fast one and switched models with Nick!). And isn't it really only appropriate that an awesomely power-gay dresser chairs the fashion department at Parsons?

Even though I'm always excited to see Heidi in the most fashionable maternity-wear ever, and American jet-set king Michael Kors, internationally fabulous Elle fashion editor Nina Garcia and the guest judges, there are two reasons why I keep watching: the clothes, and Tim Gunn's muted enthusiasm. The designs seem easy to explain--I'm really excited to see what these people will come up with on a limited budget and tight time constraints. That part seems obviously fascinating, and the reason why the show was born.

But wry Tim's enthusiasm for PR--and how it's veiled in his visage of authority--is priceless. It even seems to come not on-screen, but on the web. Not only does he have a blog on the PR website, he also records a podcast which explains what's going on, answers viewer-submitted questions, and has given the endeavor space in his chic Greenwich Village institute. He's taking this gig seriously and "joyously" (to slightly quote judge Kors) -- and it shows every time he eyeballs the designers' bullshit over his wire-rimmed specs, every time he dishes out a leveling critique, and, really, just about every time we see him waltz into the workstation room in his clean-cut, mostly-navy suits. He most certainly is in.