Project Runway Wild Card

Dear Lifetime,

I have another humble suggestion for Project Runway Season 9... a "Wild Card" competition.

It could happen like this:

The designers are narrowed down to the top three and these three are guaranteed spots in the finale, but before sending them home to create their collections there is a little twist.

The eliminated designers receive a note asking them to meet Heidi and Tim and the finalists on the runway. Heidi announces that they are ALL going home to create collections. They all receive a budget and plenty of time to create their looks. (In my scenario, they go home in July and have until January to create their collections for the February show.) When they all come back for fashion week, the eliminated designers present three looks to the judges and the judges select a "Wild Card" designer for the fourth spot in the finale.

The Wild Card designer is not a decoy but is eligible for the win and receives the same options (models, stylists, etc.) as the regular finalists.

I believe this would be good for everyone - the designers, the fans, the show, the judges, and the network.

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The Calendar

Team BPR has been privileged to attend six finale shows. Each one is unique but some are better than others.

The season three finale was our first show. Although filming for season three was over the summer, the very excellent editors and producers were able to premiere the show on July 12th and we watched ten episodes before the September finale show. The field was narrowed to four designers and all four showed their collections. There were no decoy shows, no secrecy, no speculation and no fear of spoilers.

The tent was packed and the crowd enthusiastically cheered on their favorites. There was lots of love for each designer. We had watched them triumph through the challenges. We had seen the bickering and the drama. We KNEW these designers. We even knew the models! (We wondered why Nazri was with Uli....)

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The Judging...

Dear BPRs,

We have read each and every one of your comments and suggestions for the future of Project Runway and I am going to try to re-articulate your thoughts in a couple of more posts. The first topic is JUDGING.

For the challenges we need clear and specific criteria. What exactly does "avant-garde" mean? Does a red-carpet dress have to be a gown? Do you mean what Jackie Kennedy would have worn if she were alive today, or do you want a modern interpretation of the Jackie Kennedy Style? Please make it clear and specific.

AND THEN USE THE SAME CRITERIA FOR JUDGING.

If a designer falters during a certain challenge and is clearly the loser, then eliminate that designer. If you say that you are keeping the designer "because you want to see more" from him or her, then you are playing favorites.

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Dear Lifetime,

Project Runway is my favorite show and I will watch it until the very last episode, however I would like to respectfully submit several suggestions that might possibly improve things in the future:

1. Production: Please bring in a new production team. I would like to suggest Rich Bye. He's the man who brought the magic to the Magical Elves and now he has his own production company called Goodbye Pictures. You might already know him...

I'd also like to suggest Tim Gunn as Executive Producer. Tim knows and cares more about Project Runway than anyone else. He is the heart of the show. The fans adore and respect him. Perhaps he should have more input and decision-making power.

Also the show really only needs 60 minutes. A tightly-edited 60-minute show would be great.

If you are interested in a new 30-minute show I would like to suggest a show that follows Mondo Guerra as he moves to Los Angeles, deals with his new-found fame and meets prospective clients etc. I would watch that.

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Never Again?

First of all, we want to thank all of our readers for your insightful comments these last couple of days. Yes there has been a lot of anger, but there has also been a significant amount of thoughtful analysis and reflection on the state of the Project Runway franchise. We plan to explore different elements of that over the next week and hope to make suggestions to the producers on how to make Project Runway better.

But one comment that keeps coming up is some version of "I will never watch Project Runway again." At first we simply thought this was an immediate emotional outburst after the shocking finale decision. Now we're not so sure. We think some of you may be done. Time will heal some of this wound but we are curious, is this it for you and Project Runway?

poll by twiigs.com

"It's Wrong What He Did."

Anyone remember hearing Heidi say this line during the finale judging? I don't.

Bear in Mind That This Show Lists 15 Producers in the Credits

Hi BPR,

Thanks for another season of wonderful reporting on Project Runway! Love, love, love all of you!!!

Here's my question:

Were my eyes tricking me last night as we watched Mondo's looks on the runway? Thought I saw the outfit with the turquoise top first with a necklace, then without a necklace and then the necklace was back and then it was gone. How many times did they show the looks on the runway? Were they restyled in between takes?

Mondo - you should have won! Hope you have a wonderful life ahead - you made us all so happy!

Kind regards,
Diane