Runway Revisit

The lure of Project Runway is that of an old-fashioned serial: Pearl Pureheart has been tied to the railroad tracks--will Tom Trueblood get there in time to save her or not? Will my particular darling survive the cut this week?

It's the same lure American Idol uses, but Project Runway adds two other dimensions--the actual construction of the fashions and the interaction among the contestants. Heroes and villains develop before our eyes. To hell with their fashion designs--we all love Korto and Leanne, who've depicted themselves as decent human beings, dislike Kenley, who's acted like a real skank, and feel ambivalent toward Jerell, who seems somewhat ambivalent himself--amorphous, really.

Of course, our viewpoints of the contestants have been formed entirely by the clips the director chooses to show us. Hmmm- I wonder if Kenley is actually a mole, an actress hired to make this season more interesting. Maybe she was inserted into Project Runway for much the same reason Sarah Palin was planted into the Republican presidential ticket.