IF YOU WATCH:What: ‘Project Runway’Where: BravoWhen: Season Premiere, Nov. 14 at 10 p.m.

‘Project Runway’

Everyone’s been on pins and needles, but ‘Project Runway’ is finally coming back for a fourth season on Nov. 14. The fashion design reality show had been off the airwaves for a year now, after beloved co-host and large-vocabulary enthusiast Tim Gunn took some time off to start his own show (‘What Not To Wear’ rip-off ‘Tim Gunn’s Guide To Style’) and joined Liz Claiborne as its chief creative officer.

Judging from the teaser promos for Season Four, it looks as though we’re in for some real crazies – most notably from the man wearing a Fred Flintstone-esque ensemble, looking like the antithesis of a fashion designer.

‘Project Runway’ became Bravo’s breakout reality hit after its debut in December 2004. Viewers watched fashion designers of varying skill levels create beautiful (and sometimes ugly) clothing and more interestingly, fight over inane things like sewing machines and fabric.

The show has turned out some epic catfights, like Season One winner Jay McCarroll vs. dowdy mom Wendy Pepper and Season Three’s Santino Rice against basically every contestant and judge.

And who doesn’t like hearing Heidi Klum’s ridiculous and random commentary in her German accent?

IF YOU WATCH:What: ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’Where: BravoWhen: Series finale, Tuesday at 10 p.m.

‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’

The Fab Five are making their final exit as the last season of ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’ comes to a close this Tuesday.

Carson, Thom, Kyan, Jai and Ted have been giving guys makeovers since 2003, much to the delight of their subjects’ female counterparts. Slobs and lazy guys alike have gotten clean-shaven and learned how mix Manhattans.

Though most of the straight guys seem wary of having their lives turned upside down by the Fab Five, they quickly learn to embrace both the show’s stars and their new lifestyle guidelines.

Carson is undoubtedly the most ostentatious member of the group, and the style expert has done commentary on various red carpet events. Ted Allen has been using his culinary expertise both in ‘Queer Eye’ and other Bravo reality show ‘Top Chef.’ Jai is the most useless of the group – his role changes from episode to episode, sometimes teaching guys how to propose and sometimes just giving them ‘Phantom of the Opera’ tickets.

On the last season, the guys have been going all-out to help straight guys in need. On last week’s episode, they helped a soon-to-be engaged New Yorker find a new Manhattan apartment. Then, the group furnished it, gave him up a free engagement ring and bought him a new wardrobe. Damn.

Certainly wives and girlfriends alike will miss the Fab Five cleaning up their spouses and boyfriends, but after so many years on the air, ‘Queer Eye’ has run out of steam. The formula has grown tired: There are only so many different blazers you can pick out and only so many appetizers to craft.

IF YOU WATCH:What: ‘The Real Housewives of Orange County’Where: BravoWhen: Season premiere, Nov. 6 at 10 p.m.

‘Real Housewives of Orange County’

‘The Real Housewives of Orange County’ is one of those shows that you watch when you’re home alone and know no one is going to come back for a while. And then afterward you feel as though you’ve lost any kind of television credibility (if such a thing exists) that you had gained.

The show, whose third season premieres Nov. 6, follows five housewives who live in the luxurious Coto de Caza, Calif., a gated community in the infamous Orange County. These women live in ridiculous houses and spend most of their days shuttling their kids around, getting plastic surgery and attending parties at the Playboy mansion.

A lot of the housewives have ventured into the work world, like when Jo, the trophy girlfriend of insurance exec Slade Smiley (great or greatest name?), decided to get into the insurance business and then the music business, much to the chagrin of Smiley.

Jeana was a former Playmate and is married to a former pitcher of the Oakland A’s. She is a top real estate executive who makes appearances on Playboy radio in her spare time.

‘Real Housewives’ is vapid television at its finest – the viewer gets sucked in trying to believe that this is actually someone’s daily life. For some inexplicable reason, we want to see if Jo and Slade break up over her blossoming music career. We want to see if Lauri’s son will go back to jail for the fourth time.

Who knows why?

Welcome to the O.C.

Published on October 28, 2007 at 12:00 pm