TVSquad

Are people still talking about Project Runway? It was the hot show when it was on Bravo, but it seems like more of a niche hit now that it's on Lifetime. Tonight is the season finale. Who do you think will win, Irina, Althea, or Carol Hannah? Not should win, but who do you think will win?

Also: did Christian Siriano give away the winner? (WARNING: THAT'S POTENTIALLY A MAJOR SPOILER!)

If all of the people who watched the first two episodes of The Beautiful Life signed this petition...well, the show would still be canceled (if you had TBL in the office "which show will get canceled first" pool, congrats!).

Cancellations + the web = instant petitions. A TV show used to just die and then that would be it. Oh, sometimes something happens where a show gets a second chance (exec taking a chance, summer reruns getting good ratings, the show doing well on DVD, buzz, etc), but it's a long shot. And now, whenever a show is canceled the web gives us the opportunity to create and/or sign a petition to get the show renewed.

What's old is new again. Marvel Comics is dusting off a group of characters created in the 1960's called Models, Inc. and will be revamping them for a modern audience. The twist is that Project Runway star Tim Gunn will be featured in one of the comic book storylines called "Loaded Gunn."

It's a very clever way to reintroduce a group of characters that could be considered somewhat dated and make them relevant again. Since the storyline involves the theft of some superhero costumes, there may even be some crossover appeal between the genders. Hopefully, the comic will not be confused for that other Models, Inc. from way back when.

Apparently the group will be pursuing supervillains who commit "crimes of fashion." In which case, they're going to have to go against half the superpeople in the Marvel Universe. So who should they go after? Which superheroes or villains have committed the greatest fashion crimes at Marvel?

It's finally that time when Tyra has three contestants left on America's Next Top Model. After weeding out the competition, we are left with Allison, Aminat, and Teyona. Like every finale, the girls will have to complete a Cover Girl commercial/photoshoot, and then the final two will have a runway walk-off.

Who has the upper hand? None of them. Each contestant is missing a piece of the model puzzle. None of the winners ever had every aspect down, bringing it all down to the decision of Tyra Banks. Let's take a look at some of the advantages, disadvantages, and outlying factors that will affect the girls in the final episode.

It's like that old saying, "Fashion doesn't kill people - models kill people."

For some reason, a giant fight broke out at the America's Next Top Model auditions at the Park Central New York Hotel in New York City yesterday afternoon. No one is sure what exactly started the craziness, but at the end there were a ton of shoes and other clothing scattered on the street outside of the hotel. If that wasn't enough, six people were injured (two seriously enough to be taken to the hospital) and three people were arrested. Check out the video after the jump of the crowd stampeding. Officials say that the show wasn't prepared for this many people showing up (ya think?). Also there seems to be a car spewing smoke involved and a woman getting slapped. Or something.

Maybe we need a real Fashion Police, not just one that talks about the clothing. Bad girls, bad girls...whatcha gonna do?

There's a joke here involving cucumbers I'm sure, but I'm much too mature to think of it. Feel free to make one up yourself.

NBC has pulled a PETA ad that was going to run during the Super Bowl, because it "depicts a level of sexuality exceeding our standards." Hey, what about subjecting viewers to those people on The Biggest Loser? And they usually have their tops completely off. This particular commercial shows various lingerie models getting all frisky with broccoli and pumpkins (pumpkins??). I guess it is pretty sexual, though I've seen edgier things on daytime soaps.

Funny how there is always a few controversies when it comes to these Super Bowl ads, either before they run or after the fact.

PETA says that they don't understand why the ad was pulled when ads for chicken and burgers are OK even though they make you "fat" and "boring in bed." As an eater of chicken and burgers, I resent that.

Kelly told you recently about NBC's legal attempt to block Project Runway from going to their Bravo channel over to Lifetime (Lifetime paid $150 million to air the show for the next five years). Now it looks like NBC is looking for contestants for a show that sounds very similar to Project Runway...and they're using Craigslist to find people to be on the show.

The new Bravo show is going to be called Fashion House. The ad says that the winner will win "a large cash prize" and that the winner can use the show to "serve as the launching pad to catapult your fashion career into high gear."

Catapult your fashion career into high gear? What a horrible sentence.

We've been getting a lot of wisdom and insight from our beauty pageant contestants lately. First was the solution to our lack of maps/Africa/the Iraq situation uttered so eloquently by Miss Teen South Carolina, and now we have Miss USA Rachel Smith, who explained what she wants to do with her career in front of the Women In Entertainment Empowerment Network (WEEN?):

"I always wanted to be a reporter - maybe some TV. Who knows? Some serious news - but some modeling, too...I just don't want to end up like Katie Couric. I want people to take me seriously."

Street Customs, a new series for TLC set in West Coast Customs in Corona, California and starring owner Ryan Friedlinghaus, will hit TLC Thursdays this fall.

Friedlinghaus started West Coast Customs in 1993, and the business eventually became a phenomenon, raking in over ten million dollars and building custom cars for many famous people. The company is also opening shops in Moscow and Dubai.

TLC scheduled Street Customs for Thursday nights to fit in with similar fare like American Chopper, American Hotrod and Wrecks to Riches.

This sounds like it could be a good series, and given the success of the other shows aired during "Turbo on TLC," I'm sure it will do well.

Deal or No Deal, the stupid NBC game show that airs a couple of times a week, is being sued by a former "paid audience extra" on the show.

Judy Ann Myers was taping a segment of the show last February, and during a commercial break she was told to hurry up to get into the audience so she could take part in a dance contest that was being held. Well, Myers tripped on the way down (I guess there were no handrails on the stairs and the lighting was bad) and hurt herself, and now she wants $25,000.

That's not me saying that, it's The Los Angeles Times. But I have to agree.

As several of us here have pointed out in the past, just look at the shows that pass for game shows nowadays. Deal Or No Deal has the gimmick of hot chicks and shiny suitcases. So far, so good (every show needs something). But then we get the most annoying guests in the history of television. Seriously, these people are so OUTGOING and have big PERSONALITIES, all of them, that the producers must give them a test before the show and won't pick anyone normal. Even their family members are this way. This was never the case on game shows before, and if you got an episode where it was like that, it stood out.

Now all of these contestants are the same, and so are the shows. After all, what is Identity but Deal Or No Deal, only with humans instead of suitcases? More annoying guests, more luck, and more stupid decisions (honestly, quit while you're ahead). And the l.......o......n.....g, drawn out pauses and "suspense" each show tries to build. Ugh.

Does anyone else think that Melinda Doolittle and that "I'm so innocent and surprised" face that she wears every time someone says something nice, resembles a deer in headlights?

For once throughout the competition, that face was used appropriately and not just because someone praised her talents for the millionth time. During Melinda's interview with Ryan, she found herself caught in the verbal crossfire of Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell last night on American Idol...

It is tough being a model in the kitchen. Your taut bare midriff is a cooking oil accident waiting to happen. Your chainmail bikini plus all those flying knives equals nothing good, and don't even get me started on the whole stiletto/non-slip mat combination. Ex-model and Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi has bravely faced down the hottest of kitchens all season, and for what? She's getting nothing but guff from the ousted Top Chef competitors.

Reporting to New York Magazine, cooks Ilan Hall, Cliff Crooks and Sam Talbot have all turned tight-lipped and a wee bit sour at mention of Padma's name. When asked about her culinary taste, Hall turned to the Bravo publicist at his side and asked, "Um, are we allowed to say disparaging things about Padma? No. She's beautiful. Mostly, she just explained things, and she did a good job at that." Commenting on her attire, Crooks suggested that around a working kitchen, poor Padma would either be a "fire hazard" or "get hurt." Somebody's got to be the face of this competition, people. Give Ms. Salman Rushdie a break.

(S10E13) Three teams, one last race. The teams are sent breathlessly hurtling around the globe, starting with Paris. For some reason this is the most boring finale I have seen in a long time. Truly. There are no big challenges, no real jaw-dropping moments and at the end, no real emotional payout. One of the reasons I watch the Race is for the cry-inducing finale. I'm going to have to watch the second half of that ABC home improvement show in order to get my supply of Sunday weeping.

I've already given my review of Deal Or No Deal on these pages, and Joel gave his counterpoint, so this isn't another review of the entire show, it's just an observation I have about one particular part of the show.

After a player decides to take the money, screams "Deal!" and presses the button, Howie (and viewers) want to see what WOULD have happened if the player had continued to play the game. So he'll ask "what number suitcase would you have picked?" And then the player tells him. But this is illogical. Until you're in that moment of a decision, you don't really know what you would have picked. You can think you'd pick a certain thing, but until you're faced with that decision, you don't really know, you're just guessing.

It's even worse when Howie asks the player what they would have picked after that , and then after that. You don't really know what suitcase you would have picked one, two, or three moves down the line. Makes for OK television though.