"Project Runway All Star Game" Reduced To Advertising Jokes

In the seventh season of "Project Runway (Star Bridge)", Alyssa Milano, the host and judge, has repeatedly stated that this week's winning design will be on sale every other day.

The final episode of the program will be broadcast on Lifetime channel on Wednesday.

Unfortunately, what she said is not true.

Many viewers are trying to find the clothing series of the winning works designed by evergreen Dmitry Sholokhov or Irina Shabayeva (all contestants), but only on the website of the department store chain have they noticed the announcement that the program group and J.C. Penney have stopped working together.

"The Project Runway all star game in the seventh quarter was completed before the termination of our contract, but we didn't know that they would not start broadcasting until January 2019."

The company said in an e-mail statement, "precisely because of this, J.C. Penney will not be able to fulfill contracts to produce or sell these winning works."

J.C. Penney is behind the unnamed sponsorship this season, involving Weinstein Company, a franchise producer.

According to the terms of brand cooperation launched in the summer of 2017, the retailer will become the exclusive partner of the "Project Runway" regular season and the seventh season of the "All Star game", selling women's clothing series related to the program and providing production for the winning design in the program challenge.

In the fall of the same year, allegations of sexual abuse of Harvey Weinstein were first reported.

After that, everything became complicated.

Weinstein was fired by the board and his company went bankrupt.

Lantern Capital Partners bought the assets of Weinstein company last year and pferred the broadcasting rights of "Project Runway" to NBCUniversal.

For a while, no one knows whether the latest All-Star game will actually be shown.

It was recorded in the summer of 2017.

In October last year, J.C. Penney filed a partnership agreement with Weinstein for bankruptcy proceedings.

The court documents show that in the 2 year agreement signed with J.C. Penney, the producer of "Project Runway" will get $1 million 800 thousand a year.

So far, they have received $1 million 440 thousand, and Weinstein's creditors have put forward a proposal to let retailers pay the balance.

All these contradictions have brought challenges to the Lifetime channel that broadcast the "Project Runway" program for ten years.

(since then, the series has returned to its original TV network Bravo).

Through cooperation with brands such as Dixie, Campbell Soup Company and WWE, the program has exceeded the previously expected content of the patronage and sewing machine.

A lot of unreasonable advertisements are placed in the program.

In the recent episode of the all star game, the main challenge is to ask the designer to design with silk. The reason is that the visiting judge just visited Thailand under the auspices of Thailand Tourism Bureau.

The audience of the program has noticed this and expressed regret.

"When Bravo is broadcast, there will always be a sponsored checkpoint on the program," Ani Bundel wrote on the website of NBC News earlier this year. "But on Lifetime channel, this trend has accelerated."

The seventh season "All Star game" has made every effort to publicize the brand image of J.C. Penney.

The retailer will be mentioned by Milano and other contestants from time to time.

J.C. Penney jewelry wall is part of the program scene.

The first phase of the program "Penneys from Heaven" is named directly by sponsors.

The brand can be seen everywhere this season.

Despite these problems, the Lifetime channel still decides to broadcast it in January (about 18 months after recording), which is why the audience can not buy the winning design mentioned by host Milano weekly.

This is really strange.

There is no explanation or indication that the cooperative relationship between the program group and J.C. Penney is over - except for a conjectured "Previously" Recorded that appears at the corner of the screen every time a retailer is mentioned.

A spokesman for the Lifetime channel declined to comment on the matter and why the brand name is still preserved in the program.

Spectators sometimes have no problem with this outdated program - one of them requires the participants to design costumes inspired by Broadway musicals, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but the musical had stopped performing a year before the program was broadcast on.

Milano didn't mean to mislead the audience. She had nothing to be blamed for.

To a certain extent, it is an art of no intention to give a legal document to a company that has a clear placement advertisement with you.

But for viewers, this is very disappointing: what is broadcast on television is not what happens in real life.

The program has also become cheaper.

Facts have proved that J.C. Penney's cooperation series may not be worth looking forward to.

"I don't think the audience missed anything exciting," Erin Robertson said.

She was the fifteenth season champion of "Project Runway" in the regular season, and the first designer to work with the retailer in the program.

As part of the deal, she must be inspired by the product of J.C. Penney, but she expressed disappointment at the final product.

"When we negotiate with them, they will say," we like what you say, but they will not really implement these ideas. "

Robertson's contract began after she won the competition. She signed a contract with Weinstein and received the previous design fees.

She said she should receive royalties, but things were not satisfactory.

For champion Kentaro Kameyama of the sixteenth season of the regular season, the J.C. Penney series inspired by his winning design is part of his award-winning design.

After that, the retailer worked with him for second series, but according to him, the series did not write his name at last.

Like Robertson, Kameyama met with J.C. Penney and provided inspiration and textile materials to them.

They said they were very excited, but then the company did not contact him again.

He said that a single product similar to the design he had offered began to be sold, and the result did not show that he was the designer of these single products, and his doubts about the company had not been answered.

"I think they think they can use me unilaterally," Kameyama said. "They robbed my designs, but they didn't sign my name."

In response to the accusations of Robertson and Kameyama, a spokeswoman for J.C. Penney issued a statement, which said, "the J.C. Penney agreement was achieved with Weinstein Television and LLC.

We have never interfered directly with contestants / designers.

We do not know the contract between the contestant / designer and Weistein, so we can not speak on the copyright fees that they may be defaulted.

The company also clarified that the product inspired by the design of Robertson and Kameyama came with the tag "Project Runway" and a "Winner" s Collection (winner Series) on top.

They also said, "we have never made garments in the name of any designer."

Perhaps the selling point of "Project Runway" is no longer fashion or game itself, but excessive placement advertising.

The new season "Project Runway" has been launched in Bravo in the eighteenth quarter.

The program has made a lot of adjustments, including the new host (Karlie Kloss instead of Heidi Klum), the new mentor (Christian Siriano has replaced Tim Gunn) and a new production company (Magical Elves took over the work of Bunim/Murray).

But the advertising blitz continues.

During the season's premiere, Siriano told the contestants that the program group provided them with all the tools they needed, including the "Pilot FriXion erasable pen for sketching."

The contestants applauded in chorus.

One person even said, "great."

It made me goose bumps.

But on the good side, at least this pen does exist.

The writer is Dan McQuade.

This article is originally published in the New York Times. BoF is legally authorized to publish by NewsCred publishing network.