Project Runway is a gay show that moved from one gay network to another and appeals to a gay audience and includes scores of gay characters. So how come it’s so afraid of gay love?
It was no web secret that, during Season 5, designers Wesley Nault and Daniel Feld enjoyed each other’s company more than most. They held hands during the runway shows, flirted in the sewing room, and even exchanged notes when Feld was voted off — against the show’s policy. The duo are still dating, living and working together; they started their own fashion line called WesFeld.
And yet Project Runway edited the season to remove any notion of a romance.
Except now in Runway‘s sixth season, and its first on Lifetime, the show opted to include the fawning of opposite-sex designers Carol Hannah and Logan Neitzel (who, despite your lamp rubbing, is straight). As far as viewers can tell, it’s only an innocent crush so far — but Runway didn’t include Nault and Feld’s relationship to any degree. (The pair say they were trying to keep it private, a fallacy in reality TV.)
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Host Tim Gunn, a big gay, says he’s fine with Runway producers’ editing job. The show isn’t about romance, he says, and cutting any indication the pair were a couple was just them being “discreet.” But that’s an amusing term for a show that also could have edited out Jack Mackenroth’s HIV status.
It’s got True/Slant‘s Allison Kilkenny on the verge of shouting “homophobes!,” which she might be doing if it weren’t for Runway‘s nonchalant inclusion of gay characters through the show’s run.
But maybe it’s a television network switch that has Runway now willing to showcase romance … of any variety?
Don’t bet on it.
In the final episode of last week’s five-part preview of Sherri Shepherd’s new Lifetime sitcom Sherri (which is, dare we say, amusing), a same-sex kiss between straight characters Angie (Sherri’s colleague, second from right) and Summer (Sherri’s boss, far right), who pretended to be domestic partners to score a cheaper gym membership, is never shown. The camera cuts away immediately to the girls just talking about the kiss.
Then again, Lifetime is the network aimed at straight women and gay men, not gay women.
terrwill
GAYS IN FASHION????? My God what’s next????? Gay Republicans??? (oh wait, there are plenty of them……..)
Mr. Enemabag Jones
who pretended to be domestic partners to score a cheaper gym membership
That was an episode of, “Dave’s World” circa 1995. Meshach Taylor and Shadoe Stevens pretended to be a family to get a family rate at their gym. It was pretty pro-gay considering it was the mid-nineties.
Tom D Frog
Runway editing is 100% for drama!!! They only want to show bitchyness and mental instability. Oh, and if you are super duper cute, you slide by when you probably should be eliminated.
Love and affection…nobody wants to see that! The show is prime time cattyness. Thankfully I have TiVO so I can see what the challenge is then fast forward to the Runway show skipping all of the drama, self aggrandizement and mental breakdowns.
IMHO
scott ny'er
yeah. but if it’s all drama, then why show the budding romance of the hetero couple this season vs. the gay couple (who I can’t remember, either of them from that season) on season 5?
Seriously, they did have interviews about how she’s smitten with him and blah, blah. You didn’t see that about any gay dudes. Oh yeah, some of the gay dudes said they dug logan too. But not a romance.
And why all the love for Logan. He really isn’t anything special. With that STUPID hat of his.
Freeman
I get so tired of hearing about how hot Logan is when I watch the show.
Republican
Scott,
I’m trying to remember… Did any of the gay dudes actually say they thought Logan was hot? I know Gordana giggled and said that some of the boys liked him (wink, wink), but I can’t recall any of the gay guys actually saying that Logan made their dicks hard. Was it early on in the season?
John
The reason they didn’t show the romance was because Wesley got kicked off on the second episode. There wasn’t enough time for it to develop on camera. Also, why the hell is this an issue almost 2 years after the fact?
scott ny'er
@ republican
no. i think ur right. No dudes said he was cute. It was alluded that they said he was cute. It was the woman and the models (in that aftershow) that are fawning over him. *rolls eyes*
@John
ahhh. Queerty’s entry makes it seem like there were many eps to show their budding romance. I really can’t remember that season. I need to stop watching these reality shows and get a life. LOL.
terrwill
The good thing about season with Wesley and Daniel was that they showed Wesley in his Calvins only almost every week. He has that nerdyhot thing going on…………As to Logans “Run”……nada on the views of him………….
Adam
@Scott NYer–I agree; Queerty is once again trying to fan the flames. If I had been subjected to numerous hetero romances on Runway, I might see a point, but this particular objection has no real foundation.
AlwaysGay
Lifetime is doing exactly what I knew they would do with Project Runway and that is to heterosexualize it and in turn make it boring. I’m not interested in all the rigged eliminations so certain people get to the finale (three women are in the finale, 0 men) or stay longer. I’ve only watched three episodes this season and all of them were boring. The ratings have gone down dramatically since the premiere.
killavear
I understand Queerty’s argument, and of course there are always reasons to feel hyper sensitive when sexuality and reality TV get all mixed up, but I think each season of PR has its own flavor. I dont think they’re trying to cut away the gayness so much as trying to re-invent themselves, which may come across as disingenuous when compared to other seasons…I love Ms. Sheppard too!
jason
I often find that the gays in fashion are more about making money than making a stand for gay rights. In a sense, the fashion industry can be thought of as homophobic in that it accepts flamboyant gays (who make heterosexuals feel safe) but doesn’t accept their romances.
jason
The fashion industry is the ultimate vanity industry. It’s about vain gay male designers propping up even vainer women. The women are pathetic creatures with self-esteem issues.
Vincent
@AlwaysGay
Yeah I thought about that the other night when I realized how many women were left at this point of the season. Also the fact that Logan can’t design his way out of a paper bag…
Jon
ugh. If you’re going to complain about the editing, take a look at the new “Improved” season of PR on Lifetime . . .a barely watchable incoherent hatchet job in comparison to last season.
ChristopherM
Wesley was on for all of two episodes which spanned the course of about five days. I know our romances burn fast and furious, but not that fast. Of course, you’d never know that one of the two parties was not on the show long enough for them to show a burgeoning romance for the way this story is written. You’d also hardly know that the issue in question happened over a year ago. This is why today is the first time I’ve been to Queerty in a couple of weeks, and now I remember why. Come on guys, get it together.
Meowzer
i think this will be my last season of watching PR. It is so predictable now. You can tell who is going to be eliminated just by how the show is edited. Watch the interviews during the show. Who is getting the most air time? Who is bashing the other designers? Who has all the drama? It’s a dead giveaway. Plus, I agree with whoever said earlier they are “straightening” it out to please their female demographic.
I want the show to be about the challenges and the fashion. I couldn’t give a crap about the personal drama. I was hoping Lifetime would change that from Bravo. No luck. Oh well, count me out for next season.
me
Mewowzer, I agree. It is way too predictable, they keep letting crappy designers slink by because of the drama they bring, etc… And is it me or does the crop of designers keep getting weaker and weaker with each passing season?
Chicken Hammer
What a twisted double standard we see throughout TV land.
jeffrey bryan
Wasn’t that guy kicked off in week two? Let’s be real for a second, when there were still over a dozen designers on the show and about two minutes of airtime for each of them…. should the editors have focused on the clothing or on the budding gay romance. I vote clothing.
Darcy
Because it makes most viewers uncomfortable.