SEASON THREE OF BRAVO'S HIT REALITY SHOW "PROJECT RUNWAY" GETS FIRST-EVER AIRING ON NBC
ENCORE PERFORMANCES OF FIRST TWO EPISODES OF EMMY NOMINATED SERIES PREMIERE MONDAY, JULY 17 AND JULY 24 AT 8:00 PM ET/PT
PASADENA, Calif. -- July 13, 2006 -- NBC will air the first two episodes of the third season of Bravo's Emmy nominated series reality series "Project Runway" on Monday, July 17 and July 24 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT, it was announced today at a presentation for television critics in Los Angeles. Featuring a new cast of fifteen talented fashion designers selected from thousands of hopefuls, the designers will compete for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to show in the world-renowned Bryant Park tents during New York's Fashion Week. Critics have touted the third season premiere of the series, which aired July 12 on Bravo, as "tantalizing", "engrossing" and a "piece of new pop culture obsession with the world of fashion."
"Project Runway" provides an opportunity for these budding designers to break into the notoriously exclusive fashion business. The wildly successful competition reality series has proven to be one of television's most talked-about shows and produced some of TV's most memorable personalities and unforgettable moments.
Bravo President Lauren Zalaznick added: "At its core, 'Project Runway' is nothing if not great storytelling. We are thrilled that NBC has chosen to air episodes one and two and believe that their support will embolden this franchise tenfold in the weeks to come."
The success of "Project Runway" is underscored by the performance of the program's second season finale this past March. The highly-anticipated episode was seen by an audience of over 3.4 million making it the most viewed single telecast in the 20-year history of the network.
The "Project Runway" season three designers are:
� Bradley Baumkirchner, 32, Los Angeles, CA
� Robert Best, 37, West Hollywood, CA
� Laura Bennett, 42, New York, NY
� Malan Breton, 33, Long Island City, NY
� Bonnie Dominguez, 31, San Diego, CA
� Stacey Estrella, 40, San Francisco, CA
� Katherine Gerdes, 25, Minneapolis, MN
� Kayne Gillaspie, 27, Norman, OK
� Ulrike "Uli" Herzner, 35, Miami Beach, FL
� Alison Kelly, 26, Brooklyn, NY
� Angela Keslar, 33, Amesville, OH
� Michael Knight, 28, Atlanta, GA
� Vincent Libretti, 49, Santa Monica, CA
� Keith Michael, 34, New York, NY
� Jeffrey Sebelia, 36, Los Angeles, CA
Once again, supermodel Heidi Klum heads a panel of industry luminaries, including top women's and men's wear designer Michael Kors and Elle Magazine fashion director Nina Garcia, who will serve as judges and industry mentors charged with selecting and molding the budding designers. In addition, each week will feature a special guest judge based on the specific challenge given to the participants. Tim Gunn, Chair of Fashion Design for Parsons The New School For Design, will return to guide the contestants through each of their challenges. The fifteen contestants will be whittled down to only three finalists who will face-off in front of an audience of movers and shakers at New York Fashion Week in September.
As part of their prize package, Saturn will award the winner a 2007 Saturn Sky Roadster. The winner's designs will be featured in a spread in ELLE magazine and Macy's will award them with a mentorship with I.N.C. International Concepts. The winning designer will also walk away with $100,000 in seed money from TRESemm� to help launch his or her own line.
In addition to its impressive ratings numbers, "Project Runway" continues to drive traffic to the BravoTV.com site. Since its launch, the series has garnered an impressive 87 million page views and 2.2 million unique visitors and remains one of the most popular sites on the web. Tim Gunn's "Take Section" on BravoTV.com alone garnered 9.1 million page views and the "Tim's Take Podcasts" have gotten 600,000 downloads.
Fans of Project Runway began stocking their DVD library and re-experiencing heir favorite Runway moments when the four disc DVD set of "Project Runway - The
Complete Second Season" became available on June 27. In addition to the memorable cast of designers including Santino, Chloe, Andrae, Daniel V. and Nick, among others, season two features special appearances by guest judges Debra Messing, Nicky Hilton and Sacha Cohen. Added bonuses include 13 extended episodes with never-before-seen footage as well as bloopers, outtakes, a "Wear Are They Now?" contestants update, and exclusive season 3 casting call footage. Project Runway - The Complete Second Season is available from Genius Products, Inc. and The Weinstein Company for an SRP of $39.92. In addition, Bravo recently announced plans to launch an extensive mobile messaging effort that gives fans a chance to hear personal messages from the participants in the Emmy-nominated series.
The "Project Runway" series is co-produced by The Weinstein Company and Miramax Television. Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz of Magical Elves ("Project Greenlight," "Last Comic Standing") are executive producers of "Project Runway." Rich Bye is also an executive producer of "Project Runway" for Magical Elves. Heidi Klum is host and executive produce. Desiree Gruber and Jane Cha of Full Picture are also executive producers. Barbara Schneeweiss oversees the production on behalf of The Weinstein Company.
Bravo is the cable network that plugs people into arts, entertainment and pop culture with original programming, acclaimed drama series, movies, comedy and music specials, and by showing a whole different side of celebrities. Currently available in more than 80 million homes, Bravo is known for breaking exciting new personalities, shaking up the way we look at style, media, fame and Hollywood, pulling back the curtain on the creative process and making influential and inventive original programming. Its critically acclaimed original programming includes the Emmy nominated "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List," 13-time Emmy nominated "Inside the Actors Studio," "The Real Housewives of Orange County," "Top Chef," "Celebrity Poker Showdown," as well as the 2004 Emmy winner for Outstanding Reality Program "Queer Eye," and the four time Emmy-nominated hit competition series "Project Runway."
Bravo is a program service of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, a division of NBC Universal one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Bravo has been a NBC Cable Network since December 2002 and was the first television service dedicated to film and the performing arts when it launched in December 1980. For more information visit www.bravotv.com .
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