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Now the Weinstein Co. Is Suing Over ‘Project Runway’

We are never going to see Project Runway again. Go ahead, sigh with us. First, NBC sued the Weinstein Co. for selling the show to Lifetime without giving NBC first refusal, delaying the air date of season six; then Lifetime filed a motion to move the case to federal court, further delaying season six; and now the Weinstein Co. is suing Bravo. Gah! The Weinsteiners filed papers in federal court on Friday claiming Bravo intentionally didn’t promote season five because they were mad about the Lifetime move. Reuters reports:

Weinstein, the studio run by Miramax Films founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein, said some of the things Bravo did to sabotage the ratings and value of the show included changing the show’s airtime; running a small number of ads; creating “mundane and unappealing” ads; providing little information for the press about the season premiere; and revealing spoilers about future episodes.

The Weinstein Co. alleges the ads for season five started airing too close to the show’s premiere date. They also call the ads “confusing” because they featured scenes from past seasons. What do they think we are — idiots? NBC pointed out that the fifth season was the most watched and highest rated to date. However, NBC honcho Jeff Zucker wrote in an e-mail to another executive, “We’re just gonna run the repeats like crazy to confuse the marketplace.”

The Weinstein Co. is also mad that Bravo is creating “copycat shows” based on Project Runway. And by “copycat shows,” they mean Fashion House, which is a designer competition show but also based on a U.K. show by the same name that predates Runway.

Hey, TV executives, we have some extra olive branches over here if any of you feels like using one. Your dimwitted audience is going to be really confused if Runway doesn’t come back on the air for two years or something, so you may as well get on with it and make up.

Weinsteins strike back at Bravo over “Runway” [Reuters]
Weinstein Claims Bravo Tried to Sabotage Latest ‘Project Runway’ Season [Multichannel News]

Now the Weinstein Co. Is Suing Over ‘Project Runway’