Finally.

You know, I was really optimistic when this season of Project Runway started. The show didn't seem to suffer much from the move to LA, the judges were the same, the initial challenge was fun, and of course Tim was as awesome as ever.

But in recent weeks, something has changed. Nina Garcia and Michael Kors have been conspicuously absent (I think this makes three weeks in a row) and the challenges have only been ho-hum. Basically, they've amounted to "make a pretty dress with a $100 budget" and people, that's lame. We watch Project Runway to see creativity and talent at work...and to hear bitchy comments from Nina and Michael. Ok, and also to see how progressively orange Michael Kors can make himself, but still.

This week, FINALLY, we had a decent challenge. The designers were instructed to create a garment entirely from newspaper (they were allowed a muslin base). And surprisingly, almost everyone came up with something attractive and innovative. While our main judges were still missing (sadness), the show seemed to have recaptured some of its original spark.

And there was drama too, of course. Johnny, after making some kind of red monstrosity and being told how ugly it was by Tim, decided to switch course and make a new dress that looked slapped together. When called on it by the judges, he crafted this elaborate story about how the original dress had been ruined by the iron or the steamer or some such bullshit. One of the other designers totally called his ass on it, and Tim even made a comment to the other designers that he couldn't believe the "utterly preposterous spewing of fiction" that took place from Johnny. And I could tell he was pissed when he told Johnny to clean out his work area, all while fussing with the cuffs of his suit jacket. There was no hug for Johnny.

In case you were wondering, here's the winning design:


So keep it up, Project Runway. And for God's sake, bring back Michael and Nina! I'm going into withdrawal.