I am a Project Runway addict in withdrawal, and I am apparently not alone. The show is so popular it has prompted Bravo to launch several spin-offs like Top Chef and Top Design, and now Shear Genius, which pits hairstylists against each other to win... I don't know, a bunch of stuff that's all less appealing than just being on the show.
I downloaded the pilot for free on i-tunes (you can also watch it for free on Bravo), and unfortunately, despite having rocker chick stylist Sally Hershberger as a judge, the entire show was strangely airless and frumpy. In the first challenge, the hairdressers were given an hour to style a mannequin's hair, and a good 75% of them gave the poor inanimate creature the same asymmetrical bob I once got when I bet on a bad pony at the Vidal Sassoo academy. The second challenge, where they shopped at Michael's (The horror! The horror!) for craft supplies and turned their models into walking scrapbooks ("Hair Art" was the ostensible theme), was even worse--the winner literally put Davey Jones' Locker on top of his do. You'd have to see it to believe it--but it's hardly worth it, trust me.
And what is with Jaclyn Smith as host? She has the same haircut she wore on Charlie's Angels, and even then she wasn't the Angel known for her hair.