OK, just started PR. The contestants managing their finances all season is CRAZY. I think I like it, but I'm not sure. That whole "you have $X to spend on this challenge" sets the tone so much, not having any guideline like that could be great or disastrous.

I liked what we saw of the audition designs in the "Road to the Runway" thingy (while I could completely do without hearing anyone's backstory, I love seeing the collections that got them on the show) so I'm hoping for good runways this season.

I'm kind of interested in the playrunway.com interactive business, which surprises me. I usually pass on that sort of thing, but I think I'll at least try to check it out next week. I guess it's only available during that first airing of the episode?

More PR:

I trust Tim with the Rescue thingy. He'll apply it thoughtfully, I'm sure.

I LOVE the anonymous runway. And the closer look

Russian dude didn't notice the problem when he was fitting his model? Slutty cat toy, ha! It's peculiar that they had the little black bar over the model the whole time and the judges never addressed that. I guess there were enough other taste issues to talk about.

I think Justin's dress is my favorite, it really worked well with the fabric without being all "I'M MADE OF PARACHUTES". Dom's also, but Justin's was more to my taste. So I'm a little disappointed in the top threetwo, although the ones they picked are fine. The bottom three is right on, though. I would have sent Timothy home - he should have SHONE on this challenge and he did not at all.

Timothy was absurd in this challenge. I wanted him to go home so much. And I love that Zac Posen busted him with the "burning man-made fabric makes noxious fumes" thing.

I also love the anonymous runway. I'm a little surprised no one (including me) ever thought about that before.

As for the budget, since they had all their materials this week, I'm waiting to see if next week Tim gives them a suggested budget. Otherwise, to be safe(ish), I guess you could assume you'll be there for every episode, and divide whatever the total budget is that way? It seems really dangerous, but I like this twist a lot more than the teams.

It's an excellent twist! The budget, I mean. And, yeah, dangerous is what I really meant , I guess, which is good! I'm just anticipating that someone I like will screw themselves budget-wise because that seems likely to happen. I wonder if they'll do a commercial manufacture challenge like they have the last few season, those are really interesting but would have to be outside the seasonal budget.

I guess I always assumed that an anonymous runway wouldn't be feasible, but this one seemed to work fine. YAY

Yeah, Timothy had made such pretty things for his audition pieces, but he just hasn't really thought through the sustainability thing. And Zac was also pretty right about how weird it was that the model was barefoot and he was in glittery heels - those shoes were made with as much industrial processes as hair products and makeup, I'm guessing.

Can you believe there were two designers that didn't know how to or didn't want to use sewing machines?

Wait, who didn't know how to use a sewing machine? I must have missed that -- I watched the whole shebang, even the intro hour, so I did wander in and out at some points before the runway.

I am so glad to see Michael Kors is back next week, though.

I think it was Sue? I just remember being appalled. It wasn't clear if she didn't know how to use a machine at all, or just hadn't used a Brother machine and got confused, but either way it seems like something you would maybe try before going on the show. But I guess she figured it out well enough.

Is Michael Kors back as a judge full time or just next week for a Michael Kors challenge? I wasn't really paying attention to all the upcoming stuff.

Is the ep online yet? I totally forgot PR was starting up again!

I saw it on Amazon, but I can't remember if it was free with Prime or not.

Looks like mylifetime.com has it up.

Yay! I could use a palate cleanser after the Breaking Bad binge I've been on.