Project Runway All Stars returns for Season 6 at 8 p.m. today on Lifetime. Pick your favorite and root for him or her.
The competition dynamics should prove interesting because not only are all 16 designers Project Runway veterans, half of them have been on All Stars before. This is not their first rodeo. Everyone should know how to play the game.
As with the original series, the All Star version features fashion designers battling to create unique and memorable collections. As with Project Runway, each episode consists of a challenge, frantic designing where it always seems there's never enough time, some snarky trash talk, a runway parade of the finished (or not) creations, caustic or hyperbolic commentary from the judges and finally cruel, cruel elimination.
The show is a great favorite among its fans, but I know absolutely nothing about fashion, sewing or the creativity involved. Naturally, my favorite episodes are the unconventional challenges where the designers are tasked with making a "fashion-forward" (whatever that means) haute couture (again, huh?) outfit out of greeting cards, recycled trash, car parts, candy, newspapers or aluminum foil.
One week a designer may win and be on top of the heap, the next week she might implode with a horrific design -- especially if it's a team challenge. Of course the show pairs polar-opposite alpha designers just to watch the vitriol fly.
Part of the fun is watching the other designers' reactions to an especially irritating personality. And you know each season will have a couple of those cast just for that purpose.
Alyssa Milano returns as host with Isaac Mizrahi and Georgina Chapman as the two permanent judges. A guest judge will sit in each week. Finally, Anne Fulenwider, editor-in-chief of Marie Claire, will be this season's mentor.
Having an All Stars spinoff is another way Lifetime can milk the Project Runway cash cow one more time. And this season the formula is tweaked by having All Stars veterans vs. rookies.
Is your favorite coming back? The 16 designers are Stanley Hudson, Merline Labissiere, Melissa Fleis, Kimberly Goldson, Ken Laurence, Kelly Dempsey, Joshua McKinley, Helen Castillo, Fabio Costa, Ari South, Amanda Valentine, Candice Cuoco, Char Glover, Antony Williams, Casanova and Edmond Newton.
If your favorites are eliminated, never fear -- a seventh All Stars season has already been ordered by Lifetime and they could very well return is some new twist on the formula.
• Killing Fields: Murder Isle airs at 8 p.m. today on Discovery. This will be Season 3 for Killing Fields, the true crime docuseries that is not your usual sensationalistic true detective offering. This one comes from Tom Fontana (St. Elsewhere, Homicide: Life on the Street, Oz) and Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson (Rain Man, Good Morning, Vietnam).
In Killing Fields: Murder Isle, the series takes on the cold case of 28-year-old Carrie Singer, who was found beaten to death and semi-naked in a field in Isle of Wight County, Va., in 2004.
The isolated farm county on the James River southeast of Richmond is typically quiet. Who would have wanted Carrie dead? The mysterious case never went anywhere.
However, lead investigator Randy Patrick has been working on it for more than a decade. Now, new technology may lead to some answers for the sheriff's office.
Under the command of Lt. Thomas Potter, Patrick works with a team of skilled investigators as well as a young rookie who believes he can bring a fresh take to the case.
• The Interrogation Room premieres at 9 p.m. today on Discovery. Did you enjoy The Closer? Well, this true crime series is similar, except each episode begins in an interrogation room so that viewers can witness what the detectives started with on various cases from home invasions to murders.
There will be 10 episodes the first season. They begin in Grand Rapids, Mich., where Detectives Marcus Glover and Marty Albert are faced with a puzzling cold-blooded murder.
• Building Giants, 8 p.m. today on Science Channel. This new series and the one below are examples of sparkling little gems that pop up on Science, Discovery and History channels, much to my delight.
Tonight's episode charts the creation of the massive Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The $1.4 billion facility is an architectural wonder with an eight-petal retractable roof.
• Mega Machines is a new 10-part series that follows at 9 p.m. today on Science Channel and tells all about nifty machines such as roller coasters, bullet trains, cargo planes, hovercraft, helicopters and Italy's Aprilia RSV4, the most advanced superbike in the world.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
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Weekend on 01/04/2018