Last month we learned that Lifetime TV will be airing a one-off episode called Project Runway: All-Star Challenge which will pit some of our fave designers from previous seasons in an ultimate challenge for design supremacy … as well as lead into the much-anticipated new season of Project Runway on August 20. Here is our first look at the cast of PR: ASC gathered together with hosts Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn:

While I am VERY excited for Season 6 of Project Runway to debut on Lifetime TV, I’m just about as excited to see the All-Star Challenge as well. Lifetime managed to cull together some of my all time fave designers and I cannot wait to see them go at it again. After the jump, check out individual promo photos of each of the 8 designers who will be competing in this new challenge …

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Last weekend we got our first look at the NEW trailer for season 6 of Project Runway which premieres on Lifetime TV on August 20 and while that is all well and good, there is even MORE good news to pass along. Lifetime has announced that they will air Project Runway: All-Star Challenge in conjunction with the debut of the new season of PR to ensure that fans of the show are well taken care of when the series moves to its new home network. According to Entertainment Weekly magazine, the All-Star Challenge will pit 8 former (and much beloved) PR contestants in a battle of fashion wits for a prize of $100,000! Here is who will be competing in this All-Star Challenge:

Kicking off its sixth season, Project Runway will welcome back eight superstar designers from years past, including Santino Rice (pictured), Jeffrey Sebelia and Sweet P, for a special two-hour “All-Star Challenge.” Prior to Lifetime’s Project Runway season premiere and the series premiere of Models of the Runway on Aug. 20, the Runway alums will match wits and fashions to compete for a $100,000 cash prize. Lifetime’s entire release, after the jump. Unprecedented Special Event to Air at 8:00PM ET/PT and Feature Designers from Previous Seasons Special to be Followed by the Season Six Premiere of PROJECT RUNWAY at 10PM ET/PT and the Debut of the All-New Companion Series MODELS OF THE RUNWAY at 11PM ET/PT

Here is the official press release: For the first time in Project Runway history, eight former fan favorites and Project Runway superstars are returning to the catwalk to compete against one another in the two-hour special, Project Runway: All-Star Challenge. The spirited competition premieres Thursday, August 20, at 8PM ET/PT and will be followed by the highly anticipated premiere of the sixth season of Project Runway at 10PM ET/PT and the debut of the all-new companion series, Models of the Runway, at 11PM ET/PT. The announcement was made today by Lifetime Television and The Weinstein Company. At stake for the designers are not only the ultimate bragging rights, but also a $100,000 cash prize. Will the designers be up to the challenge of returning to the workroom, working under the “Gunn” (as in Tim Gunn) to create a successful fashion line? Are they ready to, once again, face the critiques of Heidi Klum, Michael Kors and Nina Garcia, as they showcase their creations?

Daniel Vosovic, Season 2
Santino Rice, Season 2
Jeffrey Sebelia, Season 3
Uli Herzner, Season 3
Mychael Knight, Season 3
Chris March, Season 4
Sweet P, Season 4
Korto Momolu, Season 5

Wow!! What a great idea! I’ve always thought that PR should do an All-Star Challenge and I finallly got my wish. How amazing do Uli, Korto and Sweet P look? I think Jeffrey could do without the porn’stache and WTF? is up with the spelling of Michael Mychael Knight’s name? That’s new, right? Oh … who cares?! I am so in love with this idea. I can’t wait to see it! We’ve got SO MUCH Project Runway awesomeness to look forward to. Thus far, I’m very impressed with what Lifetime is doing with my fave competitive reality TV show. My confidence in their ability to do right by Project Runway continues to grow each day. Are you as excited as I am?

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Last week, Lifetime TV launched the official online presence of the new season of Project Runway, the first for their network, by teasing with a new promo video that I (in all honestly) wasn’t too impressed by. Today, Lifetime releases the official promo poster for the new season of PR along with a few exclusive stills from upcoming episodes of the new season. First up, the poster:

I do love the poster … but it is the stills that are most interesting to me. I love them … and I think longtime fans of Project Runway will love them as well. After the jump, check them out …

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Lifetime TV, in preparation for the premiere of the new season of Project Runway (the first for their network), has launched the new official web site for PR. In addition, the site lists the urls for the official Project Runway Twitter account and Facebook page. Here is a new promo image for the show:

The site also features a new promo video for the show which attempts to hype up fans for the show … but IMHO, falls well off the mark. The video features “regular people” talking about how much they love the show and only features brief appearances by hosts Heidi Klum and Time Gunn. There are NO appearances by any of the contestants or any footage from the upcoming season. It’s not a great promo video, in my estimation, but something is better than nothing I suppose. After the jump, check out the promo video in full and judge for yourselves …

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Great news … which better NOT turn out to be a cruel April Fool’s joke. I just received word from NBC that the disputing parties whose legal wrangling has kept Project Runway off the air have reached a settlement in the case — which means the show is finally free to return to the TV airwaves. Here is the full text of the statement that has just been released by NBC Universal:

NBC Universal, The Weinstein Company and Lifetime have resolved their disputes. The Weinstein Company will pay NBCU for the right to move Project Runway to Lifetime. All of the parties are pleased with the outcome. Harvey Weinstein added, “I want to personally congratulate Jeff Zucker and NBCU on their success in the litigation and thank Jeff for resolving this in a professional manner. We look forward to working together on our ongoing projects.”

I realize that in my excitement and in my haste to pass along this information I could be falling for the cruelest of pranks but the statement was sent to me by an NBC Universal employee and I can’t (well, don’t wanna) believe that something like this would be used as a joke. I will update with any news from confirming sources as soon as I can. I have to believe that this matter has finally been resolved ‘cuz I am dying for another season of Project Runway. It remains to be seen when we will be able to see the show on the air again but I’m crossing my fingers that it will be soon. We shall see.

UPDATE: The LA Times confirms the story, the disputing parties have settled to let Project Runway make the move to Lifetime:

According to a statement issued by NBC Universal today, the dispute is over because the Weinstein Company has agreed to pay NBCU for the right to move the popular reality series to Lifetime. “All of the parties are pleased with the outcome,” NBC Universal said in a statement. Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of the Weinstein Company, added: “I want to personally congratulate Jeff Zucker and NBCU on their success in the litigation and thank Jeff for resolving this in a professional manner. We look forward to working together on our ongoing projects” … Andrea Wong, president and CEO of Lifetime Networks, who fought hard to land the show, issued the following statement: “I couldn’t be more excited that Lifetime will bring its viewers an amazing, all-new season of ‘Project Runway’ this summer. As the highest-rated cable network for women, Lifetime is the perfect home for this outstanding program as well as its companion series Models of the Runway. All of us at Lifetime are thrilled to move forward with Heidi, Tim, Nina, Michael, The Weinstein Company and the entire ‘Project Runway’ team. We are proud to add these shows to our growing slate of original programming, including the hit series ‘Army Wives’, the all-new upcoming series Drop Dead Diva and our top-rated original movies. Weinstein also added the following: “We’re thrilled to be launching our relationship with Lifetime with this groundbreaking cable deal that includes the next 5 years of ‘Project Runway,’ our new spin-off show ‘Models of the Runway’ and the development of ‘Project Pygmalion,’ along with a package of our movies. With these upcoming shows and the success of our new series ‘The No. 1Ladies Detective Agency’ on HBO, we are very excited about the continued growth of The Weinstein Co’s television division. We are also looking forward to working with NBC Universal on the upcoming theatrical release of ‘Inglourious Basterds’ and the continued development of other projects together.”

YIPPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!! BEST.NEWS.EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOT!

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The sixth season of Project Runway, which will be moving from Bravo to Lifetime TV, has a tentative debut date of January 20, 2009 and has already secured the first celebrity guest judge — Lindsay Lohan. I gotta say, I kinda love it … and I’m encouraged that the move to Lifetime may not be so terrible after all:

Jennifer Lopez might have been forced to skip “Project Runway’s” season five finale due to a foot injury, but the hit reality design show will return in 2009 on Lifetime with Lindsay Lohan sitting in the guest judge’s chair for the season premiere. Access Hollywood has learned that the actress will help the judges decide whose fashion is fiercest for the show’s first episode on its new network. The 22-year-old actress, who has been in New York recently shooting episodes of “Ugly Betty,” filmed the premiere episode on Thursday. A source told Access the tentative premiere date for “Runway” on Lifetime is January 20, while the season five finale airs October 15 on Bravo.

IEEEE! While I still may have concerns over the new incarnation of the show that I love so dearly, I am really excited by this news. I knew that the contestants for season 6 had already been cast and I heard that filming was already underway but this is the first concrete news that we’ve gotten thus far. It’s interesting that the the premiere ep of season 6 for Lifetime was filmed one day before the season 5 finale ep for Bravo was filmed. Even tho there has been much talk about the new version of Project Runway moving to LA, I’m comforted by the fact that the season 6 premiere ep was filmed here in NYC. It’s still too early to make any judgments … but I’m pleased with this development and am really looking forward to seeing Linds as guest judge next season.

UPDATE: Pink reader Drew gives me the head’s up that Project Runway has begin filming in LA this week, the show has taken over the third floor of one of the buildings at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, he writes:

The rumors about Project Runway filming in LA aren’t rumors anymore. They’re
filming as we speak over at FIDM in downtown LA. They’ve taken over the 3 story in one of FIDM’s buildings. It’s exciting, but students are already passing around a petition stating how irritated they are. PR took over the newest addition to the school and have prevented the students from using the good equipment and supplies. They’re now stuck with hand-me down mannequins and machines and they are PISSED! Good public relations for FIDM, bad news for the students who are paying $25k a year to go there.

Interesting. It should be noted that The Hills also films at FIDM in LA … I wonder how they actually go about with all the teaching with all that filming going on. Also interesting, former Project Runway contestant Nick Verreos is now an instructor at FIDM … small world.

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Yesterday I reported that Lifetime TV is airing a 10-episode marathon of Sophia Petrillo-centric episodes of The Golden Girls tomorrow afternoon from 12PM – 5PM in honor of the passing of Estelle Getty but the network has added one more extra little tribute to her memory. Lifetime has been showing a brief memorial to Estelle at the end of each re-run episode of the show that they’ve been airing since her passing:

Yeah, it’s nothing fancy or elaborate but it’s a nice tribute to the amazing Estelle Getty, especially since the network airs eps of The Golden Girls 6 times per day (9, 9:30AM, 4, 4:30PM and 1, 1:30AM).

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