Stream It Or Skip It?

Project Runway has had more lives than most reality competitions, starting at Bravo, moving to Lifetime, then coming back to Bravo. It lost Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, but brought in Karlie Kloss and Christian Siriano. Then Kloss left and Siriano did double duty. Now, the show is on its third network — Freeform, backed by streaming on Hulu and Disney+ — with Klum returning as host.

PROJECT RUNWAY SEASON 21: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: During a “This Season on Project Runway” montage, we see Heidi Klum say, “I’m baaaack!” and blow a kiss to the camera.

The Gist: Klum is indeed back as host, seven years after she and Tim Gunn left the show to produce and star in Making The Cut on Prime Video. However, Gunn wasn’t asked to return alongside Klum; former Runway winner Christian Siriano remains in the mentor role (he did double duty as host and mentor for the past couple of seasons).

The show also has a new home at the Disney-owned Freeform, and the twelve designers who walk into the main workspace get a Mouse House-themed first challenge. The designers are split into two “houses;” one will produce designs inspired by Disney princesses, and the other will produce designs inspired by Disney villains. The runway will be judged by Klum, longtime judge Nina Garcia and new permanent judge Law Roach.

This year’s group include former Runway participants, like Jesus Estrada, who was on Season 7 of the show way back in 2010. His twin brother Antonio is also a contestant. Caycee Black got eliminated during the first episode of Season 19 and she’s looking for redemption. Veejay Floresca participated in the version of the show that aired in the Philipines. Another notable participant is Ethan Mundt, who competed on RuPaul’s Drag Race as his drag persona Utica.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Project Runway seasons 1-20 and all of its variants.

Our Take: Project Runway has been one of the more consistent reality competition shows of the past two decades; despite a number of network changes, host changes and judge changes, the format of each episode tends to stay the same. Season 21 brings Klum’s familiar “warm aloofness” that made the show’s first 16 seasons so watchable. We missed hearing “In fashion, either you’re in or you’re out” in her gentle German accent and her semi-empathetic, semi-dismissive “Auf Wiedersehen” when a contestant got eliminated, so we’re happy to see her back.

Siriano isn’t quite the avuncular presence Gunn was, but he can be more direct than Gunn was a lot of the time, as he is when he tells a contestant that his intern could sew the uncomplicated dress he was designing. Garcia is the same as she’s always been, and Law Roach has some strong opinions, which have the potential to make things on the runway interesting with this group of designers.

Among other changes on the margins include funny captions under contestants’ names that describe something we just saw them say or do, and an aversion to quick challenges, which we’re happy about.

But, as we mentioned, the show hasn’t changed all that much since it debuted in 2004, and every season comes down to the group of designers, how they interact with each other, and how good their designs are. Having some of the returning designers, plus Mundt, familiar to Drag Race fans, of course makes things more interesting, as does having the sibling rivalry between the Estrada brothers. One of the other designers, Madeline Malenfant, is one of the least flamboyant personalities we’ve ever seen on the show, and her designs are “inspired by historical fashion,” who also seems to appreciate pants more than most designers, so it’ll be interesting to see how she gets her designs to stand out among the more outrageous designs we’ll see week-to-week.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: After the judges talk about the winning house — and the three best designs — and the losing house — including the three worst designs — all the designers are on pins and needles waiting to see who’s eliminated (more on this in a second).

Sleeper Star: Some of the other standout designers in the first episode, more for their personalities than anything else: Joseph McRae, who insists on being called “JosephMcRae” in all one word; Yuchen Han, whose villain dress is practical as well as visually interesting; and Joan Madison, who is the oldest contestant and has been a successful designer for years.

Most Pilot-y Line: We hate the trend of ending an episode before the elimination, and in a show like Runway, which has a rhythm that its fans are very used to, it’s even more irritating.

Our Call: STREAM IT. With Klum back in the fold, Siriano giving good advice, and a lively group of designers, Season 21 of Project Runway is shaping up to be one of the best seasons in a number of years.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.