PR: The Bravo Years vs. The Lifetime Edition

[glowlights]

It's also amazing how much I still want to bitch-slap Little Miss Kenley of the Whiniest Most Nasal voice EVER. She makes Janice on "Friends" sound musical.

 

 

Not just the nasally tone, the VOLUME. Her voice was always turned up to 11.

(also, the whole cockamamie story about being raised on a tugboat)

 

Still, give me that season over the current season any day of the fashion week.

[BathKol]

Not just the nasally tone, the VOLUME. Her voice was always turned up to 11.

(also, the whole cockamamie story about being raised on a tugboat)

Still, give me that season over the current season any day of the fashion week.

GAWD Kenley's voice makes me want to run over chickens with my car. It is kind of forced because she's a singer now, and damn she has a great singing voice! I really couldn't believe it was the same woman. She has a little corner website with some really retro dresses and stuff but I don't know if anyone buys it?

Is it even legal to live on a tugboat? It's one thing to have a sailboat or a yacht but a freaking TUGBOAT? Those things are no more than fishing boats without casting for nets and room for bait.

[glowlights]

She's a singer?!?!?! Ack. It's nice that she has a good singing voice, and therefore isn't torturing humanity with her speaking voice. Maybe she should have sung her way through PR. But so far as I'm concerned that cat abuser can still get back in her tugboat and stay there. I said STAY!

 

I think tug captains do live on board for several days at a time, but whether that is safe for kids? No idea.

[BathKol]

She's a singer?!?!?! Ack. It's nice that she has a good singing voice, and therefore isn't torturing humanity with her speaking voice. Maybe she should have sung her way through PR. But so far as I'm concerned that cat abuser can still get back in her tugboat and stay there. I said STAY!

I think tug captains do live on board for several days at a time, but whether that is safe for kids? No idea.

Hehe, her voice is great but the EP she released on iTunes has the most Godawful lyrics I've heard in some time. So it's a toss up. She can sang but obviously she can't write a song to save her life...

I'm sure the tugboat story is 88% exaggeration on her part. She probably hung out there with her father but I'm quite certain Child Protective Services would have confiscated her if she was found to be living on an acquatic vessel.

[Oholibamah]

I always took "grew up on a tugboat" to be a loose way of saying she spent a lot of time around one as a child. But I don't recall her exact wording, so in her crazy mind she may have legitimately lived on one, Heidi.

[NewDigs]

I believe the tugboat story. While there are very few single-boat companies they do still exist and those are usually family-type operations. I know more than one person raised on a tugboat and numerous others raised on boats and usually home-schooled.

Most tugboats are operational, and, except for harbor tugs, are fully staffed, with a liveaboard crew, 24/7/52. They are not necessarily unsuitable for children, though recent regulations and insurance considerations might make their presence more problematic.

Kenley really got on my nerves. The voice, the attitude, the everything.... I didn't like the tugboat back story because I thought she an unworthy representative.

I recently watched parts of Season 6 (the library had it) and what a difference from a Bravo show! It seems like Lifetime production values barely exist. And the time frames are all out of whack. They just don't give the participants enough time, whether it's for a single challenge or the Fashion Week finale. We do not get to see as thoughtful or finely-finished garments as before.

Edited November 28, 2014 by NewDigs

[BathKol]

I believe the tugboat story. While there are very few single-boat companies they do still exist and those are usually family-type operations. I know more than one person raised on a tugboat and numerous others raised on boats and usually home-schooled.

Most tugboats are operational, and, except for harbor tugs, are fully staffed, with a liveaboard crew, 24/7/52. They are not necessarily unsuitable for children, though recent regulations and insurance considerations might make their presence more problematic.

Kenley really got on my nerves. The voice, the attitude, the everything.... I didn't like the tugboat back story because I thought she an unworthy representative.

I recently watched parts of Season 6 (the library had it) and what a difference from a Bravo show! It seems like Lifetime production values barely exist. And the time frames are all out of whack. They just don't give the participants enough time, whether it's for a single challenge or the Fashion Week finale. We do not get to see as thoughtful or finely-finished garments as before.

That's interesting! I've always had a thing for anything nautical, and figured there was somebody who had to have lived on a tuggie, even if it's not the most 'ideal' situation. But hey, who I am to talk? My family is a bunch of dysfunctional French créoles from Louisiana so we're pretty wacky and earthbound to boot.

Lucky...! A group of individuals representing a small Internet gang had infiltrated YouTube and uploaded all the seasons with various different accounts. I did a month long binge but they're gone now. Sniff. I'll just buy the CDs from Amazon or go talk to some nerd behind 7/11, see if I can get a discount. We are finally getting rain here in California so I'm totally binging on all my old comforts - where is Japanese food when you need it?

[Sesquipedalia]

It has been interesting reading this thread since I've been watching the show out of order. I started last year with whatever was on hulu. I think it was four or five seasons beginning with Season 6. Then I started watching the most recent episodes. And then last week I went back to Season 1. What struck me most is how zany Season 1 was. The contestants were interviewed in a weird dark room with rollers in their hair. They sent models down the runway in crazy hair and makeup, even in rollers! A male contestant wore women's style makeup every day and even walked the runway at one point. The contestants went out and got drunk! Once they were even drinking beer in the workroom. Heidi looked and spoke like a crazy German robot.

 

This is the biggest difference I noticed. Along with becoming a shill for low-end and non-fashion-related corporate sponsors, the show has definitely lost a lot of its quirkiness. The strict time limits also probably have a lot to do with this. 

 

On the other hand, I'm not so sure about the idea that the caliber of designers has decreased significantly or that the lack of two-day challenges makes a big difference. I just watched the final four episode of Season 2, and those dresses, made over two days, were so boring (except for Santino's, which was totally cray cray).

Edited September 22, 2015 by Sesquipedalia

[PepperMonkey]

IMHO, the issue is NOT so much that the caliber of talent is less than it was in previous seasons, although I firmly believe that is the case regarding some singular designers: Jay, Daniel V (up until his finale collection), Austin, Kara Saun (up until her finale collection LOL), even wacky Santino, Laura, Uli, Michael (or however he spells it now), even Jeffrey (his Paris couture dress is still one of my favourites), CHRISTIAN, Chris March, Rami, Korto, LeeAnne, and few others from seasons one through five that I probably should have mentioned....

 

But back then, there was incidental drama in and around the talent. Since the move to Lifetime, which, let's face it, counts Dance Moms as one of their top shows, the fashion is secondary to the DRAMA. I blame the producers of the show as much as Lifetime itself. They could have stood their ground and said, no, we want fashion, and if drama pops, okay, but this is a show about FASHION, not petty acting designers and their prejudices. Or they could have shopped around for another network. I don't really think it's because they left BRAVO, who has a real housewives franchise for every city except Frankfort, Kentucky. I still believe the Magical Elves are the reason the show was so good while it was on Bravo. Also, I mean, come on: Jay, Jeffrey, Christian, LeeAnne: those final collections were kind of to die for, although I'd have preferred Uli to win over Jeffrey, but his stuff didn't suck.

 

Only one of the final collection shows has taken my breath away since the move to Lifetime: Seth Aaron's. I love love LOVE Dmitry, so was happy for his win, but his collection was not among my favourites ever. Honestly, I loved Elena's that season, but alas, hers was just a decoy.

Edited September 21, 2015 by PepperMonkey

[Calamity Jane]

I always took "grew up on a tugboat" to be a loose way of saying she spent a lot of time around one as a child. But I don't recall her exact wording, so in her crazy mind she may have legitimately lived on one, Heidi.

I used to say I grew up on airplanes because my dad worked for TWA and we flew a LOT.  Didn't mean I literally lived in airplanes.