In what I am going to assume is not an April Fool’s joke, NBC Universal just issued a statement announcing a settlement to its lawsuit with The Weinstein Company and Lifetime channel over Project Runway‘s move from Bravo:
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.”
As for me, I look forward to having Runway back—and, frankly, am glad to have had a little break from it. Now what channel is Lifetime on again?
Update: And for equal time, here’s the statement from Lifetime president Andrea Wong:
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.
Bonus points for plugging your other, unrelated series, Andrea Wong! (If NBCU sends out an amended statement mentioning Make Me a Supermodel, I will of course post it.)
As for Models of the Runway, it’s a little-promoted spinoff which will follow the models employed in the PR challenges—an idea I had frequently mentioned to Mrs. Tuned In, but had always assumed was the product of my watching Project Runway while drinking. Apparently, I’m just three beers away from being a reality-TV programming genius!