Review: 'The Fashion Show' on Bravo

As a mad scientist remakes a dead lover from her remnants or a man marries a replica of his first wife, so Bravo -- the network "Project Runway" left for Lifetime -- has created a new series in the image of the departed old. “The Fashion Show” debuts tonight, in advance of the overdue “Runway” Season 6, the better to attract that show's waiting viewers.

Though the fair thing would be to judge it entirely on its own merits, that isn't really possible, given that "The Fashion Show" is as near a knock-off of "Runway" as Bravo could dare without paying the lawyers again.

They have essentially re-accessorized the earlier show while leaving its basic elements intact: Small challenge. Elimination challenge. Elimination. Repeat weekly until won. (Of course, this also describes a dozen other shows now running.) Its good points are nearly all repeated from "Runway," while its faults are rooted in an attempt to seem different. There are perhaps too many additional features and segments and judges here, getting in the way of the story. The show is, basically, overdressed.

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(Photo courtesy Bravo)