Linda Moss

Harvey’s ‘Back At You’ To Bravo

You’ve got to hand it to Lifetime and Project Runway producer Harvey Weinstein, for pure chutzpah, moxie, fearlessness, boldness, pluck, cojones—whatever term you want to use.

Rather than lying low because of the pending legal brouhaha over Project Runway moving from Bravo to the women’s network, Weinstein was front and center at Lifetime’s upfront presentation Monday in Manhattan.

Always a larger-than-life character, Weinstein went on at length, defending the show’s switch, arguing that Lifetime will be a better fit and will widen and increase the signature hit’s audience.

And Lifetime officials, CEO Andrea Wong and head of entertainment Susanne Daniels, lavished praise on Project Runway, about how important a role it will play for Lifetime.

All this while Weinstein’s company is being sued by Bravo and its parent NBC Universal, who claim they had right of first refusal on the show where model Heidi Klum cracks the whip.

I covered courts for seven years for a north Jersey newspaper, so I’ve read hundreds of lawsuits. And I read the papers that NBCU and Bravo filed against The Weinstein Co., and for the life of me, I don’t know which side is right or wrong.   

Weinstein obviously believes he will win, and the fuss will blow over. He even said that he thinks he’ll be able to revive his friendship with NBCU president Jeff Zucker. Weinstein joked that’s he’ll probably have to do “servitude” for Zucker, by cleaning his house, babysitting, etc.

It what appeared to be pure happenstance, Bravo’s upfront was today, just a day after Lifetime’s. Right off the bat, Bravo Media president Lauren Zalaznick warned reporters that she couldn’t comment on the lawsuit. But she had obviously read Weinstein’s remarks, because she made a quip that he couldn’t be there because he was dropping off Zucker’s kids at school.

Even though they are in conflict, Bravo and Weinstein are still in business together, which must make for a somewhat strained working relationship, I would imagine. Bravo is in pre-production on the fifth season of Project Runway, which it will air in July. Lifetime doesn’t get the show until its sixth season, which it will air start airing in November.

It was almost jarring to see clips of Project Runway in Bravo’s upfront video, given what has gone down during the past week. But there they were.

At Lifetime’s gig, Project Runway’s Tim Gunn appeared along with Weinstein, and made some brief remarks. I’d be remiss if I didn’t note that Gunn is one of the most gracious people I’ve ever met. I heard him apologize to the waiter at the tony Le Bernardin restaurant for not eating the huge hunk of beef that was served for lunch.

No such apologies were necessary from me: I basically inhaled the beef, which was delicious, by the way.

Posted by Linda Moss on April 15, 2008 | Comments (1)