A New York Supreme Court Justice has halted intentions of Weinstein Co. production Project Runway from moving to the Lifetime Channel.  In a breach of contract lawsuit filed by NBC Universal, the parent company of Bravo, against the Weinstein Co. a preliminary injunction was ordered against a $150 million deal with Lifetime to move the wildly popular reality-competition series from NBC-run Bravo where it’s aired for five seasons.

NBC Universal had aired the series on its Bravo channel. It sued Weinstein after the production company made a reported $150 million deal with Lifetime for the show.

The temporary injunction bars Weinstein from taking “Project Runway” or any spinoff to Lifetime and contended that evidence showed that Weinstein violated NBC’s “right of first refusal” for the show.

[From AP via Breitbart]

Lifetime was very disappointed by the ruling but vowed to “pursue all measures” to uphold the agreement made with Weinstein Co. to bring Emmy award nominee for Outstanding Reality or Reality Competition Host, Heidi Klum and fan favorite Tim Gunn to their network.  The sixth season of Project Runway was scheduled to premier in January on Lifetime with guest judge Lindsay Lohan.

In a statement, Lifetime said: “We are disappointed with the court’s decision to grant the preliminary injunction against the Weinstein Co. It’s unfortunate that the people hurt most by this ongoing dispute are the loyal fans of ‘Project Runway.’ In the meantime, Lifetime will pursue all measures to uphold its valid and binding agreement reached with the Weinstein Co. for Season 6 of ‘Project Runway.’”

Lowe also showed concern for the viewers of the popular series in his 43-page ruling, writing “what is of concern for this court is the time ‘Project Runway’ will be off of the air during the course of this litigation.

Implementing this injunction will leave the program in limbo while the matter proceeds to trial.”

But the judge also pointed out that in the history of the show there have been hiatuses between six months and 13 months. Pursuant to court rules, Lowe ordered NBC to post a $20 million bond, which is typical in cases when plaintiffs win temporary injunctions. Court rules indicate that the bond should be paid if it is later found that the injunction was improper.

[From the Hollywood Reporter]

NBC says the reason the Weinstein Co. went to Lifetime looking for a better deal was because NBC didn’t want to bundle the show with other Weinstein Co. productions.  Weinstein argued that there was no right of first refusal in their contract and that the deal was offered to NBC but Lifetime outbid them.

Weinstein Co. and Lifetime were also ordered not to promote, market or air Project Runway.

With a show that has never been on any sort of regular schedule between seasons, it looks like another year of waiting while this all gets hashed out in court.  This is disappointing for fans, but imagine the disappointment of the designers competing in season six who thought they’d had gotten their big break.  Production of the show will not be effected, but who knows when it will actually air.

And imagine how Heidi Klum must feel.  First the Emmy co-host disaster, now this?  It hasn’t been her week.
 
Here is Heidi Klum leaving ABC Studios after appearing on ‘Live with Regis and Kelly’ on July 15th. Photographer: Ray Filmano. Images thanks to WENN

How much of a celebrity-obsessive do you have to be to watch 9 hours of Creative Arts Emmys, Emmy pre-show and Primetime Emmys?  About as much as I am, I suppose.

The Creative Arts Emmy broadcast was Saturday night on E! and it was more entertaining than the main broadcast Sunday night.  Sarah Silverman was uncharacteristically adorable, and Neil Patrick Harris and Sarah Chalke were far superior hosts. 

With a total of four straight hours of pre-show on E!, then a three hour show, anyone addicted to celebrities, high fashion and ridiculously expensive accessories, can overdose on any awards night, but for some reason, the Emmys can actually give you a hangover before the show is even over.

“Who are you wearing?”, the most overused phrase on E!, is also the most important question of the night for those that tune in for the dresses, jewels, and shoes (and some of the suits).  The Hills’ Lauren Conrad was, not surprisingly, the first “celebrity” on the red carpet and set the fashion tone for a night: bare shoulders, floor length gowns, and strong colors (aside from Marcia Cross’ flesh colored tutu and Eva Longoria’s keep-the-baby-talk fueled flapper dress).

No one’s hair was bigger than Patrick Dempsey’s, but that’s usually how it is anywhere McDreamy is on the guest list.  Most of the Hollywood women wore their hair down, flowing and wavy, so Tina Fey looked very anti-Palin, but, she said she would be happy to have a drink with the Alaska Governor if she’s free in late November.

Ryan Seacrest gets a lot of grief for his too casual hosting of American Idol, and his questionable production partnerships (Denise Richards?  Paris Hilton?) but he’s in his element in the pre-show kind of atmosphere and does a pretty seamless job.  Plus, he knows exactly what it is that he does.  When Kathy Griffin asked him if it bothered him that Josh Grobin got more tail than him, he told her ”He’s a singer. He’s got talent.  I do nothing but fill time.” 

Less impressive was his turn at an opening bit for the main broadcast.  Helping him, or helping him to hurt the rest of us, in hosting the main show were Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Jeff Probst, and Tom Bergeron, all co-hosting and all the first time ever nominees for Best Host of a Reality or Reality-Competition Program.  The show was sometimes painful and at one point Josh Grobin ruined every TV theme song with a vocal montage that anyone ever loved… ever.  Except South Park, he nailed that one.

But then there was Don Rickles!  Don Rickles stole the show!  The guy is abrasive, but he punched some laughs into a dying show, and left Kathy Griffin speechless.  Anyone who can do that deserves an award!  And he was aptly rewarded a few minutes later with his first Emmy for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program for Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project

My personal picks this year went mostly unrealized, with the happy exceptions of the seven 30 Rock and one each Colbert Report and Daily Show wins.   HBO production John Adams won the year with thirteen statuettes and Mad Men came in one behind 30 Rock with six wins. 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
JEREMY PIVEN as Ari Gold Entourage HBO

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
JEAN SMART as Regina Newly Samantha Who? ABC

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
ŽELJKO IVANEK as Ray Fiske Damages FX NETWORKS

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
DIANNE WIEST as Dr. Gina Toll In Treatment HBO

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY PROGRAM
The Colbert Report COMEDY CENTRAL

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE
LAURA LINNEY as Abigail Adams John Adams HBO

OUTSTANDING VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SERIES
THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART COMEDY CENTRAL

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES
TINA FEY 30 Rock Cooter NBC

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE
TOM WILKINSON as Benjamin Franklin John Adams HBO

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE
DAME EILEEN ATKINS as Miss Deborah Jenkyns Cranford (Masterpiece) PBS

OUTSTANDING REALITY-COMPETITION PROGRAM
THE AMAZING RACE CBS

OUTSTANDING MINISERIES
JOHN ADAMS HBO

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE
PAUL GIAMATTI as John Adams John Adams HBO

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
ALEC BALDWIN as Jack Donaghy 30 Rock NBC

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
GLENN CLOSE as Patty Hewes Damages FX NETWORKS

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
BRYAN CRANSTON as Walt White Breaking Bad AMC

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
TINA FEY as Liz Lemon 30 Rock NBC

OUTSTANDING HOST FOR A REALITY OR REALITY-COMPETITION PROGRAM
JEFF PROBST Survivor CBS

OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES
30 ROCK NBC

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
MAD MEN AMC

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences 60^th Primetime Emmy® Awards Winners Press Release

Picture note by Celebitchy: Here are some photos from red carpet at the Emmys. Shown in order are: Heidi Klum, Eva Longoria, Lauren Conrad, America Ferrerra, Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher, Mary Louise Parker, Nicollette Sheridan, Mariska Hargitay, Brooke Shields, Tina Fey, Christina Applegate, Cynthia Nixon, Evangeline Lilly, Felicity Huffman, Patrick Dempsey, Debra Messing, Holly Hunter, Jenna Fischer, Kathy Griffin, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Lara Dern, and Glenn Close.

Just as it was confirmed that Jennifer Lopez was slated to appear as a guest judge on the season finale of Bravo’s hit series “Project Runway,” the diva has backed out of the appearance, citing a foot injury.

Due to a foot injury, Jennifer Lopez stepped down from guest-judging the season five finale of Project Runway. The show — filmed Friday morning in New York’s Bryant Park — had to go on with the contestants’ fashion mentor, Tim Gunn, who took her spot. “I am really thrilled about judging,” Tim tells In Touch. But as for what happened to J. Lo, Tim says, “All I know is that I was called at the last minute this morning. No one was more surprised than I! I thought, ‘Okay, let’s make it work.’ “

[From In Touch Weekly]

Hmm. Foot injury, eh? I’ve seen photos this week of Lopez traipsing all over New York in killer stilettos with no problem for Fashion Week. However, Lopez is training for a marathon, so perhaps she pulled something while working out. Or did she?

At the opening of the Project Runway finalists’ show in Bryant Park during Fashion Week in NYC Friday morning, Heidi Klum announced that the much buzzed about appearance by Jennifer Lopez as a guest judge on the season finale will not be happening.

“Jennifer Lopez was going to be our guest judge, [but she] cancelled yesterday due to a foot injury,” Heidi told the audience.

Despite Heidi’s comments, Gunnar Petersen, Jennifer’s trainer, denies any mishap, telling OK! “No injuries, all good.”

[From OK! Magazine]

Whatever. I am glad Lopez won’t be polluting my favorite reality show. She’s irrelevant and her fashion sense sucks. Maybe she didn’t want to play sloppy seconds to Victoria Beckham, who appeared as a guest judge on the finale last year. Regardless, Tim Gunn will be a great judge. And really - this show doesn’t need the special guest stars. It’s good enough on its own. This year’s designers are a very diverse crew- from the flamboyant Suede, who refers to himself in the third person, to 50’s pinup stylista Kenley, who has more confidence than actual talent. My personal favorite is Leanne, who is quietly becoming the best designer of the bunch. Each week she turns out amazing clothes, without all the drama and ego trips. She’s the anti-J.Lo.

Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum are shown below at Fashion Week at the “Project Runway Season Five Finalists Fashion Show Finale” on 9/12/08. Jennifer Lopez is shown at the Oscar de la Renta Show on
9/10/08. Credit: Janet Mayer/PRPhotos.

Heidi Klum, Tim Gunn and Michael Kors are my vice every Wednesday. Project Runway is the jewel of Bravo and launched several catchphrases thanks to Tim urging contestants to “make it work,” while last season’s winner Christian Siriano killed us with his overuse of the phrase “hot tranny mess” and the word “fierce.”

Now that the beloved fashion reality show has found a new home with Lifetime, rumors of a sabotage have begun to rumble. The premiere episode of the last season on Bravo was, to put it nicely, dreadful. The challenge was a throwback from the first season. Contestants had to create an outfit from raw materials found from a grocery store. The group of halfwit style aficionados all chose a table cloth instead of fashioning a jumpsuit from ramen noodles and floss. Where is the wow factor and challenge, not to mention actual talented designers?

The typical media frenzy shilling the show is also missing. Of course, a budget for a show that has served it’s purpose has dwindled. It is being said that Bravo is trying to “kill” the show before it is yanked away to swim in the seas of “television for women” flanked by Golden Girls reruns.

Theories have been put forth that Bravo doesn’t really want to spend money on a show that it’s losing, but I don’t buy it. Look at all the promoting they did for their silly A List Awards. That was only for one night, and you’d have thought the pope was coming to town there was so much fanfare. There are still advertising and branding dollars to be made here, and Bravo has to know that.

[Gawker]

Along with the sabotage rumors come spoilers. Leaks to Wikipedia early today revealed the next 4 eliminations. The chart containing the contestants who have been eliminated popped onto the site. Since the news of the spoilers on Wikipedia started to spread the chart been removed, but you can still see it on Gawker (spoilers). So is it real or is the work of some hoax-driven maniac out to take the mystery out of Project Runway?

——————spoilers——————
Here is your guest judge spoiler alert! I hear they have employed Apolo Anton Ohno to fill the judgment seat just in time for the Olympics. Brooke Shields will follow with a jungle themed episode and RuPaul finally scores a spot. I am not sure why LL Cool J is deemed worthy to participate, but I am hoping there is some shirtless-ness involved. Finally, Diane von Furstenberg, Francisco Costa and Cynthia Rowley rescue Michael Kors from the celebrity hell.

I am pretty sure that with Natalie Portman guest hosting the next episode and Rachel Zoe clawing her way on we should put the show on suicide watch.

Heidi Klum is shown “leaving ABC Studios after appearing on ‘Live with Regis and Kelly’” on 7/15/08. Credit: Ray Filmano / WENN

Tom Cruise, a wan-faced Katie Holmes, and their daughter, Suri, and son, Connor, out in Telluride on the Fourth of July. They later picked up the Beckhams from a private jet at the airport.

Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey switch bathing suits for a stroll swarmed by paparazzi on the beach in Malibu on the Fourth of July. Their friend Cheryl Burke of Dancing with the Stars was a guest at their beachside home.

Heidi Klum out with her children getting ice cream in the West Village on Saturday. She has daughter Leni, 4, and sons Henry, who turns 3 in September, and Johan, 19 months. That could be her father, Günter, and it looks like she also three nannies and/or babysitters with her.

Ryan Gosling looking fit in LA on 7/5/08. (Splash News claims to have an exclusive of Gosling out holding hands with a “mystery woman” in NY on Friday. In case you see those photos elsewhere, I’m pretty sure that’s not him.)

Note by Celebitchy: Please welcome occasional guest writer, fashion and hair expert Micah McCain. He’s a Hollywood fashion stylist and pop culture expert. He’s worked on stars such as Lauren Conrad and has appeared as a panelist on the Chelsea Handler Show. Micah’s commentary on the fashion and style of the celebrities at the “Trump International Hotel and Tower Dubai at The Park Avenue Plaza” on 6/23/08 is below.

Heidi Klum:
I think if you’re married to Seal, than you shouldn’t be wearing it!
If only 2007 Christie Brinkley looked as much like 1984 Christie Brinkley as 2008 Heidi Klum does! KFC has bigger breasts than she does in that top!

Demi Moore:
“A” Your bag should match your shoes, not your hair. “B” Those shoes go with that dress as much as Dick Cheney goes with target shooting. “C” I get that the hair is supposed to be a throw back to Veronica Lake, but frankly she should just throw it back. And “D” That dress looks like a failed attempt at hanging herself using her satin sheets.

Melania Trump:
Judging by that look on her face, she should change her name to Melania STUMPED!
She’s a blonde dye job away from being cast as the live action Smurfette.
Is it me, or does her eye shadow have as many colors going on as his hair does?

Naomi Watts:
Okay let’s REALLY break this down: Why would someone dress like a flapper waitress who’s into foot bondage and then not take a single minute to do anything with her hair, or let alone complete the ensemble by putting on a sequin headband with a feather in it? WATT was she thinking? I’ll tell you what she was thinking, she was thinking “Maybe if don’t do anything with my hair then they’ll focus on how I look like Nicole Kidman without any make-up on, instead of focusing on the fact that I look like the runner up in the ‘Little Miss England Pageant’ after the talent competition!” SHE’S WEARING A SEQUIN DICKEY! I guess she figured if they weren’t gonna roll out the red carpet, then she wasn’t going to dress for it.

You can visit Micah’s website at MicahMcCain.com.

Heidi Klum, 34, and Seal, 45, return to Costa Careyes, Mexico every year to renew their vows at the same resort where they married in 2005. On May 10th they held an Indian-themed renewal ceremony and party attended by 50 guests. Heidi wore a red wedding sari for the day, according to this week’s edition of In Touch.

Last year the romantic couple held their commitment ceremony on May 13. Heidi and Seal’s first wedding on Costa Careyes was attended by just Heidi, Seal and her daughter Leni. They have since expanded their family to include boys Henry, two years and eight months, and Johan, 18 months.

Heidi revealed about two weeks ago that Seal proposed to her in a custom-made igloo he had built and outfitted in the Canadian Rockies in December, 2004. He arranged for both of them to be flown by helicopter up to the secluded igloo, which featured a bed, candles, and rose petals strewn around.

Can you imagine getting married every year? It seems like it might dilute the experience a little if you’re renewing your vows every year instead of every few years or at specific milestones in the relationship. At least it’s something incredible to look forward to. These two set the romantic bar incredibly high. If you had all that money at your disposal would you get married to your spouse every year? I think I might just go on vacation with my husband as much as possible. The honeymoon is the best part.

Photos are of Heidi and Seal at the Academy Awards on 2/24/08, thanks to WENN.

I think about 90% of the women in the world wish their partner was more romantic. I tried to see if Cosmo magazine had a poll on this but I couldn’t find one. After reading this story, I suspect that closer to 100% will want their men to emulate Seal, and his big gesture to Heidi Klum.

“[Seal] took me by helicopter,” the Project Runway host, 34, tells Marie Claire’s June issue about their December 2004 vacation to the Canadian Rockies. “He had an igloo built there, and they’d brought up everything: a bed with sheets inside the igloo, rose petals everywhere, candles. Very, very romantic!”

As she goes on to describe, “There was food and champagne, and then the helicopter left. It was a little scary, too, because you’re so cut off from the world. No trees, nothing – it was hardcore. But I was ecstatic.”

People

That has to be a hard romantic gesture to top, and one of the best marriage proposals I’ve ever heard. Definitely better than TomKat’s cliché Eiffel Tower publicity stunt. Most of all, I’m impressed that Heidi managed to keep that story to herself for so long, as she and Seal were engaged in December 2004.

Seal and Heidi Klum are shown at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on 11/15/07, thanks to PRPhotos.

Heidi Klum’s birthday present to Victoria Beckham was either meant for her three boys and husband, or was a not-so-subtle encouragement for Posh to gain some much-needed weight. Since it’s Klum we’re talking about, I would bet that she meant it as more of a family gift. After she handled the minor controversy with Iman so well, I don’t consider her capable of sending cupcakes to Posh to try and tempt the stick-thin paparazzi target into eating something.

Klum had a dozen cupcakes from celebrity favorite elite bakery Sprinkles sent to Posh for her 34th birthday with a note that said “Happy Birthday - expect a dozen every Friday! Love, Heidi.”

In Touch reported this news in their latest issue, and said that it will probably cost around $2,000 for the weekly cupcake delivery service.

The Sprinkles website is well designed and makes me want to stuff one of those overpriced delectables into my mouth. A gift box of just a dozen costs a whopping $46, so if Heidi sent a year’s worth it’s around $2,400 not including delivery costs.

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are also cupcake aficionados, and Tom told Oprah that Katie won his kids over by bringing cupcakes the first time he met her. Cupcakes were on the table in the kitchen when Oprah came over, with Tom calling their home “the sugar house.”

It’s not like “Kate” eats even one of those a day, and they’re more for the kids. In Touch reminds us that Victoria Beckham said “no” when Barbara Walters asked her if she would ever eat a cookie, as if we needed to hear from her that she doesn’t eat bakery items.

Cupcakes must be the new Hollywood decoration. They’re so colorful, fluffy and completely off limits. Kind of like those glass candies that grandmothers keep in a bowl. Although in this case the pain of eating them is purely psychological.

Victoria Beckham is shown with her two younger sons Romeo and Cruz Beckham going out for ice cream at The Grove with her mother in law Sandra Beckham, on 4/22/08, thanks to WENN.

Heidi Klum launched her line of Jordache Jeans at Bloomingdales in Beverly Hills yesterday. The 34 year-old model and mother of three answered a reporter’s question about comments from model Iman, who hosts Canada’s version of Project Runway. Iman said that she has much more experience with high fashion than Klum, who hosts Project Runway in the US.

Klum said that Iman was right and that she is more qualified to host a fashion design show:

“She [Iman] has done all the big big fashion shows that I’ve never done. She’s been doing it for a little while longer, and she has met all the big big designers in the world.”

The 5′ 9 1/2″ 130 pound Klum also added that she doesn’t have the slight build required for a high fashion model: “I never really fit in the clothes. I tried. But I never got to walk in Paris and do all the big big fashion shows.”

[Quotes transcribed from E! Online interview, available below]

So much for any feud between Heidi and Iman. Heidi Klum bugs me sometimes because her wide mouth seems to plaster nearly every drugstore and billboard in Germany where I live. She always comes across as funny and gracious in interviews, though and she certainly handled this issue well.

For her part Iman seemed like she was answering a specific question about the differences between herself and the US host, Heidi, and she was honest and not too snotty about it. She said “Definitely Heidi and I come from two different places. I’m not belittling Heidi Klum, but I have been in fashion much more than she has. Not to toot my own horn, but I have been one of the best runway girls.”

Most of you agreed in the comments that Iman was just being upfront about her experience, and Heidi thinks so too.