Tonight, Bravo gets sparks from that friction. "Project Jay," a special spun off from "Project Runway," follows one of these contest winners post-show, just at the point that the contest's host - in this case, the rosy German model Heidi Klum - is dropping him like a wet rag.
Round, wisecracking, talented, grandiose, Jay McCarroll won "Project Runway," the fashion-designer contest, in its first season. Jay designed layered streetwear that seemed high-spirited and well conceived, even as he fretted, bad-mouthed the competition and acted as if he did everything at the last minute. The judges and Ms. Klum all hailed Jay as the next big thing; the "Project Runway" season ended with Jay's excitement and plans to create a complete collection.
On tonight's program, we open on Jay as he cynically rehashes his triumph and reluctantly prepares to leave his hometown, Lehman, Pa. Jay, who dresses himself in head scarves and ponchos and homeless-looking getups that recall ZZ Top, styles himself as a hick, and his town is inarguably rural. His father, though on dialysis, chews tobacco; the outside of the family's truck is stained with juice and chaw. He thinks Jay's a sissy. Jay's sister is equally tough. She sees him off unsentimentally as he leaves for New York: "See ya, I wouldn't want to be ya."
After Lehman, New York City seems like a world of hugs and big love. A friend offers Jay a place to stay in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and he gets no end of useful, if canned, encouragement from Ross, his licensing agent, and Nancy, his publicist. Who needs family if you have a licensing agent?
The drama kicks off at Lucky Strike, the restaurant on Grand Street, where Nancy tells Jay that Ms. Klum wants him to design a dress for her to wear on the red carpet for the Emmys. Jay is restrained; he wonders if he's up to this kind of formalwear. He's further daunted after a conversation with Ms. Klum, who wants to wear red, which Jay thinks is a mistake. Ms. Klum tells him to do what he wants: "I want it to be obvious that I'm wearing you." Jay falls in line, buys fabric and concocts a tabloid-ready red dress with much agony and indecision. Throughout the show, he talks about the dress and takes obvious pride in the commission. He's about to make his name and cement his stardom.
The pleasure of "Project Jay" is in Jay's caustic, self-savaging throwaway lines. He imagines that he'll get by in New York, "even if I have to sell my sperm, or hook." And further wonders if he'll bottom out and "break my lease and become a cutter."
"Physically, I hate myself," he says, and sings: "Who lives in a blobular vessel? I do, I do." He wonders how life would have been different if he had been handsome, and decides he would have been stupid and dead of AIDS.
Under the wire, the dress is nearly done. And then a call comes from a representative for Ms. Klum. In nauseating double-speak, Jay is informed that the model will not wear his dress because some Sanhedrin of style has spoken: "They all felt she should go in more of an earth mother direction," the factotum tells Jay. "They've all decided that she's going to go with a different dress."
Jay tries to shrug it off, then cries. Later Ms. Klum calls him, and is faintly apologetic. She had not been a good customer, she says, because she had just given birth, which meant - by some logic - that she had to go with a floral dress and not the red one she had asked for. Jay listens neutrally, then mentions his forthcoming fashion show. He wonders aloud whether she, who ushered this Pennsylvania boy into the big fashion world, will be there.
"I'll definitely try," she says, every word sounding hollow.
Hmm. And will Bravo, which has its chief stake in Heidi Klum's bigger show, allow this display of her callousness to appear on her program's spinoff, "Project Jay"? Apparently so, as it's here tonight.
Round, wisecracking, talented, grandiose, Jay McCarroll won "Project Runway," the fashion-designer contest, in its first season. Jay designed layered streetwear that seemed high-spirited and well conceived, even as he fretted, bad-mouthed the competition and acted as if he did everything at the last minute. The judges and Ms. Klum all hailed Jay as the next big thing; the "Project Runway" season ended with Jay's excitement and plans to create a complete collection.
On tonight's program, we open on Jay as he cynically rehashes his triumph and reluctantly prepares to leave his hometown, Lehman, Pa. Jay, who dresses himself in head scarves and ponchos and homeless-looking getups that recall ZZ Top, styles himself as a hick, and his town is inarguably rural. His father, though on dialysis, chews tobacco; the outside of the family's truck is stained with juice and chaw. He thinks Jay's a sissy. Jay's sister is equally tough. She sees him off unsentimentally as he leaves for New York: "See ya, I wouldn't want to be ya."
After Lehman, New York City seems like a world of hugs and big love. A friend offers Jay a place to stay in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and he gets no end of useful, if canned, encouragement from Ross, his licensing agent, and Nancy, his publicist. Who needs family if you have a licensing agent?
The drama kicks off at Lucky Strike, the restaurant on Grand Street, where Nancy tells Jay that Ms. Klum wants him to design a dress for her to wear on the red carpet for the Emmys. Jay is restrained; he wonders if he's up to this kind of formalwear. He's further daunted after a conversation with Ms. Klum, who wants to wear red, which Jay thinks is a mistake. Ms. Klum tells him to do what he wants: "I want it to be obvious that I'm wearing you." Jay falls in line, buys fabric and concocts a tabloid-ready red dress with much agony and indecision. Throughout the show, he talks about the dress and takes obvious pride in the commission. He's about to make his name and cement his stardom.
The pleasure of "Project Jay" is in Jay's caustic, self-savaging throwaway lines. He imagines that he'll get by in New York, "even if I have to sell my sperm, or hook." And further wonders if he'll bottom out and "break my lease and become a cutter."
"Physically, I hate myself," he says, and sings: "Who lives in a blobular vessel? I do, I do." He wonders how life would have been different if he had been handsome, and decides he would have been stupid and dead of AIDS.
Under the wire, the dress is nearly done. And then a call comes from a representative for Ms. Klum. In nauseating double-speak, Jay is informed that the model will not wear his dress because some Sanhedrin of style has spoken: "They all felt she should go in more of an earth mother direction," the factotum tells Jay. "They've all decided that she's going to go with a different dress."
Jay tries to shrug it off, then cries. Later Ms. Klum calls him, and is faintly apologetic. She had not been a good customer, she says, because she had just given birth, which meant - by some logic - that she had to go with a floral dress and not the red one she had asked for. Jay listens neutrally, then mentions his forthcoming fashion show. He wonders aloud whether she, who ushered this Pennsylvania boy into the big fashion world, will be there.
"I'll definitely try," she says, every word sounding hollow.
Hmm. And will Bravo, which has its chief stake in Heidi Klum's bigger show, allow this display of her callousness to appear on her program's spinoff, "Project Jay"? Apparently so, as it's here tonight.
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