'Project Runway': Tim Gunn, the Perfect Stocking Buffer

We're putting in our request now, hopeful that we'll jussst beat the seasonal rush:

Tim Gunn, we want you to come to our family holiday dinner.

Scratch that: We NEED you to attend our family holiday dinner.

What other TV personality this side of Oprah has the required mix of grace, charm, humanity, warmth, wit and decorum and that carefully calibrated splash of directness? In short, all the gifts required to shepherd a ragtag, round-the-hearth assemblage of bold personalities, endearing quirks and a wintry mix of ego and dysfunction.

Aunt Betty, set another place: With any luck, Tim Gunn is comin' to town.

This week's episode called upon the good Master Gunn to employ his manifold gifts. Most movingly, he showed proper concern for Jack, who, as we'd feared for a couple of weeks now, decided to drop out of the competition to seek treatment for a staph infection (not a matter to be taken lightly -- MRSA was in the news again this week after a Maryland schoolteacher died swiftly of complications from an antibiotic-resistant infection).

Jack's departure was genuinely poignant, and let's hope that despite his early exit, his obvious talent as a designer will take root somewhere.

As for Tim, he also showed real joy -- in announcing the return of booted contestant Chris March, brought back to replace Jack in the competition. As surprise "guests" go, Sarah Jessica Parker and Tiki Barber had nothing on the beloved Chris, whose return was greeted with warmth and hugs worthy of a Hallmark special. (Paging Roma Downey...)

Among the episode's other Great Moments in Gunn-dom:

1. Tim was wonderfully diplomatic in pronouncing Steven's design choice "courageous" -- an official Gunn code word for "You're waaay out on a limb here, but I respect your right to tread on such a thin branch." That branch all too predictably snapped. Steven's fear of working with the polyester satin and beads of a wedding dress was his downfall -- his "French maid going to a funeral" look got him Auf'd.

2. Tim drew hearty, we're-all-family-now laughs when telling Chris that he himself had made "more bad decisions at 3 o'clock [in the a.m.] than I could list."

3. Tim was endearingly self-effacing, calling himself "an old fart" because he didn't pick up on the double-entendre of what he'd told Chris.

4. The oft-impersonated Tim teasingly employed Christian-speak when he asked Christian whether his commercial design was "fierce."

Indeed, it was -- "in a big way" -- propelling Christian to victory for this challenge. The challenge called on the designers to use recently slenderized women's "favorite outfit as raw material" for a new design. We were convinced that Kevin would win for working his magic with a canary-yellow top, but we must admit: His design's less-than-challenging use of leggings gave the sliiight edge to the ever-fierce Christian (even if the fortysomething Sweet-P did tease the 21-year-old for seeming 12).

So now, especially with Chris back in the fold, we've got arguably the warmest bunch of contestants ever this late in the competition -- no Santino-esque swipes at fellow contestants, or anything even near that literally fierce.

Then again, amid the holiday season, perhaps we only have Tim's sackful of talents to thank. As "Tiny Tim" Gunn himself might say 'round the family Christmas dinner:

God bless us, contestants, every one!

-- MICHAEL CAVNA

Michael Cavna | December 13, 2007; 10:21 AM ET Project Runway
Previous: 'Amazing Race': Ready for Their YouTube Moment... | Next: The 'Top Model' Winner? Cover Girl

Stories By Category

Stories By Date

'Project Runway': Tim Gunn, the Perfect Stocking Buffer

Comments