Soooooo . . . what do we think about the forthcoming CW/Tyra Banks production Stylista? I just watched a clip for it and am on the fence. I mean obviously I will be watching it faithfully when it starts airing this fall, if only to bitch about its melodramatic treatment of the hollow, vapid world that is fashion, specifically the Elle Magazine fashion department. But in watching the three-minute trailer, I can't help but have some Major Metropolitan Misgivings. First and foremost, could they bite The Devil Wears Prada premise any more? We all know that TDWP was art imitating life (if the Lauren Weisberger tell-all-turned-movie can be considered "art" in any way, shape or form). And in imitating life, there was ample, broad-stroke hyperbole. But now we're coming full-circle. All the dramatic embellishments that made TDWP enjoyable -- faggy, bitchy fashion people reveling in their shallowness, holier than thou editrixes (sic?) putting peons through the paces with demeaning tasks that had nothing to do with their actual jobs -- are being co-opted for this "reality" show, and it rings incredibly false. It's a Hills-ification of reality -- actual people playing pre-assigned roles. I'm aware this is nothing new -- hello, The Real World -- but never has it been so unapologetically fake.

I can't explain why this irks me so much. It's such a blatant parody of the archetypal magazine internship experience that I should just accept it as such and move on. And yet ... I just want to smack everyone involved -- Tyra, Elle fashion director Anne Slowey, the eleven contestants who will stop at nothing to be Slowey's bitch, supermodel Maggie Rizer for deigning to appear as a guest on such a trainwreck of a show. Perhaps I have rage issues that need addressing.

Tags: Anne Slowey, Elle Magazine, Maggie Rizer, Stylista, The CW, The Devil Wears Prada, Tyra Banks

These three shows are going to head up the CW's fall roster: 90210, Gossip Girl, and Privileged (which used to be called Surviving the Filthy Rich), a show about some privileged people starring Anne Archer. Can anyone tell me the difference between these shows and why we need three separate shows about mean rich people on one network? Throw in a reality show about mean rich people (Stylista) and you've got a network on a serious appeal-to-people-who-just-can't-get-enough-of-mean-rich-people mission! Also, they cancelled Friday Night Smackdown (too many mean poor people on it?), which broke my heart into a million little pieces. Yes, I'm bitter.

Tags: 90210, anne archer, cw, friday night smackdown, gossip girl, privileged, stylista

Ugh! Stupid TV producers cashing in on The Devil Wears Prada all over the damned place. Why now for the love of Gucci? Hot on the heels -- see what I did there? -- of a spate of fashion mag-related reality shows (see Stylista and Vogue's web series Model.Live) comes news that the Style Network will host a new show called .... wait for it ... Running In Heels, which will provide a fascinating in-depth look at what goes on behind closed doors in the esteemed offices of ... wait for it... Marie Claire. I mean, don't get me wrong, I've flipped through Marie Claire a coupla times and it's totally a fine magazine. But I sort of file it in the same category as Redbook, i.e. lady mags for the over-forty soccer mom set. You know what I mean -- like, it's something I'll pick up in the airport if I've already read Vogue and Elle and Allure and all the gossip rags and I'm desperate for something amusing and girly and mind-numbingly vapid.

Tags: Kelly Cutrone, Miranda Priestley, Running in Heels, Style Network, Stylista, The Devil Wears Prada, The Hills

Kathy Griffin did it. Sarah Silverman did it. Now raunch-tastical comedienne Margaret Cho is throwing her hat into the TV ring with The Cho Show, a reality show airing on VH1 that sounds, based on the description, like a mix between My Life on the D List and Celebrity Circus: "This VH1 series will follow the irrepressible Margaret Cho and her eccentric entourage as she fights to be herself in an industry that in the past wanted her to be something other than herself. The series will touch upon all aspects of Margaret's 'anything goes' lifestyle, from the strained and awkward moments provided by her somewhat traditional Korean parents to the more irreverent and outrageous moments shared with her colorful cast of friends and colleagues."

Tags: Breaking Bonaduce, Celebracadabra, Glam God With Vivica A. Fox, Kathy Griffin, My LIfe on the D LIst, Sarah Silverman, Stylista, The Cho Show, VH1