Entertainment

CAN ‘RUNWAY’ MAKE IT WORK?

THE next season of “Project Runway” may never make it to TV, but producers plan to film the big, New York Fashion Week finale anyway.

Taping of the new season – which will be set for the first time outside New York, in LA – was completed last fall.

The show itself remains in legal limbo, tied up in a knot of bitter lawsuits between NBC-owned Bravo, its producers at The Weinstein Company and Lifetime, which bought the rights to the show last year when its deal with Bravo expired.

Meanwhile, the show has booked three hours in the main tent in Bryant Park on the last day of Fashion Week, Feb. 20, to film the season’s traditional finale episode.

Previously, “Runway” finales featured three finalists. But because the show is held during Fashion Week, in front of scores of fashion reporters and photographers, a handful of the season’s former contestants also show their designs as decoys – to insure the identity of the eventual winner can be preserved until it airs.

But unlike the past when contestants introduced their own lines at the show, the 2009 edition is expected to keep the creators of each fashion piece on the runway a secret, to preserve some surprise when – and if – the show airs, according to sources.

The guest list for the show – one of the most sought-after tickets at Fashion Week – is not expected to be finalized until early next month.

Tim Gunn, the show’s natty judge, reportedly taped the show’s popular segment where he travels to the homes of the finalists.

“It’s an incredible season,” Gunn told New York magazine. “It really is, and I just want people to see it. And I want the designers on the show to get the exposure.”

Lifetime’s deal for “Runway” began to unravel last April when NBC/Bravo sued The Weinstein Company claiming they had not been offered a contractually mandated chance to match Lifetime’s offer to buy the show.

Since then, the pending case included a copyright infringement claim by Lifetime against NBC/Bravo and an injunction that prevents Lifetime from marketing, selling advertising or airing the show.

The case has also shifted from state court to federal court and back to state court.

No trial date has been set.