The Prestige TV Podcast - 'Making the Cut'

Episode Date: May 19, 2020

'Making the Cut' is Amazon's version of 'Project Runway' and features not only Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum, but also the valuable adds of Naomi Campbell and Nicole Richie. Hosts: Juliet Litman and Justin Verrier Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Toss green salads with delicious ranch dressing or zesty Italian. Serve smooth, crave-craveably creamy potato salads with mayo. We all know it's not a cookout without craft. Welcome to TV concierge. The Ringer's Guide to the vast streaming landscape. We're here to help you navigate it. There's so much to watch. Today, I'm joined by one of the co-hosts of the Ringer MBA show, Justin Barrier.

Hi, Justin. Hi, Juliet. How you doing? Great, thank you. we're here to discuss making the cut a reality show on Amazon. Justin, give me the pitch on making the cut. Yeah, this show is very near and dear to my heart. I would say the elevator pitch is reality TV has become kind of the sports of our socially distanced life. And the one thing that this show has than any other sport or reality TV show is Naomi Campbell, who might be the best reality TV judge I have ever seen. Like throughout the history of time, she is the best at this thing.

Wow. I actually was not expecting you to say that. We're going to dig into this. I'll just say making the cut is basically Project Runway 2.0. Amazon scooped up Tim and Heidi gave them a new fashion competition show. They made it international. They didn't make the designers sew. So they have like seamstresses to help them make their outfits.

And they are in New York, Paris, and Tokyo. and it's very similar to Project Runway. The main differentiator is that there are more recurring judges, Naomi Campbell being one of them. And there's also like these weird skits in each episode where Tim and Heidi like do something local. So like when they're in Paris, they go to the Moulin Rouge and MoMAR and perform.

It's really weird. I don't know why it's in the show, but it's kind of delightful, right? Yeah, I mean, I think that is the charm of the show. Not only is like Naomi like just a tour to force and we'll get into that. But I also find just like, spending time with Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum to be pretty good.

Also, I was really intrigued by just the Renaissance of Nicole Richie. Yes, Nicole Richie. I don't know if she's been around. I don't know if you knew this, but for me, this is the first interaction I've had with her since her TV show with Paris Hilton, which was probably like, what, two decades ago now? 15 years ago, yeah. All right, let's get into Nicole Richie. I'm so glad you brought that up.

Nicole Richie is one of the judges. She is there not as like daughter of Lionel Richie or, you know, a former person on The Simple Life, but she is there as the founding designer of her brand House of Harlow. I've, like, vaguely known about House of Harlow, but I've just never taken Nicole Richie seriously. And I now really regret it, because isn't she really good? I think she gives the best advice out of any of them. And as you see when she leaves the show eventually, I don't think this is a spoiler to say. They replaced her with another judge, and it goes completely off a cliff because that judge has very little to say.

Yeah. She's like much more opinionated and, like, also just more animated. For some reason, I always imagined her as being like very like laconic and just sort of in Parasilton's shadow. But like Nicole Ritchie is here. Apparently she's a Quibi show as well. So we're having a real Nicole Ritchie moment, which I'm really happy about. But so did you watch Project Runway? I didn't. So this is this whole experience is pretty new to me. Why did you watch this show? I think for a lot of it was just because I think it's the Girlfriend wanted you to? Yes, actually, to be honest.

Well, I mean, I think reality TV shows are really suited for this time. Just because not only because am I star for competition, just not having sports around in order to just kind of turn on, but I also think they're just so easy to watch too. Like, you really don't have to have much of a discussion. And I don't know if you're like me where like my brain probably isn't functioning as, is like on full cylinders as it used to. And so there's something about just like the ease of.

of everything to do with reality TV shows that all just like instantly kind of slide into. Yeah, it's like very low barrier to entry. And this one in particular, the hosts and the judges really, they carry it. I think on Project One Way, the contestants had to do a lot more

of the heavy lifting, but this one leans a lot more on the established talent. So let's get into Naomi Campbell. What's your Naomi Campbell exposure like before this show? Minimal outside of just, I mean, you know who she is based on her celebrity from years gone by.

Yeah. Yeah, you see her on some like, throwback Instagrams these days. But other than that, not much. So I haven't probably been privy to what she's been up to over the past two decades or so. But she hasn't lost the one thing that made her Naomi Campbell to me to begin with, which is just some of the most cutting comments I think you could find out there. And I think this archetype is pretty well-trodden at this point among reality TV show judges. But there's something about her given her celebrity. And I think the way that she carries that celebrity,

where it's like she definitely calls Robert De Niro like Bobby. It's like that sort of like swagger and it just makes everything that she says just like a million times better. I think that's a great point. Also when Naomi Campbell is giving you critiques on the clothes, it's like because she would actually be wearing it. It's different than when Simon Cowell's like bad song or you sound bad or whatever he might say. I actually never really got into American Idol. But like when he's giving you critiques, it's not as cutting as Naomi Campbell because she's like lasted for so long. And I think your point, like, that keeps coming up with both her and Nicole Richie is like, both these people we haven't thought about in a long time, at least you and I haven't.

But her and now Heidi and Tan as well, they have like been around a long time. Like they've already stood the test of time. So their advice and their suggestions, like actually mean a lot. And so when Naomi Campbell is like just tearing you to pieces and being like, nah, I hate this, it really hurts. Yeah, there's something about like the cast that they assembled where you, I mean, you have pre-existing relationships with a lot of them to the point where, like, I didn't watch Project Runway, but I know who Tim Gunn is, even though I probably couldn't even before this,

have told you how I know him. I know that name and I know that face just because he is just like part of the fabric of popular culture. Yeah, he really, he hit the jackpot. There's just certain people who like are at 2005, like 2008 and TV who came around at the right time, became an archetype, and they're here to stay. He is absolutely one of them. How do you feel about Heidi? Because I think she's kind of upstaged by Naomi Campbell and also Tim Gunn, but she was like such a driving force on Project Runway, but you wouldn't even know. I know.

No, she kind of falls into the background. I think you're right. She kind of facilitates some of these other people. She does a good job of plugging Amazon perhaps like every 10 minutes. There's almost like a quota to how much they really needed to push Amazon fashion in particular. To the point, I don't know if this is spoiling to say, but like there is one point where they go, so they transition from, I think, Paris to Japan.

Yeah, they go to Tokyo. And then they bring in, for one of these competitions, this, like, cartoon judge or person in the audience. Like, I know that product placement for this is, for all reality TV shows is pretty prominent. I know, like, in Top Chef, they mentioned San Pelagrino every two seconds. But this is on another level. And to the point where I think that's part of the charm almost, where, like, that becomes a running gag, at least for me when I was watching it. Yeah, yeah, totally. I think that is true.

Also, with this show, you can buy the clothes on Amazon instantly. After the episodes go live, you just go to Amazon and they're available for purchase. It's pretty genius. I remember on Project runway this one time with like H&M where they made some of the like the winning look available. And it was like a revelation. I went out and bought it. But it's pretty smart for Amazon to like leverage their platform. And it's just, I mean, it's like it's almost like the 30 rock joke of like, you know,

you're watching something on TV. And then you, it's like also available for purchase. It reminds me like, you know, when they were like grappling with being owned by GE or whatever, with like a commentary on NBC. But it is like, it is kind of wild that these looks are just immediately available. A couple times I tried to buy them. They actually were not immediately available. They were sold out. Some people were buying them. Also, way cheaper than I was expecting. They're like mass market produced. So they were serious about it. Like the point of the show is the winner has to create a collection that is both liked by the judges and also has potential to be

like a big brand internationally, essentially. Yeah. I don't think I have like a huge, interest in passion. I don't know. That's, you know, you could tell based on my comments here. But I just found the structure of it is so plug and play. They basically follow the same thing that a lot of reality TV shows follow. But they have like just the right amount of characters in it, one. And two, I think I'm at the point now where if it's like reasonably entertaining, I will watch people compete and do it. Like if they were churning butter, like I probably would get into it just because of the competition element. I don't know. I think it has, it checks all the boxes of what I'm looking for in quarantine like content. Interesting. And yeah, so it has like 10 or 12

contestants. They get whittled down. There's also a twist to this that is not a part of project runway, which is that the person who's like going to be voted off gets the opportunity to like save themselves by giving like a spiel about like why they made the mistakes they made and the judges can change their mind. And Heidi goes, Naomi, have you changed your mind? Nicole, have you changed your mind? And then sometimes they do change. mind. It's kind of surprising. And I kind of like how arbitrary it is because all reality shows, like their rules are arbitrary. They're created for the show and like for the game. And they're just like, you know what? We're going to have a do-over if we want them. Yeah, that scene is always

uncomfortable. I know. They say it to their face on the spot. Yeah. Like a lot of these designers clearly don't have much experience just like on the debate team. It's like they really have to struggle to find like ways to sell what they just made. But it's always the best because then Naomi's often at the end of that line, and she often has glasses that are just like as big as her face. And so her responses to those are always great. I think the bottom line is you always need a cutting, kind of bitchy presence on a reality show. It used to be Heidi. It's now Naomi Campbell. And it's really working. Yeah, the formula is perfect.

If you want to check it out, it's all available on Amazon right now. For Justin Barrier, I'm Juliet Litman. More TV concierge tomorrow.