Hey Bravo!

I'm watching you...

Is it just me or have you noticed that Bravo TV is rising in the ranks of quality entertainment on cable television?

Within the past couple of years, Bravo has given us high-caliber reality programs such as Blow Out, Work Out, Top Chef, Project Runway, Hey Paula!, Being Bobby Brown, Kathy Griffin's "My Life On The D-List", Flipping Out and many others - it's amazing.

The New Darling
Admittedly, I am becoming quite smitten with the network and Bravo is my favorite choice when I actually have time to watch television. I am often asked which network is my favorite - alas, an answer has been revealed.

According to the Bravo Press Kit: Bravo is currently seen in more than 79 million homes and was the first service dedicated to film, drama, and the performing arts when it launched in December 1980.

In the early 2000 the network modified it's programming which had covered performing arts, drama, and indie film to being focused on pop culture like reality shows, fashion shows, makeovers, celebrities, and so forth. Bravo's programming schedule includes feature films.

All Smiles
For me, it all began right around that one weekend when Bravo had aired back-to-back showings of the movie Vanilla Sky (Directed/ Produced by Cameron Crowe).

I had seen the movie with one of my best friends in the theater, however it was an unclear experience until I watched the marathon on Bravo that one weekend. After repeated viewings, the message within the movie began to make more sense.

My friend has since moved across the country and every time I watch the movie, I think back to how much fun we had being confused (Ah, good times....).

Now, I am discovering that I love pop culture programming and Bravo is delivering the goods!

The Unique Bravo Factor
This week, we have already seen the return of long-time runner Queer Eye (Producers dropped the "For the Straight Guy" portion of the title) and a monumental 75-minute finale to another new fan fave Top Chef (Congrats Hung!).

• Queer Eye (Scout Productions) now in the final season is poised for it's 100th episode. The series which began in 2003 quickly became a big ratings success and cultural phenom for Bravo.

  What is interesting is that this show in particular has helped the network refine an identity that had previously been largely unnoticed. Equally, the show has also greatly impacted other makeover shows on other networks and gave the world a front and center TV show with a cast of five openly 'alternative' men.

• The Top Chef final battle had a enormous ratings of nearly 3 million viewers last Wednesday.

  Every producer's dream is to have a show become a franchise. Top Chef has proven to be a franchise that continues to gain popularity and producers have already started casting it's fourth season as many have reported seeing the show's host Padma Lakshmi out filming opening sequences about Chicago's Green City Market.

• Project Runway (Now in it's 4th season) has been confirmed for a November 14th premiere.

  Earlier this week, Bravo began teasing us with the identities of just a few designers, all of the 15 designers and their bios are on the Bravo site. There are seven men and eight women ready to stitch and compete for the title, under the watchful eye of Tim Gunn and supermodel Heidi Klum.
  

• And a ton of other new shows - Tim Gunn's Guide to Style, Better Half, Make Me Supermodel (We talked about this one in a previous post).

Not so fast...
While the above are returning with great longevity, Paula Abdul announced earlier this week that she will not be returning for another episode of Hey Paula!, claiming "hard for HER to watch and disturbing" - I will refrain from comment, but you know what I am thinking...Yeah, we will see about that Paula.

My Big Prediction
Ah, the good news is that I see a very bright future for Bravo and it's diversity of cutting-edge programs.

Having said all of the above, I better get busy and start developing some new shows while I'm feeling the LOVE...right after I play TV Bigshot!