Project Runway's new life or the beginning of the end?

In preparation for its big August 20th season premiere on Lifetime (and, evidently, to interrupt me when I'm trying to watch a few episodes of Frasier and Will & Grace), Project Runway has been running endless ads, loud and proud. I'm sorry, did I say "loud and proud"? I meant "weirdly sentimental and full of slow-mo."

The commercials featuring individual designers from the upcoming season were almost touching enough to confuse me. I mean, I'm used to the super-catty "I didn't come here to make friends, I came here to be the snarky queen bee" sort of ads. Are these just to reel in the average Lifetime viewer, or is this an early indication of Project Runway's slightly new voice?

At first, I was very wary of the move to Lifetime, but after considering how everything has been speedily going downhill for the past few seasons, I'm really open to the change. Last season was atrocious, and Bravo's bitter, near hands-off approach to it all would have been hilarious to watch if it weren't so pathetic at the same time. A new home will do the show good.

Now, whether or not Lifetime is going to edit the show to be way more weepy and focused on the inspirational stories of each designer's struggles, I don't know. I'm worried, especially after seeing those ads. It's normally kind of nice to hear about the obstacles the designers have had to overcome, but it's difficult not to get the blood boiling when Runway gets edited to bits where it's just designers feeling overwhelmed and sobbing their eyes out. As long as there's a fair amount of Santino-style shenanigans, I'll be satisfied. Keep the waterworks down as much as possible, yeah?

Perhaps it's a bit stereotypical to think about such a thing because it's a women's channel.

But, then again, it is Lifetime.