Bravo Cancels Queer Eye, Gives Gunn, Abdul Shows
By Anne Becker -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/12/2007 1:11:00 PM
Bravo's pulling the plug on Queer Eye after five seasons and four years on TV. The show's ten-episode fifth season, which debuts this summer, will be its last, the network was expected to tell television critics today at a presentation in Pasadena, Calif.
Separately, the network signed Project Runway den daddy Tim Gunn and pop star-turned American Idol judge Paul Abdul to series of their own. Tim Gunn's Guide to Style will profile Gunn as he solves people's fashion dilemmas by helping them get makeovers. While it's still unresolved whether Gunn will return to Runway for its fourth season, his own show debuts as he is set to publish a book on style and taste in May 2007.
Abdul's show will be a documentary-style look behind the scenes at her life. The show, tentatively called Hey Paula, is set to debut later in 2007 and will profile the choreographer/singer/perennial worst-dressed candidate at work and with friends.
Queer Eye put Bravo on the map when it debuted to huge ratings and critical acclaim in 2003, but has fallen off in the ratings since then. Queer Eye: The Final Season will showcase for one last time the Fab Five making over deserving subjects.
The show became a huge hit for Bravo when it premiered as Queer Eye for the Straight Guy in the summer of 2003. Having just been taken over by NBC as part of the merger with Vivendi Universal, Bravo got a huge marketing boost for the show, which helped quickly turn it into a cultural phenomenon. Bravo's average rating jumped from a 0.3 to a 3.0 nearly overnight.
Earlier this week, Queer Eye's interior design guru Thom Filicia announced he was hosting a home makeover show for Bravo competitor the Style Network.
Elsewhere at Bravo, the network has renamed its hair-focused reality competition. The show, previously known as Top Hair, is now being called Shear Genius and will be hosted by actress-turned-Kmart-designer Jaclyn Smith. The show, debuting in spring 2007, will run for eight episodes and feature stylists competing in creative hair challenges. Celebrity hairstylist Sally Hershberger will serve as a lead judge.
