Top Model squandered any amount of trust I had in it many, many moons ago, so forgive me for taking a while to warm back up to it. Though it’s never made excellent decisions on a weekly basis, early cycles of the show had decent coherence and clarity of why they were leaning a certain way; I may not (and often didn’t) agree, but I understood and chalked it up to my novice status as an aspiring fashionista. But recent times have gotten a bit weirder, a bit more arbitrary, and a bit more frustrating, as the Top Model decision making process became the show’s achilles heel. Too often, I was left utterly confused why a certain contestant took home the crown or the real reason that model X was eliminated far before her time to go, so I had to adjust my expectations from “hey, a good model may come out of this.” to “hey, this is a train wreck. let me giggle accordingly.”.
But cycle 18 of Top Model has kind of restored my faith in their ability to make good decisions in terms of who stays and who goes. Whether it be the addition of Kelly, the shaken up format, or Tyra waking up for the first time since about cycle 8, the British Invasion brought back a little logic to the Top Model Express. And all I have to say is toot toot, because it’s a much better show for it. Cycle 18 may not have went exactly as I would have liked it, but I got where Tyra and company were coming from with each elimination, culminating in the crowning of Sophie as America’s Next Top (British) Model and my heart subsequently growing three sizes. Even though the judges have made good eliminations of people that would have stayed much longer in earlier cycles, I didn’t think that the better model would win; to me, Sophie had the edge in bookability, runway, and consistency with a solid book, but a part of me wondered if Top Model’s recent focus on personality would push Laura to a win. With the last two Top Models (Brittani, Lisa) not exactly being Polly Princesses, Laura would have fit in right along with them, her spontaneous, edgy demeanor an extension of Brittani’s brattiness and Lisa’s wildness.
The finale seemed set up for a Laura win, which admittedly made me a little nervous. The American spitfire had an action scene on the catwalk, a second chance at her commercial after having a panic attack, and a sexy Vogue Italia photo shoot that leaned heavily on angles and steamy poses. With the illness practically writing the last chapter of Laura’s Top Model journey for her, there seemed to be a little bit of recent Top Model creeping back into the mix, displacing the show’s return to its roots.
Fortunately, though, the show managed to pull it together and craft a pretty decent balancing act of a finale. On one hand, you had the typical Top Model silliness, everything from the catwalk holo-screen (ninjas! models in a raindrop! six Tyras! Tyra-zilla!) to the Tyra-does-her-best-Oprah of the sitdown interviews, but on 
the other, it was a pretty straight-laced finale. The extended look at deliberations was probably my favorite part, in that we never really get to hear what they talk about. Yes, every episode flashes to panel, but it tends to be a comment or two per girl, a sarcastic quip from Kelly, and then it’s off to the final commercial break. Having a longer look at panel gave the finale a bit more transparency, in that you knew where every judge stood and the factors they were considering in making their decision. I often wish that Top Model was closer to an hour and a half in length, if only to allow more stuff like this into the mix; there may not even be a need for the upcoming social media angle if we knew what the judges were judging these girls by and the boxes that each has to tick in order to make it another week on the show. And honestly, it makes them look better because in small chunks and soundbites, Tyra, Nigel, and Jay all can look pretty incompetent. Allowing them the time to express their opinions can help give them more credibility with the audience and calm any fears that may erupt around the crowning of a winner.
My favorite part of the night had to be the Covergirl commercials, both in terms of the process making them and the actual commercials themselves. There were no line flubbings, no awkward breakdowns mid-commercial, no impromptu cue cards – it just let us watch these two girls, one recovering from a panic attack, do their thing and give their best self to the camera. The final product ended up being some of my favorite commercials the show has done, the clip package lightening the load on the girls and giving another angle to one of the tried and true Top Model traditions. There are only so many times you can watch a pretty girl say a tongue twisting make-up name in front of a sunny backdrop, so having the commercial be more like a Top Model yearbook and vehicle for their line readings is more than okay with me. It’s tiny tweaks like this that make me hopeful for the future; Top Model can still be itself through and through while keeping the format that we’ve come to know relatively fresh.
If I had to rank cycle 18 of Top Model against the 17 other editions, it’d be firmly in the middle tier. Though never rising to the heights of early cycles (my personal favorites being 3 and 6), it cleaned up a lot of the mistakes that had been plaguing the show for years. Yes, it can be stupid and pointless and too tangential from things that actual models do in the real world, but it found a lot more focus in cycle 18 and began to prepare the models for life after the show much earlier than before. It may still have a ways to go before sniffing its creative heights from years gone by, but Top Model made the proper steps toward finally taking itself more seriously while still being, well, Top Model.
Thoughts, Quotes, & Observations:
-“It’s happy. It’s friggin’ happy.”
-“That’s not even Chinese.”
-“If I was 21, I’d want to be your friend.”
-“I’ve got, like, fighting scenes. I’ve got dandelions to blow.”
-“Don’t be favoring people that sound like you.”
-“She didn’t give up. She has pink hair.”
-Nigel’s comment about putting a photo up in his (fictitious) salon was cute. Andre Leon Talley realness.
-I had to laugh at Tyra pointing out Sophie’s physical flaws and then telling her how they made her fierce.
-I’m glad that Laura got called on her hammy runway faces and flat line delivery in the commercial. The attack made me think that they might go easier on her.
-Gaga hair bows. That is all.
-Tyra looked very Florence and the Machine at panel, no? Beautiful dress.
-Jay’s comment about how this is the first time he liked both final girls was interesting. Who do you think he hated in past cycles?
-I loved Tyra mentioning the Revolutionary War with all my heart. So ridiculous.
-Tyra has hired fashion blogger Bryanboy for the upcoming 19th cycle. There’s been no word as to his role in the show, though, nor anything about my impending spot on the panel.
-Speaking of cycle 19, it’s not hitting the air until October and The CW has moved it to Friday nights, pairing the show with Nikita. If you missed my thoughts on the schedule change, social media inclusion, and new Top Model faculty, you can check them out here.
-In case you’re wondering, Janice still hates Tyra. Quelle surprise.
-BuddyTV took a look at the fan voting that’ll make its debut in cycle 19 and raised some legitimate concerns.
-You guys, we made it through another Top Model cycle. Rather unscathed, might I add. Care to reconvene sometime in the fall to do it all over again? I promise, I’ll hit the thesaurus for more variations on the phrase “hot mess”. I have a feeling they’ll be coming in handy.
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