I was thinking, with the new ...

Question: I was thinking, with the new season of Project Runway upon us, why have Runway and Top Chef been such big hits, while Bravo's other reality contest shows, Shear Genius and Step It Up & Dance, are such stinkers? Is it the production values, or the choice of hosts and judges? (For me, Elizabeth Berkeley made Step It Up & Dance unwatchable.) When the shows are on the same network and have such similar looks and formats, it's strange that some would be so good and others so bad. (And not in the "so bad it's good" way.)
Answer: In the world of reality, as in all other forms of TV, overfamiliarity eventually breeds contempt. As Bravo keeps cloning shows off the Runway and Top Chef models, invariably there will be some duds in the mix. Happens all the time on any network that keeps churning out the same sort of show as if on an assembly line (see the CW). The real concern here is that overextending the brand could do some real harm by diluting the appeal of the original shows that put Bravo on the map. Thankfully, that hasn't happened yet.