Project Dumbway

My husband and I have a A LOT of really great ideas for TV shows. It's kind of a pastime of ours — thinking up TV show ideas. Which is in no way useful considering neither of us works in TV. (My husband has written a screenplay, which I think is hilarious — the screenplay, that is, NOT the fact that he wrote one).

I don't want to give anything away (because if I crack an issue of Variety to see "The Super" is in development, someone's head is gonna roll), but I do believe one of our strongest ideas yet is "Project Dumbway," a Project Runway-style show where contestants compete in design challenges that see them create a new look based on some theme or set of materials. But here's the catch: our contestants are not designers. They're not even seamstresses. They're dudes like my husband. And your husband. Can't quite picture it yet?

Picture my husband on the left; yours on the right. Comedy gold!

Imagine if you took 10 funny people who knew nothing about clothing, construction, fabric, or sewing, and told them: we're going to Petland, here's $100 to create a look based on the materials you can buy there. If you knew my husband, you would know it would be comedy gold to watch him try to fashion something — anything — from, well, just about anything. What got us thinking about it was this guy from last season of the Greatest Show on Earth:

 The very first episode Jason has to make a new garment from another contestant's kimono. So he puts it on the model backward, and...I don't know. See for yourself:

The entire episode my husband kept saying, "THAT'S TOTALLY WHAT I WOULD DO!" which was so not a compliment. (Jason wasn't eliminated, though I think they just wanted to see what the hell he would do next because it's good TV — JUST LIKE PROJECT DUMBWAY!)

Anyway, that lead me to think: how would my husband's design and construction skills fare against my friend Lizzi's husband? He's pretty stylish, but would he actually be capable of doing more to a kimono than putting it on backward? And then Ryan (my husband) started getting cocky, saying things like, "I bet I'd be way better than Joe (another neighbourhood friend). At least I've seen you sew!"


We probably wouldn't be able to get Michael Kors or Nina Garcia as judges, but I bet Heidi Klum would do it. She's so darn cute, and with a snappy sense of humour that totally belies her German heritage. Just imagine how charmed she would be by your husband's earnest attempt at a shift dress made from floor mats.

Project Dumbway on Comedy Central. Think about it.