Eight weeks away seems to have done Kenley some good. 

She appears to  have lost much of the attitude that has won her few fans in and outside the Project Runway work room,  and boy! — that feathered wedding dress was darn cute, very Kenley, and gave her an ultimately well-deserved ticket to Bryant Park.

It’s aways fun to see the designers back in their homes and with their families as they design their collection for the finale. Jerell’s story was moving, Korto’s Liberian heritage fascinating, and a nervous Tim Gunn on that tandem bike with Leanne — priceless.

But no friends or family for Kenley?

Jerell’s sad “Auf” ing at the last hurdle left an all-female lineup for the finale for the first time in five seasons of the show.

Are the ladies up to the challenge? 

Pass the Kleenex please!

After a fairly lackluster season, Project Runway is turning into a real drama both on and off the runway as the Bryant Park finale looms.

Tears, fights, group hugs, bitterness and backstabbing  — and Kenley is STILL hanging in there despite (or possibly because of)  her constant eye-rolls and stubborn refusal to take constructive criticism that  has stunned the  divas of the  design world she aspires to join.

Kenley’s scaly pink reptile gown  predictably failed to wow the judges in a challenge that was inspired by flowers. But when Korto turned in a surprisingly wobbly effort with an orange and yellow dress deemed too pageanty, Kenley won another chance to redeem herself and fight for a place for her collection in the New York Fashion Show finale.With the eventual winner looking too close to call between quiet Leanne and sweet natured Jerell, it may be the contestant reunion special that has all the fireworks this season.

Make that work, designers!

For the 60th Emmy Awards , the show’s organizers made a bold decision to scrap the one-host format typical of awards shows.

Instead, they opted for not one, but five hosts — the five being Ryan Seacrest of “American Idol,” Heidi Klum of “Project Runway,” Tom Bergeron of “Dancing with the Stars,” Howie Mandel of “Deal or No Deal,” and Jeff Probst of “Survivor.” All were nominated for the newly-created category award for the best host of a reality or competition series.

As the show opened, the five-host strategy appeared to be a case of too many cooks spoiling the soup. After entering together in matching suits (including supermodel Klum, who towered over her co-hosts), the five Emmy hosts admitted that they had nothing prepared and were therefore winging it.

“We are like Sarah Palin’s bridge to nowhere,” Mandel joked.

It was the only joke.

To close out their opening bit, the hosts resorted to a cheap gag — ripping Klum’s pants off. The “monologue” ended with Klum standing on stage in a skimpy black lace outfit with Bergeron and “Boston Legal” star William Shatner.

Yes, William Shatner. We’re still trying to figure out what he was doing up there.

At the end of the show, Probst took home the “Host of all Hosts” Emmy for “Survivor,” which he has hosted since 2000.

“The Amazing Race,” however, took home the award for best reality series for the sixth straight year, leaving top-rated “American Idol” in the dust once again. “The Amazing Race” has won the best reality show Emmy for as long as that category has existed. In a world where there are so many reality shows, what gives?

Braving blistering afternoon heat and more than a little sweat, the world’s top television stars rolled onto the red carpet at the Emmy Awards in downtown Los Angeles in all their finery.

Once the arrivals wrapped up and the show got started, it was left to us onlookers to decide who looked great and who, well, didn’t.

Supermodel and “Project Runway” host Heidi Klum was no doubt the flashiest star on the carpet in a crystal-studded Armani gown with massive butterfly-shaped earrings.

“30 Rock” creator and star Tina Fey, meanwhile, looked understated but elegant in an eggplant-colored strapless dress.

Yellow was a popular color, donned by both Mariska Hargitay of “Law and Order: SVU” and Teri Hatcher of “Desperate Housewives.”

But once all the stars had strutted their stuff, who looked the absolute best? Or worst, for that matter?

“30 Rock” actor Judah Friedlander thought he deserved the “best dressed” award, but we’re guessing people may have something to say about that. Sorry, Judah.

 Judge Fern Mallis had it right. “Stella was not stellar” in the Diane von Furstenberg “Project Runway” challenge.

But the leather lovin’ rock star designer made the most gracious exit after being “Auf’d” from the show after yet another poorly sewn outfit.

With the first smile we’ve seen on her face , Stella thanked the judges, said she had learned a lot, and admitted; “My ego was too big to be here anyway.” 

But she was back to her defiant self in the post-exit confessional, declaring “I’m a rock star. That’s who I design for. If you like my stuff, come buy it. If you don’t, keep walking. I don’t care.”

Meanwhile, mousy Leanne is emerging as the dark horse of the season after winning two consecutive challenges and establishing herself as probably the most flawless contestant in terms of execution.

Her blue, silky 30’s vintage dress with the ruffled back won the most coveted prize of the season — a place in an ad campaign with true fashion diva Diane von Furstenberg who reduced Kenley to tears  — and an unlucky 2nd place.

 Keith’s desperate attempt to change his “collage” style to please the “Project Runway” judges succeeded only in winning him a tearful exit and a trip back to Utah after another wacky challenge using recycled car parts.

But despite the tears, the whining and the drama, Season Five of the popular fashion design contest is showing signs that the show is losing its cutting edge.

Whether its the contestants themselves, the recycling of some past “Runway” challenges, or  the blatant cross promotion of upcoming Bravo shows and commercial  sponsors,  much of the sparkle seems to be missing this season.

Tim Gunn, whose polite but pointed mentoring stitched the show together, seems listless in his now brief visits to the workroom, rarely going beyond his ”make it work” mantra. Is Gunn too busy working on his own TV shows these days?

The designers, for the most part, seem to lack that winning combination of personality and  talent that made past favorites Christian Siriano and Santino Rice so watchable. This year’s Leanne and Korto have the talent but seem camera shy, while Blayne’s dressmaking skills often fall short of his ego.

Gunn appears unimpressed with the current crop. “They keep walking around telling each other how great they are and I keep saying to them, ‘Someone is gonna go home’, ” Gunn told OK! magazine this week.

In the words of host Heidi Klum. “In fashion, one day you are in and one day you are out.”  So we wonder, is ”Project Runway” in need of its own fashion makeover?

 So it was Project Runway’s only straight guy, Joe, who ironically pulled it off in the delicious drag queen challenge by ingeniously “hiding the candy” with his strategic buckle belt wrapped around a skin-tight pink sparkly catsuit.

It has to be said that Joe owed a lot to his model, Varla Jean, who steered him away from his orginal space suit concept and towards the Ann Margret style sailor suit look. And that cheeky little sailor hat really topped it off.

You had to feel sorry for Terri, however, whose arresting avant-garde Samurai-Kabuki outfit seemed like a shoo-in the minute her model strutted down the runway.

And judging from Terri’s face after Joe was crowned winner, she felt she had been robbed too — and not for the first time. 

Daniel finally got “Auf’d” after weeks of proclaiming his good taste yet finishing in the bottom three,  and  making matters worse by arguing with the judges.

Keith — and his crazy bandanna — looks to be in danger too, not only with the judges but with some of his fellow contestants who are getting increasingly snickering at  his “signature” tattered look. Keith might call it a collage but Michael Kors was right on the money on Wednesday when he quipped that Keith’s model looked like a “sad chicken”.  

What were they thinking?

Not the designers (for once) but the Project Runway judges who sent Kelli packing on Wednesday but kept tanorexic Blayne on board for another week.

Kelli, the episode 1 winner,  was certainly not at her best with her lace and jungle-inspired design for the challenge involving an outfit for Brooke Shields’ character on the TV show “Lipstick Jungle”.

Michael Kors called it “slutty, slutty, slutty” while Nina Garcia pursed her lips disapprovingly and called into question Kelli’s overall lavel of taste.

But one wondered whose taste was at issue when the judges decided to save Blayne, whose bermuda shorts outfit was deemed totally unsuitable for the challenge and who has yet to impress the judges with anything more than his passion for tanning and his ability to add “licious” to any word.                                          

Yet Blayne sure provides entertainment, and maybe that’s what kept him from being “Auf’d” at least until next week, when his penchant for neon should do well in the challenge — to dress a drag queen.

In what was probably the least-surprising offing so far this season, 27-year-old designer Jennifer was “Auf’d” from Project Runway on Wednesday night for sending a girly, old-fashioned design down the runway after she was charged with dreaming up an outfit for the U.S. Olympic team to wear at the Games’ opening ceremony.

Jennifer said the gold and white striped skirt and navy blue cardigan sweater were in keeping with her vision as a designer (her design theory is “Holly Golightly attends a Salvador Dali exhibit,” according to her bio), but the show’s judges criticized her for not being able to separate her personal fashion taste from the demands of the athletics-inspired challenge.

“This is missing it completely,” judge Nina Garcia said of Jennifer’s design. “She almost looks silly.”

Host Heidi Klum was also brutal: “Jennifer,” she said, “You are stuck in the past as a designer.”

Jennifer wasn’t the only one who failed to deliver an athletics-inspired look. Judge Michael Kors said Daniel’s blue-and-red dress looked like his model was representing “The Republic of Cocktail-land,” while Jerell’s model, in her wide-brimmed hat and plethora of loud prints, was dubbed “Mary had a little lamb” by Nina.

In fact, only a few of the outfits looked remotely like something that would be worn by an athlete. One was Korto’s wide-legged white linen pants and matching white-and-red vest, which led her to win the challenge.

“I was a big fan,” guest judge and Olympic speed skater Apolo Ohno said of Korto’s design.

Korto, who is clearly in it to win it, was relieved by her victory. “It’s about freaking time,” she said. 

A dress that was called an ”explosion of ruffle” was deemed worse than another one that looked like “toilet paper caught in a windstorm” by Project Runway’s hyper-discriminating judges this week, “Auf”-ing 27-year-old California designer Emily over rival Keith in the third episode of this season.

Emily’s offing was somewhat surprising after the judges ruthlessly panned Keith’s dress — a shapeless silhouette covered in squares of varying fabrics meant to look like fringe. Designer and “Runway” judge Michael Kors likened Keith’s dress to toilet paper more than once.

“Seriously the toilet paper dress is in??” wrote one viewer on the Project Runway message boards.

Even Emily herself was shocked at the decision, defiantly stating in her exit interview: “Hell no, this was not the losing dress for the challenge. That dress was beautiful.”

But the judges would beg to differ. Nina Garcia called the bright pink and orange ruffles inspired by New York’s neon lights “a Carmen Miranda moment” and later told her fellow judges that she had “no comment” about the dress.

“The worst review is no review,” countered Kors.

The challenge’s winner was also somewhat controversial. Kenley, a 25-year-old from Pompano Beach, Florida, took the top honor with a high-waisted green and purple printed dress inspired by a New York City tiled wall.

The judges loved the design, but nevertheless poked fun at the fact that it reminded them of the 80s.

“It’s very 80s, Joan Collins, Powerbitch dress,” Kors said, adding that “a girl who was not around in the 80s would really appreciate this dress.”

The judges also gushed over the other top two designs — a black “architectural” skirt and top by Leanne and a backless blue printed dress by Terri.