Here’s the thing about “Project Runway”: yes, we watch for the drama brought by the designers, but we also watch it to witness the talents of the undiscovered.

There’s no better mix of those two elements than the final episode of every season, when there’s nothing left to do but show and prove. I wasn’t at all surprised that the final three came down to Carol Hannah, Althea and “Meana Irina,” who, despite her attitude problem, can design her butt off.

Full disclosure: I started slacking on my “Runway” devotion about halfway through this season. I became one of those fans who blamed everything on the show’s move to Lifetime: this season’s lack of bite and wit “never would’ve happened on Bravo,” I said.

But last night, I realized how shortsighted I’d been. The final episode had everything: tears from a sick but still sewing Carol Hannah; anticipation; the trinity of Nina, Heidi and Kors, plus frenzied pacing as the designers and three resurrected from eliminations – Christopher, Logan and Gordana –whipped up a 13th look for their 12-piece collections at the 11th hour.

And if that wasn’t good enough, we even got a Tim Gunn breakdown! A Tim.Gunn.Breakdown. When the always suave, never flustered one is walking around flailing his arms and yelling threats that “he’s about to lose it,” you know it must’ve been one tense tent.

If you missed last week’s episode: Carol Hannah drew her inspiration from the “ethereal” architecture at Duke U., Althea from retro sci-fi movies and Irina wanted to do her take on the urban woman warrior with an all-black collection – which Nina explicitly told her not to do. Yeah, she did it anyway. And it kinda rocked.

See, Irina’s like the girl from high school whose meanness was really a line of defense – much like the hooded outerwear and knits, black leather and hats that she thought a New York woman needed to battle it out in the Big Apple. It was dark, but cohesive; ready-to-wear, but with sparks of original detail.

Carol Hannah’s was equally impressive in terms of construction and tailoring – just look at the inverted pyramid tutu topped off with body-hugging silk, or her exquisite Grecian gown – but it completely lacked cohesion. I haven’t agreed with the judges on much this season, but I co-signed out loud when they noted Irina was the only who presented an actual collection.

Because, sadly, Althea the suit-maker just didn’t bring it, from her runway day outfit – halter top, leggings, and ankle Uggs? Really? – to her mishmash of “sci-fi” looks. Never mind that none of it actually appeared futuristic or innovative (see: Jay McCarroll, season one, if you need a refresher on what innovation looks like). The judges kept commenting that she was "plugged into the street," and I have no clue what that means other than I don't particularly want to wear it. Yes, she can do separates, but unfortunately, that separated her collection from winning the title.

What did you think of the season finale? Was this season everything that you expected - or wanted - it to be? And more importantly, is there a tiny piece of you that thinks Carol Hannah was robbed?

It seems ironic to me that it was this time of the year more than 30 years ago that I had my first “encounter” with Oprah Winfrey.

I was a little girl whose legs dangled off the pew when Winfrey appeared as a featured speaker on Sunday at my grandmother’s church in West Baltimore, Maryland. I immediately recognized her as an anchor on the local news station, WJZ, and I couldn’t believe that such a star would be standing in the pulpit of Whitestone Baptist Church.

Ordinarily church meant suffering through a sermon I didn’t understand and staring in awe at the women who – in their exuberance at being in the presence of the Holy Spirit – seemed to shout, sweat and dance the walls down.

But this Sunday I was mesmerized by Oprah.

Like any good storyteller, she started out slow, sharing tales of growing up first in Mississippi, then in Milwaukee and Tennessee. Like me, she loved to read and I felt like she was walking up and down my street when she recounted the many church plays and programs in which she had been called to perform.

I literally slid to the edge of the pew as Oprah told the tragic story of a slave woman who upon being revived from a vicious beating from her master thought she was seeing stars, only to realize it was salt on the ground which had been thrown on her lacerated back. The congregation moaned their pain and understanding of the hardships of life.

Then, just as smoothly as she had plunged us into the depths of despair, she raised us up again with the words of an ex-slave, Sojourner Truth, who at a Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio, in 1851 asked “Ain’t I a woman?”

"If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back and get it right-side up again. And now that they are asking to do it, the men better let them,” Oprah said, reciting Truth’s words. It was the mid 1970s, and with the civil rights and women’s rights movements so fresh in everyone’s minds, the words seemed to ring with poignancy.

She encouraged us all to never let hardship sway us from our paths. I left the church that day amazed by what I had heard - and by Winfrey who, even then, seemed larger than life. My 8-year-old mind desired to further the connection I felt with the woman who was now my new hero.

I got it into my head that with her being so far away from her home in Tennessee, surely she would want to join my family for Thanksgiving dinner. So I waited until my grandmother drifted off to sleep one afternoon, and I looked up the phone number for WJZ-TV in the phone book.

Trying to sound as grown up as possible, I asked the station’s operator to connect me with Oprah Winfrey, planning to offer the invitation to the secretary such a celebrity must surely have working for her.

I was shocked when Oprah answered the phone.

My prepared words failed me and I instead stuttered out how much I had enjoyed her speech at Whitestone. “Awww, thank you honey,” Oprah replied, before I promptly hung up on her in my nervousness.

Years later, as a reporter at the Baltimore Sun, I shared that story with a colleague who was interviewing Oprah about her film “Beloved.” I explained how much the now hugely influential talk show host had inspired me as both a woman of color and a journalist.

When my friend later told me she had shared the story with Oprah during the interview and that Ms. Winfrey had expressed her delight at my words, I felt like I was once again that little girl, basking in the glow of my idol.

A mysterious Observer on the Fox series 'Fringe.'

Last night's episode of "Fringe" - the culmination of a full week of hype - certainly delivered on answers, but added a heaping helping of new questions.

So far, "Fringe" has done a better job of explaining itself in its second season than "Lost," co-creator J.J. Abrams' previous series. We've figured out this much: there are alternate realities, and Walter (John Noble)'s son Peter (Joshua Jackson) is actually from an alternate reality, he just doesn't know it, and therefore Walter is hesitant to tell him all he knows. One thing we still don't know is exactly how the bizarre Observers - yes, we find out for the first time on the show that there's more than one - fit into all of this.

Since Walter is playing dumb on the Observers, which he actually knows a lot about, we get one of those scenes essential to any J.J. Abrams show where a scientist-type has to explain what's going on. Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) and Peter pay a visit to Massive Dynamic, where we learn the theory that the Observers aren't traveling through time, nor are they immortal, but they "observe" time, especially major historical events.

One Observer in particular breaks their code of not acting, except when correcting a mistake they made, by kidnapping a young woman prior to taking an airplane which is destined to crash. Because of this, we also find out more about their strange sci-fi instruments, and that they carry strange guns, which look normal, but throw people back and stun them.

As it becomes more clear that Walter knows a lot more than he's telling, Noble really gets to shine here, being equally brilliant playing the absent-minded, slightly-mad scientist (I live for the scenes with his assistant, Astrid), and the man with all the answers who can advise an Observer on how to proceed.

When an assassin's bullet takes down the rogue Observer, the immortality theory bites the dust with him, and he reveals that he has found the capacity to have emotions, to cry and even to fall in love. He felt that the woman he saved from the plane crash was important, having observed her all of his life. Was he just an inter-dimensional stalker or is there more to it than that?

Aside from the fact that Observers are being seen more and more, foretelling some momentous event, Olivia, who recently took a trip to another reality, is someone they see having a particularly dark future.

I was happy to see an episode focusing on the overall story-arc of this show again, as the weird-crime-of-the-week episodes aren't nearly a strong.

Were you fascinated by the Observers as well? Do you agree that this show could stand to have fewer stand-alone episodes? What are your "Fringe" theories (what is the meaning behind the strange symbols before commercial breaks, anyway)? Share your thoughts on video, or the comments below.

It's been rumored for weeks, but now it's actually happening: Oprah Winfrey is ready to announce tomorrow that she's ending her immensely popular and influential TV talk show.  She'll drop the news on Friday morning's live show from Chicago.

Fans shouldn't panic just yet: WLS, where her show began as "A.M. Chicago" in 1984, says the final "Oprah Winfrey Show" will air in September of 2011, giving her nearly two more years to spur water cooler talk, influence trends, and push authors to the top of the best-seller list.

What then?  The media queen has been trying to get the cable channel OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, off the ground with Discovery Communications for awhile now, and it seems a good bet she'll move her attention and resources there.  After all, why "settle" for a show – even one of the most talked-about and enduring in TV history – when you can have a network?

So you want to know what Kim Kardashian is like?

I can tell you a little bit – from the 8 minutes of time I spent in her company.
She is simply lovely in person. She is petite and seemingly quiet. And as a 29-year old woman who has lived a good portion of her life out on a reality TV show, I quickly realized that she is more than capable of answering any question thrown at her. But don’t tell her publicist that.

Actually there were at least three publicists on hand at the new eBay store here in New York City, where Miss Kardashian is auctioning off some of her personal items for charity.

Along with my own questions I was also there to get Kim’s responses to some of the CNN iReporter questions sent in by viewers on cnn.com. We had planned to have Kim answer 6 viewer/iReporter questions on camera and capture her reaction spontaneously. These questions weren’t exactly curve balls. One man wanted to know what Kim take on interracial relationships and how they are perceived publicly– a good question since Kim is dating an African American man. Another viewer wanted to know what she had planned for her future, and someone else wanted to know if Kim had any regrets with regards to her reality show. Two publicists interceded before we could get Kim to step up to the computer on hand and answer any questions. They said the questions were ‘mean’. They were not.

My camerawoman and I were ready to walk. We surely didn’t need to give Kim Kardashian more publicity. But, we stayed after negotiating to get at least get one viewer’s question answered. We were there partially on behalf of iReporters and we didn’t want to let them down.

We were allowed to show her one iReporter question… a question the publicist himself chose after watching them all as they were posted on cnn.com. The funny thing is, when I interviewed her, I asked two of the questions posed by viewers. And Kim handled them fine. During our interview we ended up discussing most of the topics brought up by the iReporters.

But, when I asked her if she cared to comment on her relationship with Reggie Bush, one of the publicists came running towards the camera. But it was too late. Kim had already begun to answer the question. And she did it all by herself without the overzealous handler jumping in to rescue her.

Will Ferrell is Hollywood's most "overpaid" star, according to Forbes, in a study they posted Wednesday. His recent box-office flop, "Land of the Lost," had a lot to do with that. The Web site says that Ewan McGregor came in second.

Perennial "guest star" Heather Locklear did wonders for "Melrose Place's" ratings in the '90s, but how did she fare with her appearance on the new version? Not too well, says The Hollywood Reporter. Ratings were only up 14 percent from the series low the week before.

Reality cooking shows are starting to become as hot as dancing shows. NBC has ordered a new series called "United Plates of America," according to The Hollywood Reporter. The winner of the competition will launch a chain of restaurants - not a bad prize.

Jennifer Morrison spoke to EW.com about her apparent exit from "House" on Monday. As for a possible return in the future, she said that she was being paid for the rest of the season and didn't know anything else beyond that. Her character, Cameron, who has been with the show since the beginning, left her husband and the hospital in the most recent episode.

When it was announced that Elizabeth Banks would guest star on ABC's new hit comedy "Modern Family," one assumed she would ham it up as she has in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Scrubs." Ham it up she did, as Mitchell and Cameron's wild, hard-partying friend.

However, when it was announced that Edward Norton, star of such dark movies as "Fight Club" and "American History X," would play a musician, the last thing I expected was the guitarist from '80s one-hit-wonder band Spandau Ballet.

"Modern Family's" ensemble has quickly become one of the sharpest on TV, and I think Ed O'Neill's "Jay" and Ty Burrell's "Phil," in particular, are Emmy-worthy. Bringing in two guest stars actually wasn't all that necessary, but seeing Norton and Banks interact with the cast was a real treat.

In this episode, Mitchell and Cameron learned that their new baby and old friend weren't going to mix - as Banks not too subtly implied that she wouldn't mind getting rid of it altogether since it got in the way of her wild lifestyle.

Meanwhile, it turned out that Phil isn't a complete disaster as a person, because he certainly knows how to shower his wife, Claire, with gifts on her anniversary. She, on the other hand, was totally clueless and invited Norton's character to give them a private show, assuming that "True," the first song they ever heard, was something special to him.

Instead, it turned out that he barely had any clue of the band beyond that. It seemed that Norton wanted a chance to really let loose here, which he certainly did, but the interplay between Burrell and Julie Bowen, already perfect, was what made it stand out.

The funniest part of the episode, however, was Jay and teenage granddaughter Haley's game of cat and mouse, as she tried to sneak out of his house for a party. Unfortunately for her, he was two steps ahead of her, having gone through this before with her mother.

This episode was another great example of how this show captures the family dynamic in new and unique ways and it didn't need two big-name guest stars to pull it off.

Did you watch last night? What did you think of Banks and Norton? Share your thoughts on video, or in the comments below.

'SYTYCD's' top 14 group routine

The solos on Wednesday night's "So You Think You Can Dance" results show were much improved after judge Nigel Lythgoe admonished them last week. As pred... wait, can I just pull an Adam Shankman and interrupt myself to say how much Wade and Amanda Robson's group routine rocked? I smell another Emmy!

Anyway, as predicted, Karen and Kevin's weak "Sweet Charity"-inspired number landed them in danger. Despite an entertaining birdcage routine, Channing and Justin joined them.

Surprisingly, and thankfully, Russell and Noelle got enough votes for their fox trot to stay safe. Despite showing a good deal more maturity this week, Nathan's female fanbase didn't vote in enough numbers to save him and his partner Mollee from the bottom three. After last week, I would have preferred to see them go, but then I saw their solos. Like it or not, they really brought it, particularly Mollee with an incredible cartwheel onto her knee.

I'm not much of a Victor fan but I also have to admit that he had a pretty impressive solo this week, too. Kevin was by far my favorite of the three guys in danger, but unfortunately, his solo was more of the same (and still reminiscent of Twitch). Like I suspected, Kevin was sent home, leaving the hip-hop contingent this season to two.

It's just too bad that Channing had only started to show her personality, but her solo didn't wow me, or the judges, apparently. With Mollee in the clear, they kept Karen, who has been one of their favorites, despite an off week (I'm guessing judge Mary Murphy really fought for her). This time, I was happy to be wrong in my prediction.

So we have an unusual situation where Victor and Karen will be paired up next week, only to be broken up - assuming they make it to the top ten.

Now it's your turn: Did the judges make the right call this week? Do you agree with my (begrudging) opinion that Mollee and Nathan earned a place in the top 12 with their solos? Sound off on video, or in the comments below.

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Kristen Stewart’s performance on the "Today" show this morning isn’t sitting well with “Twilight” fans who wish she would lighten up a little bit off the big screen.

The Twittersphere was all agog this morning after Stewart appeared on the "Today" couch with the entire morning show crew of Matt Lauer, Meredith Viera, Ann Curry and Al Roker, all of whom seemed to be getting a little Twi-crazy themselves.

“Kristen Stewart is just so boring. Looks boring. Acts as if shes bored. Shes plain boring,” Poppins__09 posted on Twitter after the interview.

“Omg. How can Kristen Stewart be an actress when she can't even answer a question in an interview without stuttering and being awkward,” aurenhayes7 also posted.

Stewart’s body language appeared quite unfriendly towards the bright and chipper group as she sat hunched over, her arms crossed against her chest, tapping her foot nervously up and down.

“Ughh kristen stewart cheer up already. you're on the today show,” helenutswoah posted on Twitter.

“Kristen Stewart on 'Today' was a waste of time. I wonder if her on 'Regis & Kelly' is going to be any better. It will have to wait for now,” wrote jesseboijai.

Unfortunately, the reviews of Stewart’s appearance on “Regis & Kelly” a mere hour later didn’t get any better.

“Ok Kristen Stewart on Regis & Kely today....awkward...studders in real life as in the movie...not a good actress...horrible interview!!!!” AmandaBarberio posted.

Granted, Stewart’s character in the “Twilight” series, Bella Swan, is a moody heartbroken teenager, so maybe she is just a very serious Method actress. Stewart also admitted to the "Today" crew that she had a cold and her interview during the 8 a.m. hour was the first of three television appearances in New York City just today.

But still, with a blockbuster movie about to hit screens and a rumored romance with every tween’s dream Robert Pattinson you would think that Kristen could put on the happy face for five minutes of an interview. Isn’t that what acting is all about?

Miley Cyrus

Here's what's happening in the world of entertainment today:

Sarah Palin's Monday appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" was a big boost for Oprah's ratings: The Hollywood Reporter says that the last time her viewership was that good was in 2007 when the entire Osmond family appeared on the show.

Miley Cyrus is not a fan of the "Twilight" saga, EW.com reports. Cyrus told an Ohio radio station, "I’ve never seen [Twilight], and nor will I ever." Turns out she is not big on vampires and werewolves in general.

Variety reports that Jennifer Hudson has been cast as Winnie Mandela, wife of Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, in the upcoming biopic "Winnie."

"Harry Potter" himself will appear on a future episode of "The Simpsons," EW.com reports. Daniel Radcliffe is the latest celebrity guest star for the show, now celebrating 20 years.