ATL Report – Atlanta News and Gossip

After a lackluster first season on Lifetime, the network is bringing back season seven of “Project Runway” next month featuring Atlantan Anthony L. Williams as one of the designers.

The Birmingham native who moved to Atlanta a couple of years ago will join the cast starting January 14. Most of the show, of course, has been taped already.

The good news is the show is back in New York City, enabling judges Michael Kors and Nina Garcia more airtime. (They were frequently absent when the show taped in 2008 in Los Angeles.).

Season six, the first on Lifetime, didn’t do too badly in the ratings, averaging more than 3 million viewers a week. But fans complained the cast was boring, the fashions uninspired and the celebrity guest judges less than enthralling.

Lifetime got Williams on the phone with me Wednesday. He is definitely a savvy character. I’ll write a bit more once I get a screener of the first episode.