Even if having love for fashion-related reality TV is becoming an increasingly rarified quality, you may take at least a passing interest in the fact that NBC's answer to the genre, Fashion Star (click the link just to see the remarkably unflattering and heavily retouched profile photos of host Elle MacPherson and mentors Jessica Simpson, John Varvatos, and Nicole Richie), debuts tonight at 9:30.

Modeled much like The Voice, the season premier of which I actually enjoyed when it came on after the Superbowl, aims to be less about the drama and the whining-about-being-tired stuff you get plenty of with Project Runway, and instead keep the focus on the competition aspect. Designers found worthy will have their designs selected by buyers for Macy's, H&M, and Saks, and they will actually be made available to the purchasing public (the day after each episode, in a filming-to-airing time-frame sleight of hand).

And, if you, like me, find that a home-team player goes a long way toward making it to the threshold of interest, look no further than Lizzie Parker. True, she hails from Seattle and not Portland, but she has shown sizable collections many times at Portland Fashion Week, so I'm grandfathering her in. Besides, as you can see by this a bit too-long profile interview, she is confident, well spoken, grounded, and realistic—we should be proud to "adopt" her as a pet favorite in the season's proceedings. Now if I only had a TV…