'Project Runway' Struts Over to Lifetime. Not So Fast, Says NBC.

Bravo has telecast four editions of "Runway." In one of those awkward developments that almost always mark the end of long-term relationships, the cable network already has begun pre-production on a fifth cycle.

How did the Weinsteins repay NBC Universal for all this transformation?

Well, they "threatened to take future Cycles of the Program to a competing television network" unless NBC Universal would agree to pay many millions of additional dollars to acquire a package that included not just the series but also TV rights to "second-tier" Weinstein Co. flicks, NBC Universal claimed.

Even so, NBC Universal continued its good-faith talks with the Weinstein Co., not knowing that back in February, it had "secretly purported to grant to Lifetime rights to future Cycles of the Program" as part of a package deal that included those who-wants-'em flicks, without complying with NBC Universal's right of first refusal, the studio says. NBC Universal added that it suspects the Weinstein Co. kept the whole Lifetime relationship under cloak, while continuing "sham" talks with NBC Universal to prevent it from "seeking legal redress until after TWC received payments from Lifetime and Lifetime publicly announced its purported acquisition" of the show.

Will NBC Universal prevail and force those Weinstein scoundrels back into bed with little Bravo, leaving Lifetime a sadder but wiser chick network? Or will the court erupt in laughter at media behemoth NBC Universal's efforts to cast itself as the unwitting victim of the Weinsteins' cunning and tell NBCU to stick a sock in it?

Will Heidi Klum be tied to some railroad tracks with the Acela heading into the station? Please?

Stay tuned!