'Project Runway,' Valerie Bertinelli on Lifetime's upcoming schedule

Lifetime is still celebrating the liberation of its newest, biggest acquisition — Project Runway, once Bravo’s marquee hit — from lawsuit-related delays. But at its upfront presentation today the net also announced a schedule packed with new shows and movies, from a Runway spin-off to Cybill Shepard and Valerie Bertinelli sitcoms to a Joan Allen-Jeremy Irons film. Some of the highlights…

Project Runway and Models of the Runway The sixth season of the addictive hit returns Aug. 20 with host Heidi Klum, mentor Tim Gunn, and judges Michael Kors and Nina Garcia aboard despite the network jumping and legal entanglements. (Gunn and Garcia appeared at Lifetime’s media lunch to show just how aboard they are: "I want to sing the praises of Lifetime’s parenting of the show," Gunn assured us. And if you’ve watched the show, you know how absurdly assuring he is.) The differences this time around? The 16 new contestants will compete on the streets of L.A., Garcia has moved to Marie Claire from Elle, and it seems there’ll be ever more celeb-guest appeal. (Think Lindsay Lohan.) The hour show will also be followed each week by a 30-minute episode of Models of the Runway, a behind-the-scenes look at the ladies who showcase the designers’ wares.

Army Wives The weepy hit drama will return for its third season on June 7, with a fourth season already picked up.

Drop Dead Diva A new dramedy about a "beautiful but shallow model" who’s killed only to find her soul trapped in the body of "brilliant, thoughtful, and plus-size attorney" Jane (Brooke Elliott). She conveniently gets Jane’s intellect, too, even though she seems to also have her own memories. Which maybe means your soul is in your frontal lobe but not your cerebral cortex? Or something like that? Anyway, it’s part serialized drama/soap/fun, part procedural law show, it features Margaret Cho as Jane’s assistant (yay!), and it debuts July 12.

Syndicated hits Grey’s Anatomy and Medium reruns hit the airwaves this September, How I Met Your Mother in September 2010.

New comedy pilots Alligator Point, described as "Cheers in
a Southern oyster bar," stars Cybill Shepherd in a pilot directed and
produced by Kelsey Grammer. Valerie Bertinelli plays a single mom with,
um, single-mom-type problems in a still-untitled sitcom, and The View‘s Sherri Shepherd headlines Sherri, about a recently divorced woman getting back on her feet.

More dramas in development A 13-episode anthology series, Marry Me, will start with a couple meeting in the pilot and end with a wedding — though not necessarily theirs. Mona Lisa Smile will give the Julia Roberts movie the hour-long series treatment. And speaking of Ms. Roberts, Mystic Pizza: Another Slice will update the beloved film in a two-hour TV movie that could become a series pilot.

New reality Lifetime trots out its own take on people with lots of kids, Multiple Mayhem – sure, the couple in question have mere triplets, but they move into a town where there’s lots of triplets! Take that, Jon and Kate! Deadbeat Dads will feature intrepid track-downs of dudes who don’t pay child support but drive fancy cars. And Tough as Nails will follow a lady contractor.

Movies Maneater, based on Gigi Levangie Grazer’s bestseller, will premiere May 30, starring Sarah Chalke. Acceptance, with Joan Cusack as a mom who’ll do anything to get her daughter into a good college, is slated for August. September’s Georgia O’Keeffe stars Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons as the famous painter and her photographer love. And Michelle Pfeiffer-Ashton Kutcher vehicle Personal Effects – a straight-to-DVD movie Lifetime recently acquired — will debut in November. 

Syndicated hits Grey’s Anatomy and Medium reruns hit the airwaves this September, How I Met Your Mother in September 2010.

New comedy pilots Alligator Point, described as "Cheers ina Southern oyster bar," stars Cybill Shepherd in a pilot directed andproduced by Kelsey Grammer. Valerie Bertinelli plays a single mom with,um, single-mom-type problems in a still-untitled sitcom, and The View‘s Sherri Shepherd headlines Sherri, about a recently divorced woman getting back on her feet.

More dramas in development A 13-episode anthology series, Marry Me, will start with a couple meeting in the pilot and end with a wedding — though not necessarily theirs. Mona Lisa Smile will give the Julia Roberts movie the hour-long series treatment. And speaking of Ms. Roberts, Mystic Pizza: Another Slice will update the beloved film in a two-hour TV movie that could become a series pilot.

New reality Lifetime trots out its own take on people with lots of kids, Multiple Mayhem – sure, the couple in question have mere triplets, but they move into a town where there’s lots of triplets! Take that, Jon and Kate! Deadbeat Dads will feature intrepid track-downs of dudes who don’t pay child support but drive fancy cars. And Tough as Nails will follow a lady contractor.

Movies Maneater, based on Gigi Levangie Grazer’s bestseller, will premiere May 30, starring Sarah Chalke. Acceptance, with Joan Cusack as a mom who’ll do anything to get her daughter into a good college, is slated for August. September’s Georgia O’Keeffe stars Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons as the famous painter and her photographer love. And Michelle Pfeiffer-Ashton Kutcher vehicle Personal Effects – a straight-to-DVD movie Lifetime recently acquired — will debut in November.