Making It

Like a sweeter and more relatable Project Runway, this reality competition puts the focus on crafting and the makers who create hand-made art. Making It is clearly modeled after Project Runway: Amy and Nick are Tim Gunn, Simon and Dayna are Heidi and Zac Posen, the quick-challenge-followed-by-extended-challenge-followed-by-one-contestant-ousting is the Runway pattern. But this series is just a little kinder and more positive: while Runway contestants are frequently criticized harshly, even brought to tears, here effort and creativity is praised, and criticisms are mild (if spot-on).

Competition is also downplayed, and there's more of a focus on how the creators are making what they're making. While the makers are busy creating their objects, Poehler and Offerman wander around to ask them about what they're making and why, often cutting to photographs of the maker's other creations, or breaking into animated graphics that show how something is made: a flat-lay of all the fabric that goes into a felt unicorn head, a demonstration of how a woodworking tool creates an effect. As Poehler points out when examining a corrugated-cardboard-and-marker detail on one paper sculpture, seeing how something is made, being able to see the materials that went into it, can make even a non-crafty person imagine she could do something similar. And that's Making It's own unique artistry: it entertains by not only showing you talent, but by demonstrating that you can do it too -- that is, after you're done binging this pleasant diversion of a series.