The new ‘Steampunk’d’ design show on GSN is like ‘Mad Max’ meets ‘Project Runway’

Just when it seemed like we’d explored every kind of televised competition imaginable — dancing, weight loss, furniture building, house flipping — along comes one that sets a new bar for niche.

Airing on GSN, “Steampunk’d” features 10 contestants who are split into teams and challenged with designing a new room in innovative steampunk style each week. Hosted by Jeannie Mai (of daytime TV’s “The Real” fame), the show vanquishes one contestant each week — they literally exit through a cinematic burst of steam, making it look as if they’re venturing out into “Jack the Ripper” territory — until a final winner is deemed worthy of the $100,000 prize.

For those in need of a quick primer on the retro-futuristic steampunk movement, one of the show’s judges, Matt King, a creator/writer of online series “The World of Steam,” breaks it down: “It’s very simply Victorian science fiction. The touchstones are Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and H.P. Lovecraft. Think big gear, industrial mad science and things beyond the pale.”

Even if you think you’re unschooled in the genre, its influence has steadily crept into mainstream pop culture, and you’ve actually seen it in things like the “Dr. Who” series (time travel and those darned Daleks), Lady Gaga videos (especially “Paparazzi”) and pretty much every movie Tim Burton’s ever made (as well as his personal appearance).

Oddly enough for a movement that seems to exist only after dark, sunny California is well-represented on the show, with three of the remaining eight contestants from the area: Ave Rose (based in Culver City), Tayliss Forge (Irvine) and Morgan Olsen (Los Angeles).

Olsen, also known as Miss Morgan, became a front-runner in the first episode with her creation of an automaton for the kitchen challenge (she turned a Victorian birdcage into an impressive robot head). A fashion/costume designer who also constructs window displays and sets (next up is the stage set for “Inhale Harmonica” at L.A.’s Skypilot Theatre), Olsen’s attraction to steampunk has a feminist slant.

“My favorite part of it is that you can be a tough female in this world — not a superhero kind of Wonder Woman, but a strong woman,” she says. “I find it interesting that while it’s set in the Victorian era when women were supposed to be so quiet and unassuming, there’s a great appreciation for tough females.”

“It definitely speaks to a time when things were a bit more gentrified and genteel,” says King, who thinks the steampunk movement is just hitting its stride for a particular reason. “It’s a response to the casual-fication, if you will, of modern society. Just look at men: We used to wear frocked outfits, then we went to three-piece suits and now if you wear a collared shirt and jeans, people say, ‘Where are you going looking so fancy?’ Steampunk brings back a handmade, gentlemanly quality that’s sorely lacking today.”

Looming challenges on the show include a “Secret Lair” for a femme fatale (perhaps for Dita Von Teese, a guest judge on an upcoming episode), and a “Wild Wild East” bedroom that involves an Asian style boudoir that has a mechanism that can change the look of the room from day to night. (These mechanical design contraptions, known as Rube Goldberg devices in the steampunk world, are included in each week’s competition, along with a costume design to match the room.)

While “Steampunk’d” was shot in only a single, admittedly intense month, Olsen claims the series may be more difficult than other design competition shows.

“We had less than three days to come up with a story, design the room, build it, decorate it, make a costume and build a mechanical device,” she says. “I mean, come on, that’s like, five times as much work as ‘Project Runway!’ ”

“Steampunk’d” airs at 8 p.m. Wednesdays on GSNTV.

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