One of the most endearing charms of RuPaul’s Drag Race is its catalog of entertaining, show-specific challenges. There’s the Reading Is Fundamental mini-challenge, the makeover challenge, and the Rusical, to name just a few. Its most high-profile challenge, though, is Snatch Game. Snatch Game is not only Drag Race’s…

As Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the writers demonstrated so entertainingly in the premiere, the Selina of season seven is significantly darker and more cutthroat than the Selina of season one. Whereas she started the series competent and clear-eyed, stuck in a mostly ceremonial position, in season seven Selina’s desperate…

Halfway through its run, RuPaul’s Drag Race season 11 has a personality problem. While there is energy and charisma to spare in the workroom, only a few of the queens consistently stand out in the challenges, delivering memorable, distinct performances. Most of those who do—Vanjie, Nina, and sometimes Silky—are…

After a strong return, Veep slows down in “Discovery Weekend,” focusing less on re-establishing the show’s trademark rhythms and energy and more on setting up the rest of the season to come. Selina has taken the weekend off of campaigning in Iowa to attend mega-donor Felix Wade’s Discovery Weekend, a retreat in the…

Season 11 has been exciting and fun so far, with interesting and varied challenges and plenty of talented queens delivering both in the challenges and on the runway. Yet at episode six, we’re only to a top 10. There’s a long way to go and the pressures of competing on Drag Race are starting to take a toll on some of…

Veep has been off the air for the better part of two years. When we left Selina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and company, she was planning her re-entry into the political sphere, having decided to run for president again. It was disappointing, if not unexpected, at the time. What candidate could overcome the criminal charges…

The time has come, once again, for a Drag Race ball. One of the show’s staple challenges, the ball is eagerly anticipated each season and with the queens upping their runway game year-over-year, expectations are high. This season, Ru’s throwing a Monster Ball, a creative and fun choice and the most interesting ball…

Drag is an incredibly varied art form, but there is one aspect all drag shares: It is inherently political. Whether a queen centers their performance on politics and social justice or distances themselves from current events entirely, the act of getting up on stage in drag is a bold statement, challenging societal…

RuPaul’s Drag Race is no stranger to manipulative, misleading editing. The producers’ main goal is to create an entertaining television show and frequently, they correlate entertaining with surprising, angling for shocking twists and underdog, come-from-behind victories. But what’s a producer to do when one team nails…

All Stars 4 saved its acting challenge for its penultimate episode, reimagining Sex And The City with its top five queens. The writing was bad, the performances were middling on the whole, and it was an uninspiring final challenge in a season full of creative and fun takes on Drag Race staples. Season 11 learns from…

Fresh off of All Stars 4’s double crowning, it would be easy for even the most ardent Drag Race fan to be ready for a break. The series is higher-profile than ever and with two years of All Stars feeding directly into Drag Race, the risk of burn-out is real. Fortunately, season 11 makes a strong case for itself right…

The previous episode’s shocking elimination promised to be a game-changer. While “Sex And The Kitty Girl” ultimately reverts to form, the ripples from Naomi’s choice are felt throughout the episode, making for the most exciting deliberations yet. Previous polarizing eliminations have prompted fan backlash toward the…

For the first time this season, the elimination comes as a genuine surprise. The producers and editors on RuPaul’s Drag Race have made sure each of the All Stars 4 eliminations have felt organic and earned, and in retrospect, inevitable. With “RuPaul’s Best Judy’s Race,” that changes. The audience will find out next…

After weeks of comedy challenges and last episode’s lip-sync bonanza, RuPaul’s Drag Race changes things up with a design challenge. That’s not entirely accurate. As Valentina says, this is a design challenge, a hosting challenge, a comedy challenge, and a branding challenge, all wrapped up in one. The queens must work…

After weeks of build-up and fan speculation, the eliminated queens are back on All Stars 4, and it’s—well, it’s fine. “LaLaPaRUza” is a victim of overhype, with promos playing up Ru’s dramatic revocation of All Stars rules two episodes ago, after “Jersey Justice.” When this twist didn’t materialize until the final…

RuPaul’s Drag Race is many things. It’s a drag revue; a variety show; a vehicle spotlighting queer excellence, acceptance, and understanding; a branding and merchandising engine; and a giant billboard promoting RuPaul Charles, Michelle Visage, and the various queens who have broken through to new audiences via the…

Let’s take a moment to honor esteemed queen and Drag Race royalty Latrice Royale. Heading into All Stars 4, Latrice’s name was one of if not the most exciting on the docket. Fan favorite isn’t strong enough; she is, as Valentina says, the Dearly Beloved. At the start of the season, the notion of Latrice being only the…

Several of the queens returning for RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars 4 have received villain edits. Manila and her fellow Heathers came off as bullies in season three, Gia stirred the pot in season six, and by the season nine reunion, Valentina had worn through her fellow queens’ goodwill and got called out, most notably…

The week after Thanksgiving should be a time of rest and recovery, a few glorious days’ respite before the second wave of holiday craziness crashes down. Not so in my family. Each year, my mom and I take on a task of Herculean proportions: baking, boxing, and delivering dozens of Christmas cookie care packages. This…