Let me state this first: I mostly DETEST reality TV. I think it's demeaning to the hapless wannabees who participate, and degrading to our society. (Witness our abysmal 45th president!) But I do have an outsider's curiosity about fashion, so I enjoyed the first few seasons of Project Runway. I watched one season of America's Top Model and was appalled by how stupid the models were, how unfunny the show was. That was it for me--heck, I hardly ever watch late-night talk shows. All the same, I'd been impressed with Ru Paul from a couple of his early TV appearances, so I checked out his Drag Race. Man oh man did I get addicted quickly! I started at the beginning and am watching the 7th season now. Unless it really jumps the shark, I plan to stick with it all the way through.
What makes the show is Ru Paul himself: he's quite intelligent, creative, educated about culture, funny as hell, warm-hearted, self-mocking, spiritual (I've seen a couple of his lectures)--and refreshingly humble, given his undeniable beauty/glamour/fashion-sense and meteoric rise to fame. Oddly for me, usually a cringer at puns, I even like his ample use of wordplay, because he whips out his puns at top speed, with impeccable comic timing, drawing on a wide range of references. His repartee with the other judges (all sweet human beings, with the marked exception of the weirdly bitter, inconsistent & nasty Michelle Visage) also shows off his lightning wit. And when he's listening attentively to an especially inarticulate/ignorant queen in the workroom, he's hilarious in how he gives them a very flat, "huh" facial expression that cuts them dead in a way that's brutally honest, not at all mean-spirited. Even when he (rarely) loses his temper, it's well-controlled and justifiable.
Because of who Ru Paul is as a person, the tone he consistently strikes, this show is about so much more than drag queens or LGBTQ+ people. It's about competition, showmanship, fashion and (exaggerated) femininity, for sure, but it's also about family, friendship, culture, self-actualization, body positivity, and love.
I guess the only thing that puts me off a bit about the show is that more often than not I've never heard of his celebrity judges. But then, I am a 66-yr-old who's watched little TV. So that doesn't even knock down my rating by one star. Oh, and there is some bullying among the queens that the viewer has to put up with--but I suppose that counts as "snarky" humor these days: they are adults, after all.
What makes the show is Ru Paul himself: he's quite intelligent, creative, educated about culture, funny as hell, warm-hearted, self-mocking, spiritual (I've seen a couple of his lectures)--and refreshingly humble, given his undeniable beauty/glamour/fashion-sense and meteoric rise to fame. Oddly for me, usually a cringer at puns, I even like his ample use of wordplay, because he whips out his puns at top speed, with impeccable comic timing, drawing on a wide range of references. His repartee with the other judges (all sweet human beings, with the marked exception of the weirdly bitter, inconsistent & nasty Michelle Visage) also shows off his lightning wit. And when he's listening attentively to an especially inarticulate/ignorant queen in the workroom, he's hilarious in how he gives them a very flat, "huh" facial expression that cuts them dead in a way that's brutally honest, not at all mean-spirited. Even when he (rarely) loses his temper, it's well-controlled and justifiable.
Because of who Ru Paul is as a person, the tone he consistently strikes, this show is about so much more than drag queens or LGBTQ+ people. It's about competition, showmanship, fashion and (exaggerated) femininity, for sure, but it's also about family, friendship, culture, self-actualization, body positivity, and love.
I guess the only thing that puts me off a bit about the show is that more often than not I've never heard of his celebrity judges. But then, I am a 66-yr-old who's watched little TV. So that doesn't even knock down my rating by one star. Oh, and there is some bullying among the queens that the viewer has to put up with--but I suppose that counts as "snarky" humor these days: they are adults, after all.