Drag Race RuCap: “House of Fashion”

Janelle Monáe is this week's extra special judge.

CLÁUDIO ALVES: Five episodes and four weeks in, Drag Race season 15 finally delivers an episode that isn't criminally ill-paced. Sure, the beginning is rushed as fuck, and there are still no judge deliberations to be seen, but it’s miles better than the previous episodes. Some would call this a filler episode, I wager, as no storyline moves forward in any significant way. Nevertheless, “House of Fashion” left me satisfied in a way I hadn’t felt yet this season.

NICK TAYLOR: The truncation of the reading challenge was a clear sore point, but it’s maybe my only complaint in what’s otherwise a well-paced episode of television. It looks like dropping a few contestants really has eased up the editor’s gas pedal. This week’s elimination keeps “House of Fashion” from being as paradigm-shifting as Snatch Game, but it’s about the best showcase for all of the queen’s talents so far...

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Drag Race RuCap: Supersized “Snatch Game”

Neither are we, Aura. Neither are we.

NICK TAYLOR: Boy, the merciless editing of MTV’s reinstated 40-minute format really fucked the Snatch Game. I’m struggling to find a truly positive note to say about this as an episode of television - yes, this arguably did a better job of showcasing the queen’s talents than last week’s episode, but it might just be the nature of the challenge itself. Some of the queens were so poorly incorporated they might as well not have participated! Reality TV always involves manipulation and compression, but it feels bad to see these talented queens have to fight for fucking airtime...

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Drag Race RuCap: "All Queens go to Heaven"

Is this heaven...or hell?

CLÁUDIO ALVES: This week, the talk of the town within Drag Race fandom is length. It's not inches we're talking about, sadly, but minutes. After that supersized premiere, episode 3 of season 15 brings us down to reality and the format the show is taking for its new home of MTV – 40-minute episodes. Last time RuPaul's Drag Race had such limited runtimes was Season 9, but they had less competing queens. Even after Irene DuBois' elimination last episode, we're still at 15 bitches, making this episode a frantic amuse-bouche that tastes unbalanced, unstable, unhinged...

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Drag Race RuCap: “One Night Only”

So many queens! Too many?

CLÁUDIO ALVES: The most popular drag contest on television (sorry Dragula) may not be called RuPaul's Best Friends Race, but writing for The Film Experience sometimes feels like it. I've met fantastic people over the few years I've been writing for the site, and some have become close pals. Indeed, it's rare that a day goes by without me chatting the house down with the fabulously-haired Nick Taylor. But, of course, when Drag Race's on the air, those conversations devolve into jokey recaps (rucaps!), so it seemed fitting to fuel that enthusiasm back into the site that made us friends in the first place. Though our usual TFE write-ups may lean serious-minded and long-winded, we can be fun and tight. That said, please don't hold us to that promise – we'll try, and that's good enough…right, Nathaniel?

Without further ado, let's dive into the supersized Season 15 premiere...

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Emmy Category Analysis: Will Netflix, Bravo, Disney or RuPaul win "Unstructured Reality Program"?

The Film Experience Team takes a look at Emmy categories.

Netflix won Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program last year with "Cheer." Can they repeat with "Selling Sunset" (above) or "Indian Matchmaking"?

By Christopher James

I’m done feeling guilty about it, I love reality TV. Weekly Bravo nights with friends have become a staple of my social calendar. Fill my TV screen with Real Housewives, realtors Selling on Sunset or hot singles looking for “blind” love. I want it all.

Admittedly, the Unstructured Reality Program category skews much less… colorful… than my tastes in reality TV. Shows like CNN’s United Shades of America and Discovery’s Deadliest Catch have won the prize three times each, the current record. They tend to go more for “inspirational” than “drama-filled.” They were able to split the difference a bit with two wins for Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, which was when I first became invested in the category (and her campaign to EGOT)... 

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