THEGAYUK

Category: TV

  • Rupaul’s Drag Race Season 11 update: Magic, Twins, Camp and FINALE TEA!!

    Rupaul’s Drag Race Season 11 update: Magic, Twins, Camp and FINALE TEA!!

    Well, it’s been quite the few weeks in the world of Drag Race!! Queen of Queens Rupaul has been the source of many discussions regarding her recent decisions on the show as well as her MET Gala look and recent TV appearances!!

    First the last two episodes: Episode 10.

    One of the best episodes so far, with a good story-line and a great challenge. Oh, and lots of Pit Crew!! Ah, and an appearance of Delta Work! You know: classic Drag Race!

    It was also home of a first: namely Vanjie finally winning a challenge. Okay, a mini challenge, but still.

    The win meant she could select her team for this weeks main challenge: a drag magic show!!

    Sadly, she didn’t use this position to her advantage, as the team she selected … well, let’s just say, sadly, it didn’t do too well. This is sad, as a team consisting out of the more vocal queens of the show (Vanjie, Silky, A’keria and Yvie) could have worked.

    The main reason as to why this happened is soon clear as during creating and rehearsing their show the team doesn’t seem to listen to each other (Silky even falls asleep) and Vanjie is seen trying to please everyone and feeling uncomfortable. Then they have to redo it all again as Team Da Black Magic as they call themselves are told their material is too blue for family VH1 viewing. Despite performing reasonably well, the poor girls didn’t stand a chance.

    The other team (The Mighty Tucks) consisting of Nina, Brooke Lynn and Shuga Cain immediately seems prepared and ready: working on a full back story, a naughty but suitable for family script and an almost professional act. The moment they start you feel as if you’re watching a group of queens who’ve been doing this for years. They could basically tour this act!!

    It is clear that they are this weeks winners.

    After a strong Kaftan based Runway the judges start their critique. It’s easy: They loved The Mighty Tucks and disliked Da Black Magic. Nina rightfully wins this week while Yvie and Silky are especially singled out for respectively their stage presence and their shocking padding, We think we know who will be in the bottom two.

    But … there is a twist: the winning team doesn’t win as a team, with Shuga Cain singled out as a week link and put in the sing of. This is very odd as Shuga proved herself a strong and funny team member and should not have been part of the bottom two.

    As team leader of Da Black Magic it is Vanjie who ends up as second bottom two member and turns out a very strong lip sync.

    It is goodbye to Brooke Lynn.

    Soon after Ru appeared at the MET gala and, sadly her outfit wasn’t to everyone’s taste and caused an absolute storm on the internet with some people actually sending death threats. Now I know fashion and glamour is a serious subject to many, but really?!!

    Ru later explained her decision not to wear drag to Stephen Colbert: she had been lead to believe there would be hundreds of drag queens and had opted to stand out in a different way. To her this outfit was camp. It is a shame, as this being the year drag queens were finally invited and the theme being camp it could have been the perfect year for Ru to once again make history.

    Soon, though, the MET controversy was forgotten as Ru surprised Anne Hathaway live on TV and her response was … interesting to say the least.

    Things became even more heated after episode 11. An episode that saw a few of the eliminated queens return.

    Before that, though there was a return of the “reading and slapping” challenge, which Ru left entirely in the hands of the girls, after he accidentally hit Asia for real last year.

    The girls take full advantage of their chance to hit their colleagues and release some pent up energy.

    Brooke Lynn is the best, using her ballet skills to amp up her comedy, and rightfully won.

    Then the eliminated queens return for a challenge (and a fight.) They are to be made over by the still standing queens. As usual “family resemblance” is the key. Brooke Lynn gets the honor of pairing up the queen with their future sister and on the whole her pairings could work. The only problem seems to be the pairing of Silky and Soju and this played out rather painfully on screen. Feighning friendlyness during the challenge Silky madfe it rather clear in her backstage chat that she didn’t care for Soju as a partner at all. Seeing Soju working hard to do anything to please and help Silky made you feel for her. Come on, the girl tried to work in heels for you despite it hurting and let you work on her face with a sharpy!!

    Meanwhile a few fights about wigs and opinions broke out. But considering all that happened online between the season 11 queens during this seasons broadcast we can expect far worse during the reunion!!

    Judging from what we are shown in the episode the people setting themselves up for fail are Silky and Nina. Silky because she and Soju are just not in that “sisterly vibe” zone as all the other and Nina because, even though her her idea is wonderful: The Rainbow Flag and the Transgender Flag embracing each other, the outfits do not look alike. This is sad because Nina’s idea and look would have been a winner in a “Pride” challenge, but for a twin look it is just not working.
    This all plays out as expected.

    Meanwhile Vanjie is followed throughout the episode and from what we see and hear we’re certain: this will finally be Vanjie’s week. She’s had such a rough time after being brought back from last season. Now, finally her anxiety and hard work will be validated: Vanjie will get her win AT LAST!!

    Come decision time, though, things turn confusing. The runway and judges critiques made it clear: clearly this will be a redemption win for Vanjie. She made Ariel into a virtual twin, so much so you can’t even spot the difference between them at times. This is actual family resemblance!! Adding to this: the look was gorgeous.

    Not that Brooke Lynn didn’t turn it out, but Vanjie’s work was perfection. Seeing the hopeful expectation on Vanjie’s face turn to heartbreak after being denied a win yet again was sad.

    Thankfully Brooke Lynn said she would share her reward (a holiday for two) with her.

    Then the lip-sync: Nina vs Silky. A lot of accusations have been thrown towards Rupaul for putting Nina in the bottom two, but it was clear that though her idea was beautiful, the execution just didn’t look right for this challenge. Then the performance itself: seriously? Silky, after ten weeks of bigging herself up turns out with this? Nina clearly was the best one here performance wise, though only by a small margin.

    The only reason I can see for keeping Silky might be because, at the time, production thought she would be a fan favorite and the face she had thought up a reveal (a small and confusing one, but still) and attempted to use the entire space and tried a split? Yes, grasping at straws here.

    Meh indeed …

    So, this week the finale was recorded, taking six hours in total. Queens old and new walked the red carpet and later the runway. You can see what this seasons queens wore on this Drag Race Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/rupaulsdragrace/?hl=en

    To keep the mystery two exciting crownings were recorded. Soon we will find out which one will be shown when we the audience help Ru decide the official winner. Shockingly WOW had already leaked the official top four earlier this week in their recording announcements, rest assured if you missed it I will not spoil it for you.

    There was some drama with two audience members being evicted for posting live pictures and updates to social media. Having seen some I can reveal one important thing: this time Ru looks absolutely gorgeous!!

  • Everything you need to know about Eurovision

    Everything you need to know about Eurovision

    With Eurovision just around the corner, we thought we’ve delve into the whys, hows and whens of the world’s biggest music competition.

    What is Eurovision about?

    In Eurovision, more than 40 countries compete to win votes for the best song! When the competition first started in 1956, it was exclusive to European countries and only seven nations participated. Since then, the rules have relaxed – so much so that even Australia is in.

    Today Eurovision is far from being just a song contest. It’s about music but it’s equally about putting on a show and creating a buzz. Among Eurovision winners is, for example, a group of monsters.

    How many people tune in… and why?

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    Eurovision is considered one of the world’s longest running and most-watched reality television franchises, attracting up to 600 million viewers every year. In the last two decades, it has consistently ranked among the most-watched live entertainment TV broadcasts worldwide, outside of sporting events. The Super Bowl is peanuts compared to Eurovision!

    It’s hard to say why Eurovision is so popular. It has a strong fan base but most viewers are passionate about it only once a year, and some just love to hate it. William Lee Adams, a Eurovision blogger and YouTuber, describes Eurovision as a combination of “figure skating, beauty pageants, and singing competitions”. What’s not to love!

    Who decides the winner of Eurovision?

    The participating countries. For years, each country ranked other countries’ performances awarding them points from 1 to 12, excluding 9 and 11. Each country still awards the same number of points, but two sets of them; one from a national jury and the other from national televoting. So the top points can be anything between 12 and 24 points.

    This all happens live, and if you have no idea how the voting works, then it’s like watching a lecture on nuclear physics. On top of that, the voting takes place when it’s way past bedtime (if you watch it in Russia anyway).

    Has anyone famous ever won Eurovision?

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    Yes; but they weren’t particularly well known when they did. ABBA won in 1974 with “Waterloo” and made their international breakthrough shortly after. Few people know that the group had released “Ring Ring” a year before – they were never chosen to represent Sweden in Eurovision with the song but they did top the charts across Europe and South Africa.

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    Céline Dion won Eurovision with “Ne partez pas sans moi”, representing Switzerland in 1988, although she is Canadian. Anyone can represent any country in Eurovision, and anyone can write the song, regardless of their nationality.

    Which country has won Eurovision the most?

    Ireland has won Eurovision seven times which is more than any other country, but looking at the distribution of ‘maximum points’ votes instead of wins, the UK’s entries have been the most successful in the song contest’s final history.

    According to Casumo’s findings, however, things might be about to change. Sweden is a close second for both the number of wins and distribution of ‘maximum points’ votes. Given the Scandinavian country’s recent strong track record – 10 top 5 positions since 2000 – Ireland and the UK have no reason to be complacent.

    Do countries favour each other?

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    Oh yes. This is why the European Broadcasting Union introduced national juries to balance the results from televoting in each country. Some people argue that the juries are just as corrupt as televoting, which is influenced not only by sympathies and shared cultural ties between countries, but also the movement of people from one country to another. There is, for example, a significant Greek population in Cyprus and Finnish population in Sweden.

    Casumo found out which countries have given their ‘maximum points’ vote to the same country the most frequently over the years. Number one was Cyprus, who gave a ‘maximum points’ vote to Greece as many as 22 times (37% of the time the country has been eligible to vote Greece).

    Who’s the favourite to win this year?

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    Currently, Duncan Laurence of the Netherlands is considered a frontrunner, but Russia’s Sergey Lazarev and Italy’s Mahmood follow close behind – all quite conventional pop tunes. One thing to keep an eye on is who each country gives their ‘maximum points’ vote to. The UK has backed the eventual competition winner by awarding them the ‘maximum points’ vote on 25 occasions. Latvia and Australia have backed the winner most regularly – in 50% of the finals they’ve been eligible to vote in.

    Romania and Azerbaijan, however, have never guessed the winner correctly…

    Who organises the event, and why is it in Israel this year?

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    The contest is organised by the national public broadcaster of the country that won the year before. Last year Israel’s Netta Barzilai won, so Israel is this year’s host nation. The European Broadcasting Union supports and supervises the work of the host broadcaster, so the contest looks pretty much the same every year: big, shiny and extravagant.

    In the 1990s, Ireland hosted Eurovision four times in just five years. What the nation lost in organising costs, it certainly gained in visibility!

  • EPIC FAIL: Blind Date sends two Bi-men to destination where homosexuality is illegal

    EPIC FAIL: Blind Date sends two Bi-men to destination where homosexuality is illegal

    Blind Date, which made history after broadcasting its first ever bisexual episode has made a huge faux pas after sending the winners – two bisexual men to a place where gay sex acts are illegal.

    Blind Date on Channel 5 was hailed for its inclusivity of bisexual contestants in a recent episode, however, the prize, a trip to St. Lucia has caused concern as same-sex sex acts between males are actually illegal on the Island.

    The show brought together Jordan Shannon and Jesse Drew.

    Speaking to the Daily Star, Jordan Shannon said, “I didn’t know [about the law] until I was told on the way to the hotel. I thought, ‘What the f**k?’, The hotel security woman told me how most gay men were in the closet there as homosexuality is illegal. It’s 10 years in prison if caught.”

    Channel 5 has yet to address the mistake. A spokesperson for Channel 5 said, “We didn’t know and are taking this up with the production company.”

    Sexual activity between two people of the same sex could lead to a 10-year prison spell and is just one of over 70 countries where homosexuality is still illegal.

  • TV REVIEW | Rupaul’s Drag Race season 11 episode 8 and 9: Irresistible

    This is a two in one review that I hope you will enjoy.

    Last week Drag Race presented us with Rupaul teaching the queens all about promotion, using her own book Guru as a tool for a fun mini challenge.

    The episode also included a visit from the lovely Jinx Monsoon who coached the girls into the always much anticipated snatch game.

    That segment proved a clear problem some queens always have: when told their strengths and weaknesses – or what may or may not work they never listen. Or they only take it on board when it’s too late. If Ru or a seasoned queen makes it clear they think you’d be better suited to do a character they know you excel at: do it!!

    So Snatch Game itself was … uneven, the ones that were good were good, the ones that were not absolutely bombed!

    Silky won overall. Now her Snatch Game was good but what does Nina West have to do to be noticed? She presented two wonderfully funny characters and completely changed up her look and still she just gets a “well done, byeee!!”

    It must be discouraging to be working so hard and never be seen.

    The runway was a fabulous sequin spectacle with Brooke Lynn Heights pulling a beautiful mega reveal. Sadly as she failed on Snatch Game it didn’t do her much good.

    Then the much talked about lip-sync: Yvie vs Brooke Lynn.

    I know a lot of fans say this was the best lip-sync ever but it wasn’t for me. Yes, it was good but I prefer ones that don’t use acrobatics but instead have real dancing or the ones where the queens are so into the song it seems as if they sing it themselves.

    Still it was good, so good in fact no-one sashayed away.

    This week saw the library open for one of the strangest of Reading challenges. This it seemed as if non of the girls really knew how to really read and were better at clapping back. Silky and her footnote was the strangest one of all. Brooke Lynn was absolutely the best and deserved her win. Future queens better go and watch Paris is Burning to get schooled in reading like a pro!!

    One of the rewards of winning her reading challenge was that Brooke Lynn got to select who teamed up with who for this weeks main challenge. An improv police series called: L.A.D.P.: Los Angeles Drag Patrol. There was some shade involved in her choices, but also a little wisdom. Pairing a more subdued queen with a vocal one can work – and it did for most of them.

    The challenge itself was fun for the most with Silky and Brooke Lynn shining (it was not surprising Nina felt some kind of way giving Brooke Lynn the part she had wanted to do herself. She ended up being barely featured in the scene at all!!) But the absolute star was A’Keria Davenport who finally felt ready to let go. She was funny and an absolute twerk star!

    The real winner, to me, though was RuPaul. The delivery of her connecting secretary scenes were hilarious – especially when she was “speaking cat”.

    So, talking about cats: sad to say Plastique Tiara and Miss Vanjie were … not there – they looked great and their thing could have been funny, if they had prepared a little more. Also two cats fighting over milk. Did no-one even think about fighting over Milk? As in the former contestant? It could have made the joke a lot better.

    Then the runway, this week category is the Facekini. Though the show says it’s based on Ru’s iconic wearing of the facial garment, the original for this look is course Leigh Bowery, which is mentioned by Nina West who wears an outfit inspired by him. Sadly, though her look is one of the best, she doesn’t get singled out and just ends up “safe”.

    Absolute winner is A’Keria who also slays the runway, a well deserved win.

    Over to one of the most cozy and cheerful Untuckeds ever. The girls were at their calmest: talking like friends and just being happy an friendly with each other. It’s good to have episodes like this once in a while.

    The bottom two was right: both Vanjie and Plastique were just not on point in both the challenge and the runway. Vanjie was clearly ready to slay a lip-sync, having prepared herself every week and easily beat Plastique.

    From all kinds of whispers it is clear we do not have to mourn the loss of our Asian Queen for long, her popularity might spur her on to All stars 5. If you can’t wait that long, take a look at what she did next here:

  • TV show Blind Date to introduce Bisexual daters

    TV show Blind Date to introduce Bisexual daters

    For the first time, Blind Date is introducing an all bisexual dating panel.

    The brand new series of Blind Date will feature a first for the classic TV dating show – a mixed line-up of male and females, as they introduce bisexual daters to the format.

    In an upcoming episode of the show presenter Paul O’Grady will introduce beauty consultant Jordan as he chooses between support worker Lily, model Jesse or French master’s student Zoe.

    This new format element follows the introduction of all-male and all-female line-ups when the series returned in 2017.

    Blind Date presenter Paul O’Grady said, “I’m delighted that Blind Date is continuing to be inclusive by giving a platform to those who identify as bisexual. It was a joy to film and I’m sure Cilla would have been proud”

    In January 2018, Blind Date made history when it hosted an all male, all gay episode of the show.

    Blind Date airs Sunday’s at 8pm on Channel 5, Catch the episode when it airs in May on Channel 5.

  • TV REVIEW | Drag Race Season 11 Episode 7 Back, Back, Back again!!

    TV REVIEW | Drag Race Season 11 Episode 7 Back, Back, Back again!!

    Yes!! There she was at last: the much quoted much mentioned Alyssa Edwards returned to Drag Race this week and breathed some much-needed life in this year’s slightly confusing season.

    The episode started with the queens feeling a bit low and irritated with each other. RuPaul seemed intent on changing this rut this week, staging a potato-sack race (with boobs) that put a bit of a smile on the queen’s faces (especially the winners as the best queens got rather a lot of money!!)

    The challenge itself, though, brought everyone back to earth: Farm to Runway. The queens got the almost impossible challenge of turning farm food and fabric into actual fashion worthy challenges.

    A lot of the queens seem happy with the challenge, ready to show their creative selves.

    This week the episode was very much Plastique Tiara’s chance to shine, and she did!! Her emotional talk with RuPaul about her upbringing and sad relationship with her family was heartbreaking, resulting in the first documented workroom hug from Ru. Then we were later introduced to her lighter more carefree side with the arrival of her drag-mother: Alyssa. The change in attitude from Plastique was amazing, and resulted in getting her first big win!! Well done.

    It seemed Alyssa had a positive influence on everyone with her catwalk training, fun motivational speeches and choreography. It was the first time all queens seemed at ease and smiling.
    The show is stressful and emotional, and having a person step in with a positive attitude who knows what you’ve been through helps a lot. Alyssa is a great teacher and it was clear she cares for her new drag sisters (and daughters) a lot.

    Sadly nothing could help poor Ra’Jah. The queen clearly felt undervalued in the show, longing for praise and help, but also pushing away everyone who reached out. Over the weeks it was sad to see a clearly talented artist fall victim to their (in Ru’s words) “Inner saboteur”.

    What was also sad was hearing her tell Akeria about knowing she was having a breakdown but no-one was helping her, no one had ever told her she was loved. The jealousy she displayed towards Plastique came from a place of hurt. It was good to see a young queen like Plastique sensing this and comforting the angry Ra’Jah instead of fighting.

    She explained this later:

    https://twitter.com/plastiquetiara/status/1116715770128498693

    https://twitter.com/plastiquetiara/status/1116715771382697984

    Hopefully Ra’Jah will find her inner peace so her true talent can shine one day. A lot of queens got the chance to redeem themselves during an All Star season, I hope she can have that too.

    Judging from her after show interviews she has already started working on her problems.
    But we’ll see at the reunion.

    With Ra’Jah gone focus is now shifting to the differences between Yvie Oddly, Silky and Miss Vanjie. This could be getting interesting!! Stay tuned!!

  • Chris Lilley has a new show coming soon and we’re so ready for it

    Chris Lilley has a new show coming soon and we’re so ready for it

    Comedian and writer Chris Lilley has a brand new show out on Netflix and we’re so here for it

    Netflix has confirmed that 10 episodes of Chris Lilley‘s brand new show, Lunatics, is coming out in mid April. The show, which looks like it follows Chris’s usual format of a comedy mockumentary following several different characters over a set period is due to stream from the 19th April on Netflix.

    Netflix tells us, “The documentary examines the lives of six extraordinary individuals and explores the idea that people are not what they seem at first. Through documentary interviews, self recorded and fly on the wall footage the six intriguing subjects are observed over a period of months. Their stories unfold with hilarious results. As eccentric and odd as they all are, they are scarily recognisable types and they teach us that it’s ok to just be you”.

    Check out the trailer here.

     

  • Where can I see Tales Of The City and how many episodes are there?

    Where can I see Tales Of The City and how many episodes are there?

    Armistead Maupin’s Tales Of The City is coming to the small screen, here’s where you can see it and how many episodes there are.

    Armistead Maupin‘s Tales Of The City is coming back to life thanks to Netflix, who are giving us a 10 episode series launching on the 7th June 2019.

    The show’s original run was made into a miniseries for Channel 4 and was first broadcast in 1993. The very first mini-series had just six episodes, so the brand new production by Netflix actually adds 4 new episodes to the show.

    The show stars Laura Linney, Ellen Page, Olympia Dukakis, Paul Gross, Murray Bartlett, Charlie Barnett, Garcia and May Hong.

    Are any of the original cast in the 2019 Netflix reboot?

    Yes, in fact the 2019 Netflix reboot of Tales Of The City see Laura Linney and Olympia Dukakis return to reprise their roles as Mary Ann Singleton and Anna Madrigal, respectively.

    When is Tales Of The City coming to Netflix?

    So what is Tales Of The City all about?

    Inspired by the books of Armistead Maupin, Netflix Limited Series Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City begins a new chapter in the beloved story. Mary Ann (Laura Linney) returns to present-day San Francisco and is reunited with her daughter Shawna (Ellen Page) and ex-husband Brian (Paul Gross), twenty years after leaving them behind to pursue her career. Fleeing the midlife crisis that her picture-perfect Connecticut life created, Mary Ann is quickly drawn back into the orbit of Anna Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis), her chosen family and a new generation of LGBT+ young residents living at 28 Barbary Lane.

    Where can I watch Tales Of The City?

    Tales Of The City will be streaming on Netflix from the 7th of June. It is believed that all episodes will be available to stream immediately on the service.

  • TV REVIEW | Rupaul’s Drag Race season 11 episode 6: Drag Olympics

    This week the theme was “sport” and the Olympics. Not words you expect to hear in Drag Race, but the Sport was Jane Fonda based and the Olympics turned out to be in fact “The Olympics of Drag”, so any worry soon disappeared.

    For the mini-challenge, we were introduced to a drag friend of Ru’s: Love Connie, who led the queens through a vigorous and funny retro aerobics challenge. For those of you who don’t know: Connie is a rather famous queen, having starred in movies like Legally Blonde. She was also hilarious.

    Winners of the challenge were Plastique Tiara and A’Keria C. Davenport who were told to select teams for the Drag Olympics. At the end of the selections, the queens were split evenly into two teams: those who could move and those who … couldn’t …

    Over to rehearsals of an intricate choreography based on the history of ballroom culture. This is where storylines came into play.

    Yvie Oddly who pushes through the pain because her time is limited: her illness will progress over the years and she knows she may very well end up in a wheelchair (though she knows that still won’t stop her performing.)

    There was also the Scarlet Envy story: most of the queens are looking down on her and seemed gleeful about her struggling with dancing.

    Vanjie is starting to feel depressed and is a lot more subdued. Fighting through tears she explains she feels she isn’t presenting her best self and letting Rupaul down.

    We also saw Plastique Tiara a bit more involved in it all, in Untucked she was actually part of a fight.

    Silky accused her of looking down on her and other queens. This because Ariel Versace left some wigs and hair at her (Plastique’s) station which Silky and others took. Plastique knew it was meant for her but said it didn’t matter as the other queens needed it more. Silky saw that as an insult and claimed Plastique couldn’t know the hair was for her. Ariel confirmed on Twitter that yes is was for Plastique.

    Okay, the Olympics themselves were fabulous with the teams dancing to remixes of Drag Race quotes past. The only cloud over this was poor Yvie’s ankle rolling, still, it was a joy to see Brook Lynn swoop in to carry her so she could take part in the finale.

    The Runway this week was all about gold. Most memorable being Yvie, who used her injury to her advantage.

    The team featuring the best dancers naturally won, with team leader A’keria winning overall.

    Then a sad moment where the losing team all deciding to throw Scarlet under the bus, which saw her end up in the bottom two at a disadvantage.

    Second-bottom two entree was once again Ra’Jah, who miraculously survived again despite Scarlet’s lip-sync being more original and entertaining. This result caused quite the stir on the internet.

    So that’s it for this belated review, hopefully back to normal next week!!

  • Netflix is about to get a whole lot more gayer

    Netflix is about to get a whole lot more gayer

    The good eggs at Netflix are all about giving to the gays, this time, they’re giving us a whole series of Tales Of The City.

    Armistead Maupin‘s Tales Of The City is coming back to life thanks to Netflix, who are giving us a 10 episode series launching on the 7th June 2019. The show stars Laura Linney, Ellen Page, Olympia Dukakis, Paul Gross, Murray Bartlett, Charlie Barnett, Garcia and May Hong.

    When is Tales Of The City coming to Netflix?

    So what is Tales Of The City all about?

    Inspired by the books of Armistead Maupin, Netflix Limited Series Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City begins a new chapter in the beloved story. Mary Ann (Laura Linney) returns to present-day San Francisco and is reunited with her daughter Shawna (Ellen Page) and ex-husband Brian (Paul Gross), twenty years after leaving them behind to pursue her career. Fleeing the midlife crisis that her picture-perfect Connecticut life created, Mary Ann is quickly drawn back into the orbit of Anna Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis), her chosen family and a new generation of LGBT+ young residents living at 28 Barbary Lane.

    When is Tales Of The City coming to Netflix?

    Tales Of The City will be streaming on Netflix from the 7th of June. It is believed that all episodes will be available to stream immediately on the service.

  • TV REVIEW | Rupaul’s Drag Race season 11 episode 5: BEAST!!

    Okay … this episode was a little confusing as … it wasn’t really about anything.

    via GIPHY

    Yes, there was a ball – a Monsterball even. But something felt off.

    Much as I love Drag Race, this year it seems hard to connect to the show. It isn’t Ru’s fault: he is doing wonderful. He really seems to have found his groove back, harking back to his excited self from earlier series. More involved and actually part of the judging team.

    No, the error seems to lay in the editing which seems intend on focusing on things that don’t matter much and contestants who seem to care more about making good TV and talking heads instead of actually BEING ON DRAG RACE!!

    This time last year I knew the contestants and felt part of it all. This year it seems we are only allowed to know a select few. A few weeks ago I was rooting for A’keria Davenport but she’s so rarely featured I had completely forgotten about her until she was included in a talking head this week. Same for Plastique Tiara and some others.

    It’s really distracting having to go “who’s that? Oh yes …” even five weeks in. Despite it working with fourteen last year, maybe having fifteen queens is just too many, as it’s harder to connect with all of them. Having the narrative revolve around only a few of them doesn’t help either.

    So what happened this week? Well, mainly a surprising amount of Alyssa Edwards references which made many people (including me) expect she would appear in this episode. She didn’t, though Trixie Mattel did. The All Stars winner led the contestants through a mini challenge. The challenge was turning yourself into a doll that could befriend Ru’s new Rupaul doll. Meaning that for once it truly was Rupaul’s best friend race. Ra’Ja won.

    Then the Maxi Challenge: the Monsters Ball. Now I’m always a fan of the ball episodes, but I prefer them later in the series when we can really focus on the final 5/6 queens getting ready for their big moment. When the one queen that can’t sew has a wobbly bur regains themselves. And then Rupaul returns reminding them: ya … erm … you also have to do a song …

    This week there was no song and because we had to feature 33 looks in one episode we hardly saw any workroom activity. Though we did get a huge amount of Silky chanting something about a runway and some more insight into the “Branjie” (Vanjie and Brook Lynn) relationship.
    It’s a shame as the queens conversations often make the show even more than the challenges and fashion.

    In Untucked Nina West once more showed why she is this years Latrice or Chad when talking about LGBT rights history and why we need to learn from the past. I would have loved to see this conversation in the main show.

    Then over to the runway. So 33 looks … a bit much and after a while it’s hard to remember all of it, making guessing who will be in the bottom difficult. In the end the Brook Lynn won while Shuga Cain and Ariel Versace ended up in the bottom two. Poor Ariel lost as she fell halfway through.

    A bit of a lesser episode compared to the earlier ones, hopefully next week will be better. Maybe Alyssa Edwards will turn up!!